A19 Questions and Responses.pdf

QUESTIONS & RESPONSES

75D30124R73073

NWSS MULTI-PATHOGEN ASSAY DEVELOPMENT, OPTIMIZATION, VALIDATION, AND

SUPPORT

1. Are appendices allowed in the submission? Examples for appendix items include:

a. Section 508 check list and/or Accessibility Conformance Report

b. Vendor quotations

c. Personnel resumes/CVs

d. IFUs (Volume I Sub-Factor 3)

RESPONSE: Yes, appendices are allowed.

2. Should resumes/CVs be added within the technical approach or as an appendix?

RESPONSE: Resumes/CVs may be submitted as an appendix.

3. Should Section 508 checklist and/or Accessibility Conformance Report be submitted as a separate document or within Volumes I or II?

RESPONSE: The 508 Checklist and/or Accessibility Conformance Report may be submitted as a separate document.

4. Regarding “…. any additional digital PCR instruments that are added as an Optional Task for additional platform optimization and validation activities shall also be added to Base Task platform optimization and validation services in subsequent years” – should the offeror adjust time & materials for subsequent years to assume at least one additional digital PCR platform will be added?

RESPONSE: For solicitation response purposes, assume that one additional digital PCR instrument will be purchased under CLIN 0003 during the base period and utilized for Option Periods 1-4. The total not to exceed amount is $195,000.00 for the CLIN 0003. CLINs 1003, 2003, 3003, and 4003 shall have an extended price of $0.00. CLINs 0001, 1001, 2001, 3001, and 4001 shall include the labor costs for processing using the additional digital PCR instrument. CLINs 0002, 1002, 2002, 3002, and 4002 shall include the other direct costs for processing using the additional digital PCR instrument.

5. Related to the above question, should the extended proposal specify a ‘not to exceed’ value to account for the potential additional instruments?

RESPONSE: No

6. What are examples of ‘Other Direct Costs’ that are differentiable from separately listed time and materials?

RESPONSE: Other direct costs are materials required to complete the work. Examples include, but are not limited to, dPCR reagents (master mix with primers and probes), dPCR controls and reference material, and dPCR consumables (tips, tubes, plates, etc.).

7. Should the price proposal include equipment, such as dPCR platform, purchase(s)?

RESPONSE: The proposals will be evaluated on the practicality and feasibility of completing the work in the contract, and it must be clearly stated in the proposal that the dPCR platforms will be available at the beginning of the period of performance. If dPCR platforms need to be purchased in order to perform the work then they should be included in the Price Proposal. Evaluation Criteria, Factor 1 / Sub-Factor 1 states, “The proposal will be evaluated to determine the capability of the offeror to design, develop, optimize and validate multiplexed digital PCR-based assays for up to 30 targets and controls per period of performance cycle for the Bio-Rad QX series droplet digital PCR platform, Qiagen Qiacuity series digital PCR platform, and the Roche Digital LightCycler System.”

8. Are vendor quotations allowed in the submission? If so, which section should include quotations?

RESPONSE: Yes, vendor quotations are allowed. If included, the vendor quotations shall be included in Volume II, Price Proposal.

9. Which sequencing platform is preferred for tiled amplicon design verification and validation?

RESPONSE: There are no preferred sequencing platforms. However, the proposals will be evaluated on the feasibility of the validated primers to provide immediate contributions to public health laboratories platforms.

10. Could you please provide the current / previous contract number?

RESPONSE: The previous contract number is 75D30122P15161.

11. Are the project requirements such that all 30 assays must be developed, optimized, and validated across all three platforms (Bio-Rad, Qiagen, Roche) within the first year, or across the potential 5-year lifecycle of the contract?

RESPONSE: Yes, the project requires the ability to develop, optimize, and validate up to 30 assays per period of performance of the contract.

12. Is it expected that contractors will validate every assay across all three specified platforms (Bio-Rad, Qiagen, Roche), or do they only need to demonstrate the ability to do so for each of the 30 assays if needed?

RESPONSE: All assays will need to be validated on all three platforms.

13. Do contractors retain ownership of intellectual property of the developed assays?

RESPONSE: The contractor will not retain ownership of the intellectual property of developed, optimized, and validated assays. The developed assays are to be publicly available to our NWSS public health testing labs to increase our nations wastewater testing capacity.