Q A_Part_2_Purchasing_Channel_3_13_14.pdf

Part 2 of Industry Q&A regarding OS3 Purchasing Channel Final RFP on FBO

Question Answer

80 1. With regard to CLIN0004, there are several requirements listed within OS3, as outlined below, which Contractor cannot comply with and suspects that other contractors, which possess the requisite brick and mortar presence, would not be able to comply with as well, thereby resulting in the unnecessary and unintended consequence of unnecessarily restricting competition.

a. Trade Agreements Act ("TAA") Requirement: Contractor cannot comply with TAA at its stores.

Additionally, Contractor is concerned that other contractors may submit products as part of their OS3 Response asserting that said products are TAA compliant, but in reality, are not. Accordingly, Contractor requests that GSA provide the process by which it will confirm that products are in fact TAA compliant. Finally, with regard to the TAA requirement, it is cited on the following pages within 0S3:

b. Conflicting Delivery Requirements: Solicitation is inconsistent and unclear as to whether the delivery requirement

1.a. All above TAA requirements do not apply to every item sold within the Contractors’ commercial brick and mortar stores. These TAA requirements are only for the items that are on the OS3 contract that are also available within the Contractor’s brick and mortar store. If an OS3 contract item is sold within the store, it must be TAA compliant and is the Contractor’s responsibility to ensure this compliance.

b. As stated in Section 4 Scope of the OS3 SOW, Standard Delivery 3 to 4 business-day ground shipping on a standard FOB destination within the Continental United States (CONUS) with an additional capability for for CLIN0004 is 4 hours, same day, overnight, on-site immediate, or standard 3-4 days. Below are various conflicting delivery requirements cited throughout the RFP and SOW.

c. The requirement of AbilityOne and Essentially the Same ("ETS") cannot be complied with in Contractors stores.

Please confirm this is a requirement relative to CLIN0004. Below are various AbilityOne and ETS requirements cited throughout the RFP and SOW. The application of these requirements to in-store purchases would unnecessarily restrict competition.

d. The requirement of Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines ("CPG") cannot be complied with in Contractors stores.

Please confirm this is a requirement relative to CLIN 0004. Below are various CPG requirements cited throughout the RFP and SOW.

The application of these requirements for in-store purchases would unnecessarily restrict competition.

2. Pg. 21 of SOW, regarding hours of operation. Please confirm that the hours of operation are from 8:00 same day delivery, secure desktop, expedited and/or brick/mortar store presence for onsite immediate delivery all within no more than 4 hours of order receipt within the 10 largest U.S Metropolitan Areas by population.

Optional pricing will be considered for standard delivery.

c. The AbilityOne requirements for the OS3 Purchasing channel do not apply to commercial brick and mortar stores however it the government encourages AbilityOne items to be in commercial brick and mortar stores. ETS items must not be sold within the contractors’ Government designated portals. OS3 Government discounts will not apply to ETS items sold in commercial brick and mortar stores.

d.All above CPG requirements do not apply to every item sold within the Contractors’ commercial brick and mortar stores. These CPG requirements are only for the items that are on the OS3 contract that are also available within the Contractor’s brick and mortar store. If an OS3 contract item is sold within the store, it must be TAA compliant and is the Contractor’s responsibility to ensure this compliance.

See response above.

2. The required OS3 vendors’ hours of operation are 8am EST to 5pm PST. Please see 5.3.4 Customer Service of SOW on page 22 of SOW and CONUS a.m. to 5:00 p.m., local time, Monday through Friday in all 50 states.

3. Pg. 30 of SOW, Section 5.9.3. Is MID-STD-129 required or optional?

Also, is MID a typo as Contractor is only familiar with MIL?

4. Pg. 30 of SOW, Section 5.9.4.

Contractor provides a thirty (30) day return policy on all non-special ordered office supplies, ink/toner and paper products with technology excluded. With regard to the return policy, how does GSA define technology?

5. Pg. 26 of SOW, Section 5.6.3.

Method of Payment Clarification.

Does GSA intend for contractors to accept cash as a method of payment? If so, is this requirement restricted to in-store purchases only? Also, the acceptance of cash could have a deleterious effect on Contractor's reporting since none of the reporting criteria are being captured at the point of sale when cash is used as a method of payment. Contractor requests removal of this requirement.

6. Pg. 29 of SOW, Section 5.8.1 definition.

3. MIL-STD-129 is not required for the OS3 Purchasing Channel. If an order is placed through GSA Global Supply the MIL-STD-129, the requirement may be added at the task order level. In the event, a higher level of packing, packing and marking is specified (e.g. MIL-

STD-

129) the higher level requirement takes precedence over contractor’s best commercial practice.

You are correct, MID is a typo. It should read as MIL not MID. This was corrected in the amendment A0002.

4. All office supplies are subject to a return within 30 days including. Technology is not excluded from this statement. This will be corrected in the next amendment.

5. Cash should be accepted as a method of payment for all transactions within all sales channels. The vendor is responsible for recording all transactions based on the level III/transaction data requirement; this is inclusive of cash payments.

6. GSA does not see a conflict between these two and 5.8.3. There is a conflict in terms between these two sections.

Section 5.8., paragraph 2, line 2, states that the "Contractors shall charge the GSA SmartPay card only once per order." Yet, Section

5.8.3 states that "No split invoices are authorized."

Please reconcile this apparent contradiction and advise whether split orders are in fact allowed.

7. Pg. 57 of RFP, Economic Price Adjustment Act ("EPA"): What is the basis for price increase rejections?

How will the lowest price be analyzed and determined to be in fact fair and reasonable? Will factors such as reporting requirements, delivery requirements, volume of business and overall cost to serve be included in said analysis?

8. The Solicitation states that small businesses will be provided an evaluation preference for

CLINs 0001, 0002, and 0003. Are large business contractors eligible for award under these

CLINs? If so, how will the evaluation preference be applied?

statements, The GSA SmartPay card shall be charged only time per order. There should be only one invoice.

The invoice should not be split.

7. Price increase requests will be rejected if the CO has determined the price increase request does not result in fair and reasonable prices for government. The lowest price is evaluated as the lowest priced vendor’s average transaction price controlled for by quantity.

The contracting officer ultimately determines price reasonableness and has the authority to take additional variables into account when making this determination.

8. There is a strong preference for small business participation for CLINS one, two and three. Achievement of socio-economic objectives will be designated as an evaluation factor, which is significantly more important than price and other non-price factors. This results in best-value proposals being those from small business contractors for CLINs 0001-0003.

Request for Modification of SOW Requirements

9. Pg. 20 of SOW, Section 5.3.1(f):

The requirement that current Schedule 75 holders ("Current Holders") must pass along any price decrease to GSA is putting Current Holders at a distinct competitive disadvantage since the Schedule price may fall below the price quoted in the response to 0S3 resulting in non-Schedule holders being able to charge GSA higher pricing.

In addition, this requirement places an overly burdensome reporting requirement on Current Holders in that they will have to maintain two separate modes of reporting, one for the current Schedule and one for 0S3 thereby resulting in increased soft dollar and administrative costs. However, GSA does not take into consideration said increased costs when evaluating the pricing piece of the 0S3 RFP Response.

Contractor requests deletion of this requirement as an unequal and unfair treatment of Current Holders.

10.Pg. 26 of SOW, Section 5.5.5 Volume Discount Tiers: Contractor believes that the current Volume

9. This issue was considered when developing the requirements for OS3. However, due to both the MAS price and the OS3 price being hosted on the same GSA website, GSA Advantage!, it is within GSA’s discretion to approve what appears on the GSA website.

Two different prices displayed for the same item, by the same contractor, may cause customer confusion.

Furthermore, several agencies have requirements to purchase the OS3 item, and should not pay more for the OS3 item than they would if purchased under the contractors’ MAS Schedule. This imposes no more burden than what GSA currently requires for the MAS program.

10. Section 5.5.5 Volume Discounts is not part of the evaluation process. It represents how prices will adjust

Discount Tiers put large vendors at a competitive disadvantage because small vendors willprovide a quotation with the knowledge that they will never achieve the higher spend tiers, thus, the practical effect is that said vendors can propose unrealistically low prices at higher spend tiers, which will be imposed on large vendor pursuant to the "Lowest Priced 0S3 Contractor" requirement. Contractor requests removal of the Lowest Priced 0S3 Contractor requirement.

11. Pg. 57 of RFP, Economic Price Adjustment Act ("EPA"): When applied to Current Holders, the EPA has the unintended consequence of forcing large vendors out of the market and thereby unnecessarily restricting competition. Current Holders get caught in a vicious business cycle of lowering pricing, at the product level, on its Schedule, then, by virtue of the EPA, are forced to lower the price for the same product on 0S3. This process is capable of repetition yet evading fairness evaluation. In sharp contrast, Non- Schedule holders and/or small vendors do not find themselves in this same vicious business cycle.

Contractor requests that each CLIN be treated separately for purposes of calculating spend relative to the when a vendor reaches certain overall sales volume. It will be based on the Lowest Priced OS3 Contractor prices at the time the volume tier is reached and not based on the lowest original bid prices.

11. For contract administration purposes, prices for a specific product will be evaluated across all CLINs to promote fair and reasonable pricing throughout the OS3 program, regardless of CLIN.

Volume Discount Tiers.

12. Pg. 12 of SOW, Section 5.1.3(ii) Toner—Recycling: Contractor's suppliers have indicated that they cannot comply with this requirement. Would GSA consider making this section optional?

12. This requirement is mandatory.

81. 1. The RFP appears to require offerors to fill out sign and agree to representations in Part II., Part III, Part IV, and Part V. Does the government require offerors to complete and sign and attach the

Part, II, III, IV, and V to the completed and signed SF1449?

2. The RFP states that the

Offeror's Representations and

Certifications must be included in the proposal. If the offeror chooses to submit their offer on the SF 1449 will the offeror be required to check the applicable boxes and sign and attach the Reps and Certs in

Section V of the RFP, or will the government accept offerors' statement that all Reps and Certs

1. See Questions and Answered posting in FBO.gov, numbers 21 and 31.

2: See Q&A, question 58. Please address where this information may be located in your proposal.

are current, and accurate onwww.sam.gov?

3.. Are we permitted to propose alternative and additional discounts beyond what those which are detailed within Attachment 1 price proposal sheet?

4. Under FSSI OS1 and OS2, the contractors were required to remit

.75% of the quarterly sales volumes for the industrial funding fee, and an additional 1.25% for a contract maintenance fee. In the OS3 RFP, there is no mention of volume based fees. Are there any sales based fees associated with the pending awards to be made against

OS3?

5. Under FSSI OS1 and OS2, the contractors were required to commit to additional aggregated volume based discounts beyond the initially proposed price. In the OS3 RFP, there is no mention of aggregated volume based discounts. Are there any aggregated volume based discounts associated with the

3. There are 5 discount options that will only be evaluated for fair and reasonableness and not factored into the bid. Additional discounts above 5 listed may be listed in cover letter and may be considered during price evaluation.

4. Reference SOW 5.4.2.There is a contract access fee.of 2%. See response to Q&A Question 27 as noted.

5. Section 5.5.5 Volume Discount is not part of the evaluation process. It represents how prices will adjust when a vendor reaches certain overall sales volume. It will be based on the Lowest Priced OS3 Contractor prices at the time the volume tier is reached and not based on the lowest original bid prices. OS3 is a new acquisition.

http://www.sam.gov/ pending awards to be made against

OS3?

6. You have listed about 85 compatible Skilcraft skus in the list.

This is misleading because there are only about 13 AbilityOne mandated A-List compatible toners.

Is it the government’s intention to request Skilcraft products for these skus, or only for the A-List products?

7. Will the government permit and consider quotes for alternatives to the listed Skilcraft items if these items are not included on the

AbilityOne A-List?

8. The NAICS code associated with this solicitation is 322121. This

U.S. industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing paper (except newsprint and uncoated groundwood paper) from pulp.

These establishments may manufacture or purchase pulp. In addition, the establishments may also convert the paper they make.

The FSSI OS3 solicitation is being run amongst wholesalers for a broad range of office supply commodity products falling within

6. Vendors are expected to propose items in accordance with their AbilityOne certification and the market basket list. The latest list (effective 4-1-14) provided by AbilityOne shows only 18 toner skus. Please either contact AbilityOne for clarification or expand on your concerns.

7. See response 6 above.

8. We considered this information during initial planning and market research of OS3. The NAICS was based on largest sales component of office supplies which was paper. We are restricted from utilizing any classification in the 42-25 prefix as this is a government acquisition for supplies.

Size Standard Table found in 13 CFR 121.201. It states, (These NAICS codes shall not be used to classify

Government acquisitions for supplies. They also shall not be used by Federal Government contractors when subcontracting for the acquisition for supplies. The applicable manufacturing NAICS code shall be used to classify acquisitions for supplies. A Wholesale Trade or

Retail Trade business concern submitting an offer or a the categories of: paper, toner, and general office supplies (excluding jan/san products). We believe that the solicitation should at least incorporate NAICS codes 423420, and 423430 to avoid protest from establishments engaged in the wholesale provision of office supply commodities to the government that do not also manufacture paper goods. We hereby formally request the addition of NAICS codes

423420 and 423430 to this

Solicitation.

quote on a supply acquisition is categorized as a nonmanufacturer and deemed small if it has 500 or fewer employees and meets the requirements of 13 CFR

121.406.)

We have also discussed and coordinated this information with SBA.

82. Reference Attachment 11, Letter of

Supply: We have a few concerns about the letter of authorization, particularly as it relates to the certifications of the EPP and CPG guidelines. I always took that responsibility as a contractor and no one else. The manufacturer’s and suppliers make this information readily available to the contractor.

We believe the contractor should be well versed in the contractual guidelines if he or she is going to play in the federal arena.

Yes, you may edit/tailor Attachment 11 as appropriate to describe your agreement and terms. Highlighting changes is acceptable to demonstrate deviations. The contractor (i.e. contract holder) is the responsible party for providing accurate Country of Origin (COO) information to GSA, as well as EPA and CPG compliance.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/121.406 http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/121.406 http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/121.406

We provide country of origin information on a quarterly basis on our website so that our resellers have full access. We will also upon request, provide the % recovered/recycled post consumer materials whenever they request on the products they are sourcing from us.

So, if we provide the tools and they read the requirements, they will need to certify and not us. If CPG or EPA changes their stance, we do not feel it is our responsibility, but rather the contractor’s. So, we have made a few editorial changes.

They are in yellow. I do not believe it contradicts what you need, but the onus is placed on the contractor. We will work with any of our dealers and I certainly feel I have taken the government’s needs into consideration. Is this acceptable?

83. The header rows on the auto populate tab for file

Attachment_1_OS3_Price_Proposa l_Sheet_Final_21Feb2014AmendA

0001.xlsm are missing.

Can you add them back in with the

The headers are missing, but that does not impact functionality. The "autopopulate" tab is for Data Team use.

The contractor should copies the data into it and then they run the Macro.

next amendment? If a future amendment goes out, we can consider adding back header rows for greater clarity.

84. Reference page 40 of Appendix A –

Page 40 includes the following statement: “Contractor is directed to have at least five (5) completed references per Attachment 5, Past

Performance Questionnaire.”

Question #1 – does the

Government require at least five (5) references for each past performed contact? For example if a

Contractor submits 5 contracts, would there be 25 Past performance attachments that would be required?

The Past Performance is for a total of five (5) completed questionnaires; not 25.

85. Reference page 40 of Appendix A –

Page 40 includes the following statement: “Responses should be submitted directly to the Contracting

Officer prior to closing.”

Question: Does the Government only want the completed

Attachment 1 forms to be submitted to the government and not included in the Tab III section of the

Contractor’s proposal?

As per Amendment A0001, changes were made to remove a separate TAB III. Attachment 1 is for your Market Basket Price Proposal Spreadsheet.

86. Should the Past Performance

Questionnaires be submitted by the preparer or by the Contractor?

Either method is acceptable. See Q&A responses 1, 18 and 59 for Past Performance.

87. Reference page 40 of Appendix A –

Page 40 includes the following statement: “7.1.8. Contractor should provide the authorization letter from

AbilityOne with proposal or provide acceptable evidence of AbilityOne certification.”

Into which Tab of the proposal should this letter be included?

As AbilityOne certification is part of the technical evaluation, it would be linked to your Technical Proposal, TAB 1, and described by filename.

88. Does the Authorization letter count against the page limit?

No.

89. Reference page 38 of Appendix A –

Page 38 contains the following statement: “Written technical proposals shall address the go/no-go factors (see subsection 7.1.2.

Proposal Due Date and Time, and

Attachment 5, Past Performance

Questionnaire.)”

Is the Government requesting that the Past Performance

Questionnaire be included in Tab I

(Technical Proposal) or Tab III

(Past Performance)?

This information was addressed in Amendment A0001 and Q&A response 18, previously posted. Please review.

90. Does the Government wish Past

Performance Questionnaires to be included in the proposal submission or submit to the CO’s email?

You have the option to submit separately to the CO or as part of your proposal submission. Both transmission methods are acceptable.

91. Reference SF1449

Into which section should the

SF1449 be included? Does it count against the page limit?

The SF1449 may be included as part of your technical proposal TAB I, or separately identified by filename. It does not count against any page limitation.

92. Reference Item #3, page 2 of

Attachment 10 Checklist – page 2 states that offerors must submit a

Letter of Supply Template.

Question #9 – into which section should this Letter be included?

Does it count again the page limit?

The letter(s) of supply may be included as part of your technical proposal TAB I, or separately identified by filename. It does not count against any page limitation.

93. Reference Item #3, page 2 of

Attachment 10 Checklist – page 2 states that offerors must submit a

Letter of Supply Template.

Question #9 – into which section

Your letter(s) of supply would be part of your Technical Proposal, Volume I. It does not count against your page limit.

94. Reference Item # 5 on page 2 of

Attachment 10 Checklist – page 2 states that In accordance with FAR

Your Agent Authorization letter(s) would be part of your Technical Proposal, Volume I as part of your business operations. It does not count against your page limit.

4.102(e), you must provide an

Agent Authorization Letter if you have authorized an

Agent/Consultant to act on your behalf. See the Agent Authorization

Letter template, Attachment 12.

Question #10 – into which section

95. Reference Item # 10 on page 4 of

Attachment 10 Checklist – page 4 requests that offerors submit 2 years of financial statements.

Question #11 – into which section should the financial statements be included? Does it count again the page limit?

Your Financial Information would be part of your Technical Proposal, Volume I as part of your business approach and solvency. It does not count against your page limit.

96. Does contractor bidding CLIN 3 need to have full office supplies catalog? Does it count again the page limit?

CLIN 0003 is designated as Toner/Ink. Any related compliant supplies may be offered in your Non-Market Basket submission in Attachment 16. If your specialty is Toner/Ink you do not have to possess a full office supplies catalog but would submit your respective commercial catalog for example Toner/Ink. It does not count against your page limit.

97. How does GSA define "Non OEM" toner? This term is mention throughout the RFP but is conspicuously absent in the office supplies definition document

Non-OEM Toner would be considered as toner not being created, generated, produced or crafted by an entity other than the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or a generic item which may serve the intended form, fit and function.

98. On Attachment 3 it asks for Current

Ratio – Current Ratio of what ?

It asks for Working Capital – is this cash on hand?

The current ratio is the current assets divided by the current liabilities. The working capital is the current assets subtracted by the current liabilities.

99. As a result of the Amendment 2 part number revisions there is now a duplication of Sample Part

Number (MPN) 7110015680399.

Can these two items be consolidated into one line and combine their usage?

Yes. These two references will be consolidated into one line and their annual volumes will be combined.

100. What happens if I find out that a product has changed country of origin or been discontinued from my supplier after I submit my proposal?

After proposal receipt deadline, we do not anticipate further revisions to spreadsheet product descriptions. If GSA determines the provided market basket descriptions are inaccurate, GSA reserves the right to remove that item from the market basket and consequently from the proposal evaluation and all proposals will be evaluated on the respective same number of items.

101. On FBO, Does the SF30 in

Amendment 4 replace the SF30 in

Package #6 or is it in addition to the SF30 in Package

#6?

We have experienced some posting issues with uploaded documents in the Federal Business Opportunities Webpage (FBO.gov). The Package #6, upload posted on 3/6/2014 5:02pm should be ignored and deleted by FBO systems administration. Amendment A0002 is posted under the FBO header dated 3/7/2014 as Amendment 4. Amendment A0003 is posted under FBO Header Amendment 5. Amendment A0004 will be posted as FBO Amendment 6. We apologize for the inconvenience.

102. Amendment A0002, Why was a replacement spreadsheet issued

Due to Attachment 1, OS3 Price Proposal Sheet being updated, please reference the Attachment 1, OS3 Price and, will the due date of March 17, 2014 be extended?

Proposal Sheet in forthcoming Amendment A0004. The total number of items affected is approximately 350 adjustments. The majority of these changes were either aesthetic (removing "Skilcraft" from a product description) or provide a clearer definition of what Manufacturer Part Number (MPN) we seek (including mandatory Ability One language to A-List items).

Additional revisions were made based on vendor submitted concerns that they were unable to meet the market basket description in the Unit of Issue and Measure (UOI) and (UOM) required. Product UOI and/or UOM was revised for an estimated 40 sample items.

Wholesalers change package quantities and can stop offering toner for printers which were discontinued in the past year. This has led to the issues we have been seeing with our market basket.

Amendment A0003 extended the due date/time to Monday, March 24, 2014, 5:00pm. EDT. Please see latest Amendment posted for most current information.

103. 1. Do we need to provide both the original SF1449 AND the new amended SF30? Or is it enough to provide a complete SF30 “SF30-

AmendA0001final.pdf”?

2 . Must both documents be signed electronically? Or a hand signature is acceptable?

3 . Do we need to provide a terms and conditions page as listed in the

RFP? I’m trying to reduce the

The SF 1449 and SF30 Amendments are 2 different documents. The SF 1449 and all SF30 Amendment documents require signatures and must be included in the proposal.

Digitally signed documents or manually signed documents that are scanned are acceptable.

You need to supply representations and complete certifications where needed or indicate where the information is located (i.e. www.SAM.gov) amount of pages we respond with.

104. Is Attachment 9_SF1449-

12a_OS3_Final_31Jan2014_ the same as the Digital Certification

Screenshots? Where do I find information about obtaining a digital certificate?

No, it is not the same. Some vendors have indicated that they cannot digitally sign the SF1449, therefore a signed, scanned signature is acceptable.

Screen Shots of your digital certificate is a separate requirement.

Please see the following link for additional information. In order to access certain electronic systems your identify must sign documents electronically.

http://eoffer.gsa.gov/eoffer_docs/DigitalCert.html

105. Will you please verify if items in the market basket, that are not marked as mandatory or no substitutes, can be filled with like items? (in other words same specifications, different manufacturer and part number.)

If not designated as ‘mandatory’ or ‘no substitutions’ will be permitted, you may provide a comparable item using the sample MPN as a guide. This however does not waive the vendor’s responsibility to adhere to all

AbilityOne Certification and TAA compliance requirements.

106. HEWCE262A does have a compliant “G” sku as does

HEWQ6473A. Is it ok to offer the alternate part number that is TAA

Compliant even though the instructions say not to substitute?

This item will be updated in the forthcoming Price

Proposal Spreadsheet Attachment 1 in

Amendment A0004.

107. On RFP, Page 39: “Failure to submit the Material Safety Data

NSNs are part of the Market Basket. Reference RFP, FAR 52.223-3 Hazardous Material Identification and

Sheet prior to award may result in the apparently successful offeror being considered nonresponsible and ineligible for award.” Is this sheet included in RFP and does it count towards page limits?

Material Safety Data Clause (Jan 1997) and Alternate I

(Jul 1995), The Material Data Safety (MDS) sheet would only be required if you identified items in the table below in the clause for products containing applicable items. If this does not apply to products and items offered, then "

N/A" is an acceptable response. If applicable, a MDS sheet, can be obtained online and submitted along with your proposal. It would not count towards page count.

108. Regarding the technical proposal requirements, we are left to deduce that Attachment 3, vital statistics IS part of this proposal. Is everything other than Attachment 1 & 16 part of the technical proposal?

Attachment 10 provides additional instructions for submission. While GSA cannot make a predetermination of acceptability of what needs to be included in your proposal submission, you may consider the following information for organizational purposes:

Attachment 1 is the Price Proposal Spreadsheet (part of your price proposal; not Technical)

Attachment 2 is Office Supplies definitions: N/A for proposal submission

Attachment 3 is Vital Statistics (part of Technical

Information)

Attachment 4 is Business Rules (requiring signature acknowledgement; part of Technical)

Attachment 5 is Past Performance Questionnaires (part of Technical) or submission separately to CO

Attachment 6 is Participating Agencies: N/A for proposal submission

Attachment 7 is Subcontracting Plan: (submission if applicable; part of Technical)

Attachment 8 is Performance Based Requirements

Summary: N/A for proposal submission

Attachment 9 is SF 1449 (requiring signature acknowledgement; part of Technical)

Attachment 10 is Info and Instructions (Checklist provided for your submission) N/A for submission

Attachment 11 Letter of Supply (submission if applicable; part of Technical)

Attachment 12 Agent Letter (submission if applicable;

part of Technical)

Attachment 13 OS3 Monthly Usage N/A for proposal submission

Attachment 14 Top 10 Metro Areas: N/A for proposal submission

Attachment 15 Restricted Fields: N/A for proposal submission

Attachment 16 Non-Market Basket Spreadsheet (part of your price proposal; not Technical)

In addition, please provide information pertaining to your

REPS & CERTS as required by the RFP or where this information may be obtained. Please review Q&A responses 16, 21, and 58.

Incomplete proposals may be rejected and will not be eligible for further consideration.

108. 1. As we understand it, the volume discount is applied when the sales of a specific item reach thresholds delineated in the table and not on aggregate OS3 spend. Does this mean when SKU X reaches $10M in sales will every vendor who sells

SKU X be required to adjust prices to be within 9% of the lowest priced vendor? (Ref SOW OS3

1. The volume discount is applied when a vendor reaches certain overall sales volume. It is not applied when a specific item reaches a designated threshold.

When the contractor’s overall volume reaches $10M in sales, all catalog items must be within 9% of the lowest priced FSSI OS3 vendor, adjusted for quantity, for each particular catalog item.

Cumulative Discount Tier table on page 26)

2. Can you please define the field

"product name" in the submission document and how it differs from product description?

3. When would clause D-FSS-475

(RFP page 50) be applicable? Is it

GSA’s intent to require barcode labeling (per Fed Standard 123 and

MID-STD 129) on the exterior of each shipping box?

2, Answer:The common/everyday vernacular for the item bid (ie toner, scissors, tape, post-it notes, etc.).

Additionally, though we expect this field to be completed as directed, it will not be included in the market basket price evaluation. The Product Description should detail additional product attributes.

3. The BarCode clause mentioned on page 50 applies only to items with NSNs and not all OS3 shipments.

110. Can you please give more information on GSA's expectation on real time order tracking? (SOW

5.7.5. Page 28)

Our expectation is that the contractor will communicate location and/or order details for a user-placed order at anytime which would compare to contractor’s best commercial practice.

111. It appears that the requested unit of issue is not the same as the unit of issue provided by AbilityOne for item 7510005824201. How should

I price?

Vendors are to price one (1) box of 25 for this particular market basket item.

112. Would GSA clarify the status of the following items that are deleted from Attachment 1 OS3 Price

These items have been either removed or replaced and do not exist in current market basket. All vendors should propose based on the latest price proposal spreadsheet

Proposal Sheet, but are not stated as deleted in the Attachment 1 or 2

Revisions files?

provided in forthcoming Amendment 0004.

113. We have confirmed from the manufacturer community that the following items are not manufactured in TAA-compliant countries; HEWC4901A, HEWC9381A, HEWC9382A. Will

GSA remove them from the bid?

GSA will research the TAA compliance of these items and remove if they are not compliant, however, the onus remains on the contractors to ensure all solicitation and

TAA requirements are met.

114. Amendment 1 changed the part number GBC3745022 to

SWI3745022. Each of these items is the same and both are part of

ACCO brands. The specific item

GSA has requested is not TAA-compliant, and other items matching the salient characteristics are also not TAA compliant. There are items that are TAA compliant but have different UOM, thickness, or size. How does GSA plan to rationalize these part numbers when reviewing pricing?

GSA has also identified these issues. SWI3745022 will be removed from the market basket.

115. It appears that both of these items are functionally the same (1" white binders requested with part numbers W77011PP and

AVE17012). Would GSA consider

GSA will consolidate into one line item where applicable.

removing one of these items from the market basket and consolidating their usage into one line? We will be pricing the same item for both lines otherwise.

116. The change in SOW, Page 35, Section 7 as per Amendment 1.

Does this pertain only to individual items in the non-market basket and not to the non-market basket as a whole?

The evaluation methodology for non-market basket items will be evaluated for price reasonableness and competitiveness on a line item basis.

117. We recommend removing all

AbilityOne B-list items from the market basket, and evaluate the items in the non-market basket. B-list items are not produced in quantities that allow for national distribution as expected in the commercial industry, as is the case with A-list items. Would GSA consider evaluating these items in the non-market basket?

Would GSA consider putting the following items (Memo Book, etc.)

into the non-market basket, as they are special order items? They are neither A-list nor B-list AbilityOne items.

AbilityOne B-list items (determined by AbilityOne’s list effective 4-1-14) will be removed from the market basket through the forthcoming amendment.

Please reference the updated OS3 Price Proposal Sheet that will be forthcoming in Amendment A0004.

As a result of the Amendment 2 part number revisions there is now a duplication of Sample Part

Number (MNP) 7110015680399.

We recommend consolidating these two items into one line and combining their usage.

Part No. 7110015680399 has been determined as a B-list item. Consequently, both references will be removed from the Market Basket. Please see forthcoming

Amendment A0004.

118. Would GSA consider requiring companies bidding on remanufactured toner to submit proof of compliance with the First

Sale Doctrine?

All OS3 offerors must comply with all laws and regulations. Vendor submissions will be reviewed at the part number level to ensure compliance with the market basket description.

119. We recommend that GSA remove

X106R01370 from the market basket. The printer for this cartridge has been discontinued by the manufacturer and remanufactured toner options are not available. The GSA already has a high-capacity toner cartridge for this printer on the market basket, XER106R02639. Can these two part numbers and corresponding usage should be rationalized and consolidated?

Please reference the updated OS3 Price Proposal

Sheet that will be forthcoming in Amendment 4.

This item, X106R01370 will be removed from the Market

Basket in Amendment A0004.

120. As a result of the Amendment 2 part number revisions there

This NSN is currently being offered and sold on GSA

Advantage in its stated format. The correct 13-digit NSN appears to be a typo in the Price

Proposal sheet for Sample Part

Number (MNP) 754015453724.

We recommend that GSA remove

CSODRT220 from the market basket. The calculator has been discontinued by the manufacturer and there are no TAA compliant alternates available that match the requested salient characteristics.

is 7540-01-545-3724. This will be revised in forthcoming

Amendment A0004.

This item will be removed. If any item has been discontinued, GSA reserves the right to remove the discontinued item(s) from the market basket before the evaluation period.

121. I still do not see my exact question posted. May I resubmit?

Some duplicate questions and vendor specific issues have been omitted. Please review all Q&A responses.

Issuing Amendment Information takes priority over general Q&A and GSA has had open communication regarding OS3-Purchasing from its inception. There have been inquiries from numerous parties. If your concerns have not been addressed herein, please email the CO, nelson.duncan@gsa.gov, prior to the closing date.

Please do not make telephonic requests. Inquiries received after the closing date of March 24, 2014 5:00pm EDT will not be addressed.

Note If you tried to submit your proposal to

OS3procurements@gsa.gov prior to March 10th, 2013, please check to see if you received an error message. There was a systems issue with the e-mail access that has since been

Please refer to the last Amendment posted for the most current information.

mailto:nelson.duncan@gsa.gov mailto:OS3procurements@gsa.gov corrected. Resubmit your proposal if you received an error message prior to the closing Due

Date/Time.