RFI HQC013-25-SS-0001.docx

FOR MARKET RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY - SOURCES SOUGHT. NO SOLICITATION EXISTS.

This is a SOURCES SOUGHT (SS) NOTICE for Market Research purposes ONLY. This information will be used to determine the availability of vendors capable of meeting the Government's requirements.

Background Information: The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) operates a worldwide system of commissary stores that provides grocery products at a mandated savings to eligible patrons. DeCA is headquartered at Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia, and its commissary system operations are divided into five localized areas. Three of these areas, East, Central and West, are home to commissary locations in the continental United States (CONUS) and Puerto Rico. The Pacific Area is home to commissary locations in Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam. The Europe area, which includes Europe, Asia, and Africa, includes services that are contracted separately and not part of this effort. This requirement will cover 181 total commissaries. (See attached list of commissary locations).

Facility Services Required: The essential requirement of this effort is to provide facilities maintenance and repair and HVAC/Refrigeration maintenance and repair for each of the commissary sites listed in the attached “Commissary Locations,” enabling DeCA to deliver food supplies to authorized customers in a cost-effective manner while minimizing disruption to sales operations, to include preventative maintenance and repairs, recommendations for additional maintenance or repairs, as required, to minimize and reduce emergency actions and to keep each commissary facility operating in an energy efficient and cost-effective manner. The Contractor shall furnish all labor, supervision, tools, materials, equipment, and transportation necessary to provide these services. The work will include internal and external facility repairs (the action of fixing or mending current equipment to operational state), preventative maintenance of various facility systems including but not limited to: air conditioning and ventilation systems; refrigeration systems; lighting systems; security, fire, plumbing and electrical systems; re-lamping of existing light fixtures services; Commissary Equipment In Place including but not limited to, Material Handling Equipment (MHE); balers; miscellaneous food processing equipment; Refrigeration, Monitoring and Control System (RMCS) and refrigerant and environmental tracking/reporting; and repair support services including building/structure repair and repair by replacement or upgrade of components (replace or upgrade is the action of replacing or upgrading with new equipment or systems), where appropriate, within a five-foot perimeter of the exterior walls of a covered facility. Services may be required in excess of the five-foot perimeter if the service directly affects the operations of the covered facility. For example, the Work may include sidewalks, curbs, or parking lots if used and/or maintained by DeCA and without such services, operation of the facility would be impaired. A Maintenance Group (MG) is comprised of a cluster of commissaries that are geographically located to form a group of commissaries to be serviced. The Maintenance Group clusters are also identified as a column in the attachment. The work required under this contract will cover all permanently mounted equipment, real property, and Commissary Equipment In Place (CEIP). CEIP is government-owned, mobile, non-real property equipment that is unique to commissary operations and is used to support such operations. The following services are excluded from this contract unless specifically included by modification: copiers, computer equipment, telephones, telephone systems, fax machines, cash/checkout registers, checkout counters and scanners, stocking, grounds keeping, and custodial/janitorial services.

Purpose of Sources Sought: The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) is issuing this SS Notice to determine general industry capabilities, interested companies, and potentially qualified concerns (to include small business concerns) capable of providing any services on resulting contracts. The Government is also trying to determine whether to separate out maintenance call center support from the larger facility maintenance and HVAC/Refrigeration maintenance requirement(s). DeCA is also collecting information on the pros and cons of GSA Schedule versus open market, the potential for possible contract incentives, and pros and cons of one large maintenance contract for all DeCA regions or multiple regional contracts (East, West Central and Pacific) for these services.

The current program has three contracts on GSA Schedules with large businesses that support different commissary areas (maintenance groups). These three contracts each cover the totality of maintenance services (general and HVAC/refrigeration) and call center support services for their respective areas of responsibility. For the call center portion, each region has completely different call center processes, phone numbers to call, etc., and the Government would like a explore one standard call center supporting all regions.

For the recompete effort, the Government is considering doing the call center as a separate contract covering all listed areas and the call center contractor would interface with each of the maintenance contracts. The Government is considering four different Maintenance and Repair/HVAC contracts for the following regions/areas: East, Central, West, and Pacific. However, the Government is also exploring whether one overarching contract or a different number of maintenance contracts would be most beneficial.

Requested Information:

1. Please address whether your company is capable of providing all of these services, or parts of these services (to include information on specific commissary regions or functional areas) in your response. Please submit a response by the time identified below. Further, please identify whether your company is a small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small-disadvantaged business, and women owned small business concerns. The Government will also consider vendors from the 8(a) Business Development Program including Alaskan Native Corporations. Other sources the government will consider are GSA Schedule contract holders and Ability One service providers. For GSA Schedule contract holders, teaming arrangements are encouraged.

2. Please address the pros and cons of doing a separate contract for Call Center Support that covers all areas, requiring interface with the multiple maintenance contractors, versus the current process including the call center support with each regional maintenance/HVAC contract. Please also address your thoughts on whether one large call center contract will be more cost efficient than the current process of including the Call Center Support as a part of the larger maintenance efforts.

3. The Government is soliciting input on best ways to incentivize the Facilities Maintenance/HVAC Repair and Call Center Support under performance-based requirement or requirements. Please provide input regarding possible areas for contract incentives along with your response.

This notice does not constitute a request for proposal, request for quote or invitation to bid.

NAICS Code: 561210, Facilities Support Services.

NAICS Code: 561421, Telephone Answering Services.

It is anticipated that any resulting solicitation(s) will be for a performance based, Firm- Fixed-Price (FFP) contract(s).

Submission Instructions:

Responses to this SS notice shall not exceed four (4) pages and shall be prepared using a font size no smaller than 12 point. The technical capabilities statement shall include:

A cover page containing the company's name, address, CAGE code, Unique Entity ID, years in business, affiliate information, parent company, joint venture partners, GSA Schedule contract number if applicable, NAICS code, business size/socio-economic status, point-of-contact name, phone number, and email address.

A brief capability statement to include whether your company could handle the maintenance effort as one large maintenance contract for all DeCA regions, only particular DeCA regions, or only particular functional areas.

For GSA schedule holders, identify whether you are capable of performing in a Contractor Team Arrangement either as a Team Leader or Team Member and any specific preferences.

Your company’s input on the pros and cons of proceeding with a call center contract separate from the maintenance contract(s).

Your company’s input on the pros and cons of using GSA Schedule or an Open Market procurement method.

Your company’s thoughts on possible contract incentives/provisions on both the call center and maintenance portions of the effort.

No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this SS notice or any follow-up information requests. No telephone calls requesting a solicitation package will be accepted because there is no solicitation. In order to protect the procurement integrity of any future procurement, if any, that may arise from this announcement, information regarding the Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) will not be provided and no appointments for presentations will be made.

Responses shall be submitted by 11:00 A.M. EDST, Thursday, October 17, 2024. Responses shall be sent to the following three email addresses:

Jason.Reedy@deca.mil Robert.French@deca.mil Laurence.Akpan@deca.mil Any questions must be submitted in writing to DeCA point of contact at Jason.Reedy@deca.mil. No telephone calls will be accepted.

Disclaimer and Important Note. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted.

Confidentiality. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).