Durable Medical Equipment Services in support of VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and VA Butler Healthcare.

Block 14 Continued

2. The following questions were submitted in response to this RFP; the Government's "Answers" are provided below:

QUESTIONS ANSWERS



In the Solicitation on fbo.gov, there only appear to be three of the four Monitoring Forms in the QASP - please advise.



The attached QASP on fbo.gov was reviewed against the Contract Specialists copy on record. Use the current QASP posted on fbo.gov as reference.





CLIN 0004/Routine Repairs - When unable to complete a repair on an initial DME Repair Visit, should the quote provided include the set rate for CLIN 0004 (as labor) and parts for the return visit to complete the repair?



Yes, It should be all inclusive. With the understanding that if the repair costs totals from all previous repairs are greater than 50% the cost of new (Per VHA guidelines). The repair may not be authorized and only the initial repair evaluation will be paid.





CLIN 0005/Delivery for Bariatric Setup - The current contract has an hourly rate for Bariatric set ups. For this Solicitation, is this a set rate?



Yes, there is a set rate for this solicitation.



Telehealth is included in the Solicitation. Telehealth was included in the 2013 DME Solicitation but was determined to be unnecessary due to a national contract. Does the inclusion of Telehealth in this Solicitation indicate that this will actually be performed?



As stated in the Solicitation, the government anticipates that the set-up and instruction of VA-owned tele-health equipment will be required.



Page 20 of the Solicitation states that "This is not an option year contract. The period of performance for this contract is Date of Award through 9-30-2020." Does this indicate a four year contract? How does this differ from the current contract which is a one year contract with annual renewals? The value of all task orders that may be placed against this Contract during its 5-year period is estimated to be: Minimum Value: $ 80,000.00 Maximum Value: $2,230,291.00 (All funds are subject to the availability of funds per clause 53.232-19). This is not an option year contract. The period of performance for this contract is Date of Award through 09-30-2020. Even if the contract were to be awarded on the due date of Friday, January 15, 2016, the period of performance ending on September 30, 2020 would only be a four year and eight month contract. Will the end date be extended upon award to make this a full five-year contract?



This is NOT an option year contract. This contract will not require modifications to be completed on every anniversary date of the contract. The end date will NOT be extended upon award to make this a full five-year contract.







Please clarify how much weight does socioeconomic status play in this Solicitation? Since this is a best value procurement, non-veteran companies need to know how critical it is to acquire/propose subcontractors who meet the service-disabled or veteran-owned status to be evaluated fairly. Can the Government assign a point value to this factor for evaluation purposes? If not, can a better definition of full credit, partial credit, minimal credit or no credit be provided? Will a non-veteran company be penalized or rated lower for receiving no credit or N/A for this factor?



As it is stated in the Solicitation, page 71, "Technical Capability and Past Performance are significantly more important than Socio-Economic Program Participation AND Price." The Government will NOT assign a point value to the factor for evaluation purposes. The solicitation does NOT clearly state how the factors are evaluated; Technical, Past Performance, and Socio-Economic Status will be assigned an ADJECTIVAL rating, but price will not be assigned and adjectival rating or scored (pg. 74).

A non-Veteran company will not be penalized or rated lower for receiving no credit or N/A for this factor.





Page 15 of the Solicitation states that Delivery Certification Form must be sent on the same day of delivery. Are there exceptions for staff not returning until after 5:00 p.m.? Can Delivery Certifications be sent within one business day? How should it be sent - PKI email or fax?



Yes, exceptions will be made for staff not returning until after 5:00 p.m. Delivery certifications can be sent the next business day either by PKI email or fax.



Page 13 of the Solicitation includes feeding pumps and grabs bars. Will these be provided under the Solicitation? Will installation of grab bars be required?



Feeding pumps are provided under DME for VA Pittsburgh and Butler. There are separate Contractors who will install the grab bars. Currently this is not a part of our contract.



Page 14/Emergency Repairs - Is the referenced loaner coming out of VA inventory. What is expected if no suitable loaner is available?



Yes, the referenced is to come out of VA loaner inventory. Expectations are that each Veteran is provided a manual back-up to be used for down time of their power chair. On some occasions this manual chair will not provide adequate coverage and a power loaner chair will be needed. If an appropriate one is not in stock, then this will be looked at on a case by case basis.





Just wondering if there is an approximate volume of equipment that would need to be picked up in 10 days from the current provider. For instance, is it 1,000 sq. ft. worth, etc.

Butler has about 8 hospital beds and mattresses. Over the bed table, trapeze, shower bench, shower chair, bedside commode (no more the 4 of each of these).

Pittsburgh has about 2000 square feet of space necessary for DME operations.





For Each Line Item (CLIN) you have a service required, with a quantity, unit, unit price and amount. An example is Line Item 0001, which shows Vehicle transport and pick-up of DME within counties listed in PWS, with a quantity of 1,600, unit of Each. The question is, are the quantities monthly or annually?



Each CLIN indicates a quantity that is estimated annually. For example, CLIN 0001 indicates the estimated quantity for Year 1 of the contract (Date of award to 9-30-2016), and CLIN 1001 indicates the estimated quantity for Year 2 of the contract (10-1-2016 to 9-30-2017). This is the same throughout the Price Schedule.



3. The HOUR and DATE proposals are due remains unchanged at January 15, 2016; 1:00 P.M. E.S.T.

4. Offerors are reminded "Failure to acknowledge receipt of this amendment may result in rejection of your offer.

3. Reference the Price/Cost Schedule on page 21, line item 0007 "Set-up and instruction on VA-owned tele-health equipment" has changed to read:

ITEM NUMBER DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES QUANTITY UNIT UNIT PRICE AMOUNT

0007 Set-up and instruction on VA-owned tele-health equipment



POP Begin: Date of Award

POP End: 09-30-2016





15.00 EA __________________ __________________



4. The following questions were submitted in response to this RFP; the Government's "Answers" are provided below:

QUESTIONS ANSWERS



Does the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation under solicitation VA244-15-R-0411 contain requirements similar to a current contract?



If possible, please provide the current contract number. Or, is this a new requirement for the government?



Yes, the current contract contains similar requirements.





This is not a new requirement for the government. Awarded contracts can be viewed on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO).







Would this RFP/Solicitation be open to an IPA?

The VA does not award contracts to Third Party entities. This is not a clinical contract which calls for any clinical services that would require a physician group or service to determine pricing. This is a delivery service which is further defined in the SOW of the contract.





The items listed for a proposal price seem to be service related; are you looking for a proposal on DME setup?



Each item listed for proposal price is listed in detail in Section B.4.5 Performance Work Tasks, page 9 of RFP. Each task listed in section B.4.5 corresponds with the line items in section B.5 Price/Cost Schedule, page 20 of RFP. Example - Item 0001 is explained in detail in Task 1, Item 0002 with Task 2, and so on.





Is there a set fee schedule for the items delivered (i.e. Medicare or Medicaid related fee schedule)?



Through market research of other facilities that hold similar DME contracts, other vendor have been able to determine if a proposal is within a reasonable range.





?



Who currently has both of these contracts?

Klingensmith, Inc. is servicing Butler and Health Aid of Ohio is currently servicing Pittsburgh.





Is the vendor required to have a location in both Butler and Pittsburgh or can the vendor have one location that services both VA?

The vendor is NOT required to have a storage facility located in both Butler and Pittsburgh. One storage facility to meet the requirements stated in the RFP is sufficient.





5. The HOUR and DATE proposals are due remain unchanged at January 15, 2015; 1:00 P.M. E.S.T.

6. Offerors are reminded "Failure to acknowledge receipt of this amendment may result in rejection of your offer.

--------------------------------------------------End of Document--------------------------------------------------

1. Pre-Proposal Questions: ALL questions and inquiries regarding the solicitation shall be submitted in writing to Bruce Jackson II by e-mail to Bruce.Jackson5@va.gov no later than January 8, 2016 (12:00 p.m. EST).



2. Electronic Proposal Submission: ALL offers shall be submitted electronically via email to Bruce.Jackson5@va.gov and must be submitted on or before the offer due date (Standard Form 1449; block 8). The VAPHS e-mail size limit is 5MB, so if your documents are larger than 5MB, it will be necessary for you to separate into smaller sized documents and transmits the documents in more than one e-mail. Late offers will not be accepted.