Pest Control Q and A Final Round.pdf

1. For ATTC Bldg. 4, how many offices are in the building and what percentage are in use versus vacant?

Building 4 (ATTC) functions as an active training facility and schoolhouse. To assist bidders with accurate scoping, the facility contains the following physical spaces:

Offices: 48 rooms

Classrooms, Labs, Lounges, and Conference Rooms: 29 rooms

Restrooms: 8 rooms

Mechanical Rooms: 4 rooms

Janitor Closets: 3 rooms

Occupancy: While specific classrooms fluctuate in daily use based on active class schedules, true "vacant" or unassigned spaces are minimal.

Bidders shall utilize the approximate square footage of 58,868 sq. ft. provided in Appendix B, along with this room breakdown, as the basis for their proposals. Services must be scheduled and coordinated with the COR to minimize disruption to active instruction.

2. What is the average occupancy rate of barracks rooms?

Roughly around 80%, this fluctuates. We have 150 rooms, some are 2 to a room, others are single occupancy.

There are approx.. 90 – 110 students or more in the barracks at a time.

3. On the subject of maintaining continuity, as much as able, can a brief description of best practices be provided regarding how/what time of day inspections have been done in the past based on bldg. type in order to limit disruption of base activities/student life?

Per PWS Section 1.2, normal base working hours are 0700 to 1630, Monday through Friday. To minimize disruption to base operations, student life, and operational training, the Government recommends the following historical best practices and preferred operational windows for scheduling services:

Facility Type / Building Recommended Operational Window

Operational Context / Reason

Student Barracks 0800–1100 and 1200–1500 Aligns with student class schedules to ensure rooms are accessible and disruption is minimized.

Bldg 54 (Ready Crew Berthing)

Normal Working Hours (0700– 1630)

Standard administrative/operational access.

Bldg 7 (Hangar 7 - Major Food Site)

After 1300 Monday–Thursday, or Anytime Friday

Avoids active food preparation, serving, and high-traffic dining periods.

Bldg 24 (Base Galley - Major Food Site)

1300–1400 (Preferred) or anytime after 1300

Scheduled strictly outside of breakfast and lunch prep/service hours to comply with food safety codes.

Note: While these windows represent historical best practices to prevent operational conflicts, the Contractor remains responsible for coordinating all final service schedules and building access directly with the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) post-award.

4. Regarding moving barracks room furniture, we have encountered a situation previously where bed frames were not authorized to be moved without specialized moving equipment, as doing so could void the manufacturer's warranty or risk damaging the furniture. Is that expected to be the case for this requirement?

The Government is not aware of any active warranties or specialized moving equipment requirements regarding barracks room furniture.

For the purposes of inspection and treatment (such as bed bug protocols), the Contractor is expected to adhere to the following guidelines:

Minor Adjustments: The Contractor is authorized and expected to perform minor, standard adjustments of furniture (such as pulling bed frames slightly away from walls or tipping mattresses/box springs) to conduct thorough inspections and localized applications.

Heavy Relocation: The Contractor is not expected to dismantle built-in units or perform large-scale, heavy relocation of heavy furniture suites.

Property Damage Liability & Reporting: In accordance with PWS Section 2.6.6 (Accidents), the Contractor remains responsible for restoring any government property damaged due to negligence during operations.

Routine/Scheduled Inspections: If the Contractor identifies a specific piece of furniture that cannot be safely inspected or moved without risk of damage during a routine service, they shall document the limitation in their regularly required service reports for COR review.

Emergency Call-Outs: If this limitation occurs during an emergency or unscheduled call-out that requires immediate resolution, the Contractor must immediately contact the COR to coordinate alternative access or assistance.

5. Regarding emergency calls, what have they historically been for? Between snakes, swarms, or rodents, is it usually one over the other?

Historically, emergency call-outs (which require a one-hour on-site response) average fewer than 20 calls annually.

According to historical data provided by the current Contracting Officer's Representative (COR), the most common emergency calls received on the installation, ranked in order of historical frequency (from most frequent to least frequent), are:

1. Ants (Most frequent; typically sudden, massive swarms invading medical, berthing, or food service spaces).

2. Wasps (Highly frequent; active, aggressive nesting blocking primary building entry/exit points or high-traffic work bays).

3. Roaches (Occasional; sudden infestations affecting critical operations or sanitary compliance in Major Food Sites).

4. Rodents (Occasional; active rodent presence in sensitive areas, such as communications sheds, electrical vaults, or active galleys).

5. Termites (Rare; sudden swarms inside active administrative or berthing facilities).

6. Snakes (Least frequent; nuisance wildlife entering occupied facilities requiring immediate, safe removal).

Note: Bidders are reminded that standard, non-hazardous pest occurrences that do not threaten safety or halt critical base operations are handled as routine service calls under CLIN 0002 during normal business hours, rather than emergency after-hours calls.

6. Can a summary of any recurring concerns with the incumbents performance be provided?

None provided

7. We did not notice a specific pricing sheet to submit our proposal on. Does the government have a pricing sheet that needs to be filled out or should we develop our own pricing structure to submit for the proposal?

Please see attached price sheet.

8. The Government's RFI responses confirmed that unscheduled service calls (PWS §10.5.2) will be priced firm-fixed-price on a per-call basis rather than in the “Lot of 10 / Lot of 5” increments described in the PWS, and that Mosquito Surveillance (PWS §10.4.7) will be a new, separately pre-priced CLIN. However, no amendment has yet issued a formal CLIN schedule assigning official line item numbers for these items, the recurring services requirement, or the termite soil treatment line. Will the Government issue an amendment to SF-1449 Blocks 19–24 assigning official CLIN numbers for all priced line items, so that offerors' quotes reference a common, evaluable numbering scheme?

Please see attached price sheet.

9. FAR 52.212-2(a) states the award factors are “Technical acceptability and price” but does not specify whether the evaluation methodology is Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) or a best-value trade-off.

Please confirm the evaluation approach so offerors can allocate appropriate resources to their technical proposals.

Please see block 20 of SF-1449. Lowest Price Technically Acceptable is the evaluation methodology.

10. PWS §10.5.1 establishes a unit-price item for termite soil treatment, priced per linear foot of foundation treated, with a minimum order of 75 linear feet. Neither the original solicitation nor the updated Appendix B (Master Facility Service Matrix with square footage) provides an estimated linear-foot quantity for this item.

What linear-foot quantity should offerors use to price this line so the Government can evaluate offers on a common, comparable basis?

To allow the Government to evaluate all quotes on a fair and comparable basis, bidders shall price CLIN 0004 (Termite Soil Treatment) in the Price Schedule based on an estimated quantity of 100 linear feet for the base year.

Bidders must propose a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) per-linear-foot unit price.

The "Extended Price" for this line item shall be calculated as: 100 Linear Feet × [Your Proposed Unit Price per Foot].

This estimated quantity is for evaluation purposes only. The Government will only pay for the actual linear footage of treatment authorized in writing by the COR and performed by the Contractor.

11. Related to the item above: please confirm how the Government will evaluate quotations for priced items that still lack a Government-furnished estimated quantity (e.g., termite soil treatment). Will the Government issue an evaluated quantity by amendment prior to the offer due date, consistent with the approach already taken for the Mosquito Surveillance CLIN (2 estimated events)?

Please see attached pricing sheet.

12. Please provide any available historical staffing, labor-hour, or workload information used to develop the Government's independent estimate, to assist offerors in developing realistic pricing for the recurring services requirement.

The Government is solicitating new responses not based on old services.

13. The Government furnished an updated Appendix B reflecting building square footage as an embedded image/PDF table, and RFI materials referenced a “Price Schedule” tab and an “Updated Appendix B - SF” tab. Offerors have not yet received a native Excel workbook containing these tabs. Can the Government provide the native Excel file to facilitate pricing and workload analysis across approximately 101 facility/asset line items?

Please see attached price sheet.

14. Appendix B designates certain facilities for bi-weekly “Food Areas Only” service. Please provide the number, location, and approximate size of the food-service areas (breakrooms, kitchenettes, and similar spaces) within those buildings to allow accurate scoping of bi-weekly service visits.

The Government does not maintain a centralized database of the exact physical square footage or exact count of individual breakrooms and kitchenettes within each administrative and operational facility.

For scoping and bidding purposes, bidders shall utilize the following guidelines:

Scope of "Food Areas": As defined in PWS Section 2.6.5 (and Section 10), "Designated Food Areas" in non-galley buildings are limited to localized staff breakrooms, office kitchenettes, coffee mess areas, and localized pantries. They do not encompass entire office wings, warehouses, or hangar bays.

Average Size/Complexity: These spaces are typical of standard commercial office environments, generally consisting of a sink, countertop, microwave, refrigerator, and small seating area (typically averaging under 200–300 square feet per area).

Average Count: Most administrative buildings listed for "Food Areas Only" contain only one (1) or two (2) such common break areas.

15. PWS §10.4.4 establishes a protocol for bed bug service calls, including pre-treatment checklists and mandatory follow-up inspections 10–14 days after treatment. Please clarify whether bed bug treatment and required follow-up inspections are included in recurring services, covered under unscheduled service-call pricing, or require separate unit pricing.

Bed bug inspections, treatments, and their mandatory 10–14 day follow-up inspections are not included in the flat-rate monthly pricing for CLIN 0001 (Recurring Pest Control Services).

Instead, they shall be handled and billed under the Unscheduled Service Call CLINs as follows:

1. Initial Inspection & Treatment: The initial response, inspection, and application of treatment shall be billed as one (1) Unscheduled Service Call under CLIN 0002 (Normal Hours) or CLIN 0003 (After Hours), depending on when the work is ordered and performed.

2. Mandatory Follow-up Inspection: The mandatory follow-up inspection performed 10–14 days after the initial treatment shall be billed as one (1) additional Unscheduled Service Call under CLIN 0002 (Normal Hours).

3. Materials: All standard EPA-approved chemicals and equipment required to execute the bed bug protocol in accordance with PWS Section 10.4.4 are considered inclusive of the service call rate.

16. Would the larval stages of the mosquitoes be acceptable if testing were to be requested? Or would the government require the adults? There are 2 different collection methods with 2 different price points.

The Government requires adult mosquitoes for the specialized collection and testing services described in PWS Section 10.4.7 (CLIN 0005: Mosquito Surveillance Event). Collection must be performed using industry-standard adult trapping methods to harvest adult specimens suitable for vector-borne pathogen testing by the public health laboratory.

17. How many bed bug treatment incidents occurred during the previous contract year? This information is necessary to estimate the frequency and cost of bed bug-related service calls.

As clarified in the response to RFI #15, bed bug inspections and treatments are not included in the flat-rate monthly recurring services (CLIN 0001). Any future bed bug treatments, should they occur, will be billed on a per-incident basis under the Unscheduled Service Call CLINs (CLIN 0002 or CLIN 0003). Bidders do not need to factor the historical risk of bed bug outbreaks into their recurring monthly service pricing.

18. PWS §10.4.5 requires humane wildlife trapping with trap checks at least once every 24 hours, including weekends and holidays. Please provide historical quantities for wildlife trapping events and clarify whether weekend and holiday trap checks are compensable as unscheduled after-hours service calls or are included within the recurring services price.

1. Historical Quantities:

Historical data for specialized wildlife trapping (such as raccoons, opossums, or squirrels) is infrequent, averaging fewer than five (5) trapping events per year. These are typically handled on an as-needed basis when wildlife poses a direct threat to safety, sanitation, or facility structures.

2. Compensation for Weekend and Holiday Trap Checks:

Weekend and holiday visits conducted to check active traps in accordance with PWS §10.4.5 are not included in the flat-rate monthly price for CLIN 0001 (Recurring Pest Control Services).

Instead, these visits shall be compensable under CLIN 0003 (Unscheduled Service Call - After Hours), subject to the following strict guidelines:

Billed Per Visit, Not Per Trap: Compensation is based on a flat "per visit" structure. If multiple traps are deployed and active on base, the Contractor shall check all deployed traps during a single base visit. The Contractor is authorized to bill only one (1) Unscheduled Service Call (After Hours) per calendar day visited, regardless of the number of active traps checked during that visit.

Prior Authorization Required: The Contractor must receive explicit, advance authorization from the COR before deploying any live humane trap that will require weekend or holiday monitoring. This ensures the Government maintains control over the incurrence of these costs.

Coordination to Minimize Visits: The Contractor shall coordinate trap locations and placement schedules with the COR to consolidate trapping efforts and minimize the number of required weekend/holiday visits.

19. PWS §10.4.3 defines emergencies requiring a one-hour on-site response. Please provide the historical number of emergency pest-control responses required during the previous twelve months to assist with pricing.

The Government has established an estimated quantity of 20 After-Hours/Emergency Service Calls for the base year under CLIN 0003.

Based on historical data from the previous Contracting Officer's Representative (COR), emergency call-outs are typically driven by the following six (6) specific pest categories:

1. Ants (Typically involving sudden, large-scale swarms invading medical, berthing, or food service spaces).

2. Wasps (Active, aggressive nesting blocking primary building entry/exit points or high-traffic work bays).

3. Roaches (Sudden infestations affecting critical operations or sanitary compliance in Major Food Sites).

4. Rodents (Active rodent presence in sensitive areas, such as communications sheds, electrical vaults, or active galleys).

5. Termites (Sudden swarms inside active administrative or berthing facilities).

6. Snakes (Nuisance wildlife entering occupied facilities requiring immediate, safe removal).

Note: While these six categories represent the historical drivers for emergency calls, standard occurrences of these pests that do not threaten safety or halt critical base operations are handled as routine service calls under CLIN 0002 during normal business hours.

20. How many termite inspections and termite treatment actions occurred during the previous contract year?

This information will assist offerors in estimating the frequency and cost of termite-related work, in addition to the linear-foot quantity requested above.

To ensure all bidders are evaluating the requirement based on the current Performance Work Statement (PWS) rather than historical performance variations, bidders shall use the following parameters for scoping and pricing:

1. Termite Inspections (Frequency): Under the current PWS (Section 10.3.6, Annual Structural Pest Inspection), a comprehensive, intrusive structural pest inspection is a mandatory annual requirement for every facility listed in Appendix B. Bidders must assume that 100% of the facilities listed require this annual inspection, and the cost of this effort shall be fully incorporated into the flat-rate monthly price under CLIN 0001 (Recurring Pest Control Services).

2. Termite Treatments (Frequency): Historical treatment data fluctuates significantly year-over-year.

To normalize pricing and eliminate risk for offerors, the Government has established a unit-priced mechanism for treatments. Bidders shall base their pricing strictly on the estimated quantity of 100 linear feet under CLIN 0004 (Termite Soil Treatment). The Government makes no guarantee of a minimum number of treatment actions beyond what is explicitly ordered by the COR during the performance period.

21. PWS §10.4.5 requires active humane traps be checked at least once every 24 hours, including weekends and holidays; PWS §2.1 establishes core working hours as Monday through Friday only, with no stated provision for weekend or holiday compensation outside the service-call CLINs. Are weekend and holiday trap-check visits compensable as after-hours service calls, or are they included within the recurring services price? If trap monitoring is a separately compensable item, please advise how it should be priced.

The Government acknowledges the 24-hour monitoring requirement for active humane traps falls outside of core contract working hours. Weekend and holiday visits conducted to check active traps in accordance with PWS §10.4.5 are not included in the flat-rate monthly price for CLIN 0001 (Recurring Pest Control Services).

Instead, these visits shall be compensable under CLIN 0003 (Unscheduled Service Call - After Hours), subject to the following strict guidelines:

Billed Per Visit, Not Per Trap: Compensation is based on a flat "per visit" structure. If multiple traps are deployed and active on base, the Contractor shall check all deployed traps during a single base visit. The Contractor is authorized to bill only one (1) Unscheduled Service Call (After Hours) per calendar day visited, regardless of the number of active traps checked during that visit.

Prior Authorization Required: The Contractor must receive explicit, advance authorization from the COR before deploying any live humane trap that will require weekend or holiday monitoring. This ensures the Government maintains control over the incurrence of these costs.

Coordination to Minimize Visits: The Contractor shall coordinate trap locations and placement schedules with the COR to consolidate trapping efforts and minimize the number of required weekend/holiday visits.

22. FAR 52.222-42, Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires, is identified as an applicable clause, but no completed equivalent-rates table has been provided in the solicitation. SCA Wage Determination 2015- 4405, Rev. 33, identifies Occupation 99410 (Pest Controller) at $18.32/hour as the applicable rate. Will the Government issue a completed FAR 52.222-42 table identifying all applicable SCA labor classifications for this contract, including any classification applicable to lead technicians or supervisory working personnel?

Please use 99410, Pest Controller, at the prevailing wage rates provided in the attached wage determination. No other labor classifications for hourly employees are anticipated for this requirement. However, please keep in mind that 52.222-42 is for informational purposes only and should not limit any quoter's ability to provide a technically acceptable quotation.

23. PWS §3.0 contains two requirements for new-hire licensing that appear to conflict: one states required licenses must be submitted “no later than five (5) workdays after their date of hire,” while the other states “proof of licensing must be provided to the government prior to the employee's first day of work on the installation.” Please clarify: (a) must a new hire possess their NC commercial pesticide applicator license before performing any work on the installation; and (b) does the five-workday provision apply only to submission of documentation, on the understanding that the license itself must already exist prior to the employee's first day on-site?

The Government clarifies that these two requirements are complementary and manage different scenarios during the life of the contract:

1. The "Before First Day of Work" Rule (The Gatekeeper):

This is an absolute safety requirement. Under no circumstances may any contractor employee perform physical work on the installation without a valid North Carolina commercial pesticide applicator license. A copy of this license must be provided to the COR and verified prior to that employee's first day of physical work on the base.

2. The "Five-Workday" Rule (Mid-Contract New Hires):

This rule applies strictly to personnel hired after the contract has already begun (such as replacement technicians or additional staff). When the Contractor hires a new employee for this contract, they must formally submit that employee’s licensing paperwork to the KO and COR within five (5) workdays of their official hire date.

Example: If a new technician is hired on a Monday, their paperwork must be submitted within 5 workdays. However, if that new technician is scheduled to begin physical work on base on Wednesday, the paperwork must still be provided to the COR before they begin work on Wednesday.

24. SF-1449 states the offer due date and time as 14 July 2026, 1200 Local Time, while the SAM.gov posting for this solicitation states an offer due time of 11:59 AM EDT on the same date. Please confirm the controlling submission deadline so offerors can ensure timely receipt of their quotes.

The submission deadline is Noon.