Amendment 2 - Questions-Answers.doc

Questions - Answers - USAID FFP-10-000088 - Worldwide Pre-Position Warehouse & Logistics Services Solicitation:

1.) The warehouse that will store the food items does it necessarily have to be located inside the Port Area? FAS Rail/Dock? Can it be located outside the port area?

The requirement for the U.S. Gulf region storage facility under this solicitation is for the vendor to provide a warehouse facility at an F.A.S. ocean position, serviced by direct rail (with siding(s)) able to handle large volume(s) of rail cars, have the ability to load break-bulk cargo vessels with loose bags and/or boxed cargoes at a minimum load rate of 1,800 metric tons per day, and be able to stuff a minimum of forty five 20ft containers per day for export.

2.) How many rail cars would be handled at any one time? With what frequency will rail cars be handled?

There is not a defined number requirement for the handling of rail cars under this solicitation, however for planning purposes a typical USAID/USDA pre-position commodity purchase would require the vendor to possess the ability to receive between 1,000 and 25,000 metric tons of commodity(s) within a given month.

3.) How much space will you require to have for temperature controlled cargoes. What are the temperature requirements?

It is anticipated that there could be a requirement to store up to 300 metric tons of commodity(s) in a climate controlled environment. The temperature requirement necessitates the vendor to maintain this small specialized commodity at an ambient temperature of 80 F (26 Celsius) or less.

4.) How much warehouse space in terms of either square meters or square feet will you estimate would be required?

There is not a specified amount of warehouse space required under this solicitation. The requirement is for the vendor to make available an amount of space to handle commodities in the historical volumes as presented in the RFP.

5.) Will you require 24/7 continuous service or have the contractor provide the capability if so required.

USAID does not have a requirement for 24/7 warehouse operations.

6.) Although you mention that this project will not require the assistance of a licensed freight forwarder you also mention that you have contracted the services of a licensed freight forwarder. Can we bid on the documentation forwarding aspect as well?

Under this solicitation there is not a requirement for freight forwarding services to be provided for cargoes originating in the United States. There is the requirement that the contractor or a subcontractor (under their auspices) provide freight forwarding services from the overseas warehouse locations. The selected warehouse vendor(s) are required to have the ability to provide freight forwarding services from the USAID overseas warehouse locations.

7.) Will any of these cargoes be imported from a foreign country? If so, can we bid on the entry and clearance process?

There is no plan to source commodities from outside the United States.

8.) Will any of these cargoes/supplies be required to be entered in bond?

Prepositioned commodities by their nature do not have defined destinations, as a rule the offered warehouse location(s) would be best situated in free trade/duty free zone(s) areas. If the warehouse(s) are not located in such area(s) bonded warehouse(s) would likely be required.

9.) Trucking from the U.S. Gulf region to the destinations mentioned on the RFP is that for full container/trailer moves or will you also require partial smaller LTL inland moves?

All trucking rates required in this solicitation are based on full truck/container rates.

10.) How many weekly or monthly inland truck moves will you foresee to the Gulf destinations mentioned in the RFP?

The requirement for inland trucking for the U.S. Gulf region is based on USAID’s need to move truck loads of palletized empty bags in bails from the warehouse facility to alongside a vessel for loading. The anticipated volume would be no more than several truck loads per month.

11.) Will you require a contractor to perform or subcontract a stevedoring company to perform the handling of break bulk cargoes on to the vessel?

The solicitation requires that the contractor be able to fulfill all requirements as stated in the RFP such as the unloading of trailers/containers, provide drayage services to and from an F.A.S. port position, stuffing of trailers/containers and movement of breakbulk cargo to/from warehouse floor to an F.A.S port position. All direct vessel loading and discharging expenses are for the account of the ocean carrier.

12.) Will the contractor be limited to just making or delivering the cargo to the port area and handing off the operation or stevedoring of the cargo to the carrier/vessel of choice contracted by USAID?

All direct vessel loading/discharging expenses are to be included as part of the ocean carrier contract(s).

13.) Will USAID put chartering of the vessels out to bid?

Ocean freight contracting will continue to be handled either by USAID Washington directly or the recipient NGO/PVO’s.

14.) From your experience how much cargo will ship airfreight? How often does it occur? When it occurs what are the typical shipments in terms or weight?

USAID to date has not moved any Title II food aid cargoes via air freight. At this time cannot estimate anticipated volume(s).

15.) Will you require the chartering of aircraft?

Currently there is not a requirement to charter aircraft for food aid commodities within USAID.

16.) Are there any specific IT or systems requirements other than reporting that you would require from the contractor?

Reporting requirements are per the RFP. USAID encourages vendors to offer modern robust information systems.

17.) As USAID intends to award one contract for each of the five regions, should interested contractors submit a separate proposal for each region they are interested in? For example, if Company X wishes to bid for the Central-Southern Africa and West Africa regions, should Company X submit two, separate proposals, or would it be permissible to bid for multiple regions in one proposal?

A single offer can be submitted to include all required information within the RFP for multiple regions.

18.) Because there is no guarantee that USAID will utilize the three contingency warehouse locations (Central-Southern Africa, West Africa, South-East Asia), is it necessary for the contractor to hold space available for USAID cargoes or would it be possible for the contractor to have an ‘option to lease’ a warehouse instead (i.e.

make space available for USAID cargoes on an ‘as needed’ basis)?

The is no requirement for a contractor to hold warehousing space for USAID under this solicitation. However the RFP requires that the contractor provide warehousing space at the contracted warehouse location upon request by USAID. Contractor will be required to have warehouse space available in any/all locations at the request of USAID with 30 day notice. At the end of the required time period, USAID will request that the warehouse(s) services at that location cease.

19.) Would a contractor be permitted to store non-USAID cargo in the same warehouse with USAID cargo?

USAID commodities are not to be stowed in close proximity to cargoes which are hazardous, odorous, infested, or which may otherwise pose a risk to their caommodities.

20.) B.3 (Page 5) states, “Total Contract Ceiling for Overseas locations: $10 million per annum.” Is the $10 million inclusive of all four overseas regions or $10 million to each region?

The $10 million ceiling is the total ceiling for all four overseas regions.

21.) SECTION C. Scope of Work (Page 11) states, “over 85,000 metric tons of food aid commodities to be pre-positioned at overseas warehouse locations and about 90,000 metric tons of food aid commodities to be prepositioned domestically during a normal fiscal year.”

What is the mix of commodities by grade and packaging (25k bags, 50k bags and veg oil carton size)?

The commodities historical moved under the USAID prepositioning programs are:

Cornmeal, CSB, Peas/Beans/Lentils, Flour, Sorghum, Rice and Vegetable Oil.

The largest moving commodities are packaged in 25kg bags, followed by vegetable oil in cartons (4-6 liter boxes), with the fewest commodities moving in the 50kg bags.

22.) Page 12 states, “No freight forwarding services are required in the United

States.” Page 83 states, ‘provide a copy of their freight forwarding license along with their proposal.” Why is there a requirement for the contractor to have a freight forwarding license if no freight forwarding services are required in the United States?

This solicitation has a requirement for freight forwarding services from the overseas warehouse locations.

23.) Assuming the offeror can subcontract the overseas freight forwarding services on a “as needed” basis, can the offer still be considered without having a freight forwarding license?

The freight forwarding services may be subcontracted by the contractor. A copy of the Freight Forwarders license is required to be provided as part of the RFP submittal.

24.) 5. Page 14 states the contractor will “provide written reports”.

What is the frequency of these reports and what specific information must be included in the reports?

USAID has historically required weekly reporting from each of its preposition warehouse(s).

25.) Will the contractor have access to any US-AID, USDA or PVO computer systems to generate reports or the maintenance of records?

USAID / USDA / PVO’s have historically provided commodity data via email transactions. This is subject to change in the future.

26.) D.1 (Page 16). It is not clear what the responsibility of the contractor will be in regards to “Marking”. Seems others are responsible for the marking. Will the contractor be responsible for markings if others failed to fulfill their marking requirements?

All USAID commodities will contain appropriate markings prior to being received by the contractor(s). An exception would be in the case of damaged commodities, where reconstitution/re-bagging/re-tinning of commodities would be required due to damage. In such cases empty bags and tins would be provided by USAID.

27.) Is there an incumbent contractor?

The incumbent contract is Agility International.

28.) If yes, is there a Collective Bargaining Agreement?

No.

29.) Will products be palletized on the delivery trucks consigned to the contractor?

Most commodities arriving into the U.S. Regional warehouse(s) generally are not palletized. Some commodities arriving into the overseas warehouse are palletized (largely dependent upon whether the cargo ships via breakbulk or is containerized).

32.) Is the contractor required to utilize long shoremen for loading break-bulk cargo vessels?

There is no requirement within this solicitation to utilize a particular form of labor.

33.) What is the percentage of loose bag cargo verses boxed cargo that will require loading onto cargo vessels?

The commodity(s) to be stored in a particular warehouse are dependent on the program requirements for that region. Program requirements vary between regions of the world, however bagged commodities historically move in much higher volumes (by percentage) than boxed commodities.

34.) Is there a dock at the port facility where containers can be striped if services are ordered?

Knowledge of the ambient port facilities being offered by a potential contractor is a basic requirement of the contractor under this solicitation.

35.) Is there a specific size/height of a facility that the agency is requiring?

There are no dimensional warehouse specifications set forth in this solicitation. All warehouse requirements are based on capacity, volume and throughput capabilities as described in the Statement of Work and in other sections of the RFP.

36.) Can the contractor propose a minimum amount of space for day one of the contract and grow into additional space as needed?

The RFP requires that the contractor will be required to provide warehousing space at the contracted warehouse locations upon request by USAID. However, contractor need not maintain open warehouse space when not required by USAID. Contractor will be required to have warehouse space available in any/all locations at the request of USAID with 30-day notice.

38.) Can the contractor have multiple facilities?

Yes.

39.) Is this contract subject to the Service Contract Act and a Wage Determination?

This is a commercial items firm fixed unit price contract, all applicable FAR regulations apply.

40.) Can the proposed facility be located anywhere in the Gulf region or is there a specific location where USAID desires it to be located?

For the U.S. Gulf region storage, the government requires a warehouse facility located at an F.A.S. Ocean Position, serviced by direct rail (with siding(s)) able to handle large volume(s) of rail cars, have the ability to load break-bulk cargo vessels with loose bags and/or boxed cargoes at a minimum load rate of 1,800 metric tons per day, and be able to stuff a minimum of forty five 20ft containers per day, for export. The facility must have the capability to receive and load Panamax sized vessels (minimum draft of 10 meters). The load facility must have ample space to receive, hold, stuff/strip a minimum of 75 ocean containers at a time.

42.) What is the radius from the port/ports that is acceptable?

The solicitation requires a warehouse located at an F.A.S Ocean position for the U.S. Gulf region.

43.) On page 83, section L.7, 4) Pricing : It mentions that a total price should be entered at the bottom of each price page as the Total Estimated Price. What assumptions should be used in determining a Total Price? So many tons per year in and out? Or should we simply add the cost items in the column ?

Disregard L.7. 4., located within the Pricing section. A total price by year is not a requirement under this solicitation. Provide price elements for each of the required CLINS for each region you plan to offer rates and services under. Complete the appropriate rate matrix sheets provided in section B.4 - Pricing Schedule.