Amendment_0001_FNS_Pilot_Program_AG-3198-S-15-0059_7-8-2015.pdf

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OMB Approval 2700-0042

NSN 7540-01-152-8070 30-105 STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

PREVIOUS EDITION UNUSABLE Computer Generated Prescribed by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.24

1. CONTRACT ID CODE PAGE OF PAGES

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT 1 7

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE 4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

001 See Block 16c

6. ISSUED BY CODE 7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6)

CODE

U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service, Contract Management Branch 3101 Park Center Drive, Ste 228 Alexandria Virginia 22302

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No. Street, county, State and ZIP: Code) 9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

AG-3198-S-15-0059

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

CODE 1EFX9 FACILITY CODE 07/8/2015

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers is extended, is not extended.

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

(a) By completing Items 8 and 15, and returning one (1) copy of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted;

or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATA SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and data specified.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required)

N/A

13. THIS ITEM APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS,

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

(4) A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.) SET

FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER Specify type of modification and authority)

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return ____ copies to the issuing office.

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

EVALUATION of the USDA PILOT PROJECT for the PROCUREMENT of UNPROCESSED FRUITS and VEGETABLES

The purpose of this amendment 001 is to incorporate the following:

1) Provide Government answers to questions submitted by interested offerors.

2) Page 26 of the RFP is hereby modified to reflect the correct RFP # to AG-3198-S-15-0059.

Except at provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print) 16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

Thu Vo

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 15C. DATE SIGNED 16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 16C. DATE SIGNED

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

BY _____________________________________________

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

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Evaluation of the USDA Pilot Project for the Procurement of Unprocessed

Fruits and Vegetables Solicitation AG-3198-S-15-0059

Amendment 0001

FOOD NUTRITION SERVICE (FNS) PILOT PROGRAM

Question 1: When does FNS intend to award the contract, within the current fiscal year or later?

Government Answer to Question 1: The Government anticipates to award prior to the current fiscal year ending.

Question 2: The RFP, Section 1.2 (page 3) specifies that base period of performance will be 24 months from the date of award plus two additional 12 month option periods. The base period covers data collection and analysis for two school years, 2015/16 and 2016/17 which makes the completion of the base study within the specified contract period hardly possible.

This contract period is also in contradiction with the Deliverable Schedule (Section 7 of the PWS) which extends to 123 weeks. Could you please clarify?

Government Answer to Question 2: During each year of the base period (and during any elected option periods), the contractor will collect data from State Agencies (SA’s) participating in the pilot program regarding retrospective accounts of their previous school year’s procurement/program activities. The contractor will collect data during SY 2015-16 that pertains to State Agencies’ activities that were conducted during SY 2014-15. In SY 2016-17, the contractor will collect data on SA’s retrospective accounts of activities conducted in SY 2015-16. Given this retrospective approach and the fact that only 8 State Agencies will be contacted so that no OMB clearance is required, there is sufficient time for the contractor to complete the base study within the specified contract period. The required qualitative data in the study (e.g., interviews, focus groups, record review, etc.) must only be obtained from a maximum of 8 State Agencies in any given year during the contract’s period of performance; there is, sufficient time in the base period to collect, to analyze and to report such qualitative data from 8 State Agencies. As stated in the Performance Work Statement, vendors shall specify a timeline for the study that satisfies all requirements. Offerors shall provide a proposed deliverables schedule that allows for all tasks to be completed by the end of the base period in keeping with their proposed methodology.

Question 3: Assuming the contract starts in the current fiscal year (say in September 2015), the second school year, 2016/17 ends in June 2017, there will just two month left to clean organize analyze all data and prepare the report within the 24 month contract period. This also assumes that all quantitative data that FNS provides to the Contractor will be available without delay at the end of the school year. It also will require all qualitative information to

3 | P a g e have been collected while the school year is in process. Will FNS consider revising the base contract period to a longer period?

Government Answer to Question 3: No, please see the answer to question #3. Given the retrospective approach utilized in this study and the fact that only 8 State Agencies will be contacted so that no OMB clearance is required, there is sufficient time for the successful offeror to complete the base study within the specified contract period. The required qualitative data in the study (e.g., interviews, focus groups, record review, etc.) must only be obtained from a maximum of 8 State Agencies in any given year during the contract’s period of performance;

there is, therefore, sufficient time in the base period to collect, to analyze and to report such qualitative data from only 8 State Agencies. Moreover, quantitative data (on the previous school year) will be provided to the successful contractor, as described in the Performance Work Statement pages 10-12 on a schedule that is in keeping with the period of performance and the final deliverables schedule. FNS will obtain each month of these data on a rolling basis throughout the school year; the RFP states that FNS will provide the entire school year’s data to the successful contractor at one time (in the fall of each year). This timing was considered most efficient; if the successful contractor requests data on a rolling basis, FNS will consider such requests.

Question 4: One of the study objectives is to provide “quantity and cost of each type of fruit and vegetable purchased in pilot states.” (PWS, Section3, page 2) Could you please confirm that only fruits and vegetables purchased against entitlement dollars are included and not commercially purchased produce? If this is not the case the Contractor will need data on the commercial purchases of fruit and vegetables.

Government Answer to Question 4: The Government will be evaluating the quantity and cost of each type of fruit and vegetable purchased under the pilot using USDA Foods entitlement dollars. The Government will also review other fruit and vegetable purchases using USDA Foods entitlement dollars, including DoD Fresh. The Government will not review commercial purchases. See pages 10-12 of the Performance Work Statement.

Question 5: The PWS, Section 2, Part A (page 3) states that legislation requires participating States to submit to the Secretary a report on the success of the pilot project in the State. Is there a prescribed format and content of these reports? When will these reports be submitted and will they be made available to the Contractor?

Government Answer to Question 5: The legislation did not prescribe a specific format or content for these reports. However, to meet this requirement, the contractor awarded through this solicitation will be collecting quantitative and qualitative information on behalf of the States, as outlined in the PWS, to determine the success of the pilot in each State. The State’s reporting

4 | P a g e requirement is to be responsive to the contractor in submitting this information; they will not be submitting a separate report.

Question 6: Section 2 of the PWS (page 2) says that the selected pilot states began receiving deliveries in March 2015. This is still school year 2014/15. Could you confirm that the study will begin with data collection for the school year 2015/16?

Government Answer to Question 6: Yes, the study will include data collected since the beginning of the pilot, or school year 2014/2015, where applicable.

Question 7: Not every SFA in each participating State is participating in the pilot project, although the individual SFA participants could vary each year. Does FNS expect comparisons of purchasing data year on year to include participating SFAs exclusively or all SFAs in each State?

Government Answer to Question 7: When looking at fruit and vegetable purchases from before the pilot began, the contractor will be aggregating statewide data, which includes non-participating SFAs. When aggregating data on the specific types and quantities of fruits and vegetables purchased through the pilot, this information will only be applicable for those SFAs participating for that school year. Any changes in fruit and vegetable purchasing patterns in the state will be reflected on a statewide basis, meaning purchases from all SFAs in the state will be included.

a. When comparing the type, amount and value of the produce acquired through the

Pilot Project with the prior years when participating States were not involved in the Pilot Project, will the Contractor be able to garner these figures for the prior year regarding the specific participating SFAs, or will all previous data be for the entire state?

Government Response to (a): The previous data will be for the entire state.

Question 8: Will the volume and value data that FNS will be providing to the Contractor differentiate the programs through which these products have been procured (e.g. Pilot, DoD, USDA Foods)?

Government Answer to Question 8: The source of the information will differentiate from which program fruits and vegetables were procured. For example, the vendor invoices will demonstrate purchases made under the pilot. Data aggregated from Web Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) will have USDA Foods purchases, and data from Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Order Receipt System (FFAVORS) will be for DoD Fresh.

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Question 9: Considering the base contract, does FNS envisage two rounds of qualitative data collection (once for each reviewed school year) or just one round for the whole two year period?

Government Answer to Question 9: Data will be collected in each school year.

Question 10: Request for Proposals (1. Supplies or Services and Prices/Costs, page 3) Does the Food and Nutrition Service have a cost estimate for this effort? Are the optional years also performance-based firm fixed price?

Government Answer to Question 10: The Food Nutrition Service does have a cost estimate for the entire effort. The cost estimate will not be displayed to interested offerors. The optional years will be performance-based firm fixed-priced.

Question 11: Attachment I – Performance Work Statement (PWS) Question: (3.0 Scope of Work, page 2; Part B: Study Design and Methodology, page 10) The PWS states, “Fewer than 8 States may participate at any given time” (page 10) and “The Farm Bill required that the selection of pilot States be based on demonstrated commitment” (page 2). Does this mean that the list of States is subject to changes throughout the pilot?

Government Answer to Question 11: Yes, the list of States is subject to changes throughout the pilot.

Question 12: (3.0 Scope of Work, Part B: Study Design and Methodology, page 10; 6.0 Period of Performance, pages 18–19) On PWS page 10, it explains that “OMB clearance will not be required.” Also, on pages 18–19, it says “the associated deliverables for Year 3 (SY 2017–18) would be a replication of Task 1.1 through Task 1.10 completed for Year 2 (SY 2016–17),” and similar text for Year 4. Therefore, we would like to confirm that this means the scope of work for optional years will be exactly the same as for the first 2 years, including the scale of surveys, the target interviewees, and no OMB clearance requirement, etc.

Government Answer to Question 12: Yes, the scope of work for optional years will be the same as for the base period.

Question 13: (RFP, page 28) The RFP states, “The Contractor shall submit the Quality Control Plan (QCP) with submission of their proposal.” Does this mean that the QCP should be submitted in a separate document or as a section of the proposal?

Government Answer to Question 13: No, the Quality Control Plan shall not be submitted as a separate document.

Question 14: Would FNS clarify the project timeline? The dates covered by the project are unclear:

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• (3.0 Scope of Work, page 2) The PWS states, “It’s the intent to issue a contract for two years of data collection (SY 2015–2016 AND SY 2016–2017).”

• (3.0 Scope of Work, pages 4–8) The PWS refers to school year (SY) 2013–2014 as before the pilot and SY 2014–2015 and SY 2015–2016 as during the pilot.

• (3.0 Scope of Work, page 11) The PWS states, “Total entitlement dollars spent through…for each school year (namely SY 2014–2015, SY 2015–2016, SY 2016– 2017; if the pilot continues, then SY 2017–2018 and SY 2018–2019).”

• (5.0 Tasks, page 17) The PWS states, “The contractor shall prepare a draft, revised, and final report … for each year of the study.”

• (6.0 Period of Performance, pages 18–19) The PWS states, “OPTION 1:

SCHOOL YEAR 2016–2017” and “OPTION 2: SCHOOL YEAR 2017–2018.”

• (7.0 Deliverable Schedule, page 19) The schedule specifies that data collection will occur only once and will not occur until the 51st week post-award, which will be in fall 2016, and that the final report will not occur until the 97th week post-award, which will be in summer 2017.

Therefore, please confirm that:

1. The school years for which data are to be collected under this contract are SY 2013–2014 (before pilot), SY 2014–2015 and SY 2015–2016 (during the pilot, base year), and SY 2016–2017 and SY 2017–2018 (during the pilot, option years).

2. Qualitative data collection will occur for each of the above school years (i.e., collecting data twice in the base year and twice in the option years).

Government Answer to Question 14: See answer to questions #2 and #3. During each year of the base period (and during any elected option periods), the contractor will collect qualitative data from State Agencies participating in the pilot program regarding retrospective accounts of their previous school year’s procurement/program activities. The contractor will collect qualitative data during SY 2015-16 that pertains to State Agencies’ activities that were conducted during SY 2014-15. In SY 2015-16, the contractor will be required to integrate and to analyze all data sources pertaining to SY 2014-15 (which include FNS-provided historical quantitative data for SY 2011-2012, SY 2012-13, SY 2013-14 as well as quantitative data on SY 2014-15 procurement activities, all as described in pages 9-12 of the PWS, plus the qualitative data the contractor collects on SA’s retrospective accounts of SY 2014-15 activities) and provide a report summarizing and drawing valid conclusions from those data. In SY 2016-17, the contractor will collect data on SA’s retrospective accounts of activities conducted in SY 2015-

16. In SY 2016-17, the contractor will be required to integrate and to analyze all data sources pertaining to SY 2015-16 (which include FNS-provided quantitative data on SY 2015-16 procurement activities, as described in pages 9-12 of the Performance Work Statement, plus the qualitative data the contractor collects on SA’s retrospective accounts of SY 2015-16 activities) and provide a report summarizing and drawing valid conclusions from those data, including reliable, valid, actionable comparisons to the results found in the report provided the previous year.

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Page 26 of the RFP is modified to read as follows:

USDA Food Nutrition Service Contract Management Branch, Rm. 228 Solicitation # AG-3198-S-15-0059 Attn: Mr. Kevin Alexander 3101 Park Center Drive Alexandria, VA 22302

The incorrect RFP reference was previously cited.