Solicitation Question and Answer Log.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 19 KB Posted
- Attached to
- Stevedoring & Related Terminal Services (S&RTS) - Mid-Atlantic Federal contract opportunity
- Solicitation number
- HTC711-20-R-R017
About this file
This document contains a question and answer log for solicitation HTC711-20-R-R017 for Stevedoring and Related Terminal Services in the Mid-Atlantic region. The solicitation is seeking commodity and man-hour rates for cargo handling and transportation services at ports in Charleston, Savannah, Wilmington, and Morehead City. Services include vessel loading and discharge, cargo staging and storage, railcar and truck loading, and cargo tracking and documentation. Questions from prospective vendors relate to labor hours, equipment requirements, hazardous materials handling, and clarifying payment terms for ancillary services. The government provides responses to ensure all technical and payment details are clear before final proposal submission.
View the file
Other files for this federal contract opportunity
Show all 19
On GovTribe
Work with this file on GovTribe
- Download the original file
- Contacts named in this file
- Similar government files
- Ask GovTribe AI about this file
Text version
Sheet1
| SOLICITATION Q&A LOG |
| HTC711-20-R-R017 Mid-Atlantic S&RTS |
| DATE RCVD | PROSPECTIVE VENDOR'S QUESTION | DATE of REPLY | GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE | AMEND. REQD? |
| 24-Apr-20 | Confirm the "portable office space" requirement at line item 403. Is 4,500 Sqft correct or 20 ft ISO office per 6.4.4 of the PWS? | 24-Apr-20 | Per section 6.4.4, "The contractor shall provide when ordered ISO office 20Ft, office container, or equivalent. | NO |
| 24-Apr-20 | PWS states, when working in Charleston, the vessel operations would be at the TC dock and Wharf A. Would there be a time when we would have to load or discharge a non-prepo vessel at Wharf A? If so, how will the contract be paid when draying cargo from Wharf A to/from the A&F track area or other staging areas at the JBC South Annex and main station? Ref. PWS 6.1, 6.6.6.2 and 6.7 | 24-Apr-20 | Per section 5.9.6.1 & 5.9.6.2 truck loading/discharging - "The Contractor shall move cargo from its place of rest (staging lot) and load onto military or commercial truck conveyance". Compensation for services defined in this paragraph are included in the commodity rates in schedule 1B3 of the SOR. | NO |
| Per section 5.9.7 & 5.9.8, "The Contractor shall move cargo from its place of rest and load each railcar per the Government load plan. The Contractor shall load or discharge railcars, whereas the Government will compensate the Contractor for loading and unlading railcars as stated in Schedules 1B1 and 1B2 of the SOR". | ||||
| Per section 6.6.6.2, "The Contract shall dray cargo from the vessel to various staging areas, or to the railhead, and load onto railcars in accordance with the load plan. | ||||
| Per section 5.12 & 5.13, "The Contractor shall disposition (port clearance) cargo for onward movement to its final destination by inland modes of transportation (truck or rail). The Contract upon request from the Government shall perform commodity LOLO, TOTO or RORO operations. The Contractor shall dray the cargo from the designated place of rest per the Governments provided or approved port clearance plan. Compensation for services defined in this paragraph is included in the commodity rates established in schedule 1B1 and 1B3 of the SOR." | ||||
| Per section 5.12 - Compensation for services defined in this paragraph are included in the commodity rates established in schedule 1B2 and 1B4 of the SOR. | ||||
| 11-May-20 | Confirm that there isn't any Government equipment being furnished under this contract. | 15-May-20 | GFP will be furnished. See Atch 10 for GFP list. | YES |
| 12-May-20 | Ref Section 3, Page 6, Paragraph 3.4 - While we understand the requirement for fresh labor the historical work period is from 07:00-23:00. This is based on our current labor hiring rules and practices. Will we be allowed to continue the long standing work practice of working from 07:00-23:00? | 13-May-20 | In all cases, the Contractor shall provide fresh labor at the beginning of each shift who shall have at least eight (8) hours of rest between shifts before starting another work shift. Based on the requirement, the unit safety officer will provide risk assemsents to the commander. The unit commander will make the decision whether the contracted labor may work beyond the requirement. | NO |
| 12-May-20 | Ref Section 3, Page 8, Paragraph 3.6 & 3.61 - Can you please clarify that training on military/specialized military equipment will not be paid for by the military, as customary, but will be a the Contractor's expense? If at the Contractor's expense, how will the contract be compensated for the cost of the wages paid to labor? As mentioned, it's customary for the labor to be paid by the military during this training. | 13-May-20 | At the time this PWS was published, it was determined that the contractor would have to attend this training at their expense, however since that time the section has been updated to reflect the paragraph below. The USG will compensate the specialized vehicle operators at Man-hour rates to attend the Governments Vehicle Familiarization training. | YES |
| Revision: 3.6 Specialized Government Equipment Operation and Familiarization. DOD contractor employees assigned to operate Government-owned or Government-leased equipment in the performance of their contract will be in compliance with the licensing requirements of the USG and applicable foreign nation motor vehicle laws and certified, by the contractor and at the contractor's expense, as being fully qualified to opiate the equipment which they are assigned, IAW Army Regulation (AR) 600-55, The Army Driver and Operator Standardization Program (Selection, Training, Testing, and Licensing. At minimum, personnel operating USG military vehicles will be familiarized in: | ||||
| (a) Basic hand and arm signals; | ||||
| (b) Emergency stopping procedures; | ||||
| (c) Start-up and shutdown procedures; | ||||
| (d) Location of controls; | ||||
| (e) Demonstration of vehicle blind spots; and | ||||
| (f) Preventive maintenance checks and services | ||||
| The prime contractor must document all required operator qualifications and provide this documentation (Commercial Driver's License (CDL), with hazardous material endorsements"" to the COR prior to the Contractor's personnel engaging in equipment operation. The COR will retain this documentation for record. If the Government makes "operation and familiarization" training available onsite, the Contractor shall attend training those training events at Man-hour rates per Schedule 2 of the SOR. The Contractor shall ensure that sufficient pools of vehicle operator are available to operate Government vehicles within confines of the port (29 SFR 1917) as required. Specialized Government vehicles may include, but are not limited to, all classes of Trucks, Stryker vehicles, Heavy Equipment Transports (HETS) Mine Resistant Ambush Protective (MRAP) vehicles and Armored Tracked vehicles. | ||||
| 12-May-20 | REF Section 4, Page 13, Paragraph 4.3 (and all sections the REF. OOP) - If OOP expenses are only reimbursed at the actual cost how is the contractor compensated for providing procurement services (taking orders, sourcing, purchasing, tracking, receiving, delivering to operation, etc.) and for cost of capital deployed. | 13-May-20 | The USG will reimburse the contractor all expenses associated to the miscellaneous charge (OOP). The contractor will be required to get the COR approval prior to sourcing any material, service, or additional equipment. The contractor must present to the COR at the time the invoicing substantiated paid vendor invoice or receipt (4.3.3). The Contractor may also collect any administration cost (4.3.4), as long as the contractor has prior written approval from the COR and before services or materials are delivered. | NO |
| 12-May-20 | REF Section 4,5 Page 20, 39 Paragraph 4.10.2, 5.34 - Due to many considerations in the various ports mobile/shore/gantry cranes should be an OOP expense. It's neither fair to the contractor nor-cost effective for the military to have mobile/shore crane hire added to the individual commodity rates. Please clarify if cranes can be considered exclusively an OOP expense at all four ports? | 13-May-20 | Per Section 5.34, those types of cranes ar not considered OOP, the USG will pay for port provided crane through port tariff direct billing, the contractor shall not include these cranes in their rates. | NO |
| Per Section 4.10.2, this section pertains to equipment the contractor owns and would use in extra labor and equipment rental operations. The contractor is required to come to with all the MHE, tools, labor, materials, and management to preform the requirements stated in the PWS. Equipment not owned by the contractor should not be included in any commodity rate. | ||||
| 12-May-20 | REF Section 5,6 Page 30, 31, 55 Paragraph 5.10.2, 5.10.3, 5.10.6, 5.11.1, 6.11.1 - How is the contractor to know how much time it will take to perform opening, closing, replacement of tarpaulins, battens, hatch covers, temporary covers and beams for an unknown operation and commodities? Please clarify if these services will be handled on extra labor as customary? There isn't any way to know how much cost to add to various commodities for these unknown services. | 13-May-20 | The Stevedore company as part of its work shall be performed IAW "best commercial practices". The Government uses commercial and military vessels throughout the world, most vessels what will call on the ports in the Charleston area are RORO type vessels, whereby removing hatch covers will not be needed. Vessels that are self-contained will be opened by the ship's crew. In cases where the contractor would have to open a vessel, it would be performed by the crane operator. Should there be some sort delay in removal of the hatch cover be caused, the government would pay the contractor detention time, approved by the COR. | NO |
| 12-May-20 | REF Section 5, Page 30, 33, 35 Paragraph 5.10.4, 5.16.2, 5.25.1 - How does the contractor get compensated for capturing linked, nested and secondary loads. It takes time to do this and slows the movement of cargo that's on a commodity rate. What percentage of cargo is handled as one of these categories? | 13-May-20 | Capturing linked, nested, or secondary loads, is performed at the takes no longer checker station when discharging a vessel. Checkers are required to check, tally and capture all cargo that this MSL's attached to them and should be part of the commodity rate. | NO |
| 12-May-20 | REF Section 5, Page 32, Paragraph 5.12, 5.13 - How much of the cargo will require tarpaulins, removal/installation of sideboards and rails or placards/labels? If no definitive number can be given it can only be assumed that the cargo will need these task performed. | 13-May-20 | The answer to this question is less than 1% of all cargo will be tarpped However, the Government will supply tarps when needed, and as part of the commodity rate the contractor will tarp the load when requested. The contractor will also be responsible for setting up things like railcar spanners plates, putting in place ramps, all of the which is part of loading and unloading cargo. | NO |
| 12-May-20 | REF Section 5, Page 38, Paragraph 5.33 - The PWS states that the contractor shall use container handling MHE (container stacker, top lift) when lifting any container, empty or full with a length 20ft. Or greater. It's customary to handle 20ft. containers or equivalent with pockets by forklift on the terminal and vessel. Will this practice no longer be allowed? | 13-May-20 | The contractor shall use when practical, container handling equipment designed for lifting 20' and 40' containers. Considering that most containers the USG are full, not all are weight distributed evenly, the contractor shall use "best commercial practices" when handling containers 20' or larger. The Safety Officer will not allow the use a forklift to lift 40'; containers, or allow duel forklifts to lift any USG cargo, except under extreme circumstance and with Marine Cargo Specialist or COR approval. | NO |
| 12-May-20 | REF Section 6, Page 43, Paragraph 6.3.1, 6.3.1.1 - How does the contractor get compensated for maintaining emergency response/hazardous spill supplies and the disposal of used material resulting from a leaking military unit? If the leak wasn't caused by the contractor the supplies, cleanup and disposal should be handled as extra labor and OOP expenses. | 13-May-20 | See section 3.5. When the Contractor does not have sufficient resources of their own, the Contractor shall immediately arrange for outside emergency response personnel who specialize in spill containment and clean up. The Contractor shall pay for any such clean up resulting from the Contractor's equipment or leaks caused by the Contractor by damage to military cargo shipments and must comply with hazardous spill procedures in the Emergency Response Plan. | NO |
| See Section 3.5.2 Military Cargo Shipments. Military cargo leaking POL or hazardous substance not caused by contractor's damage, the Contractor shall not be responsible for the cost of cleanup. However the Contractor shall attempt to contain the leak and clean up the spill. | ||||
| See Section 3.5.6 Secondary Containment for Hazardous Materials, Wastes and Petroleum, Oils and Lubricants (POL). The Contractor shall provide containments devices of various sizes if required for temporary and permanent storage facilities that retain POL substances, hazardous materials and hazardous wastes (i.e. - new and used -oils, fuels, lubricants, solvents, batteries acids, paints, antifreeze, etc.). Providing containment devices shall be at the contractor's expense. | ||||
| 12-May-20 | REF Section 6, Page 49, Paragraph 6.5.2 - How does the contractor get compensated for all the tasks required in this section as all of them require labor and supervision. Some of the items require supplies and wasted disposal. These should be handled as extra labor and OOP expenses. | 13-May-20 | Compensation is included in the commodity rates established in the SOR. | NO |
| 12-May-20 | REF Section 6, Page 52, Paragraph 6.6 - How can the contractor be held responsible for deficiencies discovered after rail cars have been inspected and pulled and until they reach their final destination? Once the cars pass inspection and are pulled the contractor no longer maintains custody or control over the cars. At that point, the retail has accepted the cars to be in good order. | 13-May-20 | The Contractor "must" before the rail cars are pulled, make sure that cargo that is loaded on each railcar meets or exceeds all rail loading regulations JHBC requirements, commercial port requirements, and SDDC TEA Pamphlet 55-19, tie-down Handbook for Rail Movements, The contractor is responsible for ensuring the securement of rail load. Therefore is responsible for any mishaps pertaining to how the cargo was prepped for loading, how the cargo was loaded, a n how the cargo was secured to the railcar from the port to its destination. | NO |
| 12-May-20 | REF Section 6, Page 54, Paragraph 6.7 - Will truck/rail operations in Savannah, Wilmington and Morehead City be handled as man-hour or commodity? Currently, it's handled and man-hour but the SOR has commodity codes listed and the PWS says man-hour. | 13-May-20 | The paragraph states, "Truck operations" performed in Savannah, GA; Wilmington & Morehead City, NC are under man-hour rates established in the SOR. The COR has the discretion to decide based on workload at the ports, the Government is also seeking commodity rates for each port in the SOR. | NO |
| 14-May-20 | The SOR appears to have an error in the man-hour section category items 316, Head Checker/Chief Clerk/Time Keeper/Plan Clerk/Shipside Clerk) and 314, Carpenter. Category Code 316 combines Head/Chief Clerk with Time Keeper/Plan Clerk. These tow crafts have different pay rates and should be separated into two unique code Chief Clerk/Shipside/Head and Timekeeper/Plan Clerks. Category code 317, Carpenter can be removed and replace by one of the clerk codes. All other respective man-hour codes regarding the Chief and Time Keeper should also be updated. Will a new SOR be uploaded into Beta.SAM? | 15-May-20 | See Revision 01 of Atch 2 - Schedule of Rates | YES |
File details come from the government source that posted it. Updated .