Government Responses to Industry Questions_3_6_20.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 16 KB Posted
- Attached to
- Rapid DNA Testing IDIQ Federal contract opportunity
- Solicitation number
- 70CMSD20R00000001
- Issued by
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement
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Other files for this federal contract opportunity
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| 08.10_Amendment 0002_70CMSD20R00000001 signed by CO.pdf | ||
| 08.10_RFP Amendment 0001-RFP Attachment 3-Price Matrix (revised).xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| 08.10_Amendment 0001_70CMSD20R00000001.pdf | ||
| 08.09_Combined Synopsis-Solicitation 2-2-2020.pdf | ||
| 08.09_RFP Attachment 3-Price Matrix.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| 08.09_RFP Attachment 1-Clauses.pdf | ||
| 08.09_RFP Attachment 2-SOW 2-26-2020.pdf |
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Sheet1
U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT
HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS RAPID DNA TESTING PROGRAM RFP 70CMSD20R00000001
| Question Number | Document Name | |||||
| Section Number | Page Number Paragraph | Industry Questions and Comments | Government Responses | |||
| 1 | Combined Synopsis/Solicitation | FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items (Oct 2018), (a) | 4 Paragraph (a) | Must the Subcontractor providing the equipment for the prime also meet the size standard of 500 employees? | No, only the Prime must meet the small business size standard. | |
| 2 | Combined Synopsis/Solicitation | FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items | 8(a) | How will the government, using LPTA, ensure that a review of technical proposals, other than the lowest bidder, would not identify factors that could provide value or benefit to the Department? | This is a well defined, commercial service. LPTA is the most appropriate basis for award for the Government to determine best value. | |
| 3 | Combined Synopsis/Solicitation | FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items | 8(a) | How will the government determine lowest price, inclusive of full life-cycle costs? For example, including for operations and support (refrigeration units, 24x7 AC power, etc). How will the government include consideration of first pass success rate and the correlated costs of “reach back analysis?” | The Government is not considering full life-cycle costs; nor evaluating costs at all. We are performing price analysis. When a contractor submits pricing, full life cycle costs is something the contractor can deterimine to consider. The contractor will have to price the first pass success rate and the correlated costs of “reach back analysis” into their proposal. | |
| 4 | Attachment 2- SOW | Section 5.1.2 | 3 | It appears that the Solicitation of 5.1.2 Minimum qualifications for CONTRACTOR personnel providing training (CLIN 0004) and 5.3.1 Minimum qualifications for CONTRACTOR Forensic Analysts (CLIN 0005) are “knowledge-based service” under the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 114-328) Section 813. Will the Government consider the use of another evaluation methodology in lieu of the lowest price technically acceptable source selection process? | The National Defense Authorization Act pertains to the Department of Defense, not other federal agencies. No, the Government will not consider the use of another evaluation method other than LPTA. | |
| 7 | Attachment 2- SOW | Section 5.6 | 5 | Is onboard refrigeration in the instrument that requires power 24X7 technically acceptable notwithstanding the requirement for no refrigeration? | Yes, this would be technically acceptable. The no refrigeration requirement is based on a lack of available resources and space on site for the refrigeration of consumables. Onboard refrigeration has no impact on this, and therefore it is technically acceptable. | |
| 8 | Attachment 2- SOW | Section 5.6 | 5 | Are there any space limitation guidelines for the instruments that apply to the area where the RDNA instruments will be deployed that the government can share? | There are space limitations; they very by site. The Government is unable to share exact space details; however, we do not anticipate this being a problem as the requirement under SOW, Section 5.4 states the machines shall be portable. | |
| 9 | Attachment 2-SOW | Section 7.2 | 6 | Please explain the type and quantity of the power in kVA available at each location for contractor use? Please provide the reliability of this power? | To date, the power supply has been reliable and the Government does not anticipate this being an issue. The outlets provided are standard outlets. | |
| 10 | Attachment 3-Price Matrix | If the solution proposed includes both a sample kit and a primary cartridge and both are required to process a sample, should the price per unit for CLIN 0001 be the cost of the sample kit plus the percentage cost of a primary cartridge used to process a single sample ? If not, where should the cost of the primary cartridge be included? | CLIN 0001 should include the price for one test kit. That price is to run one individual test through the processing instrument. The Government is not paying separately for any component or supplies for the processing instruments to run the tests. | |||
| 11 | General | Does the government have a required font size and type for text? For graphs, charts, drawings or pictures? | 12 Font is preferrable, but no smaller than 10 Font. No specific type for text. Times New Roman or Arial is what we usually see. | |||
| 12 | Attachment 2-SOW | Section 5.5 | SOW 5.5 states “CONTRACTOR shall provide, at no cost to ICE, any and all additional DNA testing requiring review by a certified laboratory. This also includes any additional testing required for court proceedings related to those found to be part of a fraudulent family unit.” | |||
| Please clarify. Are costs for this service expected to be built into the current pricing or is the Contractor expected to bill agencies other than ICE who request the service? | The Government will include a separate CLIN for this service. Government will add CLIN 0008 to the Price Matrix and issue a RFP amendment to the solicatation soon. We will include an estimated quantity per year for these independent lab tests contractors shall price the tests per one (1) each. | |||||
| If the cost is expected to be built into the current pricing, this is an open-ended request as the range of cases requiring additional testing could range from 0-100%. We kindly request a reasonable cap to this request (e.g. maximum of 5% of cases tested). Alternatively, we request a separate CLIN to provide this service. | This will be a separate CLIN; CLIN 0008 as described in the previous question. | |||||
| Regarding certifications, the standard certification for criminal cases is ISO 17025 and for civil cases is AABB. Are these the expected certifications for the laboratory providing this additional testing? | Based on our research, it is plausible that these certifications would be acceptable for criminal and civil cases, respectively. Other certifications may be acceptable; that is determined by the federal courts. | |||||
| 13 | Attachment 2-SOW | Section 5.4 | SOW 5.4 states “Processing instruments (equipment) shall remain on site until the final test kit ordered from the IDIQ has been processed.” | |||
| Can this be capped by an end date (i.e. 60 days after conclusion of POP)? Otherwise it would be possible for the Government to purchase a large quantity of consumables and retain the instrumentation at no additional cost for months after the POP has ended. | The capped/end date would be six months after the final order is placed. | |||||
| This requirement will lead to a situation where additional services are required beyond the POP (i.e. reachback or service support). Can the Contractor bill for these services that occur after the last day of the POP? | Each individual order will have its own pricing and funding. Contractor is allowed to invoice for what is on the order. Example: if the last order is for kits and 100 hours of reachback/help desk support; that is what the contractor will be allowed to invoice for. | |||||
| 14 | Page count questions | Does the pricing table count against the proposal page count? | No | |||
| Does the cover page, table of contents, or another administrative document precursors count against the page count? | No | |||||
| Do the reps and certs (if required) count against the proposal page count? | No | |||||
| 15 | Attachment 3 | The total IDIQ value does not include the six-month option period (50% of the value of proposed year 5 cost). Was this intentional or should the spreadsheet be revised to calculate it? | See Factor 3: Price on page 10 of Combined Synposis Solicitation document. It describes how the Government will evaluate FAR 52.217-8. Basically, the final year pricing (year five) of the period of performance will be divided by two to establish the six month pricing total for that period. | |||
| 16 | Should it be assumed that samples should not be held post-collection and run as “batches” for instruments that have the capability to process multiple samples per instrument run. | No samples should be held; they shall be destroyed. | ||||
| 17 | Should the designation of a sample be a single buccal swab run on a rapid DNA instrument and not a blank “lane” run on a multiple sample instrument? Example: If only two samples are run on an instrument cartridge that holds multiple samples (e.g. 5), will the remaining three non-used reagent wells be considered waste or will they counted as a delivered and “run” rapid DNA test, counting against the yearly allotment of 15,000? | Yes it will be considered waste. They will not be counted as delivered and run. | ||||
| 18 | Attachment 2-SOW | Section 5.6 | page 5 of 6 | “CONTRACTOR's consumable materials, to include testing kits, shall not require any form of refrigeration storage due to space limitations and lack of proper facilities to accommodate this type of storage.” Under the previous DHS _ICE Amended Solicitation 70CMSD19R00000002-Rapid DNA Testing from 2019, this requirement was apparently waived, as the incumbent solution requires refrigeration of testing kits while in storage as noted in Table 1 on page 9 of the RapidHIT ID System v1.0 User Guide (Pub. No. MAN0018039 A.0). See: https://www.thermofisher.com/document-connect/documentconnect.html?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.thermofisher.com%2FTFSAssets%2FLSG%2Fmanuals%2FMAN0018039_RapidHIT_ID_1_0_UG.pdf&title=VXNlciBHdWlkZTogUmFwaWRISVQgSUQgU3lzdGVtIHYxLjA= |
The incumbent solution also requires 24x7 power (typically provided by generators with fuel costs) to the Rapid DNA instruments while on standby in order to maintain the refrigerated temperature specification of the primary cartridge located within the Rapid DNA instrument.
| Question: The current incumbent providers’ gel and allelic ladder cartridges, located in the Rapid DNA instrument, are recommended to be refrigerated, which would require access to storage or 24x7 power to maintain an internal temperature specification. Does the Government intend to follow this recommendation, and if so will 24 x7 power is required, and will ICE be responsible for the added cost and space requirements? | No refrigeration is required per Statement of Work. If your company's instruments or test kits require refrigeration; it will need to be provided without any separate storage space. | ||||
| 19 | Solicitation | page 3 | “(viii) Provisions for this solicitation are listed below incorporated by reference included in full text. The contractor shall complete all provisions provided in full text and submit with their proposal.” | ||
| Question: Will these representations and certifications count against the page limits? | No | ||||
| 20 | Solicitation | page 1 | “Proposals shall not exceed 25 pages; double sided page counts as two pages. If a proposal exceeds 25 pages; pages 26 and beyond will not be considered. Product brochures do not count toward the 25-page limit.” Question: Do any of the following count toward the 25 page limit: cover page, table of contents, acronym list or executive summary? | No | |
| 21 | Would the Government consider including FAR Clause 52.216-27 and allow for multiple awards on the IDIQ? | No |
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