RFR 252334 Environmental Diagnostic Testing, Monitoring, Remediation & Related Services Q and A received as of 5 20 24.docx

Questions and Answers

RFR 252334: Environmental and Biological Diagnostic Testing, Monitoring, Remediation & Related Services COMMBUYS BID Number: BD-24-1031-BEH00-BEH01-99416

Q and A received as of 3 27 24:

Question 1: Can you please let us know if we need to a full bid response for this, or do we just need to fill out all of the forms that are listed under the bid?

Answer 1: Bidders are required to submit a full bid that includes the required forms and documents listed under the bid.

Question 2: I have reviewed the documents on your site and I do not see any specialty testing such as PFAS. Is PFAS a part of this RFR? Or will PFAS be a separate proposal?

Answer 2: PFAS is under Category 4: Characterization of Contaminants in Environmental, Biological or Other Media. PFAS is not named specifically as this category includes all kinds of environmental and biological contaminants testing.

Question 3: What does the $1M annual estimated expenditure represent?

Answer 3: $1M represents an estimated annual expenditure level across all bureaus and programs of the Department of Public Health on all their projects.

Question 4: Is there a suggested word or page count or limit for the submission detailing the organization's history, expertise, and ability to render services?

Answer 4: Unless specified in the RFR, there is no page count limitation for proposals.

Question 5: Is there a request for pricing at this time?

Answer 5: Yes, a price list should be part of the response and is required for the bid response to be considered.

Question 6: Can you please confirm that this RFR is open for 10 years?

Answer 6: Yes, this RFR is open for 10 years through 6/30/2034.

Questions received as of 5 20 24

Question 7: Is this a new contract?

· If so…

a) Who were the incumbents, and did they meet capacity?

b) How many companies were involved?

c) What percent of the work did each company receive?

Answer 7: This is a new procurement to replace RFR 504324 set to expire 6/30/2024.

a) This is a new procurement open to all vendors. Vendors awarded a master agreement contract on the old RFR are not automatically added to the new procurement. They are required to apply to the new RFR the same way new vendors wishing to apply do. Under the old RFR 504324, DPH awarded 25 vendors who applied and were determined to meet the RFR qualifications. Attached is a list of awarded vendors. Under the new RFR252334, 8 vendors applied so far and were determined to meet the RFR qualifications and have been awarded a master agreement contract.

b) Under the old RFR, 25 vendors were awarded master agreement contracts. 21 of them were awarded 63 engagements total as indicated in the attached list of awarded vendors.

c) See attached list of 504324 awarded vendors for the breakdown of engagements. DPH bureaus and hospitals engage with awarded vendors based on their program needs on different projects.

Question 8: Can rate increases be denied?

Answer 8: The Department of Public Health will review the rates and reserve the right to negotiate them with the vendor at the time of engagement. Rate increase requests will be reviewed by DPH and may be approved or denied at the department’s discretion.

Question 9: Do they have an anticipated number of venders who will be awarded the contract?

Answer 9: No, there is no limitation to the number of vendors to be awarded a master agreement contract.

Question 10: How will solicitations under the master agreement be awarded/issued?

Answer 10: The Department of Public Health will review and evaluate the bid response and determine if a bidder is qualified for the award if the bid response meets the criteria as specified in Section D: RFR Evaluation.

Question 11: SDP is shown to be worth 25% of the evaluation points, how will the remainder of the evaluation points be divided?

Answer 11: The purpose of RFR bid review and evaluation process is to establish a pool of qualified vendors to provide services described in the RFR scope of work. As indicated in Section D1: Evaluation Criteria, 25% of the evaluation points will be allocated to the evaluation of the SDP Plan submission, the remaining 75% will be distributed across the remaining 4 criteria depending on the category(s) a vendor is applying for.