Amendment 2 including QandA.docx

Illinois Department of Human Services RFP Mailroom Inserter Solution BidBuy Ref # 23402 Amendment #2

The following confirmations were requested

· Please confirm the peak daily volume is 220,000 Cannot confirm this is the peak volume – we have multiple “peak” periods each calendar year and 220,000 may not be the most we process on any given day

· Please confirm that all applications are number 10 envelope Confirmed

· Please confirm that the current manual insertion is 25 to 150 per week and is a nice to have feature to do on the inserter Confirmed

· Please confirm that 360C is 70% of the monthly volume Confirmed

· Please confirm 6 insert Feeders are required Confirmed

· Please confirm everything is 8 1/2 x 11 cut sheet Confirmed

· Please confirm no metering is required Confirmed

· Please confirm OMR is the only reading technology required and Barcode and 2D are a nice to have Confirmed

· Please confirm that the pricing should include 1 year of parts and labor and the 5 year parts warranty isn’t a requirement Not Confirmed. Please refer to Amendment #1 revision to RFP.

· Please confirm that the address page is always in the top 1/3 of the document Confirmed

· Please confirm the OMR code is always on all pages Non read letters do not have the OMR, which is single page. These job streams intentionally leave off the OMR Read-mark because we know that there are no multi-page notices within this type of run.

· Please confirm both a C-Fold and Z-Fold are acceptable Confirmed

· Please confirm that all jobs are 20lb paper Confirmed

· Please confirm an electronic floor plan can be sent to all Confirmed, see attachments

· Please confirm face down foot first 1-X is the way the jobs are presented to the inserter and the address page is the first page collated Confirmed

· Please confirm that the Job Description sheet shows information for pages in job, inserts used and positions of insert feeders to be used Non read letters do not have the OMR, which is single page. These job streams intentionally leave off the OMR Read-mark because we know that there are no multi-page notices within this type of run.

· Please confirm throughout/hour is the main goal Confirmed

· As an example- of a 7 physical pages in a complete set. 4 pages would be grouped together (subset) and folded, then three pages grouped together and folded and then all 7 physical pages (13 or 14 images) are put into the envelope.

Confirmed

Questions & Answers

1. What is the maximum number of physical sheets processed manually in the flats envelope?

Twenty-four (24)

2. You mention that the hours of operation is from 7AM to 4PM, however inserting is for a 5 hour period. Does this 5 hour period of time already take into account the change overs or any other machine idle time? Or is that why the 8 hours of operation is 5 hours of production, since it’s already factored in?

Down time is not factored in the 5 hours of production time.

3. Is a side or end flap for flats acceptable?

End flap is current environment; we will confirm if side-flap could be utilized in lieu. Please Continue to monitor BidBuy for upcoming clarification.

4. Do you have any page distribution information for the 360C? Example…X% is one page, X% is two pages, X% is 3 pages…etc X% is 10 pages?

We will ask the Statewide IES team if they can get us a percentage breakout of the 360C page-count… Please continue to monitor BidBuy for upcoming clarification.

5. What is the maximum number of physical pages required to fit in a number 10 envelope 8 with a return envelope

6. You mentioned 6 inserts are processed one job (can’t recall name of job) What is the maximum number of physical sheets processed in this job.

6 Duplexed

7. Main Bid Doc. page 25, Section D.2.2 states “…Capable of outperforming the eight (8) currently in service…” Can you please specify what the current performance is?

Current performance is over two million pieces of mail each month. Due to variation in jobs and demand, the actual performance fluctuates.

8. During the Pre-Submission Conference, OBS Director Paul Hartman, Jr. clarified the need for six (6) insert feeders in addition to the main document channel. Can you please clarify that the need is to feed/collate and fold the main OMR coded documents (up to 20 duplex pages / 10 physical pages) PLUS six (6) other inserts (i.e. Reply envelope + up to 5 other inserts)?

Yes, the need is to feed/collate and fold the main OMR coded documents (up to 20 duplex pages / 10 physical pages) PLUS six (6) other inserts (i.e. Reply envelope + up to 5 other inserts).

9. During the Pre-Submission Conference, it was mentioned by Jean that 2 attestations were not applicable. I believe D.2.2.5.1 was mentioned. Can you please clarify which attestations and not applicable?

In responding to Section D.2.2.5, please note the following:

· No response is required to D.2.2.5.1.

· The Attestation attachment titled Commitment to Diversity Revenue Statement is required as a response to D.2.2.5.3. This was attached to the solicitation in BidBuy.

· The Attestation attachment titled Commitment to Diversity Leadership Identification Statement is required as a response to D.2.2.5.5. This was attached to the solicitation in BidBuy.

10. During the Pre-Submission Conference, Jean mentioned that there would be BEP goal (1st of 5 items). Can you please clarify this?

There is no BEP Goal on this solicitation.

11. During the Pre-Submission Conference, OBS Director Paul Hartman, Jr. mentioned the need for increased speed on the inserters. Specifically how many documents can your current systems feed/collate per hour/per system? How many envelopes can be inserted per hour/per system?

Current performance is over two million pieces of mail each month. Due to variation in jobs and demand, the actual performance fluctuates.

12. During the Pre-Submission Conference, the 1-year warranty on labor and 5-year warranty on parts was discussed. Can you please clarify if we understand the verbal agreement that this will be adjusted to “1-year warranty of service labor and 1-year warranty on Parts”? A longer term maintenance support contract will be negotiated post installation that will cover parts on-going for a longer term. This is the normal requirement under certain government purchasing contracts for this sort of equipment.

Please refer to Amendment #1 revision to RFP.

13. During the Pre-Submission Conference several hand-outs were provided including document & envelope samples along with OMR mark code breakdown. Can you please send all vendors an electronic copy of these hand-outs including dimensions if possible? Not all vendors got the same handouts.

Please refer to Amendment #1 Attachments 1-3.

14. A manufacturer's warranty typically only covers defects for a period of time. Are you looking to include all parts and related labor regardless of defect vs. normal wear and tear, to include service maintenance for year one? If so, do you want this provided as on-call vs. on-site basis? Please advise.

On-call will not provide the coverage that is needed to ensure equipment “up-time”. We currently have on-site service on a daily basis – that is the continued requirement. Parts provided should include defect and normal wear/tear – this is our current environment, and we want it moving forward.

15. Can the inserter configurations being proposed vary to provide production flexibility or do all inserters proposed need to be exact mirror images of each other?

The ask is that all proposed equipment can run all the jobs – our current equipment does not have that capability and we can only run certain jobs on certain machines. This is problematic as there are times when we backlog jobs because we simply don’t have enough equipment capable of running it…it does us no good to purchase new equipment that cannot run all the jobs we have.

16. Currently flats (10x13) jobs are being inserted manually. Do vendors need to provide solution to automate flats? If so, can one or two inserters be 10x13 capable or should all inserters proposed be 10x13 capable?

Flats are not a significant percentage of our production, so I don’t see the need for all inserters to be flat capable. If vendors choose to offer an automated flat solution, I would suggest that 2 inserters have the capability (redundancy), but the primary focus should be on “standard” inserting into #10 envelopes. That is the critical throughput needed.

17. Is the flats (10x13) work barcoded with OMR to allow automation?

Yes – they have OMR marks

18. Currently the flats (10x13) jobs are inserted into 10x13 envelopes with the flap on the short side. Can you confirm that the flap can be moved to the long side as required for automating? We are working to confirm, but I don’t see an issue moving from an end flap to a side flap if that allows automation.

Attachments 2 .pdf files with floorplans

Resources Technical or administrative questions on the RFP should be directed to:

Jean Sandstrom, Agency Procurement Officer Jean.sandstrom@illinois.gov Phone: 217-557-9298