NIHES201800011_-_Government's_Responses_to_Industry_Questions.pdf

NIHES201800011 - Government's Responses to Industry Questions

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.No. Reference Questions Answers

1 General

Is this a new requirement or is there an incumbent vendor? If available, can you please send along the incumbent contract number?

This is not a new requirement; it is a follow-on multiple award IDIQ contract.

The incumbents are: (1) Charles River Laboratories, Inc (contract number

HHSN273201400002I) and IDEXX Laboratories (contract number

HHSN273201400003I)

RFQ, Article F.2.c

Deliveries

We believe this paragraph should be removed, as it is not applicable to this contract. Deliveries will only consist of sending items electronically or through the US mail, which does not require NIH personnel to be at the facility to wait for a delivery. Please confirm.

Please see RFQ amendment 000001 for changes.

RFQ, Article G.2.

Key Personnel

We do not believe any of the personnel listed in this section should be considered Key Personnel for this contract. This is a Commercial Items

Contract, and these services are routinely performed by a various members of a large laboratory staff in a production environment; these samples would be processed similarly to and alongside samples from other entities.

Staff is assigned on a daily basis based on availability at the time of sample submission. There will be no need for any employees to be dedicated to this contract; in fact, that would disrupt the laboratories and delay the processing of samples. Please consider removing these sections from the

RFQ and contract and instead requiring Offerors to only provide information on the capabilities and experience of their companies and staff in general. (Also see question 7 below.)?

Our intent is to ensure that the staff contractors provide to work on the resultant contract will meet the minimum set requirements. Even though this is a Commercial Items Contract, Contractors should then provide an exhaustive list of all those expected to work on this contract, even if they are interchangeable used. We are looking for discriminators between potential quoters during this competitive process and will rely on not only the capabilities and experience of companies and their management and staff but also on the staff to be used in the performance the work.

Article L.4.4

(3).a(c)

Attachment 1, paragraph 5.0 Key

Personnel

RFQ; Part II, Articles I.3 and I.6.

There are several clauses listed that will not be applicable to this contract.

We would appreciate the opportunity to review a draft contract at the time of award and identify non-applicable clauses for discussion and removal.

Please confirm.

As stated in RFQ Section L, Article 4.3, “the Government intends to award without discussions but reserves the right to award with discussions. Quoter is encouraged to present their best quote and prices in their initial quote submission.” The Government does not intend on negotiating or discussing the terms and conditions of the contract prior to award. All quotes should be firm. It is up to the Contractor to notify the CO of any concerns with the clauses in the RFQ prior to close. Questions from potential Quoters were due on September 14th, 2018 and there was ample time to point out any concerns up to the time the question was received.

RFQ, Part IV, Section K, Representations, Certifications, and

Other Statements of Offerors.

Please clarify the Representations and Certifications that are to be completed. Per FAR 52.204-19, if the Commercial Item Representations and Certifications (FAR 52.212-3) have been completed in SAM, is this sufficient (along with submitting a completed paragraph (b) of that clause confirming that these certifications are accurate, complete, and applicable)?

As stated in RFQ Section L, Article 4.4, “In accordance with provisions FAR

52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications--Commercial Items, IF

YOU INTEND TO SUBMIT A QUOTE, YOU MUST: (1) Go to the Online

Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) and complete the

Representations and Certifications. Offerors must access ORCA through the

System for Award Management (SAM) at http:// www.sam.gov; and (2).

NIHES201800011 - Government's Responses to Industry Questions

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Complete, and INCLUDE as part of your price quote. FAR 52.204-19 simply incorporates your representations and certifications, including those completed electronically via the System for Award Management (SAM) into the contract but the RFQ further asks that Quoters not only complete that but that they also include a copy of this as part of their price quote and submit it.

RFQ, Section J –

Attachment I, pg.

7, Section 13.0

Safety and Health

North Carolina state law is included in the list of OSHA standards and local law. However, the work that would be performed will occur in another state, making this not applicable. The Offeror will comply with the laws of the state where the work is performed. Please consider removing “North

Carolina” from this paragraph.

Because other Quoters and awardee(s) may reside in NC and/or may perform the services in NC, this section may be applicable to them.

RFQ, Section J –

Attachment I, pg.

7, Section 14.0

Data Rights

We do not believe that this paragraph is applicable to this commercial item contract. Please consider deleting.

FAR Clause 52.227-14 & FAR Clause 52.227-17 have been deleted. Please see RFQ amendment 000001 for changes.

RFQ, Page 34, Article

L.4.4(3).a(c) Tab 3

– Staffing Plan &

Technical

Experience (for work under

Attachment I –

General SOW

Statements: Provide a list of all labor categories deemed necessary to perform all the services listed in Attachment I – General SOW.

The basis of award to be used here is a trade-off, we want to ensure that not only the appropriate labor categories are being used but that the personnel meet the minimum requirements and that if potential quoters propose categories with additional benefits to the Government, these in some cases may be considered as strengths (if they have merit) and can be used in the tradeoff. General terms doesn’t provide enough in a competitive process. An exhaustive list of all those that can be used on the contract under those key-personnel categories in the SOW, that can be updated as people leave or come onboard, is what’s needed.

Question: As noted in Question 2 above, these services are performed routinely by a vast staff of personnel with a depth of experience with these types of services. As this is a Commercial Item contract, we do not feel that naming specific labor categories or individual employees is appropriate.

Would it be acceptable to describe the processes, laboratory organization and staff in general terms, etc. rather than listing specific “labor categories” and personnel?