SW 1-3-20-R Addendum No. 1.pdf

707 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD 21202 | 410.545.0400 | 1.800.323.6742 | Maryland Relay TTY 800.735.2258 | roads.maryland.gov

Date: November 02, 2021

To: All Prospective Vendors

From: Patrick Olanya, Procurement Officer

Subject: Invitation for Bid (IFB)

Solicitation No: SW 1-3-20-R – Temporary Lab and Field Technicians for Office of Materials

Technology

Addendum No. 1

Dear Interested Party:

The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA) Office of

Procurement and Contract Management (OPCM) is issuing this Addendum No. 1 to the above referenced solicitation. The addendum was issued to make corrections to IFB section 2.1.1 Project Goals

& section 2.1 Responsibilities and Tasks to read “Attachment B” and NOT Attachment F. This

Addendum also provides responses to questions received on or before the October 29th, deadline for questions and are as follows:

1. We are MBE certified by the National Minority Supplier Development Council. Can we self-fulfill the 25% MBE goal? If not, please provide a list/directory of the qualified MBEs.

If this question is from an MBE Prime, the prime may fulfill ½ of the MBE Goal. The directory can be found at https://marylandmdbe.mdbecert.com/

2. Will we be negatively affected in evaluation if we do not subcontract?

In order to meet the MBE Goal requirement, you must subcontract on this contract.

3. Bidder Information Sheet asks for 'Contractor eMM ID Number'. We are registered on eMMA, where do we find eMM ID Number?

Contact eMMA Information help desk on: emma.helpdesk@maryland.gov

4. Ref: 1.1 Bidder Minimum Qualifications > "The Bidder shall submit online with the bid response on the Company Profile (Attachment K) a minimum of three (3) references of companies or organizations for which the Bidder provided services in scope, type, size, magnitude and complexity comparable to those specified in the Scope of Work." This section asks us to provide references on Attachment K. While Attachment K is Mercury Affidavit as mentioned on page# 108. Please clarify on what form we are required to provide references.

See attached Company Profile form (Attachment K) to be added to your solicitation.

5. It's our understanding that Attachment F-1 is the same as Attachment F. Please confirm.

https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmarylandmdbe.mdbecert.com%2F&data=04%7C01%7CPOlanya%40mdot.maryland.gov%7C39cb18d8551f4ef97f1e08d99d776393%7Cb38cd27c57ca4597be2822df43dd47f1%7C0%7C0%7C637713958360245054%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=X%2B%2BVfUA9qBlbe%2BKOQssi4AMwbMpUrFJCWIKE%2BJ%2Blo4A%3D&reserved=0

Yes, Attachment F has 2 pages numbered below: F-1 & F-2.

6. Are we required to provide benefits to our Temporary Employees? If yes, what minimum benefits must we provide?

OPCM should address this, as this is not a contract related question

7. What type of background checks are required by the MDOT SHA?

Refer to Section 3.7.2 of the IFB

8. Do we need to fill out the Bid Price form even though we are only going to be a subcontractor?

You need to work with prime contractor to fill the bid form and submit one bid. You cannot submit partial form as a submit contractor. This will also avoid duplicate bids.

9. Does the subcontractor need to fill out the Bid format entirely or will the subcontractor fill out a partial part of it? If so, what part is it require for the subcontractor to fill out?

Sub-contractor needs to work with prime contractor and submit one bid. Sub-contractor comes into picture after bids are finalized and winner need to provide us sub-contractor documentation at that time.

10. In the Attachment and Appendices section on page 56 of the solicitation the link for MBE Forms

D-4A, D-4B, D-5. What is the link for MBE Forms D-4A, D-4B, D-5 requirements? It appears

XXXXXX

This is not required until vendor is selected

11. What will be the estimated annual budget (Spend) on this contract?

It varies depends on workload and number of tech’s required for us. Approximately 1/5th of contract price.

12. What is the historical budget on the contract?

We can’t reveal the number, other than what was disclosed in pre-bid meeting for last contract.

13. What are the challenges or pain areas of the ongoing contract?

We didn’t have any challenges other than one of existing contractors could not provide pavement marking inspectors.

14. How many estimated employees you may require per year under the contract?

We approximately need 15 to 20 technicians every year.

15. Please share the names of the existing incumbent(s).

VE Engineering and Apollo Solutions, Inc.

16. US Tech is NMSDC certified MBE, can we skip the overall MBE subcontractor participation goal of 25 %?

No. You must meet the remaining 12.50% with another MDOT Certified MBE firm.

17. How many vendors will be awarded?

Please refer to section 2.1.3

18. Could you please share the previous spending on this contract, if any?

We can’t provide this info as it affects the fair bidding process

19. What is the total number of resources who are currently working on this project? Please let us know their position name and hourly rate?

20 techs. Most of them are level III, four of them of level IV. We can’t reveal hourly rates as it affects fair bidding process. The vendors should provide that info to us.

20. Considering the current COVID-19 pandemic situation, if the proposed candidates are not available at the time of award, will the agency allow us to provide replacement personnel with similar or more skill sets?

If I understood the question as replacement of technicians, yes.

21. Are hourly rate ranges acceptable for proposed personnel?

All the invoices must be submitted to OMT for number of work hours for individual tech. Please refer to Attachments D and R.

22. Is it entirely onsite work or can it be done remotely to some extent / Does the services need to be delivered onsite or is there a possibility for remote operations and performance?

In the worst-case remote work is allowed only those who work on databases, no remote work is allowed for lab and field personnel.

23. How many people are currently working onsite and offsite?

It is approximately 50-50% out of total 20.

24. Could you please provide the list of holidays observed by the Maryland Department of

Transportation?

Please refer to https://onemdot/MDOT_TSO/Holidays.pdf

25. Are there any mandated Paid Time Off, Vacation, etc.?

That must be decided by employer (Vendor) who is providing technicians. State will not pay for their time off or for holidays.

26. Could you please provide the list of holidays observed by the Maryland Department of

Transportation?

Please refer to https://onemdot/MDOT_TSO/Holidays.pdf

27. Are there any mandated Paid Time Off, Vacation, etc.?

It is up to employer; State will not provide any paid time off or vacation for consultants.

28. Can you please share the list of attendees from the conference call?

This will be provided with the minutes.

29. I have the following question about the paragraph below- Does this not indicate that the same firms who had this contract within the last 5 years, will be eligible.

“5 Prior to submitting a bid for the work covered by the specifications for this solicitation, the successful Bidder must have a minimum of three (3) complete and consecutive years of successful Testing and Inspection service performance comparable in scope, type, size, magnitude, and complexity for each reference as required in the IFB. The Bidder must provide references that can substantiate this experience timely upon the request of the Procurement

Officer. The Bidder shall submit online with the bid response on the Company Profile

(Attachment K) a minimum of three (3) references of companies or organizations for which the

Bidder provided services in scope, type, size, magnitude, and complexity comparable to those specified in the Scope of Work. Each reference shall be from a client for whom the Bidder https://onemdot/MDOT_TSO/Holidays.pdf https://onemdot/MDOT_TSO/Holidays.pdf has provided services within the past five (5) consecutive years and shall include the following information:”

It is not for same firms who provided services in last five years. All bidders should submit references as per section 1 of the contract along with their bids. This is to verify whether they could provide services. Addendum will be given to provide references.

Please be reminded that only the information communicated by the Procurement Officer shall be considered the official position of the State Highway Administration (SHA).

These are the only changes and/or clarifications contemplated by this Addendum No. 1. All other terms, conditions and specifications will remain the same. If there are any questions, the Contractor must identify the source of the questions and the contract number, please direct them to Patrick Olanya

POlanya@mdot.maryland.gov.

Please acknowledge this addendum by signing the signature block below and attaching the entire addendum to your technical bid response. Thank you for your interest on this project. We look forward to receiving your response.

ADDENDUM NO. 1 ACKNOWLEDGED BY: _______________________

DATE: ___________________

mailto:POlanya@mdot.maryland.gov