QA Fire Alarm FY20 13 Dec 19.pdf

Questions and Answers

JB Charleston Fire Alarm

1. Heat detectors are only required to be functionally tested Bi-Annually. Can you please provide clarification? ANSWER: Heat detectors are required to be tested with a heat source every two years per UFC 3-600-2, table 2-1 (biennially not Bi-Annually).

2. In PWS Section C.3.3.13 its mentions additional testing above the requirements of the UFC 3-

601-02: The UFC states that if there is a difference between the UFC and NFPA that the UFC will take precedence unless designated AHJ (HQ AFCESA/CEO and NAVFACENGCOM HQ-CHE) provide additional written technical guidance. The UFC only requires Diesel Fire Pumps to be inspected/tested monthly instead of the NFPA 25 weekly inspection/testing. ANSWER: This work is requested as an over and above of the UFC not in conflict with the UFC. Maintenance for all diesel driven fire pumps and electrical pumps that have back-up diesel driven generators shall be performed IAW NFPA 25 Table 8.2 standards in addition to UFC standards.

3. Can you provide copy of technical guidance from AHJ for the UFC Testing Deviation? ANSWER:

No deviation. This work is requested as an over and above of the UFC not in conflict with the

UFC. Maintenance for all diesel driven fire pumps and electrical pumps that have back-up diesel driven generators shall be performed IAW NFPA 25 standards in addition to UFC standards.

4. Can you confirm when the 2 year, 5 year, annual inspections were performed on the fire alarm system, fire sprinkler system , Pre-action, Fire Pumps and Foam Systems? ANSWER: Fire Pump 5 year inspections were performed in 2016. TWCF facilities 2 year inspections were perform in

2019, O&M facilities had annual inspections in 2019. Currently in fiscal year 2020 that started

1 Oct 2019, O&M facilities have been getting 2 year inspections and TWCF facilities have been receiving annual inspections. All testing performed on these systems in the past was in accordance with UFC standards.

5. Will the contractor be responsible to provide NICET Level 2, 3 & 4 personnel in Fire Alarm, Fire

Sprinkler, Special Hazards Systems? ANSWER: Contractor will be required to have personnel qualified to perform the work request by PWS.

6. Is there any designated office area for the contractor? ANSWER: No.

7. Can you provide the list or number of bldgs. that require a lift to perform inspections? Also can you provide approximate lift height that would be required to access the devices? ANSWER: All hangers will require a lift to perform inspections (designated on facility sheet, lift height can be anywhere from 60 to 80 feet). Hangars listed in price sheet.

8. Is the flow of Foam required under this contract or is flow of water thru foam generators acceptable? ANSWER: Flowing foam is required every two years by UFC 3-600-2 Table 2-9.

9. Will an escort be available to assist with access to complete the inspections? Answer: Escorts will be provided when entering restricted areas.

10. Are there any buildings (child development centers, AAFES, etc…) That require inspection/testing to be performed after normal hours? ANSWER: No.

11. Foam System Testing – Can you please clarify the expectations for the foam testing. ANSWER:

See UFC 3-600-2 Table 2-9.

12. Will foam sample testing by a 3rd party laboratory analysis be included in this contract?

ANSWER: Yes, see UFC 3-600-2 Table 2-9.

13. When flowing foam, will we be able to flow into the hangar and onto the flight line as needed?

Or do we need to have a waste truck to collect foam? ANSWER: You will be able to flow into the hangar into the drainage system wash down of hanger floor expected after flow of foam.

14. Please verify that sprinkler and suppression are also included in this contract. ANSWER: Yes, see

PWS.

15. Please verify that the contractor can email the proposal/bid to the contracting office and not require a hard copy to be mailed. ANSWER: Under section (xv) the solicitation states three ways responses can be submitted, “Response to this combined synopsis/solicitation with attached pricing sheet and associated attachments must be received via email, mail, or delivery by 17 December 2019, no later than 4:00 PM EST.”

16. Please explain what badging will be necessary for each base and each individual area of the contract on that base? ANSWER: A Base Access Badge for all four geographically separated areas of Joint Base Charleston, A Badge for All NIWC Atlantic facilities, A Badge for Nuclear

Propulsion Training Unit.

17. Can you clarify the expectation to be onsite for an emergency call? ANSWER: see PWS Section

C.2.1.2. Service Calls.

18. Please explain the process for an emergency call – when the contractor is called for an emergency, is an estimate written in the first 2 hours? Is it written after showing up on site? Is it realistic to expect the contractor to be able to get a written quote within 2 hours? What detail is needed in this quote? If pricing is needed from a vendor for parts, this may not be possible, what is the process for delaying this quote process? ANSWER: Emergency repair quotes must be submitted within two hours of arrival onsite. When repair status can be downgraded from emergency to urgent the contractor will have 4 days to respond with a written estimate for full repair.

19. Scope of Work - Service Calls The previous contract had a limit of liability. Does this contract have a limit of liability? ANSWER: See PWS section C.2.1.2. Service Calls.

20. Once this repair quote has been presented and approved by the COR & CO, the work is performed. Do we bill for the actual time & material per the contract labor rate and material markup or do we bill for the amount on the repair quote? ANSWER: Accepted proposal/quote is a not to exceed, if additional materiel or time is required, a revision prior to completion must be submitted for further approval.

21. Scope of Work – C.3.3.12 – Fixed Hourly Rates – Please verify that all service work in addition to the inspection will be billed at the fixed hourly rates. Answer: Yes.

22. Scope of Work – C.3.3.12 – Fixed Hourly Rates – Please verify that there is no service work included in the inspection part of this contract (base contract) and that this will be billed in addition to that cost. Scope of Work – C.3.3.13 – Inspection, Testing, Maintenance – Please clarify what is meant by the following in this paragraph

a. Minor adjustments

b. Re-programming

c. Minor Consumable Parts Replacement

ANSWER: No, however, service calls may be a direct result of findings during an inspection.

See PWS section C.2.1.2. Service Calls for thresholds.

23. NFPA Standards for fire pumps – this contract is in accordance with the UFC, how can this item be included for fire pumps – does this mean weekly and monthly pump runs? ANSWER: Yes, this work is requested as an over and above of the UFC not in conflict with the UFC. Maintenance for all diesel driven fire pumps and electrical pumps that have back-up diesel driven generators shall be performed IAW NFPA 25 standards in addition to UFC standards.

24. e. Fire pumps – is the contractor responsible for the diesel engine maintenance also? ANSWER:

Yes in accordance with NFPA 25 table 8.2

25. Scope of Work – C.3.3.16 – Please specify the time limit referenced in this section? ANSWER:

See PWS section C.2.1.2 Service Call item (c) for response times.

26. Scope of Work – C.3.3.23 – Service Call – when are we supposed to respond to an emergency call? Does the COR give the work order at the time the emergency call is called in to the contractor? Please explain this process, so that we can understand the required response.

ANSWER: See PWS section C.2.1.2 Service Call item (c) for response times and See Service Call

Priority, C.3.3.23.1. Through C.3.3.23.3.

27. Can you verify that fire pumps are to be tested in accordance to NFPA frequency? If yes, please verify that Diesels are weekly and electric are monthly runs. ANSWER: All testing is to be done in accordance with NFPA 25 table 8.2 in addition to UFC requirements

28. Can you please provide more information on the Foam systems that are listed for the following buildings: Hangar 63, 515, 519, 532, 570, 578, 700, Hazmat (NWS)? ANSWER: See RFQ combined synopsis/solicitation document Exhibit 1.

29. The pricing worksheet has a line item for “Foam” – does this refer to all of the foam in a building or by each foam riser? ANSWER: This refers to that particular building having a foam system.

30. Can you please provide more information on the Chemical systems that are listed for the following buildings: Bldg. 108 C17 Flight Simulator, 206 NWS – Safety, 652, 3196 NWS – Army

Admin, 2314-IDE? ANSWER: See RFQ combined synopsis/solicitation document Exhibit 1.

31. Can you also verify the frequency of the chemical inspections as 2 inspections per year, one

Semi-Annual inspection and one Annual inspection? ANSWER: All frequencies are identified in the PWS, UFC, and/or NFPA 25. All inspections must be performed in accordance with identified regulations/codes/instructions provided.

32. The pricing worksheet has a line item for “chemical” systems, are we to provide an average cost, as these can vary tremendously depending on the size? ANSWER: See pricing sheet for the number of systems, brand of system, and per building square footage per building for size.

33. Please confirm that all heat detectors and duct detectors located above drop ceilings have been included on equipment list and that they must be tested on frequency above. ANSWER: The equipment list is accurate to the best of our knowledge; however, discrepancies over 10% may be submitted for an equitable adjustment.

34. Combo reads “This is a small business set-aside and the offeror must be a Small Business”.

Therefore, due to the set-aside nature of this solicitation and to ensure qualified offerors have the best opportunity to compete, teaming arrangements and joint ventures are excluded from this competition. The Government will not evaluate any proposal from a team or joint venture.

Can you please verify if this means the small business offeror must use their own past performance and cannot use the past performance of a subcontractor, as they are not in an official business relationship? ANSWER: Any potential Offeror must use their own past performance.

35. Please verify if a subcontractor can be utilized by a small business to perform work on this contract. ANSWER: Yes.

36. Please verify the percentage of work that the awarded small business contractor much perform with its own employees and what percentage they can subcontract to a large business.

ANSWER: See IAW FAR 52.219-14(c)(1) Limitations on Subcontracting.

37. Can you please clarify the responsibility of the contractor for the frequency of testing included under this contract per the UFC 3-601-02? Does it include all of the following Frequency tasks:

Annual, 2 year, 5 year, 10 year, 20 year, 50 year? ANSWER: See UFC 3-601-02 for required frequencies. Due dates of testing for each individual unit will vary based on their last testing date and due date for testing.

38. If all of these frequencies in the previous question are included in this contract, can you please provide additional information on when these frequency ITM tasks were performed for each system? ANSWER: See UFC 3-601-02 for required frequencies. Due dates of testing for each individual unit will vary based on their last testing date and due date for testing.

39. If all of these frequencies in the previous question are included in this contract, can you please provide additional information on the years of original installation of the systems? ANSWER:

Selected awardee will be afforded a transition time and more detailed information will be available at the pre performance meeting after award.

40. The UFC requires different items to be inspected on the annual/2 year inspection – can you tell us what frequency this contract will begin with? Annual or 2-year inspection? ANSWER:

Inspection time will vary based on individual equipment and previous inspection time.

41. Can you please clarify how we will bill the inspections for this contract? Do we bill by the unit that we inspected each month? ANSWER: Invoices will be submitted monthly by facility and in accordance with DFARS 252.232-7003.

42. Can you please clarify how we will address if the devices/equipment in the building are different than what is in this contract? ANSWER: See response to question #34.

43. Do we inspect all of the equipment and bill for the difference or only inspect what is on the contract and bill for that? ANSWER: See response to #42

44. The line items are missing the information on the booster power supplies, control relays, elevator recall, releasing panels, foam tanks, vesda systems, linear heat detection. Can line items be added and additional detail on how the items are defined? ANSWER: No, detailed information on these items are not pertinent to pricing however would be made available during pre-performance conference after award.

45. The square footage for the building is missing for several buildings. As this is a line item for pricing, we will need this for each building. ANSWER: The revise pricing Sheet removed the line item for square footage.

46. Pricing Sheet – Instructions – This only references Table 2-1 for Fire Detection and Alarm

Systems, this needs to reference the other sections that also apply as part of this contract.

ANSWER: Pricing sheet references UFC 3-600-2 and NFPA 72 (Table 8.2 diesel fire pumps) the instructions were merely stating that smoke detectors will not be inspected as stated in UFC 3-

601-02; Table 2-1.

47. There are several buildings across the base that will require a lift (example 515 with 9 pre-action in the roof at 60ft). There is no line items for lift rental and no way to build this into the existing equipment as listed on this price sheet, as it is not detailed in the equipment breakdown. Will this be billed separately as part of the “subcontractor markup”? if not, how do we add this into our pricing? ANSWER: See response to question #7.

48. Pricing Sheet – General Questions – Not all systems are of equal value on this contract, for example, not all wet systems should be the same cost. How do we incorporate the down time waiting for access to certain facilities (example – access to NPTU & SPAWAR)? Is this time to be added into the line item pricing or will it be billed in addition to the inspection cost of the system? ANSWER: Prescheduling inspections in advance for more secure areas should be accomplish to avoid wait times. Points of contact information for NIWC Atlantic, NPTU and other secure facilities will be given during pre performance conference. If wait time is caused by a customer, an equitable adjustment can be requested.

49. Can you please extend the contract for a minimum of 10 business days after answers to these questions for proper pricing and proposals to be completed? ANSWER: Questions/responses did not significantly change the requirement. However, a revised pricing sheet has been provided and a two-day extension has been granted.

50. No CLINS are available for variables such as drive time between facilities, drive time between bases, WH347 manpower reporting, required training, access issues etc. Shall the contractor bury these costs into each CLIN? ANSWER: All pricing should be based on fully burdened rates.

51. Control valves are detailed however these should be a part of the annual inspection for each sprinkler riser, is the government wanting a breakout pricing of each? ANSWER: Control valves only require verification of valve position annually according to UFC 3-600-2 Also, every two years operate valve through entire travel to verify function & lubricate valve stem.

52. No, 5 year internal obstruction testing is detailed despite this being a base plus 4 option year contract, does the government know when the 5 year internal obstruction testing is required and if so will a CLIN be available to detail such pricing? ANSWER: No Internal obstruction inspections are required for the type sprinkler systems on Joint base Charleston. Reference UFC

3-601-02.

53. PWS states both NFPA and UFC, shall the contractor defer to UFC in regards to any conflicts?

Especially taking into consideration the fire pumps as frequencies for testing and maintenance differ. ANSWER: Contractor shall defer to the UFC except as written in PWS Section C.3.3.13.

Inspection, Testing, Maintenance “….Maintenance for all diesel driven fire pumps and electrical pumps that have back-up diesel driven generators shall be performed IAW NFPA 25 standards in addition to UFC standards”