Gulfport Questions for Military 2020 APR 27.pdf

Ports America Gulfport, Inc. – Questions related to PWS for Solicitation HTC71120RR010

QUESTION: Maximum contract value is $39.0M; however, piece counts shown on SOR indicate lower volumes that would not likely reach that maximum, can you give us an idea of the number of vessels per year, and the average number of moves per vessel?

ANSWER: The maximum contract value should reflect $10.0M versus $39.0M. Amendment 00002 will reflect the change.

QUESTION: SOR – Many items have a zero in the unit quantity. Do we need to provide rates for those line items? If we submit a $0 price for that service, we would not be able to charge if that commodity or service materializes; should those line items be removed from the SOR or should we include a proposed unit price for that commodity?

ANSWER: The SOR has been updated to only highlight those item with quantities. Items with zero quantities do not require rates at this time. Should those items need to be added after award, they will be addressed.

QUESTION: SOR - Line Item 375 Miscellaneous 8 Out-of-Pocket Pool does not have an amount. Usually, this amount is assigned; how should we complete that line item?

ANSWER: The SOR has been updated.

QUESTION: Line item 375 Miscellaneous for the Out of Pocket Pool remains highlighted, but does not have a pre-populated amount. Are we to propose an amount for that item?

ANSWER: No, this is for administrative use and will be filled in by the contract officer, based on the requiring activity’s estimate.

QUESTION: SOR - There is a problem with the manhour rates Items 257 through 306, Schedule 2, 3A, 3B, and 3C . Each of the labor categories – Extra labor, Detention, Overtime Differential and Minimum

Time are designated as Straight Time or Overtime only; they do not provide for the distinction between automated rates and breakbulk manhour rates. Please advise how to proceed.

ANSWER: The SOR has been updated.

QUESTION: Manhour rates, Items 257 through 306, Schedule 2, 3A, 3B, and 3C do not have a distinction for automated vs. breakbulk rates. There is no change to the SOR.

ANSWER: The USG makes no distinction between the two for this contract, and therefore only needs one rate.

QUESTION: Are the unit quantities listed for the entire 5 year period, or should there be separate tabs for each year? The reason I ask is because I am not sure what to fill out for Item 0001 and Item 0002 on the SF 1449.

ANSWER: The quantities listed on the SOR are annually. Column L states:

Unit Quantity (est. each PoP)

Item 0001 is your total rate amount for the five-year period.

Item 0002 is a flat $2,500.00 for just the base year.

QUESTION: At the top of the SOR, it shows the Period of Performance (PoP) for 5 years. So would the

Unit Quantity (est. each PoP) be annual or for five years total?

ANSWER: The Unit Quantity is annual; not the five-year total. If you wish to know the five-year total, you would simply multiply the annual Unit Quantity by five.

QUESTION: If Unit Quantity are annual, do I multiply our total Extended Price by 5?

ANSWER: Yes

QUESTION: Please clarify, specifically, whether the Extended Amount on the SOR should be the annual total or the 5 year total.

ANSWER: The extended amount will be for an annual (year period) period, and the summary will calculate that into 5 years.

QUESTION: Is there a version of this excel sheet that has a summary tab that auto-sums and provides a five-year total?

ANSWER: TCAQ does not have an Excel spreadsheet that has a summary tab that auto-sums and provides a five-year total.

QUESTIOIN: Duly noted on all except the quantities on the SOR. Is is possible that these are 5 year quantities rather than annual, because the column header is “Unit Quantity PoP” rather than “Unit Quantity Annual”, which would align with the revised total contract value of $10M? Preliminary calculations indicate that 5x those quantities would likely exceed the $10M.

ANSWER: Yes, these are full 5 year quantities.

QUESTION: Section 2.3.1 PWS Page 3 - Contractor Personnel Screening – “Contractor shall screen all contract personnel to ensure they do not have criminal records” Is a TWIC background check sufficient, and if not what are disqualifying criminal offenses?

ANSWER: Yes, The TWIC card will suffice for this requirement.

QUESTION: Section 3.4 PWS Page 6 - Shift Change – “Contractor shall provide fresh contract personnel at the beginning of each shift who shall have at least 8 hours of rest…” The Local ILA CBA does not include any specifics on labor rest, and depending on number of men ordered, there may not be enough in the Gulfport ILA labor pool to satisfy this requirement at all times. Will the local CBA prevail in this scenario?

ANSWER: Yes and No, unit commander, through the COR, will conduct risk assessments and make the decision whether contracted labor may work beyond the requirement. However, the Contractor shall summit to the COR their plan to mitigate contingencies, how the Contractor plans to make up shortfalls per section 5.5 of the PWS.

QUESTION: Section 3.6 PWS Page 8 - Training – “the Contractor shall attend training for specialized

Government vehicles”; vehicles listed would imply that the ILA vessel drivers need to be trained, training at Contractor’s expense. Is this training held on site and in conjunction with vessel operations or will ILA workers be required to attend separate training sessions wherein we will have to compensate them on an hourly basis subject to guarantees as required by the CBA?

ANSWER: The PWS will be corrected. Amendment 00002 will reflect the change.

QUESTION: Section 4.5 Page 14 - Commodity Rates – “If applicable port tariff rates apply, the

Government will be responsible for separate charges to the Port”. Port land usage is a tariff item, would

Government pay MSPA directly for the land/warehouses? [What about equipment rental i.e. STS or MH

Cranes?]

ANSWER: Yes, the Government is responsible for all tariff charges directly billed by the port. However, the Contractor will be responsible for all other equipment, the Contractor should offer rates on all other equipment listed, and pricing will be used to determine hourly rates for over and above commodity use.

If mobile cranes are needed, outside commodity those will be coordinated through the Contractor and billed per schedule 4 (equipment rental). Per section 5.34 of the PWS.

QUESTION: Section 5.17 Page 34 - Staging – Government will pay for staging area based on total square meters per day, need to clarify that no long term land lease is required? Note: SOR requests rates on a per day/per sq ft basis

ANSWER: Staging will be coordinated through the port tariff and billed by the port if needed.

QUESTION: Line item 354 on the SOR requests a daily rate for Warehouse – closed staging area, which is also a tariff item, would that be handled directly by the military with the Port?

ANSWER: Yes, all port tariff charges will be invoiced to the USG by the Port.

QUESTION: Section 5.11.6 Page 32 - Securing cargo – if lashing and securing cargo is included in the commodity rate, what would the lashing only rates in 1A1a cover?

ANSWER: 1A1a and 1A2a are used for lashing and unlashing cargo onboard the vessel only, in some cases the Government may elect to bring in military drivers, or military personnel for loading aircraft, therefore a rate for just lashing/unlashing cargo is needed.

QUESTION: Section 5.16.2.1 Page 34 – “Loading or stripping cargo from ship’s gear during vessel operations shall be considered an extension of the vessel deck and vessel commodity rates apply” – to clarify this would be to strip/load the cargo as breakbulk cargo without removing the vessel gear (mafi) from the ship? Stripping is not the same activity as un-stuffing, which applies specifically to containers, transporters or flat racks?

ANSWER: per section 5.16.2.1 stripping cargo from carrier owned MAFI during commodity operation, shall be considered an extension of the vessel deck, therefore the Contractor will remove the MAFI from the vessel and strip the cargo in the staging yard or designated location per the COR direction. Per the commodity rates under schedule 1A1 or 1A2. If the cargo is considered breakbulk (40) those rates would apply, if cargo falls under 60, 61, or 67 those rates would apply.

QUESTION: Section 5.24 Page 35 - Inland Transportation – “When requested by the COR and ordered by the OO, the Contractor shall arrange for inland transportation as needed” – just to clarify, the

Contractor is not responsible for actually obtaining the inland transportation, only preparing (placarding, etc.) and loading to the inland conveyance, correct? SOR does include rates with UOM “MI” per mile?

ANSWER: correct. Schedule 9 is blank

QUESTION: Section 5.31 Page 38 – CMT – Each CTC shall consist of a Skill level III lead mechanic and Skill level II mechanic, are these Government designations and if so, what are the qualifications?

ANSWER: No, this designation were taken from other ILA labor classification, if this class of mechanic is not classified as such in Gulfport, the Contractor should provide mechanics capable of providing expertise to rapidly troubleshoot inoperable vehicles, It is imperative that the contact maintenance personnel be proactive, checking the operational status of equipment being loaded and off-loaded from vessels, trucks or railcars.

QUESTION: Section 5.35 Page 39 – Government Use and Rental of Contractor’ Furnished Equipment –

“If for any reason, the Contractor is unable to perform services under the contract, it is agreed that the

Government may elect to rent all of the Contractor’s equipment” Please describe what circumstances may constitute inability to perform the contract.

ANSWER: In case of some sort of contingency like ILA labor goes on strike, or in case of terror attack.

Should the Contractor stop its labor from working the Government requires the Contractor to lease or rent its equipment until the Government can make other arrangements to provide it.

QUESTION: Section 6.2.4 Page 41 – Container security wall – 6.2.4.1 states that two rates will be provided a) daily rental fee for each container, and b) cost for the transportation, loading … in order to construct the wall. The SOR only has one line item labeled “Container wall 20 ft. containers and

Container wall 40 ft. containers per day, how would the second item b) be priced? Are the quantities shown the total amount needed?

ANSWER: The PWS will be corrected. Amendment 00002 will reflect the change.

QUESTION: Section 6.2.5 Page 41– Personnel List – PERSONNEL WHO ARE NOT PRE-CLEARED… does this refer to the MSPA port entrance or the military secured area? i.e. union workers?

ANSWER: All paragraphs with “RESERVED” after the paragraph title will have the title removed. The

PWS will be corrected. Amendment 00002 will reflect the change.

QUESTION: Section 6.4.4 & .5 Page 45 - Office Space and Permanent Office Space – “Reserved” what does that mean?

ANSWER: All paragraphs with “RESERVED” after the paragraph title will have the title removed. The

PWS will be corrected. Amendment 00002 will reflect the change.

QUESTION: Section 6.4.15 Pg. 47 – Transfer of Cargo – “Reserved” what does that mean?

ANSWER: All paragraphs with “RESERVED” after the paragraph title will have the title removed. The

PWS will be corrected. Amendment 00002 will reflect the change.

QUESTION: Section 6.4.16 and 6.4.16.3 Page 48 - Supplies and securing material – PWS states that materials will be reimbursed for actual OOP cost, yet SOR listed specific types of lumber/plywood and lashing materials, should these line items be removed from the SOR, as related to our question regarding 0 quantity items listed?

ANSWER: No, all material, dunnage, lumber, shackles, straps all fall under miscellaneous actual cost reimbursement, schedule 7 lumber rates is for budgeting.

QUESTION: Section 6.4.16.3 Page 48 - is contradictory as it says that compensation will be made on an

OOP basis, and in the next sentence it states that compensation will be at the rates set forth in Schedule

7 of the SOR. Please clarify.

ANSWER: Schedule 7 lumber rates is for budgeting contract cost.

QUESTION: Section 6.4.19.1 Pg. 49 – Floating cranes and mobile cranes are included in the SOR, yet referenced section includes those cranes as specialized equipment to be reimbursed as OOP on a cost reimbursable basis with vendor receipts. Please clarify.

ANSWER: Floating cranes and mobile cranes fall under miscellaneous actual cost reimbursement, they are listed as equipment on schedule 4 equipment rental, for budgeting for estimated contract cost.

QUESTION: 6.14 Page 55 - Minimum productivity – table provided indicates total vessel working hours and minimum productivity – assume this is overall productivity and will vary by individual commodity type, however, how do we handle inability to achieve these minimums due to circumstances beyond our control including distance between vessel berth and staging area, cargo mix that does not support this level of productivity, and specified speed limits on the terminal?

ANSWER: Minimum productivity quantities and time have been averaged from all CONUS ports, and will be used for mission planning and vessel completions. The data used for Loading or discharge total hours may or may not be continuous. The Contractor shall be responsible for minimum productivity levels of all vessels and all combinations of cargo type and number. There will always be circumstances beyond the control of the Contractor or the Government, distance between vessel berth and staging area, cargo mix all play a role and all will be discussed between the COR and Contractor at the vessel planning meeting, when establishing timelines for completing operations, keeping good communication between the COR and Contractor is essential.