Cafeteria Solicitation 693JK424R500002 Amendment No. 5 As PUBLISHED.pdf

Amendment No. 5 to

Solicitation 693JK424R500002 - DOT Headquarters Cafeteria Food Services

This Amendment No. 5 provides, red font, the following answers to the following further Solicitation-questions posed by prospective offerors:

1) Is there any food/coffee/snacks available in the building located at 1200 New Jersey Ave?

Randolph Sheppard manages vending machines on each floor. There is a Starbucks that is accessed from the street on the corner of New Jersey Ave and M St. SE.

2) Does the DOT own all smallwares? The previous contractor left the small wares. They are available for use by the new contractor.

3) Can you please share badge swipes for a typical week? Each day of the week. Typical weekly population ranges from 700 to 2000 with Tuesday through Thursday being the higher populated days.

4) Currently we understand that all employees are required to be in the office 2 days per week.

Can you share what the plan is going forward for 2024? Most employees are required to be on site at least four days per pay period. There are no additional plans for 2024 as of today.

5) Is there equipment specifically for catering? No. Is there currently an office for catering? No. Can you share how many catering events happen annually? The program office does not have data on the number of past catering events. Are you willing to provide exclusivity for catering? No, but in the past, the onsite vendor provided most of the catering due to convenience.

6) Can you share sales for café and catering prior to the Covid-19 pandemic? Sales prior to March

2020 were approximately $2 million annually. Catering sales were approximately $50,000 annually.

7) If the current equipment is not operating, will the DOT replace at its cost? DOT will repair or replace Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) that is not operating.

8) Do you use China or is everything packaged to go? Everything is packaged to go.

9) Where specifically is the Randolph Sheppard snack bar located? The Snack Bar is located on the concourse level between the two buildings.

10) We assume that catering occurs in both buildings. Are we able to transport food between buildings via the tunnel? Yes. There is a service corridor between the buildings and service elevators in both buildings.

11) Page 84 of the RFP states, under “Notice to Offerors,” that supplier may “[i]dentify and explain any exceptions you are taking to the proposed contract requirements.” However, page 106 of the RFP states that “[a] written notice of award or acceptance of an offer … shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party.” How will these two provisions be reconciled if the winning proposal identifies exceptions to proposed contractual requirements?

The reconciling factor is the two differing procurement-stages which are being addressed in those two cited Solicitation-provisions. More specifically, the Solicitation-provision that tells offerors to“…[i]dentify and explain any exceptions you are taking…” is speaking to the time at which an offeror compiles and submits its proposal to DOT, whereas the Solicitation-provision which says that “…written notice of award or acceptance of an offer…shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party” is speaking to the later time at which both the winning offeror and DOT have signed a proposed contract-document resulting from the subject

Solicitation. And so, for example, there is a possibility that DOT and the winning offeror—by the time this Solicitation’s resulting contract has been signed by both parties and has been awarded—may have used a negotiation-process to achieve a reconciliation regarding any

Deviations taken in the winning offeror’s proposal (or initial proposal). Or, alternatively, there is a possibility that DOT might pursue a “contract award without discussion” by compiling a proposed contract-document which states explicitly that it over-rides some or all of the

Deviations cited in the intended awardee-company’s proposal, and that DOT might present that proposed contract-document to the intended awardee-company on a “take it or leave it basis”, and that DOT’s intended awardee-company might sign that proposed contract-document and then return it to DOT, thereby withdrawing some or all of the Deviations expressed in that firm’s proposal, and thereby acquiescing in DOT’s position, and without the intended awardee-company’s submittal of any revised proposal to DOT. The subject Solicitation does not presume to arrogate, to DOT, the power to unilaterally over-ride Deviations expressed in an intended awardee’s proposal. Any such over-riding would be done only with the intended awardee’s consent, and any such consent would be granted by that firm’s placement of its signature on a proposed contract-document that states explicitly that one or more specific proposal-Deviations are being overridden in that contract.

12) Can you please clarify the proposal format requirements, as there appears to be a discrepancy between Section 1.0 General Instructions versus Section L.5-General Format Instructions? The only possible inconsistency now noted by DOT’s contracting officer is in the matter of proposal-font-types and font-sizes and margins and fold-out-pages and page-limits and headers-and-footers. And on those matters only, this Amendment No. 5 declares that the provisions in the subject Solicitation’s Section 1.0 shall prevail over those in the Solicitation’s L.5.

13) We found some confusing sections in the proposal format in the RFP and would like to have clarification on how to prepare our proposal to meet the requirement.

In page 87-89 of the RFP, it stated :

L.8 Format for Business Proposal Part 1 of Business Proposal: Contract Documents and Associated Information Part 2 of Business Proposal: Price Proposal Part 3 of Business Proposal: Financial statements Part 4 of Business Proposal: Subcontracts/ Consultants

While in page 94-104 C. Contents of the Proposal.

Each proposal should be divided into two parts, as set forth herein, and be sufficiently complete and organized to ensure that evaluation can be made on the basis of its content.

It is important that the proposal be organized as specified. Both parts, properly identified, may be in the same binder or loose-leaf cover.

Part I – GENERAL INFORMATION Part II – SPECIFIC INFORMATION

TAB A – CORPORATE CAPABILITY/ MANAGEMENT CONTROLS AND ACCOUNTABILITY.

Corporate Capability

Management Controls and Accountability Price and Portion Policies

TAB B – RESOURCES AND STAFFING.

TAB C - FOOD PROGRAM AND CONCEPTS.

TAB D – EXECUTIVE DINING ROOM PROGRAM. – Deleted (per amendment 2)

TAB E – WELLNESS PROGRAM.

Menu Planning Food Preparation

Marketing Food selection Standards

TAB F - SUSTAINABILITY.

Green Purchasing Recycling/Waste Management

Sustainable Foods Green Operations Energy and Water Conservation Food Selection Standards

TAB G – PHYSICAL SPACE, IMPROVEMENTS AND INVESTMENT.

Sanitation

Preventative Maintenance Pest Control Contractor Performed Repairs and Equipment Replacement

Tab H - Quality and Timeliness and Cost-Control Achieved in the Offeror’s Past Performance

Do you mean to incorporate the C. contents of the proposals (as stated in page 94-104) as Part 1

Business Proposal?

No. The information sought in the Solicitation’s specified proposal-portion entitled “Section L.8

Format for Business Proposal” should be included in each proposal’s “PART I – GENERAL

INFORMATION” portion, which is cited at about page 94 of the Solicitation. And the information sought in the Solicitation’s specified proposal-portion entitled “Part II - SPECIFIC

INFORMATION”, which is cited at about pages 95-104 of the Solicitation, should be included in such a separate “Part II – SPECIFIC INFORMATION” proposal-portion.

This Amendment No. 5 answers no further questions regarding the subject Solicitation.

James H. Mowery III

Contracting Officer, DOT

December 15, 2023