Q and As Primary Lab_ Final 2022.pdf

Q&A 693JK422R80003- Forensic Toxicology Drug Testing Laboratory Analysis

No Ref Question(s) Answer(s) 1 Solicitation-

Section 6, page 36.

From Part I, G.6 Monthly Reports, please provide specifics of what should be contained in the Monthly Progress Reports.

See Section J for Samples of Monthly Reports.

2 Solicitation- Section B, pages 4 thru 12.

From Part I, Section B Supplies or Services and Prices/Costs, please confirm that pricing should be submitted using pages 4 – 12.

Yes, provide pricing using the Realistic Quantity.

3 Solicitation- Section J-7, pages 9 thru 20.

From Attachment J, section J-7 Data Transmission Format, are these specifications provided to outline the requirements for a drug test program system integration?

Yes, these are the required specifications for the secured data transmission.

4 Solicitation Section L, page 96.

From Part I, Section L Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors, please confirm that bid delivery instructions do not pertain to this Solicitation. Please confirm that electronic responses are acceptable and hard copy responses are not required.

a. If so, please provide mailing instructions for the requested sample urine collection kits.

b. If so, does this change the instructions provided for the “Past Performance Questionnaire” or will this requirement be waived for an electronic proposal? If hard copy bids are not required, the responding vendor would have a line of sight to the completed questionnaires.

See page 3 of the amended solicitation which states: Each Offeror must submit one complete hard-paper original, and three complete hard-paper copies (each hard copy must include the cover letter), or electronically by email of the proposal--

a. As the amended solicitation states on page 99, Sample kits must be physically received in the OST Acquisition Services Division (M-63), in Room W83-503 on Floor 8W of DOT’s new West headquarters building, located at 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., Washington, D. C. 20590, by this Solicitation’s stated time and date due, in order to be considered timely----

b. Past Performance Questionnaires are still required.

5 Solicitation- Section L.8, page 107.

From Part I, L.8 Delivery Instructions, please provide confirmation that bids will be accepted in electronic format via email.

a. If so, please provide the mailbox capacity for acceptance of the bid response.

See answer to question 4.

6 Solicitation- Section J-11, page 27.

From Attachment J-11, Non-Disclosure Form, are all personnel of the awarded contractor required to sign a Non-Disclosure Form? Would a mutually agreeable NDA between the contracted entities suffice?

All prime contractor personnel who are involved in any capacity on the awarded contract will need to submit a non- disclosure form as provided in the solicitation.

7 TBD Please provide a complete list of the documents that will constitute the contract and their order of precedence.

1. Is there a sample award form available?

2. The Table of Contents lists several sections (

A – M). Would any of the documents referenced in the Table of Contents be part of the final contract?

3. Please clarify the reference below to “SF-26, OF 347 etc.”

Sample award forms are provided in FAR part 53.215-1.

8 TBD To provide a complete review of the solicitation document and requirements, an extension to the bid deadline is required. Would an extension of the bid deadline be considered for Friday, August 12th?

The new extension date is September 30, 2022.

9 Solicitation Section L, page 96.

Regarding Section L. Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors, please confirm that Offeror is required to send a copy of proposal via email AND physically deliver the proposal to the OST Acquisition Services Division.

10 Solicitation Sections L and L.8, pages 96 and

Could you please clarify the following: At the start of Section L on page 96 under “PROPOSAL DUE DATE AND DELIVERY:” It states “The Offeror shall submit an electronic copy of its proposal via email to the Contracting Officer…” and in L.8 (a) the final sentence states “E-mailed submissions of proposals will not be accepted”?

11 Solicitation Section L.9, page 108.

Could you please clarify the following: in section L.9

GERNERAL OVERVIEW OF FORMAT FOR WRITTEN

PROPOSAL in paragraph (2) it states “Each Offeror must submit one complete hard-paper original, and three complete hard-paper copies (each hard copy must include the cover letter), of the proposal----except that the items specified in subsection (1) immediately above need not be provided in electronic form…” Is SF 33 to be electronic or hard-paper along with the proposal?

12 Solicitation Section C #8, page 26.

Found in Task 15, section 8 paragraph (a) page 26, please confirm that the following underlined statement is desired regarding the reporting of positive test results “Positive test results shall state the drug(s) and/or metabolite(s) found, but not the levels of the drug(s) or metabolite(s) in the sample”?

It doesn’t have to be posted on the test results, but it does need to be available if requested.

13 Solicitation section B, INCUMBENT CONTRACTOR: Information concerning the incumbent contractor and the incumbent contract document is given in the Pre-Solicitation Notice which was emailed as “Market Research”, on June 1, 2022. The incumbent contractor is eligible to compete under this Solicitation.

Can you please send me a copy of the of the “market Research” email that is being referenced with the incumbent contracting documents? Or refer me to the site where I can download them?

Noted as a typo, removed.

14 Solicitation section L, On Page 114 regarding past performance references under Volume I, Tab 7 could you clarify the below statement and share if 5 or 3 past performance references are required?

3 past performance references are required. This solicitation has been updated.

15 Solicitation section L, Please clarify if Past Performance Questionnaires are to be sealed in the envelopes they come in from our customer or sealed from by us for Volume I?

16 Solicitation section B

Will you be putting out a new pricing sheet with this information on it, (c) a Government-estimated-realistic number of jobs, of each particular job-type?

Will it be an excel format?

Yes, see pages 3 – 10 for realistic quantities.

17 Solicitation section C, Will you accept LC-MS/MS rather than GC/MS for:

Task 12 (3) Confirmation testing shall be accomplished by quantitative GC/MS (gas chromatography/mass spectrometry) techniques?

No, all tests are performed according to the HHS Guidelines.

18 Solicitation Section B, Since the question and submission deadline has been extended, will the period of performance start date be extended beyond October 1st, 2022?

Contract start date is TBD based on when the contract is awarded. It is estimated that the period of performance will begin on 01/01/23.

19 Solicitation Section C, Page

How many times has U.S. DOT required expert witness testimony in the last 5 years?

Less than 20 times.

20 Solicitation Section B, Page

What was the U.S. DOT testing volume each of the last 5 years?

DOT average yearly testing rate is 30,000 tests.

21 N/A Is this contract awarded from this Solicitation exclusive?

This will be a single award IDIQ contract.

22 N/A In order to better understand the scope of effort to service this contract, is an IT SME from the DOT able to be made available to provide any needed clarifications to the specifications and/or additional guidance?

DOT does have an IT SME.

23 N/A Is U.S. DOT able to provide a high level overview of the integration specifications, as well as guidance regarding networking, connectivity, availability of DOT environment for development & testing purposes?

DOT does have an IT SME.

24 Solicitation Task 12, Page

What tests for other drugs listed in Schedules I and II of the Controlled Substances Act need to be available on 10/1/22 and what are their corresponding cut off values?

To be determined when a test comes up.

25 Attachment J

Attachment J-7 includes Blood, Hair and Oral fluid test abbreviations. Is the U.S. DOT requesting for other specimen types other than urine as part of this contract?

At this time, the DOT primarily utilizes urine specimen testing however on a limited basis, DOT may require oral fluid testing.

Blood and hair testing has not approved by HHS, so DOT will not be conducting those types of tests.

26 Solicitation Task 15 a (5), What format is to be used for the MONTHLY INVOICE REPORT? Can an example be provided?

DOT does not have a specific format as long as the invoices contains the items listed in Attachment J-4A.

What is the format of “(a) billing period"?

For (c) invoice number (i.e., summary and detail information by account number provided as separate documents), what does the underlined text refer to? What is the format of the separate documents?

Billing periods are from the first of the month to the end of the month.

The invoice should be separated by each account number with the items in Attachment J-4A. Account numbers can be found in Attachment J-5.

27 Solicitation Section C Task 15 (6), Where would invalid specimens be shown/counted on the report?

Would invalid specimens be listed separately or included in another total? If so which one?

(b) What is the Date period format?

(h) Is "total negative/positive dilute specimens" a single entry of the number of total diluted specimens? Or are two separate entries of negative dilute and positive dilute requested?

(i) What is reported in Comments?

Invalids have been added to the list.

Date period is first of the month to the last day of the month.

Total number of negative and positive dilute numbers have been separated

Comments has been removed from list.

28 Solicitation Section C Task 15 (8) (a), Page

What is the reported quantitation default for drug Class or Compound/Analyte? In the example provided it is 0 for all entries.

Can additional examples be provided for positive, dilute, invalid, substituted, adulterated and rejected specimen reports?

The DOT follows the HHS Mandatory Guidelines.

29 Solicitation Section C Task 15 (8) (b), Page

What is the electronic format to be used for reporting validity testing?

Can additional examples be provided for validity testing (specific gravity, pH, and creatinine)?

In accordance with the HHS Mandatory Guidelines

What is the Test code type for validity testing?

30 Solicitation Section C Task 15 (8) (c), Page

Are additional reports requested by the COR or the DOT MRO to be reported electronically? If so, what format is to be used and who is to receive the transmission? Or are additional reports requested by the COR or the DOT MRO to be provided via a supplemental reporting route such as fax or paper?

Any additional reports are to be reported electronically. The COR is to receive all transmissions. All reports are to be sent electronically. (i.e., encrypted email)

31 Solicitation Section C and Attachment J-7

Is a specific collection site ID to be used? Or can the contractor assign their own collection site IDs to be used on the EDI transmission (Attachment J-7 - Data Transmission Format)

Can a list of collection contractors be provided with all required information that is to be listed on the result report?

The contractor will submit the specific collection site ID information on the CCF.

32 Solicitation Section C, Page

Please clarify whether the U.S. DOT or vendor’s sFTP process will be used to FTP files to the client DATMIS system.

The U.S. DOT SFTP process will be used.

33 Solicitation D.3, Page 28

What is the minimum level of encryption required for data in transit?

There is no minimum level of encryption required for data in transit.

34 Solicitation H.17. (b), page

Would U.S. DOT accept alternate documentation in lieu of maintaining an IT Security Plan document.

No, an IT Plan is required.