Questions_and_Answers-Additional__4_RFQ_TIRWR16Q00018.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20224

August 19, 2016

To: All Interested Offerors

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (list #4 continue from 8/17/2016) for (RFQ) No.

TIRWR-16-Q-000180 for Scanning Services for Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Van Nuys, CA 91401 and Woodland Hills, CA 91367

The due for quotes is extended to Friday, 8/26/2016 at 11:00 a.m, California Time by email to LaTanya.Evans-Tate@irs.gov.

Question #32. Would San Diego be a viable consideration for the work performance and facility visit?

8/17/16 - Answer #32: Yes. San Diego is a viable option assuming the logistics involving picking up the documents from the respective storage locations and returning the documents upon processing are discussed and agreed upon prior to entering into any contractual agreement/s. Per the Statement of Work (SOW) it states “The work must be completed in the United States at the contractor’s facility and the facility available for agent inspection.

Therefore, the facility must be within Los Angeles County and/or San Bernardino County or Riverside County in California”.

Revised Response to Answer #32: Upon further attention, San Diego and Fresno are not viable vendor locations. The agency is restricting the area to the locations where the agency IRS Van Nuys agent’s typically work/commute. Per the Statement of Work (SOW) it states “The work must be completed in the United States at the contractor’s facility and the facility available for agent inspection Therefore, the facility must be within Los Angeles County and/or San Bernardino County or Riverside County in California”.

Question #38 Lack of Small Business Set-aside. As this acquisition is likely under $300k, we believe this should be Small Business Set-aside. The box on page 5 at 52.219-8 is checked, however the box in Block 10 of the SF1449 is checked as Unrestricted, and the FBO is silent on this issue. Please make this acquisition SBSA.

Answer #38. Please refer to Amendment 0005.

Question #39. Not using an existing – potentially mandatory - vehicle. GSA Schedule 36 at SIN 51-506 is specifically for Document Conversion projects such as this. The government should make use of that Schedule with list of pre-approved Small Business vendors. FAR

8.004 indicates a preference for Federal Schedules.

Answer #39. It is the agency decision to compete and award open market based on the services outlined in the Statement of Work (SOW).

mailto:LaTanya.Evans-Tate@irs.gov

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Question #40. In Amendment 2, the government established overly restrictive specifications regarding the location of the contractor facility. The government’s minimum requirements appear to be a facility that is approved to handle sensitive financial and legal material – we recommend removing the overly-restrictive geographic definition.

Answer #40. The proposed geographic region was determined in efforts to provide a reasonable and efficient location for the case agents and vendor.

Question #41. Possible overly restrictive specifications in excess of the government’s minimum needs with the short Period of Performance of four months. As the government might obtain lower pricing with a longer Period of Performance, we recommend the IRS allow the vendors to suggest a POP of up to one year, or the IRS should state clearly the driver for whatever shorter POP is needed.

Answer #41. The period of performance is based on the agency need and investigation time line.

Question #42. Pg 31 Reference Questionnaire. Can CPARS be used in place of this Questionnaire? CPARS is intended to replace the paperwork of Questionnaires.

Answer #42. The procurement dollar threshold do not fall under the CPARS. The Attachment 3, Offeror’s Reference Sheet is a part of the technical and past performance evaluation.

Question #43. Please estimate the percentage double-sided pages.

Answer #43. 65%.

Question #44. Please state the range of size of pages – and percent of each size-type.

Answer #44. It is estimated that the range of the size of pages vary from 3” x 3” to 8.5” x 14”.

Question #45. Are there folders or other separators to be scanned? If Yes, estimate how many per box?

Answer #45. Yes. It is estimated that there are at least 10 folders/separators per box.

Question #46. What density is desired for the output – 200dpi, 300dpi, other?

Answer #46. 200dpi.

Question #47. Clarify the Place of Delivery. Amendment 5 still has the “San Marcos” Delivery point.

Answer #47. Documents picked up from the storage units in Woodland Hills, CA will be returned to storage units. Documents picked up from the Van Nuys Post of Duty will be returned to either the Van Nuys Post of Duty or the documents will be returned to the storage units in Woodland Hills, CA.

Question #48. What is the loading dock situation at each location? Recommend provide photos. What is the maximum truck size allowed? Will the boxes be on the loading dock for contractor pickup, or must the contractor enter the building and hand-truck the boxes out to the loading area? Are the boxes on the ground floor? If not, what is the weight limit of the elevator(s)? How will the contractor know which boxes to pick up?

Amswer #48. Documents housed at the storage facility in Woodland Hills, CA are located in units on different floors. The documents were transported to the storage units via wheeled carts and freight elevators. Documents housed in the Van Nuys POD are located in the basement and the second floor levels of the building. Neither of these levels are “ground” level. Contractors will need to use wheeled carts to transport the documents to the freight elevator located in the southwest corner of the parking garage. Please refer to Amendment 0006 for Attachment 1, Sample Document Boxes.

Question #49. Please confirm that Attachment 2 is not applicable if Contractor utilizes a third party courier such as Fedex or UPS.

Answer #49. Per the SOW it is the contractor’s responsibility to pick up and return all of the boxes.

Question #50. Please extend the Due Date to be not less than five business days after the answers are published.

Answer #50. The closing date will be extended to 8/26/16 at 11:00 a.m. California Time.

Please refer to Amendment 0006.

Question #51. The Q and A dated 17 AUG added a location, and we therefore re-submit our question-and-solution to this issue. In Amendment 2, the government established overly restrictive specifications regarding the location of the contractor facility, to be only Los Angeles, San Bernardino or Riverside Counties. In the QnA issued 17 Aug, the government appears to add San Diego to the ‘approved location’ list, even though San Diego is not in any of the other three counties. This action by the government appears to expand the geographic specification. This contractor notes that the city of Blythe CA in Riverside County is about a four-hour drive from the IRS Van Nuys, and this is an approved location in the current specification. Why would the government not allow a similar four-hour drive to the north, for instance to Fresno? Or any counties in between? Or a five- hour drive, or six-hour drive?

Further, the government’s minimum requirements appear to be a facility that is approved to handle sensitive financial and legal material. Therefore we recommend removing the overly-restrictive geographic/distance specification entirely and allow the contractor to absorb the cost of transportation as they see fit.

Answer #51. Please refer to the Revised Response to Answer #32 above.

Question #52 In Q&A, it mentioned that documents in the boxes have sticky notes and tapered notes on them. Do they need to be scanned in as well? Or do we remove them, scan document, and then reapply those sticky/tapered notes back on them after scanning?

Answer #52. The vendor will need to remove the note from the document and scan the note separately. Upon scanning the note, the vendor will need to reapply the note to the respective document.

Question #53. Is 200 dpi adequate for scanning resolution?

Answer #53. Yes.

Question #54. Will we be able to run all documents in 848 boxes through auto-feed of the scanner? If not, please provide estimate of documents which needs to run through a flatbed scanner?

Answer #54. A large majority of the documents should be able to go through the auto-feed unit on the scanner.

Question #55. Do you need detailed price per page or a lump sum price for 848 boxes as per the CLIN?

Answer #55. For evaluation purposes, the agency would like both figures. Please provide a price quote per box and a breakdown of how the per box rate was established. Please refer to Amendment 0006, Line Item 0001.

NO verbal or telephone inquiries will be acknowledged.