Summary Digest - RFI Meeting. V. 2.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice

UNICOR

Federal Bureau of Prisons

Clothing & Textiles 400 1st Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20534

Summary & Digest to Request for Information (RFI) Meeting, Sewing Machines Parts Project.

January 13, 2009

In response to the RFI announcement that was posted on December 5, 2008; Fourteen (14) vendors participated in the meeting. An agenda that included a detailed breakdown of UNICOR, Clothing & Textile (C&T) vision of the Sewing Machines Parts Project was handed out (please refer to the attached file, titled RFI meeting Agenda).

Subsequently to the information given to the vendors in the meeting, the following topics were discussed:

TOPIC COMMENTS & RESPONSES

Solicitation layout of requested items.

• Each machine may contain as many parts as 3000, the vendors unanimously expressed concern about the way C&T is planning on requesting the information for each part.

• Vendors suggest that the layout should be by parts, where majority of the parts C&T will need to purchase, will be detailed in the layout (since many parts can be utilized with different machines), this way, it will be easier to price the parts.

Communication beyond a web-site

C&T will not exclude communication with its factories personnel and the vendor/s, beyond the web-site usage if the situation requires it. In general, C&T is looking to eliminate any additional communication if possible.

Submittal of parts pricing

Vendor/s that wish to submit a proposal, once a solicitation is posted, will need to decide which parts for what machines; they would be interested in submitting a bid for, the solicitation will not require each proposal to include every part.

Parts specifications • Some parts can be utilized with different machines; however, C&T would like a breakdown of parts per machine, since the availability of parts per machine will be one of the evaluation factors.

• C&T will require each part (on the website) to be detailed with every type of machine the part can support.

• Vendors suggested that a footprint of each machine will be provided.

Changes to the agreement after award

• Vendors must agree to modify their inventory in cases such as a purchase of a new machine to which the vendor needs to add the new parts as part of the inventory list, as well as in case where the usage of a machine is stopped for which the parts are no longer needed.

• Parts that will be added after the award, will not be competed again.

C&T will consider the initial solicitation process as sufficient competition.

Evaluation of proposals Price will not be the most important factor. The most important factors are parts availability and delivery lead time for each part.

Delivery Lead Time In order to be as accurate as possible, vendors will need to build their inventory delivery lead time based on C&T historical delivery data as well as their own experience.

Supply Catalogue Aside from the parts, it was agreed that for general sewing supplies, the vendor/s will provide C&T with a separate catalogue.

Order in Process C&T would like to have the ability to hold an order for approximately 2-3 days for the purpose of funds approval, which can take up to 3 days.

Staff training Vendor/s will not be requested to train C&T staff nation-wide.

Web-site maintenance C&T will not be involved in the web-site maintenance process.

Form of payment While most of C&T orders will be paid by a credit card. Orders that are over $3000; will be processed through a Purchase Order, for which the vendor/s will be paid net 30.

Genuine or Generic Parts

C&T would like quotes to be of Genuine parts rather than Generic ones.

Management Plan Each bidder will have to submit a management plan, the methods the vendors will use in order to manage the project.

A technical maintenance plan needs to be included in the management plan.

Information requested from Vendors

• C&T would like input from all participants on the duration of a proposal preparation.

• C&T would like each vendor to submit their suggestion on the best way they think a solicitation should be set-up (by parts, by machine, by brand name, or any other suggestion).

• Responses should be received via email to the contracting officer (skarver@central.unicor.gov) no later than Close of Business January 30, 2009.

Information requested by vendors

• Parts Expenses Record - Currently, our system does not maintain records.

• Sub-Class of each machine – will be available in approximately 3 weeks (estimated date 02/17/2009).

• Top Parts List – will be provided in the solicitation when posted.

mailto:skarver@central.unicor.gov