Questions and Answers for Solicitation.docx

Questions and Answers for Solicitation AG-5680-S-10-0001

1.Could tell me the current contractor and previous award amount for this contract?

Answer:

American Security LLC 1717 University Ave. W.

ST. Paul, MN Award amount was given to each person who contacted the Contracting Officer.

2.What is the response date?

Answer: November 12, 2009 by 2:30 P.M. CST

3. I would like to ask when is the deadline for questions regarding this solicitation.

Answer: There is no deadline. But the response date will not be changed because of questions unanswered. It is suggested that all questions should be asked prior to 12 noon on November 10, 2009.

4. Attachment 3 – Present/Past Performance Questionnaire has a Section A: Contractor Information however, is Section B of the Questionnaire the Contract Performance Sheet and is this sheet to be included with the Questionnaire?

Answer: The Section B was attached to Attachment 2, I will be making an amendment to put out the change to move it to attachment 3

5. After going over the information at hand could we safely assume we are looking at a 4 to 6 manpower job here for Professional Security Officers ?

Answer: How you handle the manpower is your call. You have the requirements and you know your business better than I would. You need to use your experience to figure that one out.

6. The laws of citizen's arrest vary from state to state, and not all require that a felony be committed in order for a person to make a citizen's arrest. In Wisconsin there is no written statute regarding citizen's arrest. There is however case law, and also Wisconsin Supreme Court has utilized Common Law as the basis for a citizen's arrest. Under common law the citizen is able to make a citizen's arrest when they reasonably believe a crime had been committed by a person, the person may flee, the person may continue to commit a crime, or will endanger the public, if the person making the crime has observed the offense or is assisting another person who has summoned assistance in making a citizen's arrest. There are other factors that do not required a felony be committed, and they generally fall under the merchant's protective statutes against retail theft, concealing merchandise, etc.; there is a lot of law and history to support this and I will not take all your time up with them.

If the USDA Forest Products Laboratory is using Exclusive Jurisdiction and contacting the Federal Protective Service or FBI to take custody of an apprehended subject, I would suspect the above holds true for your facility. Since the operating procedures require contacting local law enforcement I believe you are under concurrent Jurisdiction - whereas the Wisconsin Statutes and Case law would be relevant.

In the Standard Operating Procedures - Attachment 5, Section 3, paragraph b, it states;

b. Guards have only the same power of arrest as a private citizen. The guards may arrest, without a warrant, persons reasonably and in good faith believed to be guilty of a felony, where a felony has in fact been committed; and arrest persons committing a felony in their presence. As private citizens, guards have a right to protect their own lives and property and as employees of the Contractor they have a special right to protect the property and personnel of the Government from criminal injuries.

I realized also that as written, it may be confusing - a person may read it as the person being arrested acting reasonably and in good faith.

I've found at various institutions, even police departments there was a belief that only a felony would warrant a citizen's arrest - until clarified by requesting correction for a states attorney, city attorney, etc.

Last, are there currently 2 RFPs - one unarmed officers and another for Armed Officers?

Answer:

Unless there is a mod to change section 3b, you are to assume your power on this campus as a security guard is to have the ability to arrest ONLY those who have committed a felony, even though you have the power to arrest a person committing a misdemeanor crime. The sentence, though a little confusing, should be understood that you are referring to the subject of the sentence, "the guards". When you take out the words between the comma's it makes more sense and is less confusing: "The guards may arrest, without a warrant, persons reasonably and in good faith believed to be guilty of a felony,".

There is only one solicitation out there for unarmed security guards.

7. In order for me to put an accurate package together, can you please tell me some details of how this layer of protection will need to look?

I understand they will be unarmed and will work with existing SOP's. However;

· what are the hours to be covered and what is the number of guards required by SOP (we can determine number of people once we have the hours and size of the project.

· Is it exterior only?

· What else can you tell me to help me put together a comprehensable package for the proposal.

Answer: The hours that need to be covered are from 4:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. Officers need to report at least 10 minutes prior to duty to the COR for briefing and need at least 10 at the end of shift for debriefing. If additional write ups are needed by the officer this needs to be taken into consideration. This equates to approximately 16 hours a day during the week. 24 hours a day on week ends, holiday's (10 ea.), inclement weather, and any other misc. closures i.e code red, additional hours that may be requested by the President or FPL's Director.

We have one post which is the reception desk where our camera and access monitoring station is located. In the past we have had only 1 Officer on site per shift - the shift length is up to the contractor. Contractor will not have personnel work longer than an ten (10) hour shift at a time unless approved by the COR or Contracting Officer in emergency situations. No guard work week shall exceed 60 hours.

Officers are primarily on site to monitor equipment, tours are broken down by area/buildings etc. and must be continually done at least 1 per hour to cover all areas, buildings and parameter. Staff must be at post 10 minutes to the hour. All roving tours are exterior and interior. Interior tours are conducted according to Facilities Engineering required checks, and what needs monitoring according to Scientists and Technical staff this is requested via form that states the length experiment, location of the equipment that is running, and the contact personnel.

All of this information is located in Attachment 4.

We have approximately 22 acres and approximately 12 buildings that are toured. Three of which will be demolished this Spring.

8. Are we able to bid this with Wisconsin License pending?

Answer: The license must be in effect on the day before award, which is anticipated to be mid December, otherwise you would not be eligible.

9. Will the government provide the system that the GEMS will be installed on?

Answer: SECTION C--DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK

To provide unarmed guard services in and around 13 buildings on a 22 acre site at U.S. Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison Wisconsin during non-business hours. The Contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, transportation and supplies, except as identified herein as Government-furnished, to provide unarmed security guard services in accordance with the contract documents and specification indicated in the performance work statement (PWS), the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and all other attachments listed in Section J.

10. Are the guards classified as Guard I or Guard IIs?

Answer: Guard I

11.

· Paragraph 1.1 of the PWS says armed security guards. Are these services armed or unarmed?

· Regarding proposal submission, would you prefer that all required information (price, past performance, etc.) be bound in a single volume, or would you prefer each in a separate volume?

· Is there a Collective Bargaining Agreement in place with the current guard force?

· What is the anticipated award date?

· Is there a vehicle required to perform this work?

· From reading the Performance Work Statement, we interpret that there is just one post, in the main lobby, for a total of 6,656 hours per year. Is this accurate?

Answer:

1. Paragraph 1.1 of the PWS is being changed to reflect unarmed and this will be echoed in an amendment.

2. It makes no difference to me. I will take out the price information prior to evaluation.

3. There is no collective bargaining unit for the guard force.

4. On or about December 15th.

5. Foot patrol.

6. There is one post in the mail lobby of Bldg 1. I calculated it as more. I suggest you might want to recheck you figures and be sure to add in holidays.

12. 1) what are the current personnel requirements per day (how many guards)and during what hours?

2) what equipment if any will we be required to provide in service of the contract

3) for small business concerns will the amount awarded be paid at the time of contract award, on a monthly reimbursement basis, or in some other fashion.

Answer: 1. Refer to Attachment 4 PWS.

2. Refer to Section 4 of Attachment 4, PWS.

3. I suggest you contact the SBA in your area for answers to this question and what it takes to bid on federal government contracts and becoming a certified small business. But to answer your question. You will invoice us monthly, since there may be differences in charges due to Code Red incidents, etc.

13. Is there any kind of system in place already?

If the contractor provides the system, are there additional details regarding the specific system to be installed, or is any system acceptable as long as it meets the specifications in Item 4.1?

Answer: 1.) The current contractor uses the "Pipe" system, this system (keys/location buttons) could be removed when they leave if they choose. We do not specify what manufacturer they use.

2.) The system must meet the specs in Section 4. The COR must approve the locations of buttons and receive a list of where they are located and what route/routes they are incorporated in. If questions come up and as part of quality assurance checks I may request history reports for specific days & times to verify that a Officer was in that area doing checks.

14. The Wage Determination that was included in this solicitation was recently updated on 10/16/09. This new revision – Revision 8 – includes an increase in Guard I pay, as well as an increase in Health and Welfare. Should we use this revised wage determination, or stick with the one included in the solicitation?

Answer: An amendment will change to the current wage determination (Rev. 8).

15. We were looking over the contract again and would like to know if the Roving Patrol is suppose to be on foot, use vehicle, or use bicycle.

Answer: On foot.