Bid Proposal Questions-Clarifications.pdf

Bid Proposal Questions

RFP: S-DASOBO–00015289 GPS SATELLITE TRACKING COLLARS AND ASSOCIATED

EQUIPMENT FOR VARIOUS SPEC

1. Multiple Providers per Species

Will the State consider awarding more than one provider for products pertaining to a particular species? Yes. The objective of this process is to establish a list of multiple vendors for selection and purchase of relevant equipment.

2. Partial Species Offerings If a manufacturer does not supply products for a specific species (e.g., avian species), will this exclude the manufacturer from consideration for the remaining species categories included in the RFP? No. Not providing all of the listed equipment and options should not preclude a vendor from submitting a Proposal.

3. Order Information Deadlines Upon award, may the manufacturer establish a required deadline for receiving detailed order information? For example, for winter captures scheduled for November– December 2027, may the manufacturer require that all specific details (e.g., VHF frequencies, programming parameters, and collar circumference) be submitted no later than 1 September 2027? Yes. ODFW believes the easiest method for this would be to establish a time frame for production, testing, etc. needed prior to delivery. For example, orders and specifications need placed no less than 4 months prior to needed delivery (the time the vendor needs).

4. Section 2.4.3 – Data Fees Because data fees are based on the number of bytes transmitted and may vary due to remote schedule changes, VIT monitoring, auxiliary transmitters, virtual fencing, mortality messages, and other alerts, will the State accept and be responsible for any resulting increase in data transmission that leads to higher data service fees when such features are selected or activated? Yes. The required estimate is to establish a baseline. The actual data fees should be determined during the ordering process.

5. Section 2.4.6 – Data Service Suspension Does the State agree that if a collar stops transmitting for an extended period (e.g., three weeks), it is the State’s responsibility to contact the manufacturer to request suspension of airtime services? Yes, this is ODFW’s responsibility.

6. Section 2.4.7 – Warranty Start Date & Retrieval Limitations Will the State acknowledge that a. the manufacturer’s warranty period begins upon the State’s receipt of the collars rather than the deployment date, and b. the State will make reasonable efforts to investigate, locate, and document missing collars to verify failures occurring within the warranty period? A. Yes, it is reasonable to begin manufacturer’s warranty at delivery date. B. Yes, ODFW will make reasonable efforts following up on deployed collars. However, for units with complete failure, this may amount to searching the area of the last known data point or area from the unit.

7. Section 2.4.8 – Scope of RFP / Animal Capture Will the State conduct all captures and collar deployments using State personnel, or will these activities be contracted out to a third-party service provider? All ungulate captures are supervised by ODFW staff. Depending on species and target number of animals, actual fitting of collars on animals may be completed by contracted professional capture crews supervised directly by ODFW.

This will also include captures that would be conducted for replacement collars ONLY IF ≥20% of the collars for an order fail and warranty consequences are activated. Final language may be negotiated in the Price Agreement.

8. Section 2.4.9 – Warranty and Failure to Perform- Clarifications

a. Will the State acknowledge that predicted lifespan estimates are calculated at a baseline temperature, and that temperature variations can affect battery performance? Yes.

b. Can the list of non-warranty physical damage events be expanded to include animal behavior for example chewing, fighting, head-butting ect.? Yes. ODFW believes this is reasonable. ODFW would consider this during negotiations of the Price Agreement.

c. Will the State confirm that a lack of transmission caused by the animal dying in a position that obstructs the antenna is not considered a performance failure?

Yes. ODFW believes this is reasonable and may be negotiated in the final Price Agreement.

d. Will the State confirm that if a collar becomes submerged in water, resulting in signal blockage, this is not considered a performance failure? Yes, ODFW believes this is reasonable for this question and can be negotiated in the final Price Agreement

e. Will the State confirm that if the collar is located in terrain or environments that prevent satellite communication (e.g., canyons, crevices, caves, dens, heavy vegetation), this is not considered a performance failure? No: If the unit is not transmitting as a result of any of these conditions, it is an unverifiable situation.

f. Will the State acknowledge that any State-requested changes to program schedules that increase energy consumption and reduce estimated lifespan are not considered performance failures? Yes.

g. Will the State acknowledge that, per the manufacturers written warranty, deployment costs e.g., helicopter or ground capture operations are not covered by the manufacturer’s warranty policy? ODFW agrees that INITIAL DEPLOYMENT COSTS are not part of manufacturer’s warranty. Per warranty conditions in the RFP and resulting contracts, when more than or equal to 20 percent of the collars for an order fail and when warranty consequences are activated deployment costs for replacement collars ARE the responsibility of the vendor. Final language may be negotiated as part of the Price Agreement.

h. If the manufacturer is nevertheless held responsible for deployment costs, will the State provide an itemized, detailed invoice of all related charges? Yes.

9. Section 2.4.10 – Delivery Requirements Will the State confirm that annual delivery timelines will be set on a project-specific basis, and that an order will not be considered placed and production will not begin until a purchase order delivery order and all required information VHF frequencies, program schedules, collar circumference, etc. has been submitted? Yes, orders will be project specific. This also is related to question 3 above. delivery can be set based on specified time frames for development of specifications, production, and testing.

10. Pricing Adjustments Will the State allow for price adjustments over the duration of the contract to account for increases in raw materials and component costs as a result of annual inflation?

Yes. There are annual opportunities for price adjustments.

11. Section 5.1.1 Award- State may award less than full scope of RFP, will the State have multiple awards? For example, proposer A gets scope 1 ungulates & carnivore work and proposer B gets scope 2 small mammals of RFP. Yes.