Malaysian_SITS_Bidder's_QA_9-30-13.pdf

N00024‐13‐R‐4406 Attachment 3

Bidder’s Technical Questions

1) "DWG 7412896 references Deck Cradle Pad (DWG 7412966) as a subassembly component of both Port Inboard Assembly (DWG 7412884), however DWGs 7412881 and 7412884 do not provide a quantity or use for the deck cradle pad. On DWG 7412881 items 3 & 31 have been removed (left blank), on DWG 7412884 items 30 & 32 have been removed. Did these revised items remove the need for Deck Cradle Pad (7412966)? If not, what is the requirement for the Deck Cradle Pad (quantity, location, etc.)?"

Answer: It is true that the Deck Cradle Pads from DWG 7412966 are not shown and are not on the material list for DWGs 7412881 and 7412884 (Port and Starboard Inboard Assemblies). The Deck Cradle Pads were removed by LAR G11‐017, which was the reason behind REV B of both DWGs. The Deck Cradle Pads were item 3 of DWG 7412881 and item 32 of DWG 7412884. The Deck Cradle Pad (DWG 7412966) will be removed from the LARS Base LSEC Drawing Tree (DWG 7412896) and the LARS CCD

(DWG 7329768).

2) "DWG 7412893 Heel Pin End Adapter Plate is not in the drawing package provided by NAVSEA on 7/31/13 and is a required component of A‐frame Template Kit LSEC Mod (DWG 7413009). Will the government provide this drawing?"

Answer: Yes. DWG 7412893 Rev A is attached.

3) "DWG 7413006 LARS Base LSEC Installation Weld Layout list the quantity required for Lap Plates as "as required" Does the government desire the contractor to provide pre‐fabricated Lap Plates as part of the SITS deliverables? If so, what quantity of each item is required?"

Answer: The lap plates are simply general stock metal pieces provided by the installation/maintenance activity to complete the installation of the SITS. The amount of lap plates used depends on the condition of the VOO deck and how much shimming is required to weld the SITS to the deck. Lap plates will therefore be a responsibility of the installation activity. The government does not the desire that the contractor provide pre‐fabricate Lap Plates as part of the SITS deliverables.

4) "DWG 7412699 U/W Platform, Ladder and Steps General Arrangement requires a quantity of 8 Item 3 I‐SITS Access Steps per DWG 7412733 which is not included in the DWG package provided by the government on 7/31/13. Will the government provide this drawing?"

Answer: Yes. DWG 7412733 Rev (‐) is attached.

5) "List of LSEC Rev I‐SITS, Bearing Blocks and FWD SITS Drawings provided as an attachment of RFQ lists DWG 7411191 ICD, Combined PRMS/SDS VOO Deck Layout as a reference, but is not included in DWG package received 7/31/13. Will the government provide this drawing?"

Answer: Yes. DWG7411191 Rev J is attached.

6) Drawing 7412646 I‐Sits Template Assembly lists a required quantity of 4 for Item 1; based on a review of all drawings, contractor believes the required quantity should be 1 not 4. Please verify and provide the required quantity of Item 1 on Drawing 7412646.

Answer: The Government agrees with changing the quantity of Item 1 on Drawing 7412646 to one (1) rather than four (4). Schedule 205.2‐688‐13 has been created to track this change and is included as an attachment.

7) Drawing 7412710 Base, Leveler is marked preliminary not for production, are there pending design changes to this drawing, or has this drawing been accepted as final?

Answer: Drawing 7412710 Rev – is approved. Schedule 205.2‐689‐13 has been created to remove “PRELIMINDARY NOT FOR PRODUCTION” from the drawing and is included as an attachment.

8) Several drawings (i.e., 7412983 and 7412985) are redlined with ABS reservations (i.e. “Submit reason for slotted bolt holes”);

∙ Have these reservations been cleared with ABS?

∙ What is the anticipated impact to design changes, or is clearing the reservations with ABS a contractor responsibility?

Answer: Both of the above drawings have been updated to REV A and approved by ABS. Drawings are available upon request.

9) Drawings 75311932 and 75311933 list the material specification as BS EN 10137‐2 S690QL which is a British Standard. Does the government intend for the contractor to obtain foreign sourced material meeting the stated specification? If not, will the government provide and authorize deviation from drawing specified material using a United States Standard?

Answer: HY‐100 Steel was approved for substitution by NAVSEA and ABS. Please see schedules (205.3‐ 156‐11 & 205.3‐157‐11). The drawings have been updated for Rev G and are awaiting NAVSEA approval.

The welding procedures for the substitute steels are required to be submitted to ABS for approval prior to the start of new construction.

10) Contractor has heard that design changes are pending. What is the estimated completion date for design changes?

A completion date for potential design changes is not known at this time.

11) Paragraph 3.2.1.3 states, “Contractor must meet all of the fabrication requirements defined in applicable documents 2.1.2 and 2.2.2.” and Paragraph 3.2.3.1 states, “SITS must be certified to the fabrication standards defined within applicable document 2.2.1 and 2.1.2.” Reference 2.1.2 is ABS Rules for Building and Classing Underwater Vehicles, Systems and Hyperbaric Facilities 2002 NAVSEA ltr 9594 Ser 394/0815 of 01 Dec 11: Submarine Rescue System (SRS) Handling System Additional Requirements for Classification (ABS‐Plus) while Reference 2.2.1 is American Bureau of Shipping, Rules for Building and Classing Underwater Vehicles, Facilities and Hyperbaric Systems, 2010. It appears that fabrication is to the NAVSEA modified 2002 ABS rules while certification is to the both 2002 and 2010 ABS rules. What is the required order of precedence for differences between the two referenced documents?

The NAVSEA letter (ABS‐Plus) has supplemental requirements in addition to the ABS Rules. The most recent ABS rules must be following. If the most recent ABS rules cannot be followed, justification must be submitted to ABS for evaluation.

12) Contractor requests the following additional references:

a. SOW 2.1.2 ABS Rules for Building and Classing Underwater Vehicles, Systems and Hyperbaric Facilities 2002 NAVSEA ltr 9594 Ser 394/0815 of 01 Dec 11: Submarine Rescue System (SRS) Handling System Additional Requirements for Classification (ABS‐Plus)

b. SOW 2.1.3 NAVSEA ltr 9594 Ser 394/0010 of 08 Jan 2010: American Bureau of Shipping Memorandum of Agreement with NAVSEA

c. SOW 2.1.4 NAVSEA ltr 4720 Ser 391R/0164 of 29 Oct 12: Serialization of the Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System (SRDRS) Launch and Recovery System (LARS) and Ship Interface Template Set (SITS).

d. From Section J of RFQ Attachment 2: List of all test procedures required to certify the SITS construction

Answer: The three letters stated above can now be found on FedBizOpps.com. Attachment 2 can also be found on FedBizOpps.com

13) Drawing 7412878 Sheet 1 Note 15 states, “Blast and Paint IAW TM303069.” Contractor has been unable to locate any references detailing the specification TM303069. Please clarify.

Answer: TM303069 Rev A does not meet the environmental requirements for VOC levels. Rev B has been made with paints that meet the VOC level requirements is at NAVSEA awaiting approval.

14) Drawing 7412885 Sheet 1 Note 1 states, “Weld and Inspect to Surveyor’s satisfaction and in accordance with AWS D1.1 and ABS Rules.” What particular requirements from AWS D1.1 are invoked (i.e., Statically or Cyclically Loaded structural members)?

Answer: The applicable requirements should be determined by the vendor for each individual weld.

15) In the absence of specific Geometric Dimension Tolerance (GDT) requirements on the individual fabrication drawings, does the general GDT provided on assembly drawings take precedence?

If a GDT is not called out for a specific dimension than the GDTs listed in zone A4 of the drawing should be followed. A whole number should be considered a fraction for the purpose of determining its tolerance.

16) Drawing 7412825 Item 1 is a McMaster Carr Part Number (93023A675) for Acme Right‐Hand Coupling Nut, 2‐4 Acme THD. This commercially available item is not obtainable with the material certification requirements of Note 1 "Material certification with actual chemical and physical properties traceable to the mill heat number is required." Please advise this apparent inconsistency.

Due to mislabeling of parts on one of the parent drawings of 7412825, the chemical and physical material certs were accidentally carried down to item 1 of drawing 7412825. Chemical and physical material certifications are not required for item 1 of drawing 7412825.

Bidder’s Contracting Questions

Question 1:

The solicitation states "The Offeror shall furnish the following information for each major subcontractor or team member ‐10%‐49% of total contract price."

a) Are Major Subcontractors required to have all of the items listed in a) through f) (whether small or large business) to be qualified since this is a competitive FFP solicitation? Are there any exemptions for small businesses?

b) Do you require the information in a) ‐ f) if the subcontractor provides 50% ‐ 69% of the effort?

Answer: All major subcontractors or team members must submit their pricing information. A major subcontractor or team member is defined as performing 10%-49% of the total contract price. This has been marked as a Small Business set-aside. An Offeror may not subcontract 50% of total contract price or above to a large business.

Question 2:

In reference to section 3.3.1 (Labor Costs/Hours), the RFP states "Finally, provide the most recent three

(3) years of prior actual rate history by labor category.”

1) Considering that this is a competitive FFP solicitation, what is the relevance of such information?

Will an offeror be considered non‐responsive for not completing?

Answer: No. The Offeror is not required to submit three years of prior actuals.

Question 3

No standard shipping plan (i.e., Assembly Pack and Load plan) is provided with the RFQ. Does the government have a preference on the method of loading individual components of the entire assembly to aid the end‐user? Or are the only invoked requirements of reference 2.2.2 ANSI/MH 5.4‐1972:

American National Standards Institute Specifications for International (ISO) Freight Containers, 1972 and the RFQ shipping requirements applicable?

Answers: The Offeror shall use best commercial practices for all shipping purposes.

Question 4

Page 64 of 66 of the RFQ states, “The price that will be evaluated is the total proposed price. The total proposed price will be the sum of the proposed firm fixed prices for Contract Line Item Numbers (CLINs) 0001‐0004 for each offer.” However, CLINs 0003 and 0004 are Option Items, only one of which will be executed. Please provide the rationale for this evaluation method since one of the options will not be invoked.

Because the delivery location has not been firmly established the government will evaluate the sum of all CLINs, even though it is understood that only CLIN 0003 or 0004 will be executed.