Points covered May 24 2022.docx

Health and Life insurance pre-proposal conference Solicitation: 19KU2022R0002 Points Covered During the Conference

The Embassy held a virtual pre-proposal conference via “Google Meet” to discuss the requirements of this solicitation on May 24th @ 01:00pm Kuwait local time.

Introduction of the Embassy team

1. Inform attendees that statements made at the conference do NOT change the solicitation. If any, all changes will be by written amendment to the solicitation, and if any, they will be posted in SAM.gov

2. We have selected the conference date so it should be about halfway between the solicitation issue date and the offer due date. This will allow prospective offerors to understand the requirement, develop, if necessary, questions and allow the Government to post answers ahead of the close date.

3. Questions regarding the subject solicitation. Only written questions are accepted. Therefore, offerors are urged to submit theirs on or before May 30, 2022, to Kuwait_Solicitation@state.gov. NO questions will be accepted beyond this date.

FYI – So far, we have received many written questions from interested vendors and we are in the process of answering all questions. Once cleared, we shall post all points covered during today’s meeting, all questions received along with answers in SAM.gov for all to access.

4. All questions, answers, and if necessary, amendments will be posted in SAM.gov. We want to make sure that all prospective offerors receive the same information; and that no offeror has access to information that other offerors lack.

5. All submissions in response to this RFP must be in English. Documents provided in Arabic cannot be evaluated. Submissions must comply with the solicitation requirements

6. Proposal submission due date. Your proposal must be submitted electronically by email to Kuwait_Solicitation@state.gov, no later than June 30, 2022, at 10:00 am Kuwait local time. No proposal will be accepted after this time.

7. The U.S. Government intends to award a contract to the responsible company submitting an acceptable quotation at the lowest price. We intend to award a contract based on initial quotations, without holding discussions, although we may hold discussions with companies in the competitive range if there is a need to do so.

8. The successful offeror will be required to be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database at the time their offer or quotation is submitted. Therefore, if the offeror does not register, the contracting officer will award to the next otherwise successful offeror if that offeror is registered.

9. As far as the health plan/benefits. We are looking for a “Worldwide Coverage” for all benefits listed in the solicitation

10. Please note: Proposals that contain less than the minimum reimbursement levels or do not provide all benefit categories will be deemed technically unacceptable.

11. The award contract will be for one year with four one-year option if it is in the best interest of the Government. The award contract has FAR clause 52.217-9, Option to Extend the Term of the Contract, which allows the exercise of options to be the choice of the Government, not the contractor

12. FAR 52.222-50 “Combating Trafficking in Persons”. We would like to remind all interested offerors that the Government has a Zero tolerance policy against Trafficking in persons.

13. Reference section L of the solicitation package - Defense Base Act (DBA) insurance. The winning bidder must provide DBA coverage that is required for all personnel working on the contract to include American citizens, Individuals hired in the United States or its possessions, regardless of citizenship, Host Country Nationals (HCNs) and Third Country Nationals (TCNs) working overseas. The offeror shall obtain DBA insurance directly from any Department of Labor approved providers at the DOL website at http://www.dol.gov/owcp/dlhwc/lscarrier.htm

14. We would like to highlight to offerors, the requirement for the new tax on Certain Foreign Procurement Payments. Referred to (Zadroga Act - James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010) The new James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 applies to all federal contracts awarded to foreign persons over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT), currently at US$250,000, for work performed wholly or partly overseas. The Act requires a 2% Tax on each payment for overseas contracts unless an exception applies.

Foreign Person: is defined as persons and/or companies not US.

The intent is to provide compensation and relief to first responders who were injured or died as a result of 9/11. Exceptions are based on whether it is a US company, or if a foreign vender if the USG has tax treaty, international agreement, or other trade agreement in that given country.

15. Discuss the Statue National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 889(a) (1) (B) and the prohibition on contracting with entities using certain telecommunications and video surveillance service or equipment. We would like to highlight provision 52.204-24 in Section K and the offerors requirement to certify:

· That they will or will not provide covered telecommunications equipment or services to the Government.

· Whether they do or do not use covered telecommunications equipment or services that uses covered telecommunications equipment or services

If the offeror does not comply with representations and certification (either in their offer or in SAM), the offer is non-responsive the CO may remove the offer from consideration for award per FAR 4.2103. If the Offeror represents that it does use the prohibited technology or services, it is only eligible for award if a narrow exception applies or if a waiver is obtained.

16. Finally, we would like to thank all interested offers attended this pre-proposal conference and remind them to submit their written questions on or before May 30, 2022. NO questions will be accepted beyond this date.