SOL-663-16-000009_-_Amendement_No._000001.pdf

Amendment 000001 Request for Proposal (RFP) SOL-663-16-000009

National Blood Transfusion Service Center (NBTSC) and Lemi Health Center Construction Project

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Ques.1. For Solicitation Number SOL-663-16-000009 re-solicitation, National Blood Transfusion Service Center (NBTSC) and Lemi Health Center Construction Project, will a site visit be offered? If so, please advise.

USAID RESPONSE: Alternative site visits dates are scheduled as follows::

01/06/2016: Site 1.2, Lemi Health Center, 10:00AM 01/08/2016: Site 1.1, National Blood Transfusion Service Center, 10:00AM

Additional visits can be arranged in accordance with the solicitation.

Ques.2. Is this a follow-on requirement? If so, could you please provide the incumbent contract number for this opportunity? If not, is this a new requirement?

USAID RESPONSE: There is not an incumbent, this requirement represents a portion of a previously submitted solicitation that was changed.

Ques.3. i. We are emailing you to kindly request that you consider a 2 week extension on the 15 January 2015 deadline for submitting proposals, and extend it to Friday 29 January 2016.

The reasons that we are requesting this extension are the following:

a. Most Manufacturers/Suppliers in Europe, which we anticipate to import most of our "imported" materials from are either totally closed or operate on "skeleton"/minimum staffing during the period from 21 December 2015 to 4 January 2016- hence, for this reason, the respective companies will only start looking into our requests after 4 January 2014

b. Following the above, in consideration of Ethiopian Christmas, operations in

Ethiopia will, in a similar manner "slow down" from during the period from 5 January - the following Monday, which is 11 January 2016.

ii. Offeror hereby kindly requests for extension of bid submission date due to the enormous time required to analyze all the drawings, specifications and to prepare the proposal for National Blood Transfusion Service Center (NBTSC) and Lemi Health Center Construction Project (Solicitation number SOL-663-16-000009).

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We believe a bid submission date on January 30th 2016 would give us enough time to finalize.

USAID RESPONSE: The submission deadline for proposals is extended to Wednesday, January 27, 2016.

Ques.4. NBTSC in Addis Ababa

i. For the UPS, Generator and Incinerator are we required to submit a Supply and Install price or only Attendance fee?

In fact in the Tender Documents we noticed the following contradictions:

In the Solicitation Document it is required to provide purchase and installation costs of these items to be considered as Options by USAID.

In the BOQ it is clearly specified to provide Attendance Fee only for these items

(1. BILL 1- BUILDING: C- 4.1.16, C- 4.1.16, D – 1.0)

USAID RESPONSE: The following is provided for clarification only, and does not alter the Specifications Section 012300 “Options”. Please review the Specifications for additional details. Regarding the UPS, Generator, and Incinerator: Attendance by the contractor is a requirement of the specifications and will be included in the base contract, so any associated costs should be included in the Firm Fixed Price for CLIN 1.1 “Blood Center” proposed by the Offeror. Purchase and installation are Options that can be included or excluded at the discretion of USAID, and these costs should be reflected in CLIN O-1.19 “Blood Center Equipment Options”.

ii. Shoring (1. BILL 1- BUILDING: A – 1.10): Please specify if it is mandatory to price this item and for how many linear meters exactly?

USAID RESPONSE: All costs associated with construction of the Blood Center must be included in the Firm Fixed Price for CLIN 1.1 “Blood Center”. When means and methods are not specified in the contract documents (including drawings and specifications), then the Offeror is free to utilize whatever means and methods it chooses, as long as such means and methods are contractually acceptable.

iii. Are the Cost of preliminaries to be included in the unit rates of the BOQ?

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USAID RESPONSE: See Answer 6 and Answer 7.

iv. Is the FMOH responsible for rerouting existing Utility Lines (water, electricity, sewer etc…) that are present on the Building construction area?

In the BOQ there are items of work to be priced for the relocation of water, sewer and electricity lines (1. BILL 1- BUILDING: H – 1.1). Please clarify.

USAID RESPONSE:The existing utility lines in the Blood Center construction area are currently being rerouted and will not be the responsibility of the Contractor. The Contractor will be responsible for providing all new utility connections (electrical, water, sewer) for the Blood Center.

v. Does USAID facilitate payments in Hard Currency for the procurement of goods abroad?

USAID REPONSE: See Response to Answer 9

vi. Is a Bid Bond required and which type will be required if so? Is a Performance Bond required for this Contract and which type will be required if so? Are there any other Bonds required for this Contract and which type will be required if so?

USAID RESPONSE: See RFP Section B.v. “Subcontractor Payment Bond” and RFP Section B.viii. “Retainage”.

vii. Is it possible to get the BOQ in excel format for convenience when pricing?

USAID RESPONSE: USAID’s Quantity Estimates are not part of the proposal requirements, so quantity estimates or BOQs must not be submitted by the Offeror.

USAID has provided the Pricing Table in Excel format for the Offerors to submit as the Cost Proposal. USAID will not provide an Excel format of any Quantity Estimates.

viii. VAT Refund: From our past experience the standard procedure is for the VAT exempt entity to process the VAT refund. Therefore VAT will be added on the final bid price to be submitted by us. Please Confirm.

USAID RESPONSE: For each monthly payment, the Contractor will charge USAID for VAT with the appropriate VAT receipt. USAID will receive the VAT refund directly.

ix. Is it possible to get an even small extension with reference to the Tender Submission Date?

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USAID REPONSE: See Answer 3.

Ques.5. HC at Lemi

i. Who is liable for all the Executed works?

ii. Who is responsible for the quality of the Construction materials already stored on site? (HCB, electric conduits, waste pipes, pipe fittings and accessories, gravel etc…).

USAID RESPONSE:

i. The existing work at Lemi Health Center is accepted by USAID. The

Contractor is not responsible/liable for the completed work.

ii. The Contractor is responsible for confirming that all materials used by the

Contractor meet all requirements of the drawings and specifications. See RFP Section C.2.E “Existing Materials” for additional information.

Ques.6. Technical Specifications - Section 012200 - Unit Prices states << Unit price is an amount incorporated in the Agreement, applicable during the duration of the Work as a price per unit of measurement for materials, equipment, or services, or a portion of the Work, added to or deducted from the Contract Sum by appropriate modification, if the scope of Work or estimated quantities of Work required by the Contract Documents are increased or decreased. >>. However, the solicitation document states that the contract resulting from this solicitation is going to be a "Firm Fixed Price" contract, which in turn implies that no adjustments/corrections for increases and/or decreased in quantities will be considered. As the aforementioned conditions appear to be contradictory, could you please confirm (or otherwise) that the governing condition will indeed be the "Firm Fixed Price" condition?

USAID RESPONSES: Unit Prices, as defined in Specifications Section 012200 are applicable only to the Differing and/or Unforeseen Site Conditions of CLIN 1.9, and are only applicable through official written direction from USAID. The unit of measure for these prices is cubic meter. Differing and/or Unforeseen Site Conditions are guided in part by FAR Clause 52.236-2 "Differing Site Conditions" and FAR Clause 52.236-3 "Site Investigations and Conditions Affecting the Work".

Ques.7. Technical Specifications: Following on from [1] above, and based on the condition that the contract resulting from this solicitation will be a Firm Fixed Contract, Page | 6 hence the responsibility of checking the accuracy of both the work items and the corresponding quantities being upon the Contractor, we are in the process of studying the various drawings (vis-à-vis the specifications), and checking the "completeness of the work items listed in the BoQ", as well as the work volumes corresponding to the various works items. When doing so, if it is the case that we discover work items that are shown in the drawings but not on the BoQ, or if we determine that the work volumes/quantities shown in the BoQ are either higher or lower than what we have measured/determined from the Drawings, how are we expected to reflect this in our pricing? - i.e. can we add "Additional Work Items" to the solicitation BoQ and price them, or can we "alter/change the quantities in the BoQ" to reflect the quantity/quantities that we have determined?

Please clarify.

USAID RESPONSE:The overall contract is a Firm Fixed Price contract, which places more responsibility on the Contractor to ensure that the proposed costs cover all materials, labor, and other requirements to fully complete the project with profit. The Quantity Estimates provided by USAID are not binding in any way. Offerors must propose a Firm Fixed Price, also referred to as Lump Sum prices, for CLIN 1.1 (Sub-CLIN 1.11 through 1.18) NBTS Center, and CLIN 1.2 (Sub-CLIN 1.21 through 1.24) Lemi Health Center. The CLIN costs proposed by the Offerors are binding and will not vary based on materials or labor quantities. Please note that Optional CLINs O-1.19 (Specifications Section 012300, RFP Section B.4.2) and their costs will be included or excluded in the Contract at the discretion of USAID.

The Quantity Estimates provided by USAID are not binding in any way. If the Offeror believes additional labor or materials are necessary, which are not indicated in USAID's Quantity Estimates, the Offeror should reflect those additional costs and all costs in their Firm Fixed Price proposal for the most-appropriate CLIN. Quantity Estimates such as a BOQ are not part of the proposal requirements and must not be submitted. The Cost Proposal submitted by the Offeror to USAID will contain only the Pricing Table (Attachment J.1).

Ques.8. Solicitation Document - Section B - SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES - xiii TAXES, DUTIES, FEES states << This contract is exempt from value added taxes (VAT) and all duty/import taxes>>. In connection with this requirement, could you please confirm that USAID will arrange for the applicable Duty Free Clearance Documentation with Ethiopian Customs, if and when the Contractor opens a Letter of Credit with a local/Ethiopian bank with the following (sample) labelling/nomenclature:

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ABC Construction (for the Acccount of USAID) MOH - National Blood Transfusion Services Center Building Project (Contract No. - to be states) Or, alternatively, please advise on what requirements the winning Contractor will have to.

USAID RESPONSE: See Answer 9.

Ques.9. Solicitation Document - Under the same section as [3] above, under INSTRUCTION OF PAYMENT SUBMISSION, it is required that when an application for payment is submitted monthly, amongst various other information/required, the Contractor is to provide its<<Bank account information for Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT)>>. In line with this, could you please confirm that if the Contractor has a US Dollar Account with a local (Ethiopian) bank, and the Contractor submits the bank account details of this US Dollar Account, payment can made in US Dollars?

USAID RESPONSE: USAID can pay Ethiopian firms in Ethiopian birr only (based on the exchange rate at the time of payment if converted from USD). To import duty-free, USAID will make USD payment directly to overseas suppliers after the shipment is arranged by the Contractor, and the shipment will be addressed to USAID. The amount paid directly by USAID will be deducted from the total Firm Fixed Price of the contract. Ethiopian firms cannot import duty-free with a Letter of Credit.

Third-Party Payment language for direct payment to overseas suppliers will be included in the contract to facilitate overseas payment.