CONSOLIDATED_QA_FINAL.pdf

QUESTION #1 - Box 18: reads “Delivery Date: Vessel” - please clarify what is required in this box.

ANSWER - The Contractor shall provide the date on which they propose to deliver the vessel to MSC.

QUESTION #2 - Clause -3.1(x) reads “Owner must confirm Vessel is free of copper and copper alloys (brass, bronze, etc.) in Vessel compartments, pipelines, heating coils, fittings, etc. as it is not permitted in Vessels Chartered by MSC to carry petroleum products, unless Vessel possesses a current DLA – Energy waiver.” Can you advise that this requirement only refers to compartments, pipelines, heating coils, fittings, etc. that have direct contract with the cargo? That is does not apply to the entire ship, for example, to the engine room equipment?

ANSWER - Vessel is to be free of copper and copper alloys in the cargo system.

QUESTION #3 - Clause C-4.1.1 reads: Owner’s Guarantee. The Vessel Owner warrants that the Vessel is clean and seaworthy and that the engineering plant is sound and has no known defects at time of delivery. Should the Vessel’s main engines, drive gear, generators, electronics, or any other major system fail in service for any reason not the fault of the Charterer during the life of this Contract, the Owner shall be immediately notified by telephone and the Vessel will be placed in an off-hire status until repairs have been affected at Owner’s expense. Can you advise what ‘any other major system’ refers to?

ANSWER – Specific systems cannot be defined as they are ship-specific.

QUESTION #4 - Clause C-4.3 reads “The ship’s crew shall be trained, qualified and medically fit sufficient to accomplish the requirements of the Performance Work Statement (PWS) and consistent with the ship’s mission.” There is no defined or specified Performance Work Statement – can you advise what this refers to?

ANSWER – The defined PWS consists of Section C of this RFP. Section C-2.1 outlines the ships mission.

QUESTION #5A - Clause C-7.4 reads: All tank cleaning during the term of the Contract will be for the account of the Contractor. Does MSC require Owners to clean cargo tanks between every cargo?

ANSWER –It is cargo dependent; all tank cleaning during the term of the contract will be for the account of the contractor. Tank Cleaning requirements are based on Energy Institute Hydrocarbon management (HM-50) Tank Cleaning Guidelines.

QUESTION #5B - To what standard does MSC require the cleaning? Must it be gas free safe for men?

ANSWER – Owner must confirm vessel will arrive at load port in a clean, gas-free condition, and be ready for internal tank inspection by Quality Assurance Representative (QAR). Ensure any adjacent tanks are also clean and gas free. Contractor shall provide (Owner's account) a Certified Marine Chemist to certify tanks safe for entry for internal tank inspection by Government or Charterer representative.

Contractor will provide time needed to re-inert after inspection. If a prior (last and next to last) cargo contained a percentage of benzene, Owner's Certified Marine Chemist must also measure toxicity for Benzene content and certify safe for entry. All safe for entry, toxicity, and flammability assessments will be performed in the presence of the inspecting QAR.

QUESTION #5C - How many times per year does MSC expect that the Owner must clean tanks?

ANSWER – See the answer to 5a.

QUESTION #6 - Clause C-9.7 Carriage of Non-Clean Products reads: “The Charterer shall have the right to carry dirty petroleum products excluding crude oil at any time during the currency of this Charter Party and also the right to change from dirty petroleum products to clean petroleum products any time during the currency of this Charter Party, it being understood that any time and expense involved in cleaning the tanks does not alter the responsibilities to carry clean petroleum products after carrying dirty petroleum products shall be for the Charterer’s account, except that any additional cleaning required by reason of carrying a higher grade of cargo which can normally be done by the crew and/or with the Vessel’s equipment shall be for the Owner’s account. It is also understood that this paragraph of the parties with respect to the condition of the tanks on delivery and redelivery as contained in C-7.” Can you explain what the words in bold mean?

ANSWER –An example would be, that if the vessel fails a tank inspection, then all additional expenses will be for the owners account.

QUESTION #7 - Clause F-4.1 reads “Any lightering will be at the expense of the Charterer; however, in the event the Charterer directs the Owner to arrange for lighterage services, the Owner shall make all necessary arrangements therefore. Please confirm that even when Owner makes the arrangement for the lightering that it is still at the expense of the Charterer.

ANSWER – Yes.

QUESTION #8 - Clause H-12.1 reads: “Reimbursement. All of the charges incurred for the Charterer's account as noted in H-12.1 above shall be paid by the Owner if so required by the Charterer. The Charterer shall thereafter reimburse the Owner for such charges in accordance with paragraph G-5 (Payment) and paragraph G-8 (Reimbursable Supplies and Services, Time Charters).’ The reference to G-5 (Payment) and G-8 (Reimbursable Supplies and Services, Time Charterers) - please advise where these sections can be found in the RFP.

ANSWER – Missing sections have been incorporated by way of Amendment 1.

QUESTION #9 - The last MSC RFP had a Both-to-Blame clause that is not found in this RFP. Was this intended or is it an oversight?

ANSWER – MSC has not incorporated the ‘Both-to-Blame’ provision into this solicitation.

QUESTION #10 - The vessel being offered (and all other vessel likely to be offered) can use either HFO180, HFO 380 or MGO in the main engines and auxiliary engines. What fuel will MSC use to evaluate the vessels in Attachment B, Basic Pricing Data?

ANSWER – MSC will evaluate the grade of fuel that is proposed and warranted by the Contractor.

QUESTION #11 - The period of charter is 12 months, with three 12-month options and one 11-month option. If the vessel delivers August 1, 2018, how will MSC commit to funding for the period October 1, 2018 – July 2019 which is in the next fiscal year?

ANSWER – By way of this amendment, the Government has incorporated FAR 52.232-19 entitled “Availability of Funds for the Next Fiscal Year” to address the question of funding commitment beyond the base period of performance.

QUESTION #12 - Box 91 refers to “auxiliary fuel consumption … only if not identified elsewhere”: can you explain what “only if not identified elsewhere” refers to? Does it means that if auxiliary power is produced by a shaft generator it does not need to be referred to in Box 91 since it is already included in the main engine consumption?

ANSWER – If there is a fuel consumption that is not already included in another warranted fuel consumption, then the Contractor shall identify it here.

QUESTION #13 - Box 93 asks owners to advise consumption in heavy weather – it is difficult to provide a consumption number without definition it could be Force 6 or a full hurricane. Can this requirement be deleted?

ANSWER – Section C-1.56 provides the definition for heavy weather conditions as “Conditions of gust winds of Beaufort Force 5 and above”. MSC maintains this requirement.

QUESTION #14 - Clause C-3.1(u) reads Must have a minimum of 15 berths available for additional government embarked personnel. Clause C-10 reads: Owner agrees to embark and berth, using permanent or temporary living quarters, a maximum of five Government personnel, including supercargo and armed force protection personnel as provided for under the Force Protection clause.

Clause C-11 reads: CADET. The Owner shall participate in programs for Merchant Marine Cadets for training of engine and deck cadets under the sponsorship of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and all accredited state maritime schools. Vessel(s) must be capable of accommodating a maximum of two cadets at all times. What are the total number of extra berths required?

ANSWER - Section C-3.1(u) has been revised to reflect the correct number of additional berths.

QUESTION #15 - On page 86, Clause (f) reads: (f) Contract award. (1) The Government intends to award a contract or contracts resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror(s) whose proposal(s) represents the best value after evaluation in accordance with the factors and subfactors in the solicitation. Section M refers to evaluation on a Lowest Price, Technically Acceptable basis- please confirm if this prevails over the reference to best value in page 86, Clause (f).

ANSWER – “Best value” can refer to either trade-off or LPTA evaluation procedures. To clarify the evaluation criteria, the following sentence will be added to the end of the paragraph: “In this case, the best value will consist of the lowest-price, technically acceptable proposal.”

QUESTION #16 - Page 91, Clause7.6 refers to OPNAV Form 9010/2 – there does not appear to be such a form in the RFP materials.

ANSWER – OPNAV FORM 9010/2 has been superseded by MSC FORM 9010/8. Accordingly, all references in the subject solicitation to OPNAV FORM 9010/2 have been replaced with MSC FORM 9010/8. MSC FORM 9010/8 has been provided as part of this amendment.

QUESTION #17 - Clause B-2.1 (Hire Rates) states that the vessel could carry ammo and hazardous cargoes. An ABS classed tanker is not permitted to carry ammo, as well as several other hazardous cargoes (besides fuels in the tanks). Please confirm that the vessel under this contract will only carry cargoes it is approved to carry, and not ammo or other non-approved hazardous cargoes.

ANSWER – The vessel will only be required to carry cargo for which it is approved for, ammo will only be carried in support of Force Protection measures.

QUESTION #18 - Clause C-3.1 B (e) states, “Vessel shall be less than 20 years for the duration of the Charter”. It is requested that MSC revert back to the requirement of the Market Survey that the vessel shall be less than 15 years for the duration of the charter, in order to ensure the highest safety of operations for shipment of DOD fuels.

ANSWER – MSC maintains the 20 year requirement.

QUESTION #19 - Clause C-3.1 B (v) states, “Owner shall hot wash all Vessel cargo spaces with water not to exceed 58 degrees centigrade prior to presenting for initial acceptance and inspection. Why is there a limit on the cleaning temperature even if vessel tank coating can handle higher temperatures?

ANSWER – If the vessel can exceed 58 degree it should also have a temp regulator to control how hot it can get so meeting this requirement should not be an issue.

QUESTION #20 - The Attachment B, Basic Pricing Data says on line 5: “If more than one fuel type is burned either underway or in-port please use extra rows provided.” However, there are no extra row to show the consumption of auxiliary engine fuel at sea (both loaded and in ballast).

ANSWER – Offerors are required to provide warranted fuel consumptions for auxiliaries in charter box

91. When calculating the “Total Evaluated Fuel”, offeros are only required to utilizes their warranted fuel consumption rates found in charter boxes 89, 90, and 92.

QUESTION #21 - C 3.1 B(s) - Please provide specifications for the CONSOL.

ANSWER – Sections C-8.4 through C-8.4.4 have been incorporated to provide specifications for the CONSOL requirement. In addition, the Government will provide CONSOL drawings upon request.