J012-- Fire Alarm/ Sprinkler Services

RFQ 36C25625Q1495 Question and Answer Reponses

The purpose of this amendment is to:

Answer the questions submitted by offerors.

Attach the CAD/Drawings of the locations to be serviced for this requirement.

Questions:

Can a site visit be scheduled so our technician can review the systems and document any specific challenges that may impact our pricing?

A site visit will not be scheduled for this requirement. I ve attached the CAD Drawings for the location of the sprinkler and alarm systems to be serviced.

Can you please confirm regularly scheduled inspection and testing of the fire alarm system is not part of this contract? It reads as service, repair, and maintenance only, which would not include inspection and testing. We just want to confirm inspection and testing is not required.

If inspection and testing is required, can you please detail the periodicity of inspection and testing frequencies required?

Inspection and testing are not included

It appears the fire sprinkler systems will require inspection and testing along with repairs as stated in the performance work statement. However, the performance work statement does not specify the frequency of inspections. Are we to budget only for the annual inspections? Or are more frequent inspections required? It would be helpful for clarity if the performance work statement identified the specific joint commission elements of performance required for these inspections.

No Inspections

Can you please provide a complete device list for all components requiring inspection and testing of the fire sprinkler systems?

No inspection or testing

Can you please provide the most recent annual inspection reports for the fire alarm and fire sprinkler systems?

No inspection or testing

Would the VA consider providing a separate line item for fire alarm and fire sprinkler services? These are 2 distinctly different services and for the government to evaluate fair and reasonable pricing, it may be helpful to see how the labor hours for 2 days per week of a fire alarm technician is different from the inspection and testing for the fire sprinkler systems.

No. All services are under one CLIN.

For the maximum $8,500 for fire alarm parts and $15,000 for sprinkler parts, are we to include this in our base price for CLIN 0001? Or will this be a separate CLIN provided by the government when the contract is awarded?

Included in price

Can you confirm the hours for providing one (1) technician for 2 days per week for the entire contract is meant to cover the labor for repairs as well? Or are repair labor hours separate from the hours for the technician 2 days per week?

If separate, where and how should we budget for the repair labor hours?

Total hours. Nothing is separate. Technician is on site 2 days a week from 8am-4pm  Tech is here for trouble shooting and repairs. The Tech is only here to work.

Section 3 Parts and Supplies, Parts Purchase Log, the first bullet point reads as if we re to purchase the parts ahead of time, document in a log the parts we have purchased, and keep the log updated as parts are used. However, the subsections before this for fire alarm and fire sprinkler parts states we re not to proceed with purchasing parts until review and approval is provided for each part and at the end of the contract provide all unused parts to the VA. Are we to prepurchase parts ahead of time and use as needed, or should we provide pricing for parts when needed as discovered through inspection and testing and once approved, proceed with purchasing the parts?

Normal parts ( pulls, smokes,strobes) are purchased to keep on hand. This allows the work to continue without stoppage.

The Performance Work Statement does not specify normal working hours. Can you please clarify the time range for normal working hours?

8am -4pm CST

Section 5 Qualifications and Rules for Fire Alarm Services item i states emergency hours are considered work that occurs after 4pm CST, 7 days a week. What about work that occurs prior to the start of normal working hours and anytime on weekends or holidays? These hours are typically considered emergency hours.

Emergency hours are for call outs that are not M-F 8am-4pm. Holidays , weekends and before or after normal business hours.

How are emergency response labor and materials to be invoiced? Should we submit an invoice following each emergency call for the labor and materials required? Labor for emergency calls are typically billed at a higher hourly rate as that s considered overtime pay for us vs standard pay, therefore, we cannot cover the emergency calls with the labor budgeted for the technician to be on site 2 days per week. Please clarify.

We have in the contract a lotted amount of hours, after those hours it is billed to the Facility but must have PO in place before work is started. Over the past two years we have never had an emergency call out.

The emergency response statement is only included in Section 5 Qualifications and Rules for Fire Alarm Services; it is not included in Section 6 Qualifications and Rules for Fire Sprinkler Services. Can you confirm whether emergency response services are required for only the fire alarm system as stated in the performance work statement, or will we be required to respond to emergency calls for the fire sprinkler system as well?

Only Fire Alarm

Will the government provide a 5-business day extension to the quote due date following the release of answers to RFIs?

At the time of this amendment, the closing date will remain the 19th.