NGAP_FY17_Questions__Answers_GS00P17PDD7000.doc

GSA – NGAP FY17 Solicitation- GS-00P-17-PD-D-7000 Questions and Answers from 7/14/2016 Teleconference and Written Questions Received Prior to the Deadline of 7/21/2016 (1:00 PM EST) Government and Energy Auction Team Attendees:

NGAP Contracting Officer

Miranda Webster

GSA NGAP Account Manager

Richard Corvi

Bill Dennison

David Hague

Kristi Dutton

EnerNOC

Erica Martunas

Leidos

Chris McCall Questions received during the supplier call

Q1) What is the Small Business Size Standard for this procurement in relation to the requirement for a subcontracting plan (Attachment 1)?

A1) See page 2 of the solicitation, the NAICS code is 221210 and any natural gas supplier who has had 1,000 employees or more for three continuous calendar years is required to submit a small business subcontracting plan.

Q2) If a supplier has recently been approved to participate in third-party natural gas supply opportunities by another federal agency such as the Defense Logistics Agency, do they still have to submit a technical proposal in response to this GSA solicitation opportunity?

A2) Yes. GSA requires suppliers to submit a complete technical proposal in response to GSA bid opportunities even if they have been approved to bid under solicitations issued by other agencies.

Q3) How does GSA define burnertip volumes?

A3) Per Section A.9 and Q&A29 in Attachment 5 (Frequently Asked Questions), usage data provided by GSA in the Exhibit 1s is burnertip (meter) volume. The solicitation provides detailed information on how suppliers should bill for volumes delivered to the citygate as the government realizes there is a difference between what they deliver to the citygate and the burnertip volumes as reported by the utility at the facility’s meter.

Q4) Does GSA provide monthly volumes for purposes of bid information?

A4) Yes. The most recent 12 months of available burnertip usage will be provided for each account that is included in the Exhibit 1s. See Q&A29 in Attachment 5 (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q5) If a supplier has an active contract with GSA for natural gas supply would that supplier have had to have been registered in SAM prior to award?

A5) Yes. In order to receive a contract award from GSA, suppliers must have an active registration in www.sam.gov with no exclusions.

Questions received via e-mail

Q6) When a contract is awarded, is it possible to add the actual name of the installation on the contract award document?

A6) The business name for each account and agency responsible for paying the bill for each account is included in the Exhibit 1. In addition, GSA provides a list of the accounts included in all contract awards.

Q7) How does the contract award and payment process work under NGAP?

A7) Per Section A.1, GSA will make all contract awards on behalf of the agencies that use NGAP to purchase third-party natural gas but each of the agencies is responsible for paying their own bills. Also, see Section Q&A 37 in Attachment 5 (Frequently Asked Questions).

Q8) What federal contracting system do interested bidders need to register with in order to bid on federal opportunities?

A8) In order to receive a contract award from GSA suppliers must have an active registration in www.sam.gov with no exclusions.

Q9) Would the GSA allow the contractor to adjust its price during the contract term due to a regulatory change at the LDC level which materially impacted the cost of upstream supply and/or transportation to a particular location? Section A.23 indicates local regulations may be adjusted for in the contract price through a bilateral medication. Can GSA confirm a local regulation would apply to a LDC tariff change?

A9) This would be decided on a case by case basis between the awarded supplier and GSA. A change in an LDC tariff may not result in any additional costs for the supplier to serve the account or may result in a lower cost to serve the account so information would need to be provided to GSA in order for GSA to determine if the change is material per the terms of this solicitation.

Q10) On page 5 of the Solicitation, GSA indicates there are facilities located in Georgia behind Atlanta Gas Light utility; however, there are no facilities listed in GA on the Preliminary Exhibit 1 found in Section C. Were they unintentionally omitted from the Exhibit 1?

A10) Per page 41 of the solicitation, some of the LDC’s listed in Section A.1 are not shown in the Preliminary Exhibit 1 as the Preliminary Exhibit 1 only lists the accounts GSA anticipates running auctions for in FY17 based on their current natural gas supply contract end dates. However, new or existing accounts in the other LDCs listed in Section A.1, including Atlanta Gas & Light, may request pricing during FY17 and only suppliers that submit a proposal and are approved under this solicitation will be allowed to bid on those opportunities during FY17.

Q11) Under A.3 Gas Supply, Option I, what will the established percentage volume variance be? A11) The variance requested for each account that requests pricing under supply Option 1 will be identified in the Exhibit 1s. The example provided in Section A.3 is 10% but GSA may request other variance options including 15%, 25% or some other percent.

Q12) Can GSA provide daily historical data for accounts that use over 100,000 dths annually?

A12) GSA does not typically provide daily data in the Exhibit 1 files. However, if a request is made for daily usage data at least a week prior to the auction date for an account that uses over 100,000 dths annually and the data is readily available to GSA, GSA will work to provide this data to all suppliers approved to bid on the account.

Q13) Can a supplier participate in this bid opportunity if they do not supply natural gas to all of the states and utilities listed in the Preliminary Exhibit 1 and utilities listed in Section A.1 of the solicitation?

A13) Yes. See Q&A 2 in Attachment 5 (Frequently Asked Questions). Additionally, Per Section C.3 (b)(1) offerors must submit a list of the LDCs they expect to bid on. This list may include all of the LDCs listed in the Preliminary Exhibit 1 and Section A.1, multiple LDCs, or a single LDC if that is all your firm is interested in bidding on.

Q14) A.3 – Pricing Option I: For service locations that are indexed to an illiquid / less liquid market point, would the GSA consider modifying this clause to then include transportation costs (even for Citygate pricing)? There are many illiquid points where the transportation costs to the Citygate are far greater than the $0.10 / dth margin in the Pricing Option.

A14) No.

Q15) A.3 – Pricing Option III / A.4: Can the GSA provide an example (including percentages, index points, and contract quantities) that details how they foresee the monthly settlement price of gas in Option III working?

A15) GSA will update this section in an Amendment to reflect that it will only request a basis price under Pricing Option III and will not be requesting a fixed commodity price for any percent of the load as part of the bid price. However as stated in the solicitation, once the basis price is awarded GSA may request suppliers to lock in commodity pricing up to three times over the term of the contract if Pricing Option III is awarded.

Q16) A.9 – Line Loses: Can the GSA confirm that although this section specifies Exhibit 1 quantities are for planning purposes only, these quantities would become the base load contract quantities under Pricing Options I and III?

A16) Yes. See Section C.4 (1) and Q&A30 in Attachment 5 (Frequently Asked Questions).

Q17) A.17 – Payment and Billing: Would the GSA consider the option of obtaining invoices copies via a supplier’s web portal and not via mail?

A17) No. See Section A.17 which states that suppliers must tender original invoices to the authorized facility agency payment or finance office.

Q18) A.21 – Service Interruption: Would the GSA consider making this a bilateral clause? It seems unreasonable that the GSA would have entitlement to the positive outcome of liquated volumes but not bare the risk of loss.

A18) No. The revenue allocation schedule specified in Section A.21 only applies if the contractor notifies the facility and GSA of the opportunity to liquidate volumes for interruptible accounts at a price greater than the original contract price and the facility and GSA agree to go on backup. The government is taking on the performance risk of going on backup as well as the cost of using backup fuel sources during this period.

Q19) A.23 - Change of Regulation: Can GSA change the definition to also allow for instances of LDC directed unilateral action and changes in supplier requirements that directly result in a material change of supplier costs? One example would be an LDC mandating changes in delivery points and paths.

A19) No. See the answer to Question 9 above.

Q20) B. VAAR 852.232-72: Electronic Submission of Payment Requests – please confirm that the VA’s requirements for submitting invoices will stay the same as they are for NGAP 2016.

The ordering agencies will instruct suppliers how to submit invoices. Can GSA provide the billing requirements for each line in the Exhibit 1 file or in the award e-mail?

A20) To GSA’s knowledge, the VA’s requirements for submitting invoices will stay the same in FY17 as they are currently in FY16. As federal procurement and payment systems continue to be updated, GSA will work with awarded suppliers to share information it receives from the thirty-one federal agencies that utilize NGAP to procure natural gas in relation to changes and updates to their payment systems and processes. Also, see Q&A37 in Attachment 5 (Frequently Asked Questions) which states that the NGAP account managers will assist suppliers in setting up payment with each of the end-use agencies and facilities. Specific questions about this clause can be addressed by the applicable VA contracting officer since this only applies to VA funded awards.

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