11 - Critical Information

Critical Information Specific to Schedule 72 Furnishings and Floor Coverings Solicitation 3QSA-LV-100002-B Refresh 22 NOTICE: The GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program has recently experienced a tremendous increase in new offers. Due to the large number of new offers currently in process, it could take up to 9 months before your offer is reviewed.

Important: This solicitation is part of the Transaction Data Reporting (TDR) pilot. Under the pilot, your company will not be required to provide Commercial Sales Practices (CSP) disclosures identifying discounts, terms, and conditions offered to your commercial customers that equal or exceed the discounts, terms, and conditions offered to GSA. Additionally, the requirement to monitor the price reduction violations through Price Reductions clause tracking is removed. Thus, participating in the TDR pilot results in a substantial decrease in the paperwork burden for offerors submitting new offers under the Schedules included the TDR pilot.

Submission of CSP is not required for Offerors choosing to participate in the TDR pilot. TDR pilot Offerors should indicate “Not Required” in the Electronic CSP in the Eoffer.

GSA's practice is to evaluate offers in the order in which they are received. However, GSA may give priority to processing certain offers when circumstances dictate, such as when a federal agency Contracting Officer specifically requests an expedited offer review in order to meet a pending requirement that will be procured under the MAS program, or when there is a need for GSA to bring strategically critical new products or services to market in order to meet federal customer needs. In order for your offer to be considered under any of these unique circumstances, you should submit detailed customer correspondence and any other supporting documentation that fully explains all factors involved.

Offerors are reminded that all proposed products and/or services must clearly fit within the scope of the SIN(s) proposed. All offers found to be outside the scope of the proposed schedule and/or SIN will be rejected.

GSA's practice is to evaluate offers in the order in which they are received. However, GSA may give priority to processing certain offers when circumstances dictate, such as when a federal agency Contracting Officer specifically requests an expedited offer review in order to meet a pending requirement that will be procured under the MAS program, or when there is a need for GSA to bring strategically critical new products or services to market in order to meet federal customer needs. In order for your offer to be considered under any of these unique circumstances, you should submit detailed customer correspondence and any other supporting documentation that fully explains all factors involved.

Offerors are reminded that all proposed products and/or services must clearly fit within the scope of the SIN(s) proposed. All offers found to be outside the scope of the proposed schedule and/or SIN will be rejected.

In order to be eligible for award as a small business, an offeror must represent in good faith that it is a small business concern for each SIN and corresponding NAICS code included in the offer. At the time of award, the Government will determine the business size to be “Small Business” when it is confirmed that the offeror is properly classified as a small business for all awarded SINs. If the Government has determined that an offeror is not a small business for any of the awarded SINs, then the business size will be determined to be “Other than Small Business”.

The information provided in this document is specific to Schedule 72. Before submitting your offer, please ensure you have met all of the requirements outlined in this document that are applicable to the products or services you are offering, as well as any other applicable general requirements listed in the solicitation attachments (e.g. Information and Instructions to Offerors, Commercial Sales Practices Format, etc.).

1. Offers received after December 16, 2017 which are submitted with attachments on versions prior to Refresh 20 will be rejected as non-responsive.

2. Due to the variety of products addressed by this schedule, both FOB Destination and FOB Origin clauses are included. When proposing, vendors should address those clauses which best match their commercial practices.

3. Vendors offering SINs 31 301 and 31 303, must submit products that are NSF-140 Gold (or higher) certified.

4. Travel costs shall be negotiated individually on an as needed basis. Prices for services in this contract will not include the cost of travel or reimbursement of travel expenses. Reference Clause C-FSS-370.

5. Small Business Set-Aside SINs must comply with clause 52.225-1 Buy American Act Supplies

General Requirements for Price Proposals applicable to Services offered under ALL Schedule 72 Special Item Numbers:

1. All Ancillary Service SINs exclude construction as defined under FAR 2.101.

2. In accordance with FAR 8.404(a) supplies offered on schedule are listed at fix prices. Services offered on schedule are priced either at hourly rates or at a fixed price for performance of a specific task, i.e. installation of a product.

3. Pricing submitted should be in accordance with commercial practices (e.g., labor rates or fixed unit prices). If pricing is based on labor rates, the contractor shall supply and clearly define each labor category provided in this section. Each labor category definition must include experience, minimum training, level of education, and certifications/licenses, if applicable. If pricing is based on fixed unit prices then provide a detailed breakdown of what functions are within the fixed unit price.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRICING SERVICES

I. Pricing for Services must be substantiated by one of the following methods:

· Established commercial catalog prices (published and dated pricelists); if the firm does not have a published and dated price list, the firm may utilize data in the form of internal business memorandums, quote sheets, etc.

· Commercial pricing for Professional Services shall be submitted for the initial period only and will be awarded based on a commercial pricelist.

· Price adjustments for Service Contract Act labor categories will be in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Government has determined that the Service Contract Act (SCA) is not applicable to this schedule. Subsequent orders under this contract will not result in a Task Order for stand-alone services that are primarily performed by employees other than executive, administrative or professional as defined by 29 CFR Part 541.

· Price adjustments for Professional Services listed on a commercial pricelist will be in accordance with Clause 552-216-70 – Economic Price Adjustment – FSS Multiple Award Schedule Contracts (see Basic Solicitation).

· Price adjustments for Professional Services not listed on a commercial pricelist will be in accordance with an index mutually agreed upon at the time of award and clause I-FSS-969 – Economic Price Adjustment – FSS Multiple Award Schedule, which will be incorporated as appropriate.

II. Offerors are required to include the prevailing Industrial Funding Fee (IFF) in the prices submitted with their offer (See Clause 552.238-74 in the Basic Solicitation Document). The IFF is a separate collection mechanism and should be added to the Net GSA Price offered, will be included in the award price(s), and will be reflected in the total amount charged to ordering activities.

AbilityOne Program

The AbilityOne Program is a federal procurement program that generates jobs for individuals who are blind or have another significant disability through the manufacturing of products or the provision of services required by federal personnel. Products and services on the AbilityOne Procurement List are mandatory for use by federal customers. The mandatory source requirement of the AbilityOne Program as outlined by the Javits-Wagner-O’Day (JWOD) Act (41 U.S.C. 46 – 48c) must be adhered by all schedule holders. Certain commercial products are considered “essentially the same” (ETS) as AbilityOne products. Because the AbilityOne products are mandatory purchases for federal customers, contractors are required to remove the commercial ETS items from its offer. If you offer products that are ETS as AbilityOne products, you are encouraged to become an authorized distributor of AbilityOne products. For more information on the AbilityOne Program and how to become an authorized distributor, please visit www.abilityone.gov. Point of contact at the AbilityOne Program is Mr. Eric Beale at ebeale@abilityone.gov or (703) 603-2119.