Questions and Answers from Potential Offerors.docx

Saipan & Tinian RFI Questions and Answers

1. Are the items to be delivered directly to the designated customer list upon arrival of goods? Or will the awardee need to arrange their own chilled storage and deliver to customer list upon request?

The way that it would work in terms of ordering and delivery would be the customer would order the items in the STORES system to be delivered to their location on Saipan or Tinian. Awarded Vendor would then receive order via EDI or Fax and would then need to fulfill the order within a designated number of days; Required Delivery Windows will be on the future solicitation, but it’s normally 2 business days after order is received. Just to clarify a bit more, storage by the awarded vendor is all dependent on how the awarded vendor plans on gathering the items requested by the customer and delivering to Saipan or Tinian within the timeframe required.

1. The Market research states that the Maximum Ceiling for 5 years is $600,000.00. Does this mean that the full amount for the contract is capped at $600,000 for the 5 years?

Yes, the amount of the contract will be capped at $600,000. If it does reach that amount before the 5-year expiration, then the contract will be completed and a new contract will be solicited and awarded prior to the ceiling being reached, whether it be to the current vendor or a new vendor.

1. Are fresh fruits and fish from Korea, if considered grade 1 or better quality, acceptable?

No, since Saipan and Tinian are U.S Territories, we would need to follow the Berry Amendment that states that subsistence (food) items need to be sourced and manufactured from the U.S. For Seafood, Fish, Shellfish, they need to be fished within the U.S., taken by a U.S. flagged ship, and processed in the U.S. or by a U.S. flagged vessel. Here’s a website that lists approved food sources in the Pacific; they would need to be from U.S. State or Territory:

https://phc.amedd.army.mil/topics/foodwater/ca/Pages/DoDApprovedFoodSources.aspx

1. Due to the location and limited infrastructure of the NMI, I am in works with multiple vendors to see if full list of item and requirements can be met. Since there are fish & bakery goods involved, I am looking at different avenues to meet the requirements as well.

Please fill out the section on the Market Research Survey on items that your company wouldn’t be able to supply. Just know that the current Schedule of Items provided in the RFI will not be the same as the one on the Solicitation and some items will most likely be taken off.