RFQ-CSU-22-014-JJP.pdf

RFQ-CSU-22-014-JJP

The Billings Area – Crow Service Unit, Indian Health Service (IHS) is requesting quotes in response to RFQ-CSU-22-014-JJP for Medical Gas and Cylinder Rental Services, Crow/Northern Cheyenne Hospital, Crow Agency, MT. The CSU/IHS intends to award a Firm Fixed Price Purchase Order for the Medical Gas and Cylinder Rental Services as provided in the scope of work.

The procurement is conducted under Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures, and FAR Part 37.101, Non-Personal Services, Subject to the Service Contract Act Wage Determination Number: 2015-5397 Revision: 17 Date: 03/15/2022. This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Circular FAC 2022-06.

The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is: 325120 and the small business size standard is $1,000 employees.

Offerors are requested to propose an all-inclusive cost when submitting a quotation.

1. BACKGROUND/PURPOSE

The purpose of this acquisition is to contract for Medical Bottled Gas and Cylinder Rental Services for The Crow/Northern Cheyenne Indian Health Service (Crow Service Unit). The Crow Service Unit is a 24-bed health facility located in Crow Agency, Montana.

2. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES/SUPPLIES:

a) Provide gas cylinders for rental to Crow Service Unit and Lodge Grass Clinic.

b) Weekly delivery will include exchanges of the ordered gases on the annual usage list provided below.

d) The contractor will maintain a current inventory of the bottled gas cylinders at the locations.

Annual Usage Nitrous Oxide G Contents 16.00 EA Nitrogen Size 60 cubic ft Alum. 5.00 CU FT Medical Nitrogen T cyl Cont 81.00 EA Oxygen E Cyl. Medical 26.00 EA Oxygen E Cyl. Medical All in One 39.00 EA Carbon Dioxide Medical 50# 11.00 EA Liquid Nitrogen by the Liter 160.00 LITER Liquid Medical Oxygen per 100scf 429052.00 SQ FT Bulk Oxygen Delivery Charge 7.00 TRIPS Standard Delivery Charge 22.00 TRIPS Hazardous Material Charge 22.00 TRIPS Hazardous Material Charge Bulk O2 7.00 TRIPS Flat Rate Cylinder Rent Lodge Grass Clinic Monthly 12.00 MO Flat Rate Cylinder Rent Crow Hospital Monthly 12.00 MO

*Amounts are based off prior year and Usage will fluctuate based on patient volume.

5.1 Laws and Regulations

Cylinders and other containers for gaseous and liquid forms of gases shall comply with the Department of Transportation specifications and shall be maintained, filled, marked, labeled and shipped to comply with current DOT regulations (Title 49-Transportation, Code of Federal Regulations.) filling, packaging, labeling, etc., for medical gases shall also comply with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

5.2 Marking

In addition to marking required by the aforementioned laws and regulations, marking shall comply with CGA Publication C-7-Guide to Preparation of Precautionary Labeling and Marking of Compressed Gas Containers, dated with the most recent edition. Vendor must provide a copy of the most recent version of this publication.

5.3 Color Coding

Cylinders shall be color coded in accordance with CGA Publication C-9-Standard Color Marking of Compressed Gas Containers Intended for Medical Use, dated with the most recent edition.

Vendor must provide a copy of the most recent version of this publication.

5.4 Valves

Valves shall comply with CGA Safety Bulletin SB-26 dated with the most recent edition and CGA Publication V-1- Compressed Gas Association Standard for Compressed Gas Cylinder Valve Outlet and Inlet Connections, dated the most recent edition. Vendor must provide a copy of the most recent version to this publication with their offer. Valve protection caps for cylinders designed to receive such caps shall be securely attached to the cylinders in a manner to protect the valves from injury during transit and delivery to the purchaser’s receiving area. For liquid containers, all fittings must be permanently brazed to prevent their removal. In addition, each container should contain a 360 degree cryoband applied at the top of the container with the drug product name repeated around the entire container.

5.5 Hydrostatic Testing

Retest Date: If applicable DOT regulations would require retesting of cylinder within three (3) months after scheduled date of shipment to Continental U.S. destination, or within six (6) months after scheduled date of shipment to overseas destination, cylinder shall be retested. Hydrostatic testing shall be performed in accordance with CGA’s Publication—C-1, Methods for Hydrostatic Testing of Compressed Gas Cylinders, dated for the most recent edition. Visual inspection shall be performed in accordance with CGA Publications C-6—Standards for Visual Inspection of Steel Compressed Gas Cylinders, dated for the most recent edition or C-6-1—Standards for Visual Inspection of High Pressure Aluminum Compressed Gas Cylinders, dated for the most recent edition. The contractor shall be responsible for all testing of contractor-owned cylinders.

5.6 Cylinder Sizes

Cylinder sizes shown in the item description indicate product capacity of the cylinder currently being used. All capacities are approximate, and IHS shall be billed only for the actual amount of gas delivered. In accordance with Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the actual contents of the container must appear on the label.

5.7 Lost or Damaged Contractor-Owned Cylinders

For each contractor-owned cylinder lost or damaged beyond repair while in the Crow Service Unit’s possession, the Crow Service Unit shall pay to the contractor the replacement value, less the allocable rental paid for that cylinder. These cylinders shall become Crow Service Unit’s property. If any lost cylinder is located within 30 calendar days after payment by the Crow

Service Unit, it may be returned to the Contractor by the service unit and the Contractor shall pay to the service unit an amount equal to the replacement value.

3. SCHEDULING

The Contracting Officer Representative (COR) will coordinate and make the necessary arrangements for any deliveries. Deliveries shall be on a weekly basis.

No deliveries are made on National Holidays. The 10 holidays observed by the Federal Government are:

New Year's Day Washington's Birthday Memorial Day Independence Day Labor Day Columbus Day Veterans Day Thanksgiving Christmas Martin Luther King's Birthday Juneteenth Or any other day specifically declared by the President of the United States to be a national holiday.

4. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE:

a. Crow Service Unit 1 Hospital Way Crow Agency, MT 59022

b. Lodge Grass Clinic Harding Ave & G Street Lodge Grass, MT 59050

5. DELIVERABLES:

Medical Gas and Cylinders are to be delivered upon the arrangement of the Contracting Officer's Representative, with the exception of National Holidays. Deliveries shall be on a weekly basis.

a. Medical Gases

b. Cylinders

c. Inventory sheet available to COR upon request.

6. PRICE SCHEDULE:

Solicitation is to include the Price Schedule found on the attached Excel Spreadsheet.

7. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:

Base Year 08/01/2022 to 07/31/2023 Option Year 1 08/01/2023 to 07/31/2024 Option Year 2 08/01/2024 to 07/31/2025 Option Year 3 08/01/2025 to 07/31/2026 Option Year 4 08/01/2026 to 07/31/2027

8. CONTRACTING OFFICER AUTHORITY:

Authority to negotiate changes in the terms, conditions or amounts cited in this contract is reserved for the Contracting Officer.

9. TECHNICAL ADVISOR:

The technical advisor will be Vernon Whiteclay, vernon.whiteclay@ihs.gov, CSU Maintenance Supervisor. Monitoring of contract compliance and appropriate recordkeeping will be demonstrated using reports, billing details, or any other appropriate records. Vernon Whiteclay, will be responsible for verifying contract compliance.

10. CONTRACTING OFFICER REPRESENTATIVE (COR):

The COR shall be responsible for:

(1) Monitoring the Contractors technical progress, including surveillance and assessment of performance and recommending technical changes;

(2) Interpreting the Statement of Work;

(3) Technical evaluation as required;

(4) Technical inspections and acceptance; and

(5) Assisting the Contractor in the resolution of technical problems encountered during performance of this contract.

11. INVOICE SUBMISSION AND PAYMENT:

Invoices shall be submitted on a Monthly basis through IPP, a secure, web-based electronic invoicing system provided by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The use of IPP shall take precedence over previously established invoicing procedures in accordance with HHSAR 352.232-71, Electronic Submission and Processing of Payment Requests”. The IPP website address is: https://www.ipp.gov. If you require assistance registering or require IPP account access, please contact the IPP Helpdesk at (866) 973-3131 (M-F 8AM to 6PM ET), or IPPCustomerSupport@fiscal.treasury.gov. Please send a courtesy copy of the invoice by email to lori.oldbear@ihs.gov Failure to include the required information may delay payment. Payment shall be made by the Billings Area Financial Management Branch, P.O. Box 36600, Billings, Montana 59107. Payments are made in arrears.

SECTION C - CONTRACT CLAUSES

52.252-2 CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998)

This contract incorporates one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. Also, the full text of a clause may be accessed electronically at this/these addresses:

https://www.acquisition.gov/

FAR

No. Clause No. Title Date

1. 52.204-9 Personal Identity Verification of Contractor Personnel Jan 2011

2. 52.204-7 System for Award Management Oct 2018

3. 52.204-13 System for Award Management Maintenance Oct 2018

4. 52.204-18 Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance Aug 2020

5. 52.204-19 Incorporation by Reference of Representations Dec 2014 and Certifications

6. 52.209-10 Prohibition on Contracting with Inverted Domestic Nov 2015

Corporations

7. 52.211-16 Variation in Quantity (10% permissible variation) Apr 1984

8. 52.213-2 Invoices Apr 1984

9. 52.213-4 Terms and Conditions—Simplified Acquisitions Jan 2022

(Other Than Commercial Items)

10. 52.215-5 Facsimile Proposals Oct 1997

11. 52.217-5 Evaluation of Options June 1988

12. 52.217-9 Option to Extend the Term of the Contract Mar 2000

13. 52.222-41 Service Contract Labor Standards Aug 2018

14. 52.223-6 Drug-Free Workplace May 2001

15. 52.223-18 Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging Jun 2020

While Driving

16. 52.224-1 Privacy Act Notification Apr 1984

17. 52.224-2 Privacy Act Apr 1984

18. 52.224-3 Privacy Act Training Jan 2017

19. 52.227-14 Rights in Data-General May 2014

20. 52.229-3 Federal, State, and Local Taxes Feb 2013

21. 52.239-1 Privacy or Security Safeguards Aug 1996

22. 52.242-17 Government Delay of Work Apr 1984

23. 52.243-1 Changes-Fixed-Price Alternate I Aug 1987

24. 52.246-4 Inspection of Services-Fixed-Price Aug 1996

25. 52.249-1 Termination of Convenience of the Government(Fixed Apr 1984

Price)(Short Form)

26. 52.249-8 Default (Fixed-Price Supply and Service) Apr 1984

C1. 52.217-8 OPTION TO EXTEND SERVICES (NOV 1999)

The Government may require continued performance of any services within the limits and at the rates specified in the contract. These rates may be adjusted only as a result of revisions to prevailing labor rates provided by the Secretary of Labor. The option provision may be exercised more than once, but the total extension of performance hereunder shall not exceed 6 months. The Contracting Officer may exercise the option by written notice to the Contractor within 30 days.

C2. 52.217-9 OPTION TO EXTEND THE TERM OF THE CONTRACT (MAR 2000)

(a) The Government may extend the term of this contract by written notice to the Contractor within 30 days; provided that the Government gives the Contractor a preliminary written notice of its intent to extend at least 30 days before the contract expires. The preliminary notice does not commit the Government to an extension.

(b) If the Government exercises this option, the extended contract shall be considered to include this option clause.

(c) The total duration of this contract, including the exercise of any options under this clause, shall not exceed five (5) years.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES ACQUISITION

REGULATION (HHSAR) (48 CFR CHAPTER 3) CLAUSES

HHSAR

Clause No. Title Date

352.211-3 Paperwork Reduction Act DEC 2015

352.222-70 Contractor Cooperation in Equal Employment DEC 2015

Opportunity Investigations

352.223-70 Safety and Health DEC 2015

352.232-71 Electronic Submission of Invoice Payments FEB 2022

352.237-75 Key Personnel DEC 2015

BASIS FOR AWARD:

Selection of the successful offeror will be made based on the quote provided by the contractor that is the Best Value to the Government. This is an All or None request, partial submittals will not be accepted.

A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, emailed or otherwise furnished to the successful Offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer's specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.

Contractors intending to conduct business with the Federal Government must register with the System for Award Management (SAM). SAM replaces the Department of Defense’s Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database. SAM is now the primary Government repository, which retains information on Government contractors. You may register via the Internet at www.sam.gov.

Questions are due July 5th, 2022; please submit questions to Johnna Pryor at johnna.pryor@ihs.gov for Technical Questions. Responses will be posted to sam.gov on by noon July 7th, 2022

All responsible offerors may submit a proposal, which shall be considered by the Agency. Offers shall be submitted via email to johnna.pryor@ihs.gov no later than 2:00pm MST, July 25, 2022.

ACCEPTANCE PERIOD: Your proposal must stipulate that it be predicated upon all the terms and conditions of this RFQ. In addition, it must contain a statement to the effect that it is firm for a period of at least 90 days from the date of receipt by the Government.

Evaluation Factors: The Government will award a purchase order resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers:

A. Technical = 70 points. Offeror must submit a technical proposal, not to exceed 3 pages, that specifies requirements in the request for quotation.

B. Past Performance = 30 Points. Offerors must demonstrate their record of successful performance in past contracts and/or jobs. The Government is seeking to determine whether the Offeror has the experience that will enhance its technical capability to perform the tasks described in the statement of work. The offeror must list at least three contracts/jobs and include the following information. (1) Name of Government agency/Company; (2) Contract number, if applicable; (3) Dates of Service/Employment; (4) Total contract value/Hourly wage; (5) Description of contract work/Job duties; (6) Contracting Officer/Company Manager and telephone number; (7) Program Manager and telephone number, if applicable. Each offeror will be evaluated on the following sub-factors:

1.2.1 Subfactor 1: Relevancy of the past performance

1.2.2 Subfactor 2: Quality of the offeror’s past performance

NOTE: The Government reserves the right to contact any reference provided by the offeror in evaluating the offeror’s past performance. Furthermore, the Government reserves the right to use any information that comes to the attention of the Government in evaluating the offeror.

Evaluation Methodology: The Maintenance Supervisor will evaluate the quotations. The quotations shall be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation criteria and relative weights set forth in the solicitation. The evaluator will read each quotation and describe, in writing, the strengths, weaknesses, and/or deficiencies identified to support the scores given to each proposal.

The numerical scores will be consistent with the evaluator’s written narratives; i.e., a high score should be supported by a narrative identifying a significant number of strengths and a minimum number of weaknesses. Any quotation that is unrealistic, in terms of technical approach, schedule commitments, and or costs (high or low) will be deemed unacceptable. The evaluators will use an adjective rating scale of 1 through 0 as follows:

Exceptional 1.0 Good .8 Acceptable .6 Marginal .2 Unacceptable .0

ADJECTIVAL RATING DESCRIPTION

Exceptional Greatly exceeds all minimum requirements of the criteria;

has a high probability of success; contains no weaknesses or deficiencies.

Good Exceeds all the minimum requirements of the criteria; has an above average probability of success; contains no significant weaknesses and only minor, correctable weaknesses exist.

Acceptable Meets all the minimum requirements of the criteria; has an average probability of success; no significant weaknesses and no deficiencies.

Marginal Fails to meet one or more of the minimum requirements of the criteria; low probability of success; major weaknesses and/or significant number of deficiencies exist.

Unacceptable Fails to meet any of the minimum requirements of the criteria; proposal needs major revisions; very low probability of success.

The adjectival ratings require narrative statements to support the determination. The definitions listed below should be used in the narratives to justify the scores given.

• A significant strength is defined as an aspect of the proposal that appreciably increases the likelihood of successful contract performance.

• A strength is defined as an aspect of the proposal that increases the likelihood of successful contract performance.

• A weakness is defined as a flaw in the proposal that increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance.

• A significant weakness is a flaw in the proposal that appreciably increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance.

• A deficiency is defined as an aspect of the proposal that fails to meet a

Government requirement or a combination of significant weaknesses in the proposal that increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance to an unacceptable level.

2. Basis for Award: Selection of the successful offeror will be made based on the evaluation criteria. The quotations will be evaluated and a contract awarded under the Best Value Continuum approach to permit tradeoffs among cost or price and non-cost factors. This will allow the Government to consider award to other than the lowest priced offeror or other than the highest technically rated offeror who meets or exceeds the technical acceptability standards established in the factors referenced above. Technical and past performance, when combined, are approximately equal to cost or price.