Vaccine Distribution - Sources Sought Notice 1143518.docx

Sources Sought Notice Veterinary Vaccine Cold Chain Receipt, Storage, and Distribution

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY SOLICITATION IS NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE

The United States Department of Agriculture, APHIS is issuing this sources sought synopsis as a means of conducting market research to identify parties having an interest in and the resources to support this requirement for cold chain transportation.

There is no solicitation at this time. This request for capability information does not constitute a request for proposals; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; the government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred.

There is a need for a veterinary vaccine distributer to provide cold chain receipt, storage, and distribution of animal vaccine to state-designated sites within the United States. For brevity, throughout this announcement “state” denotes all US jurisdictions, including States, Tribes. and Territories.

If your organization has the potential capacity to perform these contract services, please provide the following information:

1. Organization name, address, email address, website address, telephone number, and size and type of ownership for the organization; and

2. Tailored capability statements addressing the particulars of this effort, with appropriate documentation supporting claims of organizational and staff capability.

3. Organizational experience including past performance on similar contracts or projects.

4. Pricing and cost structure for this effort, general pricing model, and factors that may affect pricing.

5. Innovations and unique offerings to satisfy the objectives of this effort.

6. Geographic coverage for your services (e.g., national, regional, CONUS, Alaska, Hawaii, US territories), storage and delivery capacity and redundancy, activation and delivery speed, and inventory visibility.

7. Questions, comments, and additional information that the vendor wishes to provide.

If significant subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to deliver technical capability, organizations should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements.

The government will evaluate market information to ascertain potential market capacity to 1) provide services consistent in scope and scale with those described in this notice and otherwise anticipated; Based on the responses to this sources sought notice/market research, this requirement may be set-aside for small businesses or procured through full and open competition, and multiple awards may be made. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding their submissions.

Submission Instructions: Interested parties who consider themselves qualified to provide the above listed product are invited to submit a response to this Sources Sought Notice.

BACKGROUND

The U.S. National Veterinary Stockpile (NVS) is the nation's repository of critical veterinary supplies, equipment, and service resources. It exists because of the nation’s concern after 9/11 that terrorists could release animal diseases of catastrophic proportions that would

· deplete State and local response inventories,

· generate surge requirements that would overwhelm commercial sources, and

· prevent unaffected States from providing significant help for fear of the threat crossing their borders.

The NVS’ ability to deploy large amounts of critical veterinary resources within 24 hours ensures States have what they need to respond to potentially catastrophic animal disease outbreaks.

In the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak, the NVS may deploy products like animal vaccine to appropriately respond to damaging diseases that could negatively impact human health and the economy. States could then use the animal vaccine to respond to large-scale outbreaks.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this effort is to provide a cost effective and scalable commercial receipt, storage and distribution capability for animal vaccine to combat foreign animal diseases such as foot and mouth disease (FMD) and classical swine fever (CSF). NVS is seeking the services from a vendor or vendors having existing storage capacity, capabilities, and general experience to support the NVS requirements to meet NVS mission needs. The National Veterinary Stockpile (NVS) seeks the services of a veterinary vaccine distributer for a multi-year period to support the NVS program’s requirements. These services will include animal vaccine receipt and storge, vaccine distribution, and vaccine return and disposal. The NVS program will order vaccine product from one or more vendors and deliver the product to the vaccine distributer.

REQUIREMENTS

Service Requirements The vaccine distributer(s) will perform the following services during an emergency or exercise:

1. Animal vaccine receipt and storage

a. Receive vaccine from the NVS or their designee, conduct temperature check, inspect shipment, accept product and transfer of accountability.

b. Immediately upon vaccine receipt, report vaccine temperature out-of-tolerance or damages, if there are discrepancies, and apply disposition instructions from USDA (e.g., quarantine, safe to use, disposal).

c. Provide secure, segregated storage of NVS animal vaccine.

d. Monitor cold chain while in storage.

e. Maintain inventory accountability, accuracy, and visibility.

2. Vaccine distribution

a. Receive approved field orders/requirements from Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR).

b. Pick and re-package vaccine (including labeling and reproducing inserts).

c. Pack shipments for cold chain management and apply temperature data loggers.

d. Arrange for cold chain transportation and track shipments.

e. Provide vaccine distribution reporting (e.g., number of shipments, locations, quantities) and visibility.

3. Vaccine return and disposal

a. Process returns from field sites upon approval by the COR.

b. Seek disposition instructions from the COR.

Vaccines will require refrigeration (2 to 8 degrees Celsius) throughout receipt, storage, and distribution. This vaccine distribution capability will be executed only in emergency situations or in support of exercises. In the event of an emergency, the vaccine distributer(s) will need to have the resources necessary to support product receipt, storage, and shipments as well as managing return and disposal after the incident. The NVS program will conduct periodic inspections to validate inventory accuracy and contractor readiness.

Volume will vary based on the severity of the incident. For planning purposes, NVS has the capability to deploy 12 million doses of vaccine (134 pallets) within three weeks from a single manufacturer.

Operational Requirements The 3PL is responsible for:

· Receiving NVS vaccine from multiple vendors as directed and coordinated by the NVS program office.

· Storing vaccine in a secure location and staging material for distribution to state-designated locations.

· Performing warehouse management and quality surveillance of vaccine.

· Securely transporting individual shipments to specified locations directed by the NVS and or states.

· Segregating NVS material from other customers’ material. Vendors should describe how they would segregate and secure the material (e.g. separate buildings, fencing, etc.).

· Providing sufficient staffing resources and equipment to meeting operational requirements.

· Ensuring staff have federal background investigations enabling them to work in support of potential national security events.

· Providing cold chain management for refrigerated products.

· Supervising and safeguarding the facilities and goods.

· Pulling, packing, and loading emergency shipments promptly upon notification to meet the NVS’ 24-hour delivery requirement.

· Provide 24/7 staffing support for emergency response.

Facility Requirements The vaccine distributer will be responsible for the following:

· Providing a secure storage facility or facilities (please specify), warehouse management support, and shipment preparation services to support national or regional distribution requirements.

· Ensuring there is adequate space to accommodate receiving, storage, shipping, and warehouse management activities.

· Providing a fire protection system that meets all local codes and all other applicable fire protection standards.

· Providing emergency power that ensures that refrigerators remain operational during power failures.

· Providing facilities that meet local, state, and federal operational safety regulations.

· Ensuring facilities are temperature controlled to meet manufacturer requirements.

· Allowing unannounced access to its facilities by NVS representatives for periodic quality control evaluations or other purposes. The NVS reserves the right to request facility badges for routine facility access by a limited number of its personnel.

· Providing all equipment necessary to support this contract. The government will not furnish equipment to the contractor.

Exercise Participation Requirements The vaccine distributer(s) will be required to:

· Support an annual vaccine deployment exercise (may be discussion-based or operational) where NVS exercises the deployment of animal vaccine to/from a warehouse site and to designated delivery locations.

· The vaccine distributer will participate in exercise planning prior to the exercise and in after-action meetings.

· The vendor will also respond to recommended improvement actions from the exercise.

· For operational exercises, please assume a shipment of one truckload (or less) of simulated vaccine and exercise duration of 3 days; 1 day for receipt, 1 day for delivery to a state-designated site, and 1 day for return of unused material to the vaccine distributer.

· Conduct a semi-annual test of the notification system including notification of all vaccine distributer operational elements associated with the project (such as management and warehouse staff).