FINAL 3PL Questions and Anwsers .xlsx
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- Solicitation number
- 47QSCC20R0016
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GSA Federal Acquisition Service
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Q&A
| QUESTION: | ANSWER: | |
| 1 | Will the vendor required to use their own account numbers with carriers (Example: USPS) to do the bookings for outbound shipments? | No. Accounts will be established via Gov't. for USPS, NGDS, etc. The awardee will use established accounts provided by the Government. |
| 2 | Will account numbers for the FACTS/IBS/GATES/GFM to manage bookings on each portal be provided to the awardee? | |
| Yes - All Account numbers and guidance for each will be provided to the awardee soon after award. | ||
| 3 | In the Anticipated Workload attachment, there are 7,592 Lines (Monthly), could you please advise what is meant by lines? Do they include the 22,776 packages (Monthly)? | Lines meant Requisition Numbers. Yes, packages are part of the requisitions. For example, one requisition may have several packages of single line item. Example. One requisition for HP Toner, the customer ordered 10 of the same toner and that will be 10 packages. |
| 4 | How do we manage Damaged and RV packages? | Damages will be reported to via desctrepancy report with pictures to GSA NCSC with SCM Transportation also being copied. Point of contract information will be provided to awardee at time of award. |
| 5 | Are there any Insurance requirements? | Yes; the vendor should have insurance coverage to cover shipments received in your warehouse to protect the vendor and the Government. |
| 6 | How are we going to receive notifications of incoming shipments? Will they include Packing lists, items reference numbers? | |
| Yes. GSA will provide notification of all incoming shipments from GSA vendors to 3PL contractor will all information including ultimate overseas destination of each shipment. | ||
| 7 | What are the required operating hours? Are we required to have operational people 24 hours? | Normal operating hours are Monday through Friday for an 8 hour shift. Normal operating hours are required. |
| 8 | Are we going to receive inbound shipments on weekends and/or Federal Holidays? | No. Shipments will be required to accepted during normal operating hours. Normal operating days and hours are Monday through Friday for an 8 hour shift. |
| 9 | Does the Government require the facility(s) to be a bonded facility? | No |
| 10 | Are we allowed to charge a handling fee per the size of package? | If you plan to charge a handling fee, please explain the manner in which you plan to charge GSA in your propsal. |
| 11 | We are apparently allowed to charge a Declaration Fee, but there is no mention of repackaging. In addition, we would need supplier to provide all details such as MSDS Sheets etc.(vendor) | Most shipments should be packaged correctly by the supplying GSA vendors asper contractual requirements. If shipment was not packaged or packed IAW Federal requirements, material will be repacked by the 3PL contractor. Any repackaging materials(if required) will be supplied by 3PL contractor. With HAZMAT materials, GSA vendors are required to provide the packing list and SD/MSDS. Shipment should already have necessary HAZMAT labels. If hazmat labels and/or documentation are required, 3PL contractor will provide materials. |
| 12 | General: Would you consider a virtual industry day?That would allow the bidding community to understand better all the details of the program and as such, offer the best solution we can provide. | RFI was previously conducted for this requirement. An additional Q&A period (October 07, 2020 - October 12, 2020 at 9:00 am) is included in the RFP. |
| 13 | How long does Recertification take? Based on PWS, the approximate average time of storage is not more than 15 days. | Yes. Re-Certification should be the exception (Frustrated Freight) and should that be required, it should take less that the allowable15 day storage period. Note: It's considered a new requirement. |
| 14 | Could you provide detail relating to ship-to customer locations, such as Country, City, Zip Code along with annual shipment volumes? | Yes. There are no direct deliveries to the customer address.We can provide ultimate overseas destination address of the customers and we can provide an estimated volume. |
| 15 | Is there any seasonality to the demand? Is so, please describe. | Yes. Volume of shipments is usually lower in the beginning of the Fiscal year and historically higher during the last quarter of the Fiscal Year. |
| 16 | What is the estimated square feet required to store materials per warehouse / by location? | Other than frustrated freight, there will be no requitrement to store material. Facility will be for transshipments. |
| 17 | Are there any specific storage requirements (e.g. temperature controlled, hazardous, controlled substances, goods requiring licenses, etc.)? | No. This requirement will be a transhipment facilty and will be no special requirements for storing material. |
| 18 | Would we be working with VSM? | No. Not at this time |
| 19 | Who owns the inventory? | The inventory received will soley be for transhipment requirements. The material is owned by Gov't. |
| 20 | What are the Incoterms? | The vendor ships to the customer through your transhipment facilty. While the shipment is in contractor warehouse, contractor is responsible for material until shipped to the end user from transhipment center.. |
| 21 | Is there a requirement for Reverse Logistics activities? | That maybe a possibility. |
| 22 | Are there any oversized products or any products requiring special handling or special material handling equipment? | Other than a small amount of hazmat material and some random items such as shovels, axes, trash cans, there will not be special handling required. |
| 23 | Are any debadging / destruction / disposal services required? | No |
| 24 | Who is responsible for coordinating and moving current inventory? Where is it located? | There is no inventory to transfer. |
| 25 | Is / are there facilities we could take over and assume operations thereof? | No |
| 26 | Can we consolidate shipments to same facility / location / address? | Considation is only allowable for the same customer. It is not acceptable to consolidate shipmments for different customers even if they're located in the same overseas destination address. |
| 27 | Do we need to provide a dedicated facility or facilities for this contract (i.e. we cannot use any of our existing locations / facilities)? | No. The propsed warehouse does not have to be dedicated facility or warehouse. An existing warehouse can be utilized as long as there is enough space to dedicate to perform the transhipment requirements. |
| 28 | Who is responsible for assuring each order / shipment is processed i/a/w global trade compliance regulations? | GSA is responsible in ensuring all products that will be supplied by GSA vendors are in accordance with TAA agreement. The 3PL contractor will not have to inspect or check if the product for transhipment for OCONUS customers are TAA compliant. However, the 3PL is responsible for ensuring that the Hazmat regulations and certifications are followed per shipment. Additionally, documentation for shipment must be inspected to ensure proper shipment to end-users. |
| 29 | The requirement for a CONUS warehouse as opposed to an OCONUS warehouse. Are there any restrictions to setting up OCONUS locations like HI or Guam? | No restrictions on proposing a OCONUS location however, the Government but will be interested in the value of a OCONUS location over a CONUS location. |
| 30 | Are we required to use USPS for 50% of items or was that the government listing that info as an example? | Most transhipments that will be performed by the 3PL contractor will be processed using DoD Transportation system. High volume will go MILAIR using FACTS system and small percent will need to be containerized because of high volume or weight will be booked for surface shipment using IBS. In the future, some shipments have to go commercial air NGDS which GSA will set up accounts for the 3PL contractor to use. |
| 31 | Approximately how many vendors will be supplying product to the warehouse facility(ies)? | Multiple vendors will be providing the product shipments. There are some large vendors will be supplying more products than others. Some small vendors will be supplying only one or twice a month and some only a few times a year. |
| 32 | Who is ordering the products from the vendors? | Mostly military customers that are deployed or based overseas. |
| 33 | Are we the primary ecommerce hub for the items stocked in the warehouse, or are the KOs going directly to vendors and the facility is moreso a pick/pack/ship operation? | No stock items requirements. The 3PL vendor will perform transhipments to final overseas destination after receiving shipment packages from GSA vendors. |
| 34 | Are any type of forward stocking locations in the delivery region(s) required? | No stock items required. |
| 35 | Where are the OCONUS locations? We cannot accurately quote unless we know the OCONUS locations. Also once in PACOM or EUCOM, are we responsible for final mile delivery or just to a central location? | 3PL Contractor will not be responsible for final mile delivery. All shipments' final destinations are mostly military bases overseas in country like Korea, Japan, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, etc. Most shipments will go MILAIR using FACTS and when shipment is approved and cleared for MILAIR by ACA, information automatically to GATES. Small percent of shipments that because of high volume or weight cannot go MILAIR or commercial air, they have to be containerized, processed and booked through IBS for surface/ocean shipment. Supposedly IBS is not interfacing with GATES so when a shipment is successfully booked in IBS, information about the TCN shipment will have to inputted to GATES for tracking purposes. The 3PL responsibility ends when the shipment leaves their warehouse. |
| 36 | The contractor shall be responsible for the creation and application of supply shipping documentation." We need further information here. Are you requiring us to create a packing list and commercial invoice? If so, how do we accomplish that? | All GSA vendors are required to provide packing list when they ship to 3PL Contractor for transhipments. Since most shipments will go MILAIR, once approved and cleared for MILAIR, FACTS system will provide the copy of TCMD and MSL for printing. |
| 37 | The contractor shall be responsible to remediate any discrepancies. Does this mean work with the shipper? Also under the same paragraph f, what is our risk of loss when that transfers to the 3PL? | Most shipments should be packaged already as required but if shipment was not packaged or packed properly by the supplying GSA vendors, it will need to be repacked by the 3PL contractor and if required other materials, 3PL contractor will use their own materials. If there is any discrepancy cannot be fixed by the 3PL contractor, they can contact the supplying GSA vendor to resolve the issue. |
| 38 | Where will we obtain the TAC Codes? | GSA will provide the appropriate TAC for each requisition. |
| 39 | Are we shipping to one centralized PACOM/EUCOM logistics hub, or are we shipping to multiple locations within each theater region? | Please see Q&A for #35. Most shipments will be going MILAIR to overseas military bases. In the future, some shipments have to go commercial air NGDS, which GSA will set up accounts for the 3PL contractor. The 3PL will be shipping to the POE CONUS for surface shipment, Aiport of Embarkazion for the Air shipments, and if NGDS the UPS, FedEx, or DHS will come to pick the packages up from the 3PL warehouse. |
| 40 | If there are multiple destinations within each region that we're shipping to, will we be shipping to logistics hubs in country or individual commands? |
Ex. In PACOM AOR, will we ship to bases such as Changi, Singapore & Yokosuka, Japan or will we ship to individual commands such as DESRON 15, CTF-70, etc? This will affect the amount of freight handling and personnel that we'll need to account for in our proposal.
| Please see #35. Most shipments will be going MILAIR to overseas military bases. In the future, some shipments have to go commercial air NGDS, which GSA will set up accounts for the 3PL contractor. The 3PL will be shipping to the POE CONUS for surface shipment, Airport of Embarkazion for the Air shipments, and if NGDS the UPS, FedEx, or DHS will come to pick the packages up from the 3PL warehouse. | ||
| 41 | Who Performs the recertification of Hazardous materials/DG prior to outbound shipment? | The 3PL is responsible for the recertification of HAZMAT Shipments. Note: Less than 5% of estimated work volume is considered Hazmat or Dangerous goods. |
| 42 | . How long does Recertification take? Based on PWS, the approximate average time of storage is not more than 15 days. | From our experience, Re-certification should will not take more than 2 days. |
| 43 | Contractors are to provide a description of, and documentation verifying that the contractor has/will have warehouse(s) upon contract award. What type of verifying documentation is required? | A signed letter or agreement shows an offer and an intention of the lease upon awarding the contract. The contract award has to be the de facto of the agreement. |
| 44 | Each proposal must identify Key Personnel and provide resumes of supervisors and technical staff that lead. Would this consist of a Program Manager and Shift Supervisors only? Would resumes for Sectional Leads of different functional areas be required? | Program Manager and Shift Supervisor resumes would suffice. |
| 45 | Can you provide the estimated number of inbound and outbound shipments? | Please see attachment 5 of the solicitation. The number of inbounds will be equal to number of outbounds because what comes in must go out for transhipment to final destination overseas. |
| 46 | Does the Government have a desired locale for the cross-dock operation? | The 3PL vendor is to propose strategic location(s), at their descretion. |
| 47 | Is there a specific list of materials received, packaged and shipped to support the indicated workload? | Yes |
| 48 | Must the contractor comply with MIL-STD-2073 for packaging on all shipments? | Yes |
| 49 | Can the Government please provide an example of the type of electronic reports (Required Deliverable) of discrepancies encountered bi-weekly? | A descrepany report example will be provided to the awardee. |
| 50 | Will the instructions from SCM PMO describe the type of consolidation and containerization required? | Yes |
| 51 | Is the contractor reimbursed for miss-shipments and re-transportation CONUS? | No; if it is the contractor's fault however each mis-shippment will be reviewed on a case by case basis. |
| 52 | Three(3) data systems are to be used, i.e., Financial and Air Clearance Transportation System (FACTS), the Integrated Booking System (IBS), and Global Air Transportation and Execution System (GATES).” Can the Government please clarify that all three (3) systems are needed for each shipment? If only one (1) system is needed for each shipment, will the contractor receive instruction on which system is to be used? | The contractor will need access to all three systems. Most shipments will go MILAIR using FACTS, and when the shipment is approved and cleared for MILAIR by ACA, information automatically goes into GATES. A small percent of shipments that cannot go MILAIR or commercial air; they have to be containerized, processed, and booked through IBS for surface/ocean shipment. IBS is not interfacing with GATES at the moment, so when a shipment is successfully booked in IBS, information about the TCN shipment will have to be manually inputted into GATES. |
| 53 | What are the segregation/fencing requirements for a shared warehouse? | |
| Is a shared warehouse is approved, must have dedicated doors for receiving and shipment operations for Federal Govt. If chain link fence is used for separation, chain link fence must go from warehouse floor to the top ceiling rafters and no access gates or doors in chain link fence. | ||
| 54 | Must we own the warehouse outright or can we lease space from another owner? | Vendors can lease space from another owner. However, the shipments must not be mix with another material. It must be segregated. The 3PL vendor is responsible and will be held accountable for all the products that is received/accepted into their warehouse until received by OCONUS customer. |
| 55 | Is the freight required to be repacked or does the shipments (freight) prepackaged already? Are we to use our own Triwals or will GSA provide the materials? | |
| Most shipments should be packaged already as required but if shipment was not packaged or packed properly from the supplying vendors, it will need to be repacked by the contractor and if required other materials, 3PL contractor will use their own materials. This process is called remediation. | ||
| 56 | Please clarify how bidders are expected to price outboard OCONUS shipments given different weights and different OCONUS destinations. | The intent of Attachment3 (Pricing) is to get Firm Fixed price for each package type (Transhippment) via each type of carrier, plus any Dangerous goods and/or declaration fee(s). The goal is to get FFP price for each transaction based on the percentages breakdown and estimated volumes in Workload Attachment 5. All pricing should roll up into the estimated annual totals in Attachment 2. NOTE: Should you feel you are not able to price out each transaction in this manner....please provide FFP pricing in the format you deem appropriate and provide solid rationale in the proposal submittal. |
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