6100058867 - Addendum 1.docx

SOLICITATION ADDENDUM

To All Suppliers:

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania defines a solicitation “Addendum” as an addition to or amendment of the original terms, conditions, specifications, or instructions of a procurement solicitation (e.g., Invitation for Bids or Request for Proposals).

List any and all changes:

**Note – Bid Due Date has been extended to November 8, 2023**

Question #1

Could you let us know if we should have our own video service system, or will the client be providing one for us?

Answer #1

If referencing video remote interpreting (VRI), use of any accessible system such as Microsoft TEAMS, WebEx, Skype is acceptable. The Commonwealth’s various using agencies may have preference, which would be indicated on the agency’s Request for Quote.

Question #2 Can you provide historical data on volume? How many hours of Remote Captioning, Remote C-Print, and Remote Typewell were required in total (all counties) in 2022? How many hours of Offline Captioning Transcription were required in total (all counties) in 2022?

Answer #2

The Commonwealth of PA does not track the volume specific to the different types of interpretation and transliteration services.

Question #3 For live captioning services, will you accept a scalable semi-automated captioning solution that is based on a human-plus-tech model that outperforms the quality of standard automated captioning products, and is comparable in quality to human-generated captions?

Answer #3

Yes. Refer to the Revised Statement of Work, IV-1. General Information, C. Method of Award, Award of a contract only renders an awarded supplier to be eligible to perform services under the contract and does not guarantee that an awarded supplier will receive any work under the contract. Additionally, refer to Revised Statement of Work, IV-1. General Information, D. Best Value Determination (BVD) regarding using agency selection.

Question #4

Mileage Reimbursement:

We operate a ‘virtual office’ where we have no actual brick and mortar office location. Our official address is actually a box for receiving US Mail only. All of our office staff and all of our interpreters actually work out of their own homes. (And we work with a network of over 150 state-registered interpreters all over the State of PA.) Therefore, whenever mileage is submitted on invoices for reimbursement, it always reflects the ACTUAL round-trip mileage that the interpreter incurs from their home address to the site of the job. The time we primarily run into problems is when we have billing thru the contract to a state agency that has an office within a mile of our mailing address. While it may require 50 miles of round-trip mileage to get an interpreter to that office (that we must contractually reimburse to the interpreter), the contract implies that since our “office” is less than 20 miles away, we are not entitled to bill for mileage.

Answer #4 - Please see the Revised Statement of Work eff. 11/01/2023.

Question #5

Commonwealth Cancellations:

The wording in the SOW is very confusing, as it lists both “24 hours” AND “2 business days.” The 2 Business days’ cancellation policy is fairly standard across the US for the ASL Interpreting business (although in some major metropolitan areas, they utilize even longer time periods required for cancellations). Our standard agreements with businesses in the PA community call for 2 business days’ notice for cancellations without charge. Having the “business days” wording avoids the situations where a set number of hours could cause confusion whenever there is a weekend day AND/OR a holiday between the cancellation and the scheduled job.

Answer #5 - Please see the Revised Statement of Work eff. 11/01/2023.

Question #6

Emergency/On-Call Rates:

We have never encountered this type of situation with any of our Commonwealth interpreter billing over the past 20 years. Since we have never had such a program, we will make some assumptions about the rate to charge. Since “on-call” needs would most likely be after-hours, we plan to quote the hourly rate as though it were an after-hours/holiday rate.

Answer #6 – Please see the Revised Statement of Work and Attachment A – Revised Hourly Rate and Service Locations eff. 11/01/2023.

Question #7

Lack of Short-Notice Rates:

The one thing that has always been missing from the DGS contract is premium rates for last-minute requests. It is a standard in the ASL interpreting profession that interpreters are paid a premium rate when requests come in at the last minute. Every time that comes up, we are obligated to pay the premium rate to the interpreter, but we are unable to bill a premium rate to the State.

Answer #7 Please see the Revised Statement of Work and Attachment A – Revised Hourly Rates & Service Locations eff. 11/01/2023.

Question #8

The Scope of Work says that all bids must be submitted electronically through the PA Supplier Portal. However, I am unable to find a “Sourcing Event” or “Business Opportunity” in the Supplier Portal/JAGGAER System for this solicitation. Can you confirm that one has not yet been posted? If there is a posted event that vendors should prepare to respond to, can you clarify where it can be found? Please let me know if there is anyone else who can assist with this.

Answer #8 The Invitation For Bids (IFB) #6100058867 is available and open for bids via the PA Supplier Portal at www.pasupplierportal.state.pa.us by a registered supplier logging in, and then clicking on the Bidder tab. The step-by-step instructions, Locating and Responding to Bids in the PA Supplier Portal,can be found at: https://www.dgs.pa.gov/Documents/Procurement%20Forms/Supplier%20Service%20Center/Locating%20and%20Responding%20to%20Bids%20in%20the%20PASupplierPortal.pdf

Question #9

Who are the incumbent(s) and are you able to provide their current rates?

Answer #9 All current contracts can be found on eMarketplace (www.emarketplace.state.pa.us/BidContracts.aspx), then use the Search by (dropdown) feature to find parent contract number 4400017786, Sign Language Interpretation and Transliteration Services.

Click on each underlined contract number, then clicking on the “O” boxed in dark blue next to View Overview to see the supplier(s), and on the “C” boxed in orange to View Contract File and rates which were bid on the previous solicitation for these services.

Question #10

Are you able to provide a breakdown of languages by usage either as a percentage or by sharing actual volumes by language? At the very minimum, can you provide a breakdown between Spanish and non-Spanish (inclusive of ASL) volume?

Answer #10 The Commonwealth does not track the types of languages which have been provided in the past.

Question #11

Industry standard in southeastern Pennsylvania is for sign language interpreting to be billed in two-hour minimums, including video remote assignments. Does the "one hour minimum" referenced below refer to billing [in the Video Remote Interpretation (VRI) excerpt]?

Answer #11 – Please see the Revised Statement of Work eff. 11/01/2023.

Question #12

How is 24 hours the same as two business days? If you mean 24 business hours, that would equal three business days. The example below [from the Commonwealth Cancellations section] indicates two business days, which matches business practices in our field. Where does 24 hours fit in?

Answer #12 – Please refer to Answer #5, above.

Question #13 What is the reimbursement listed below [from the Contractor Cancellations of Interpreter Service]? If our interpreter is unable to keep an assignment for the next day, the contract states that we pay the Commonwealth Agency? How much and for what?

Answer #13 – Please see the Revised Statement of Work, IV-4. Billing, subsection F. Contractor Cancellations of Interpreter Service.

Question #14

Can this punitive clause [from the Service Not Provided/No-Show section] be removed from the contract? We have an excellent track record and place a high priority on providing stellar services. When an accident or emergency prevents an interpreter from arriving at an assignment on time, charging the contractor the difference in cost between two interpreter services plus a $75 fine is unreasonable.

Answer #14 - Refer to Revised Statement of Work, IV-4. Billing, subsection G. Service Not Provided/No-Show for the specifics of reimbursement.

Question #15

The Hourly Rate and Service Location spreadsheet does not contain a category for short-notice requests. Industry standards in Pennsylvania includes interpreter agencies paying contract interpreters for requests made with fewer than two business days’ notice (example: request received by 5p on Tuesday for a Friday assignment; by 5p on Wednesday for a Monday assignment). Could you please add that category to the spreadsheet? By not having this category, our agency has at times gone out of pocket to fill an assignment on short notice by having to pay an interpreter last-minute rates that exceed the amount we could bill the Commonwealth agency.

Answer #15 – Please refer to the Revised Statement of Work and Attachment A – Revised Hourly Rate & Service Locations eff. 11/01/2023.

Question #16

Are bidders obligated to participate in the COSTARS Program?

Answer #16 Suppliers are not required to participate in the COSTARS Program to be in consideration of bid award. Suppliers may elect to participate in COSTARS; more information can be found online at: https://www.dgs.pa.gov/COSTARS/Pages/default.aspx. Please reference the COSTARS Election to Participate Form, attached to the solicitation.

Question #17

Will bidders be in any way disadvantaged in the evaluation/scoring of bids if they elect not to participate in the COSTARS Program?

Answer #17 Bidders are not disadvantaged from being awarded a contract based on COSTARS participation.

Question #18

Can you confirm whether a Sourcing Event or Business Opportunity has been posted in the PA Supplier Portal/JAGGAER for IFB 6100058867?

Answer #18 Invitation For Bid (IFB) #6100058867 is available and open for bids via the PA Supplier Portal at www.pasupplierportal.state.pa.us by a registered supplier logging in, and then clicking on the Bidder tab. The step-by-step instructions, Locating and Responding to Bids in the PA Supplier Portal, can be found at: https://www.dgs.pa.gov/Documents/Procurement%20Forms/Supplier%20Service%20Center/Locating%20and%20Responding%20to%20Bids%20in%20the%20PASupplierPortal.pdf

Question #19

If IFB 6100058867 has been posted in the PA Supplier Portal/JAGGAER, can you clarify where/how it can be found?

Answer #19 Please reference the Statement of Work, IV-2. Eligibility Requirements, subsections A. Supplier Registration and C. Bid Submission for submitting bids. The PA Supplier Portal can be found at: www.pasupplierportal.state.pa.us. Further instruction can be found at: https://www.dgs.pa.gov/Materials-Services-Procurement/Supplier-Service-Center/Pages/default.aspx, under the Bidding (IFB eMarketplace) section.

Type of Solicitation: Electronic Bid (SRM) - Review the Questions section of your solicitation response to ensure you have responded, as required, to any questions relevant to solicitation addenda issued subsequent to the initial advertisement of the solicitation opportunity.

Except as clarified and amended by this Addendum, the terms, conditions, specifications, and instructions of the solicitation and any previous solicitation addenda, remain as originally written.

Respectfully,

BOP-1305

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