C2 N4523A26Q5719 Q and A_FINAL.pdf

N4523A26Q5719 Shredding Services

Q&A

1. Question 1: Limitations on Subcontracting: This requirement is a Total Small Business Set- Aside. Does FAR 52.219-14 (Limitations on Subcontracting) or an equivalent clause apply to this procurement? If so, what percentage of the cost of contract performance must be performed by the prime contractor's own employees, and are there any "similarly situated entity" exceptions that would apply to a small business subcontractor performing the bulk of the work?

a. Answer: FAR 52.219-14 Limitations on Subcontracting is not applicable to this requirement.

2. Question 2: Technical Factor Submission for Subcontractor Performance: If our proposed subcontractor will perform the NAID-certified processing, mobile shredding, and disposal, should Technical Factors 1 through 3 (NAID Certification, Facility Location and Process, and Mobile Shredding Capability) be submitted based on the subcontractor's certification, facility, and equipment, or is there any additional documentation required to reflect a prime/subcontractor teaming arrangement?

a. Answer: It is the responsibility of the Contractor executing the work (i.e., the Contractor performing the secure document destruction services) to hold the certification. To be technically acceptable, the Offeror (either as the prime Contractor or through a proposed subcontractor), shall provide a copy of its current NAID certification.

3. Question 3: Badging for Subcontractor Personnel: Can you confirm that subcontractor employees performing on-site work are subject to the same DBIDS/VCC badging requirements and lead times described in Attachment 3, and that the prime contractor is responsible for coordinating their enrollment?

a. Answer: Yes. subcontractor employees performing on-site work are subject to the same DBIDS/VCC badging requirements and lead times described in Attachment 3, and that the prime contractor is responsible for coordinating their enrollment.

4. Question 4: May an offeror satisfy Technical Factor 1 by proposing a subcontractor that holds a current NAID AAA Certification, or must the prime offeror itself hold the certification?

a. Answer: It is the responsibility of the Contractor executing the work (i.e., the Contractor performing the secure document destruction services) to hold the certification. To be technically acceptable, the Offeror (either as the prime Contractor or through a proposed subcontractor), shall provide a copy of its current NAID certification.

5. Question 5: Could you please provide the total number of Government-furnished 64-gallon shredding containers included under this contract?

a. Answer: There are approximately 200 shred containers located throughout PSNS

6. Question 6: How many buildings or service locations are included in the required twice-weekly service route?

a. Answer: Please refer to “Attachment A” in the attached Performance Work Statement (PWS). As listed, on Tuesdays there are 23 stops, and on Thursdays, there are 38 stops.

7. Question 7: Is there an estimated annual or monthly volume of paper to be shredded, or any historical usage data available for this requirement?

a. Answer: Anticipate an annual volume of approximately 250 tons of paper.

8. Question 8: Is there an incumbent contractor currently performing these services? If so, could you provide the incumbent contractor's name and contract number?

a. Answer: This contract is a follow on contract to N4523A21D5702.

9. Question 9: Are Certificates of Destruction required after each service, and if so, are there any specific reporting or documentation requirements?

a. Answer: Certified contractors should not need to supply Certificates of Destruction after each service.

10. Question 10: Are there any vehicle access restrictions, escort requirements, or other logistical considerations that contractors should account for when servicing the installation?

a. Answer: Please refer to the following sections in the Performance Work Statement (PWS) (Attachment 1) in their entirety: 1.7, 1.8 3.2, 4.2. Additionally, please review Attachment 3 (Contractor Badging and Access Requirements Solicitation).

11. Question 11: How many 64-gallon containers are located at each Tuesday and Thursday route stop?

a. Answer: The amount of containers will vary from week to week based on building tenant usage. The two routes are split evenly based on building function and which buildings create more/less paper waste.

12. Question 12: What is the historical average weight or volume of paper shredded during each Tuesday and Thursday route?

a. Answer: Approximately 250 tons annually

13. Question 13: How many hours does each current route normally take from arrival at the installation through completion?

a. Answer: The route typically takes 3-4 hours, but may vary due to site conditions.

14. Question 14: Are Tuesday and Thursday mandatory service days, or may the contractor propose alternate service days while maintaining twice-weekly performance?

a. Answer: Please refer to “Attachment A” within the Performance Work Statement (PWS).

Shredding Services will be performed on Tuesday and Thursday. Please refer to Section

1.14 in the PWS.

15. Question 15: NAID certification, disposal-facility, and mobile-shredding-truck requirements through a qualified subcontractor, or must the prime contractor itself own or directly control those resources?

a. Answer: It is the responsibility of the Contractor executing the work (i.e., the Contractor performing the secure document destruction services) to hold the certification. To be technically acceptable, the Offeror (either as the prime Contractor or through a proposed subcontractor), shall provide a copy of its current NAID certification. Additionally, the prime contractor is responsible for ensuring that all resources, including disposal facilities and mobile shredding trucks, comply with the PWS. This includes the requirement that only NAID-certified facilities may be used for landfill disposal (PWS Section 5.3.3) and that vehicles meet size and weight restrictions (PWS Section 4.2). The use of a qualified subcontractor to meet these requirements is acceptable, but the prime contractor remains fully responsible for contract performance and for reporting all subcontractor labor hours as required by Section 4.6.2 of the PWS.

16. Question 16: Will the Government accept the NAID certification, technical qualifications, and past performance of a proposed subcontractor when evaluating the offeror?

a. Answer: It is the responsibility of the Contractor executing the work (i.e., the Contractor performing the secure document destruction services) to hold the certification. To be technically acceptable, the Offeror (either as the prime Contractor or through a proposed subcontractor), shall provide a copy of its current NAID certification.

17. Question 17: Please clarify whether all shredded material must be recycled through a Material Recovery Facility or mill, or whether incineration and landfill disposal after milling are also acceptable final-disposal methods.

a. Answer: There shall be no deviations from the Performance Work Statement (PWS).

Please refer to Section 5.3 of the PWS.

18. Question 18: Is a Certificate of Destruction required after each route in addition to the weekly Route Checklist? If so, please provide the required format and submission timeline.

a. Answer: Regarding the weekly Route Checklist, please refer to Section 4.6.4 in the PWS. The format for this checklist is located as an Exhibit to this Combined Synopsis Solicitation, see “Exhibit A_Route Checklist_Redacted”. Certified contractors should not need to supply Certificates of Destruction after each service.

19. Question 19: Will the Government offer a pre-quote site visit so potential offerors can evaluate route conditions, truck access, maneuverability, staging areas, and estimated service time?

a. Answer: The Government will not be hosting site visits for this requirement. The unredacted version of the route checklist, route map, and building-location information has been posted.

20. Question 20: Please provide any available incumbent or historical contract information, including prior pricing, average route volume, number of containers serviced, and average service duration.

a. Answer: This is a follow on to contract N4523A21D5702.

21. Question 21: Does the stated volume of “50 million records” refer to 50 million individual pages or images, or to 50 million documents that may contain multiple pages?

a. Answer: The Performance Work Statement (PWS) for this solicitation does not contain a volume estimate of “50 million records.” The scope of this requirement is for a recurring, route-based service to shred the contents of government-provided 64-gallon containers, as detailed in the PWS and its attachments.

22. Question 22: Please provide the estimated number of boxes, the average number of pages per box, and the warehouse or storage locations from which the records will be retrieved.

a. Answer: Please refer to section 3.1.1 in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). Records are not stored in boxes for retrieval. Instead, the contractor will be emptying government-provided 64-gallon containers at various locations. This requirement is for a recurring, route-based shredding service, not a one-time retrieval of boxed records from a warehouse.

23. Question 23: What percentage of the records is expected to be single-sided versus double-sided?

a. Answer: This contract is for the physical destruction of paper documents, and the service is based on the collection and shredding of material from containers.

24. Question 24: What percentage of the records is letter-size, legal-size, oversized, or another nonstandard paper size?

a. Answer: The shredding service is based on the collection and destruction of all paper materials placed in the provided containers. All standard office paper sizes are considered within the scope of work and shall be shredded in accordance with the Performance Work Statement.

25. Question 25: Please describe the physical condition of the records, including the estimated prevalence of staples, paper clips, bindings, folders, tears, poor contrast, mixed paper sizes, or other preparation challenges.

a. Answer: The required service is the physical destruction of documents. These items are considered a normal part of the paper waste stream and will not require special preparation.

26. Question 26: What output format is required: TIFF, PDF, PDF/A, searchable PDF, native repository import, or another specified format?

a. Answer: This requirement is strictly for physical secure document destruction (paper shredding services) as outlined in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). There are no document scanning, digital file creation, or file formatting requirements (such as TIFF or PDF) associated with this contract.

27. Question 27: What OCR accuracy standard is required, and are handwritten records or handwritten annotations included within the OCR scope?

a. Answer: This requirement is strictly for physical secure document destruction (paper shredding services) as outlined in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). There are no document scanning, digitization, or Optical Character Recognition (OCR) requirements associated with this contract.

28. Question 28: What indexing fields are required, and will the index values be derived from barcodes, cover sheets, folder labels, existing metadata, or manual data entry?

a. Answer: This requirement is strictly for physical secure document destruction (paper shredding services) as outlined in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). There are no document scanning, archiving, indexing, or digital data entry requirements associated with this contract.

29. Question 29: What quality-control standard is required: 100% visual review of all images and metadata, statistical sampling, or another defined acceptance method?

a. Answer: This contract is strictly for physical secure document destruction (paper shredding services) as outlined in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). There are no scanning, imaging, digitization, or metadata requirements associated with this requirement.

30. Question 30: What hosting duration is required, and does TJJD require vendor-hosted TxRAMP Level 2 storage or delivery and import into an existing State of Texas system?

a. Answer: Please refer to Section 1.7 of the Performance Work Statement (PWS). Services will be performed at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), a U.S. Navy facility in Washington State. The PWS is exclusively about the physical destruction of paper, not IT or digital services.

31. Question 31: May a small-business prime contractor satisfy Technical Factors 1 through 3 through a proposed subcontractor, including the subcontractor’s NAID certification, off-site disposal facility, mobile shredding equipment, vehicle specifications, and automobile insurance? Or must these qualifications and resources be held directly in the prime contractor’s name?

a. Answer: It is the responsibility of the Contractor executing the work (i.e., the Contractor performing the secure document destruction services) to hold the certification. To be technically acceptable, the Offeror (either as the prime Contractor or through a proposed subcontractor), shall provide a copy of its current NAID certification.

32. Question 32: Would a current NAID certification held by the subcontractor that will perform the shredding and destruction services satisfy Technical Factor 1, provided the certification remains valid throughout contract performance? Additionally, may the facility required by Technical Factor 2 be owned and operated by the NAID-certified subcontractor, provided it is within 100 driving miles of PSNS & IMF and the prime contractor maintains responsibility for contract oversight and chain-of-custody management? The PWS requires the contractor to maintain NAID certification throughout the contract.

a. Answer: It is the responsibility of the Contractor executing the work (i.e., the Contractor performing the secure document destruction services) to hold the certification. To be technically acceptable, the Offeror (either as the prime Contractor or through a proposed subcontractor), shall provide a copy of its current NAID certification.

33. Question 33: May the subcontractor perform the mobile shredding, transportation, recycling, and final destruction activities while the prime contractor performs contract management, quality control, reporting, invoicing, security coordination, subcontractor oversight, and communication with the Government?

a. Answer: Yes. It is the responsibility of the Contractor executing the work (i.e., the Contractor performing the secure document destruction services) to hold the certification.

34. Question 34: Please confirm whether FAR 52.219-14, Limitations on Subcontracting, applies to this acquisition. If applicable, please clarify how the 50% limitation will be calculated for this service contract and whether work performed by a similarly situated small-business subcontractor will be excluded from the amount considered subcontracted.

a. Answer: FAR 52.219-14 Limitations on Subcontracting is not applicable to this requirement.

35. What specific past-performance information should offerors submit, such as contract numbers, customer references, periods of performance, dollar values, CPARS reports, or commercial references? Is there a required number of references? May the prime contractor submit relevant past performance belonging to its proposed shredding subcontractor in addition to the prime contractor’s own corporate experience?

a. Answer: The Contractor is not required to submit past performance information for this Notice. The Government will review all relevant past performance.

36. Please confirm the total number of pickup locations included in the Tuesday route and the Thursday route. Please also provide the total number of Government-owned 64-gallon containers expected to be serviced during each route and the number of containers assigned to each pickup location.

a. Please refer to “Attachment A” in the attached Performance Work Statement (PWS). As listed, on Tuesdays there are 23 stops, and on Thursdays, there are 38 stops. The amount of containers will vary from week to week based on building tenant usage. The two routes are split evenly based on building function and which buildings create more/less paper waste.

37. If available, please provide historical workload information, including: Average number of containers emptied during each Tuesday and Thursday route, Average or estimated pounds of paper shredded per route, Typical truck capacity utilized, Average time required to complete each route, Frequency with which containers are found empty or do not require service

a. Answer: Please refer to “Attachment A” in the attached Performance Work Statement (PWS). As listed, on Tuesdays there are 23 stops, and on Thursdays, there are 38 stops.

The amount of containers will vary from week to week based on building tenant usage.

The two routes are split evenly based on building function and which buildings create more/less paper waste. The route typically takes 3-4 hours, but may vary due to site conditions. Empty containers will most likely not be at the pick-up location.

38. Will the Government offer a pre-quote site visit or route walkthrough so offerors can evaluate gate access, loading areas, turning radius, overhead clearance, and vehicle maneuverability? If a site visit will not be offered, can an unredacted route checklist, route map, and building-location information be provided to qualified offerors?

a. Answer: The Government will not be hosting site visits for this requirement. The unredacted version of the route checklist, route map, and building-location information has been posted.

39. Please confirm that Tuesday and Thursday are the required weekly service days. Will the Government establish a fixed arrival or route-start time, or may the contractor propose a start time within the stated operating hours of 7:30 a.m. through 3:30 p.m.? Please also provide the Government’s estimated or historical duration for completing each route.

a. Answer: Please refer to Attachment A within the attached PWS. The routes shall be completed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Routes should be scheduled to begin before 0900 so adequate escorts can be provided. Historically, each route takes 3-4 hours to complete, but may vary due to site conditions.

40. When an unserviced building is added as a call-in service, is the additional trip included in the firm-fixed monthly price, or will it be separately authorized and compensated?

a. Answer: All stops are listed in the attached Performance Work Statement. The Government will not deviate.

41. Please confirm the specific access credentials required for shredding personnel and drivers.

Will DBIDS and standard NAVSEA badges be sufficient for all route locations, or will any stop require: Red badges, Security clearances, DISS visit requests, A DD Form 254, Delta Pier access, Access to NNPI, nuclear, classified, or other specially controlled areas

a. Answer: None of the stops in the Performance Work Statement require red badges or security clearances. A DD254 is not required, there will be no Delta Pier access, and there will be no access to NNPI, nuclear, classified, or other specially controlled areas

42. If the work requires only standard installation access and standard NAVSEA badges, must the prime contractor maintain a formally appointed Facility Security Officer, or may the prime designate a company security or badging representative to prepare, sign, and coordinate the required access documentation?

a. Answer: The Contractor is not required to have a formally appointed FSO.

43. Will a mobile shredding truck owned, insured, operated, and clearly marked with the performing subcontractor’s company name be permitted inside the controlled industrial area, provided the subcontractor and vehicle are identified in the prime contractor’s access request and approved by the Government?

a. Answer: Yes.

44. Does the Government have an anticipated or incumbent Service Contract Labor Standards classification for the mobile shredding-truck driver/operator, such as Light, Medium, or Heavy Truckdriver based on the vehicle’s gross vehicle weight?

a. Answer: Per the terms of the solicitation, the contractor is responsible for reviewing the applicable Service Contract Labor Standards (SCLS) Wage Determination incorporated into the contract and ensuring all employees are properly classified and compensated in accordance with the work they perform. The Performance Work Statement (PWS) specifies in Section 4.2 that contractor vehicles shall not exceed 40,000 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) without Government approval, which may be a relevant factor for the contractor's classification determination. It is the prime contractor’s responsibility to ensure full compliance with all applicable labor laws and regulations.

45. Paragraph 19 appears to instruct offerors to price Option CLINs 1001, 1002, 1003, and 1004. However, the pricing schedule identifies the option periods as CLINs 1001, 2001, 3001, and 4001. Please confirm that the correct option CLINs are 1001, 2001, 3001, and 4001.

a. Answer: Please provide pricing in accordance with the official CLIN structure in Section 7 of the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation.

46. Will a formal quotation from the proposed shredding subcontractor on the subcontractor’s letterhead, accompanied by the prime contractor’s pricing for contract management, quality control, administrative expenses, indirect costs, contingency, and profit, satisfy the requirement to substantiate the proposed pricing?

a. Answer: Yes.

47. In addition to completing the weekly route checklist, will the contractor be required to provide certificates of destruction, weight tickets, recycling certificates, container service records, or other chain-of-custody documentation?

a. Answer: Certified contractors should not need to supply Certificates of Destruction after each service, weight tickets, or chain of custody documentation.

48. Please also confirm that the contractor should submit one monthly Invoice 2-in-1 through WAWF after completion and Government acceptance of that month’s services. The solicitation identifies the Invoice 2-in-1 as the applicable WAWF document type for these fixed-price services.

a. Answer: Please refer to DFARS 252.232-7006 within the attached Combined Synopsis/Solicitation. Invoice 2in1 is the correct WAWF document type.

49. How many bins are at each pick up location? Are the shredding receptacles locked consoles or rolling locked bins? What is the bin sizes?

a. Answer: There are approximately 200 shred containers located throughout PSNS. The amount of containers will vary from week to week based on building tenant usage. The two routes are split evenly based on building function and which buildings create more/less paper waste. The shredding bins are rolling locked bins.

50. Does the NAID training requirement extend to the Prime or is the sub's certification sufficient? Can you provide the current contract number and the budget amount allocated to this solicitation?

a. Answer: It is the responsibility of the Contractor executing the work (i.e., the Contractor performing the secure document destruction services) to hold the certification. To be technically acceptable, the Offeror (either as the prime Contractor or through a proposed subcontractor), shall provide a copy of its current NAID certification. The Government is unable to share budget information for this solicitation.