Questions and Answers for DME IDIQ September 7 2012.docx

SOLICITATION: HSFE70-12-P-0331

DME KITS

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

September 7, 2012

The following are questions and answers regarding solicitation HSFE70-12-P-0331for DME KITS:

(1)QUESTION

When you ask for pricing for DME kits 1-50…does that mean you will be purchasing 50 kits at a time? Or 100, 150, 300, 400 etc. kits at a time?

ANSWER: Yes. The quantity would depend on the number of kits required to support specific National Emergency Response i.e. Hurricane, Tornadoes, Ice Storm etc.

(2)QUESTION

The same with the A La Carte Pricing. Will you be asking for up to 100-500 walkers, cots etc. for delivery immediately after the request?

In calling some of the manufactures I learned even they do not carry that much product for immediate shipment.

ANSWER: Yes. The quantity would depend on the item number of the A La Carte requirement to support specific National Emergency Response i.e. Hurricane, Tornadoes, Ice Storm etc.

(3)QUESTION

Would you be interested in entertaining a quote for multiple kits (up to 20 and A La Carte pricing as well) to be stored for no charge in my warehouse for up to one year? This way they are assembled ready to go at a moment’s notice. The freight charges would be a separate invoice depending on the destination.

ANSWER: No

(4)QUESTION

SF1449, Block 10 has the solicitation 100% set aside for Small Business and Woman-Owned Small Business. Is the solicitation set aside for Small Business or Woman-Owned Small Business? Please clarify.

ANSWER

The solicitation is set aside for all Small Businesses.

(5)QUESTION

Solicitation page B-3, paragraph B.6 Minimum and Maximum Quantities for Multiple Award Contracts. This paragraph states that the contract ceiling amount shall not exceed 702 Kits. Does this mean the contract will not exceed 702 Kits each contract year, or over the entire contract period of base and four option years? Please clarify.

ANSWER: Yes. This means it will not exceed over the entire contract period to support specific National Emergency Response i.e. Hurricane, Tornadoes, Ice Storm etc.

(6)QUESTION

Solicitation Page B-3, last paragraph (Emergency Response/Surge Delivery) states: “Contractor(s) shall be able to deliver a minimum of 50 and up to 234 DM-PUSH Kits, and an equivalent amount of individual DME line items listed in 4.1 on an a la carte basis as requested by FEMA for emergency response, for delivery within 48 hours of delivery order to any location within the CONUS or OCONUS (US territories) as specified by FEMA.” This statement equates to a contractor having the ability to deliver a minimum of 100 DM-PUSH Kits and up to 468 DM-PUSH Kits due to the way it is worded (minimum of 50 and up to 234 DM-USH Kits AND an equivalent amount of DME line items) within 48 hours of delivery order. Is it the Government’s intention that a contractor must essentially have a minimum equivalent to 100 DM-PUSH on-hand and available for delivery with 48 hours’ notice? Please clarify.

ANSWER: No. The government is not proposing to dictate what the Contractor should have on hand. The solicitation only states the necessary minimum quantities and requirements for those quantities.

(7)QUESTION

Solicitation page C-2, Section C.2.4 (Packaging), second sentence states: “All items shipped in the DM-PUSH Kit (line items DM-001 through DM-024) configurations shall be packaged and shipped in individual tri-wall containers to the extent possible (excludes such items as 10-foot long wheelchair ramp).” Does this sentence mean that the Government would like each DM-PUSH Kit to be shipped in 23 separate tri-wall containers plus the wheelchair ramps? Please clarify. Additionally, this sentence excluded items such as 10-foot long wheelchair ramp. Are any other items excluded from these packaging requirements? Please clarify.

ANSWER: No. The expectation is that individual DME PUSH Kits will be segregated into the appropriate number of tri-wall containers excluding 10 foot ramp.

(8)QUESTION

Solicitation page E-1, Section E.2.1 (Instructions for Submitting Proposals), first paragraph (Technical Approach) states: “Offerors shall provide detailed information which demonstrates the offerors ability to perform and support the requirements of the Statement of Work (SOW) and delivery and packaging terms described above in B.7 and C.2.4. The offeror’s submission should in include the plan to respond to surge and emergency requests to include the offeror’s capability to produce and deliver between 50-234 Kits within 48 hours of request for Surge requirements and within 7 days of request for Steady State requirements. Offerors shall also provide their capabilities and experience with tri-wall packaging.” We have several questions concerning this paragraph as follows:

(8a) What information can an offeror submit to demonstrate ability to perform and support the requirements of the SOW and delivery and packaging terms? Please specify what information is to be submitted to respond to this requirement.

ANSWER: The Contractor must provide documentation that demonstrates their ability to support and perform the requirement. Please see FAR 52.212-2.

(8b)Question #2: How can an offeror prove capability to produce and deliver between 50-234 Kits within 48 hours and/or 7 days? Please clarify.

ANSWER: The Contractor must provide documentation that demonstrates their ability to support and perform the requirement. Please see FAR 52.212-2.

(8c)What does the solicitation mean by providing capabilities with tri-wall packaging? Please clarify.

ANSWER: The Contractor must provide documentation that demonstrates their ability to support and perform the requirement. Please see FAR 52.212-2.

(9)QUESTION

Solicitation page E-11, section E.3 (52.212-2 Evaluation—Commercial Items), technical Approach, Table showing Evaluation Rating for Technical Factors. This table defines acceptable as: “Acceptable, meets minimum of 50 Kits in accordance with Section 4.1 of the SOW, B.7 with regards to the surge/steady state response time and C.2.4 for packaging and delivery requirements.” The NOTE directly under the table states: “If the contractor fails to meet a technical rating of “Acceptable”, the contractor will be excluded from competition.” Does this mean that is a contractor cannot provide a minimum of 50 Kits within 48 hours of the request, that a contractor cannot be awarded a contract? Please clarify.

If the Contractor cannot meet the minimum requirement of 50 Kits, the Contractor will be rated as technically unacceptable and therefore excluded from competition.

(10)QUESTION

Additionally, with this solicitation being set aside for Small Business or Woman-Owned Small Business, does the Government expect a company that fits that category to maintain a minimum of 50 Kits at all times in order to meet the 48 hour surge requirement? Please clarify.

ANSWER

Yes

(11)QUESTION

Attachment 1, Section B Continuation Block B.1 Price/Cost Schedule, Items Numbers 0001A, 0002A, 0003A and 0004A are to be unit priced for A La Carte individual items each (i.e. Line Item 0001A if for 100 each A La Carte individual items). Which of the 24 individual items is a contractor to use to prepare this pricing? Please clarify.

ANSWER

The Contractor should complete Attachments 1 (B.1 Price/Cost Schedule), Attachment 3(DME Kit Pricing) and Attachment 3A (DME A La Carte) for each option period.

(12)QUESTION

Solicitation page E-11, Section E.3 (52.212-2 Evaluation—Commercial Items), paragraph (a) states: “The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. Award will be made to the offeror that has the best value with trade-offs.” This wording would lead one to believe that this is going to be awarded to one contractor. Is this to be a single award, or multiple award contract? Please clarify.

ANSWER

The Government anticipates a Multiple Award Contract.

(13)QUESTION

Solicitation page E-12, Section titled Price states: “A la Carte pricing will be evaluated separately based on publicly available commercial prices to determine their price reasonableness. This will not be used in the unit price evaluation for award. If prices are found to be unreasonable for the A la Carte items, the offeror will NOT be considered for award. Kit pricing will be evaluated separately by using the grand total for the basis and all option years. The analysis will include review of price reasonableness. Offerors are cautioned that unreasonably high or low prices may cause your proposal to be deemed unacceptable and rejected.” We have a couple of questions concerning this proposal, as follows:

Question 1: If A la Carte pricing will be evaluated separately to determine price reasonableness and not used in the unit price evaluation for award, but if unit prices are found unreasonable for the A la Carte items, the offeror will NOT be considered for award, then what exactly is going to be evaluated and on which pricing will award be determined? If you are not using one pricing to determine reasonableness of the other pricing, how are you evaluating the pricing? Please clarify.

Question 2: if Kit pricing will be evaluated separately by using the Grand Total for the basic and all option years and analysis of this pricing will include price reasonableness, on what is the price reasonableness being based? Additionally, how will the overall pricing be evaluated in comparison to the Section B and A la carte pricing? Please clarify.

Question 3: Please specify on which pricing: Section B; A la Carte, or Kit Pricing award will be based. It seems as though three separate types of pricing, with 3 different levels of effort are going to be evaluated, but not compared to each other. Please clarify.

A la Carte pricing will be evaluated for price reasonableness against commercial rates. The Grand Total for each option period will be rated against other vendor Grand Totals. Both components must be considered reasonable to be considered for award.

(14) QUESTION

Due to the fact that the DM-PUSH Kits and/or a la carte items may have to be provided on an emergency basis and in great quantity, does the Buy American Act or Trade Agreements Act apply, or may the products be manufactured in other countries such as China? Please clarify.

ANSWER

The Buy American Act applies.

(15) QUESTION

Will the government be willing to revise the response time from 48 hours to a longer response time?

Yes. The surge response time is hereby increased from 48 hours to five (5) calendar days.

(16)QUESTION

Hardwood crutches are no longer made in the US. Can we substitute them for aluminum?

ANSWER

Yes