Attachment_1_Specifications_ Cattle Backtag.pdf

SAM.gov Sources Sought# NVSLSS1142614

SPECIFICATIONS

Material

The cattle backtags shall be made of a waterproof paper stock. The tags shall be white or yellow on the printed side. The tags shall be oval in shape as shown in the example.

The tags shall be of sufficient wet strength and size. An additive shall be added so that the tag will not curl and the black print will not fade or smear when placed in a humidity chamber at 83 degrees Fahrenheit and 83 percent relative humidity for 24 hours.

The tag shall withstand adverse weather conditions (extreme temperatures, rain, snow and high humidity) for a minimum of fourteen (14) days without degradation.

Printing

A. The tag printing requirements are listed below:

• The tags shall be printed on one side. (Side 1)

• Print must be with permanent, black ink and the Font must be the modified Gothic Style.

• Ink must not offset or smear when tags are padded together or when tags are wet.

• Each tag on the reverse side (Side 2) shall be printed in another color to show the placement of the tag on the cow.

• A wallpaper pattern of a cow shall be printed on the reverse side and must have a total of eight characters.

• At the option of the ordering activity, tags shall have either three or four large digits, serially numbered. Refer to the backtag example (page 3).

Example 1. Tags with three large digits shall have a prefix consisting of two numbers and two letters followed by one number, which must be serially numbered with the large digit numbers.

Example 2. Tags with four large digits must have a prefix printed consisting of two numbers and two letters.

B. Character and Numeral Printing Sizes:

• The prefix digits remain constant or change alphabetically with every 10,000 tags. The prefix numbers consist of the following:

The first two characters are numeric and designate the state code The next two characters are alpha and designate either livestock market code or state roll over code The next characters may be either a small numeric or large size number and designates the first serial character in the numeric series (0001-9999) Prefix numbers and letters must be in boldface Gothic Type Style and be 1/4 inch high.

The large 3 or 4 digit numbers must be 1 1/4 inches high and a minimum of 1/4 inch wide boldface There shall be at least 3/16 inch space between each number The number "l" shall be vertical with no protrusion to the left

EXAMPLE 1: CATTLE BACK TAG 3 DIGIT / 4 DIGIT

EXAMPLE 2

State Color Designations

Based on where the tags will be used, this will dictate the color of the tag.

(States may choose white or yellow for special projects)

YELLOW TAGS

Alaska New Jersey Arizona North Dakota Arkansas Oklahoma California Oregon Colorado Pennsylvania Indiana Puerto Rico Iowa South Dakota Louisiana Tennessee Michigan Texas Minnesota Virginia Montana West Virginia, Wisconsin

WHITE TAGS

Alabama Nebraska Connecticut New Hampshire Delaware New Mexico Florida New York Georgia Nevada Hawaii North Carolina Idaho Ohio Illinois Rhode Island Kansas South Carolina Kentucky Utah Maine Vermont Maryland Washington

Massachusetts Wyoming Mississippi Missouri

Bar Codes

There shall be two bar codes 1 13/16 to 2 inches long and 7/16 inches high. The bar codes shall be clearly distinguishable from the large numbers with at least 1/8 inch clearance. The bar codes shall be 39 and have a density of 6 characters per inch. The bar coding shall meet the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards grade of “B” or better.

Numeric values are assigned to each Code 39 character:

0-0 F-15 U-30 1-1 G-16 V-31 2-2 H-17 W-32 3-3 I-18 X-33 4-4 J-19 Y-34 5-5 K-20 Z-35 6-6 L-21 “-36 7-7 M-22 ‘-37 8-8 N-23 Space-38 9-9 O-24 $-39 A-10 P-25 /-40 B-11 Q-26 +-41 C-12 R-27 %-42 D-13 S-28 E-14 T-29

The check digit is the modulus 43 sum of all the character values in a given message and is printed as the last data character. The output of the bar code reader will not indicate or record the check digit which in our example _T_. For example the sum of the values of the following data would be:

Data: 12345ABCDE/Sum of Value=1+2+3+4+5+10+11+12+13+14+40+115 115/43=2 remainder 29.

The check digit is the character corresponding to the value of the remainder, which in this example is 29 or “T”.

The data above with its check digit reads: 12345ABCDE/T.

Binding/Packaging

The tags shall be in pads of 50 with adhesive bound on one edge. A gauze strip at least one inch wide and extending the depth of the pad shall be part of the binding. The tags in each pad must be in numerical sequence.

Orders will indicate the sequence of numbers and letters required. Delivery orders may be placed for less than a complete series of 10,000 tags. Since, some locations use two identical tags on each animal, delivery orders may require a duplicate number sequence.

Oval Tags

The tags shall be oval in shape 3 inches high by 3¾ inches wide. The long dimension of the tag shall be parallel to the grain of the paper. The large 3 or 4 digit numbers shall be positioned in the middle of the tag. A solid black bar, 1/8 inch high shall be 1/8 inch below the bottom bar code. On the left end of the tag the legend “State-Federal” shall be printed. On the right end of the tag the legend “Do Not Remove” shall be printed. The legend printing shall be 1/8 inches high. Production date printed center bottom.

The prefix shall be printed in the upper arc:

Example 3 digit tag Example 4 digit tag

82 OK 1 82 OK

BAR CODE BAR CODE

101 1001

BAR CODE BAR CODE

PRODUCTION DATE PRODUCTION DATE

ORDERING PROCEDURES – JUST IN TIME

The State offices will order backtags directly from the manufacturer. The method to be employed is frequently referred to as “Just In Time” (JIT). Using this method little or no stock of backtags are maintained at the central warehouse. Production is initiated to fill an order at the time the order is placed with the contractor; the tags are produced and delivered in a rapid manner.

On-line Ordering Capabilities The contractor shall provide online ordering capability for as many as 65 users, at least 5 simultaneously, 20 hours a day 5 days a week, except for Federal holidays. The contractor shall check for pending orders by 9:00 am and 1:30 pm daily Monday through Friday.

Just In Time Delivery The contractor shall be responsible for shipping backtags to as many as 1200 different markets across the United States within 48 hours after receipt of an order. Emergency orders must be shipped within 24 hours after receipt of an order using Next Business Day delivery depending upon instructions received at the time the order is placed. If an emergency order exceeds 5,000 tags the contractor can split the order by shipping the first 5,000 tags within 24 hours with the remaining amount to be shipped within 48 hours.

The number of emergency orders will vary from year to year. The contractor shall be responsible for all shipping costs incurred. If tags are recalled for any defects, the contractor is responsible to pick up tags and replace at their expense. Contractor is not responsible/replacement for any tags produced after 12 months.

Sequence of Tags

The contractor shall be responsible for maintaining a tracking system to record the alpha and numerical sequence of tags designated for each state. The tracking system must record each order by sequence (beginning and ending), date ordered, date shipped, ship to addresses and requesting location if different from the ship to address. The contractor shall be responsible for tracking and allocating the next available alpha and numerical sequence to be printed and shipped to each market.

Ship-to Addresses Address file or organization codes will be a 6-7 digit number, beginning with an alpha Z and five (5) or six

(6) numeric digits, in most cases. This number and associated address will be provided by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). New and updated addresses will be provided to the contractor from the COR. The contractor must have the capacity to maintain 3,000 individual address files.

Mistakes In Shipping The contractor will arrange for call pick up tags shipped in error. Replacement/Correct tags will be shipped as an emergency for the next business day. The emergency production and transportation cost for tags shipped in error will be the contractor’s responsibility.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Historical Data Upon request, the contractor will provide a report of all activity on this contract concerning cattle backtag shipments. This data will include information for the NSN, quantity shipped, date shipped and shipping vendor.

Transaction Reports The contractor shall be responsible for the transaction reports detailing shipments on a regular basis. The reports are to include the number of shipments processed, the NSN, the sequence (beginning and ending) of the tags manufactured and shipped, the date shipped, the ship to address and the requesting location if different from the ship to address. The reports are to be provided as follows:

NVS Logistics Chief Monthly USDA, State Office Monthly Contracting Officer Monthly COR Monthly

SHIPPING REQUIREMENTS

Packing Slip

Each shipment shall include a packing slip attached to the outside of one box and enclosed in a protective plastic pouch. The packing slip shall identify the contract number, delivery order number, item stock number, description and quantity shipped. See Section 2.6.2 below.

Packaging and Marking

DELIVERY TASK ORDER NO: 12639520F0001 (EXAMPLE FORMAT)

STOCK NUMBER: Z888-4S-0-9-74DK

QUANTITY: 10 M

DESCRIPTION: Cattle Backtags

Quality Control

The contractor shall maintain a quality control program to ensure the quality and appropriateness of the ordering and manufacturing process. This will be randomly tested through the use of government supplied date and test scenarios. The test scenarios will test the ability of a user to access the system remotely to place an order, inquire as to the status of an order, and to retrieve other information related to past order placement in the system. Factors that will be evaluated include, but are not limited to, ease of use, look and feel of the interface and responsiveness of the system to user commands or queries. These test scenarios will be performed by government personnel. System failures or inadequacies will be documented and the contractor, at the government’s discretion, shall be provided a mutually agreeable amount of time to remedy these inadequacies. Additional evaluation factors include use of APHIS standard software (ex. ORACLE) and proposed hardware platforms (ex. Windows NT Intel based server, IBM RISC based technology (ex. RS6000 with AIX). The test scenarios will be performed by government personnel.

System failures or inadequacies will be documented and the contractor, at the government’s discretion, shall provide an automated system the contractor shall mitigate all legacy data to the new system. The contractor shall provide training and /or instructions for users to access the system.

Upon the Government’s receipt and communication to the contractor of any defective tags, Contractor will provide a corrective action plan to the Government for approval including, but not limited to, causation, remedies and corresponding timelines confirming the issue will be addressed and resolved.

Contractor shall also provide a QC contact upon award. Government requires thirty (30) days’ notice of any changes to QC contact along with new contact information.