Milk and Dairy for Norfolk Area

Solicitation SPE300-19-R0078 is designed to place Market Ready Fresh Milk and Dairy Items, all fully competitive, on contract(s) for various Department of Defense (DoD) customers in Norfolk, Virginia. The resultant contract will be issued as a firm-fixed price IQC with EPA applied to class I fluid milk items and firm fixed price with two pricing tiers for all other items for the entire term of the contract. The contract period is expected to be from January 5, 2020 to December 31, 2022. Tier 1 will be from January 5, 2020 to July 3, 2021. Tier 2 will be from July 4, 2021 to December 31, 2022.
The solicitation contains two groups:
Group 1: Ship customers in the Norfolk, VA area
Group 2: Land Based customers in the Norfolk, VA area.
All responsible sourses may submit proposals that will be considered by DLA Troop Support. copied of the solicitation will be found on the DLA BSM Internet Bid Board Systems (DIBBS) at https://www.dibbs.bsm.dla.mil . If not registered, prospective offerors will be required to do so prior to reviewing and downloading a copy of the solicitaion. RFP's are in Portable Document Format (PDF). In order to download and view these documents, prospective offerors will need the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. The software is available free at http://adobe.com
It is anticipated that the solicitation will be issued in October 2019. Prospective offerors may request a copy by emailing vincent Key at vincent.key@dla.mil.

This is a Request for Information ("RFI"). DLA Troop Support's ("Agency") Subsistence Market Fresh Program is interested in comments and feedback regarding the Agency's fresh Milk and Dairy items to the Department of Defense ("DoD;" Troop). There is no solicitation available at this time. The Government will not pay for any information received in response to this RFI, nor will the Government compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing the information provided to the Government. This RFI does not constitute a commitment from the Government and any information provided in response to this market survey will be used for informational purposes only and will not be released. Any proprietary information submitted will be protected if appropriately marked. Please note that by responding to the instant Agency request, a potential offeror is not promised any future business with the Government. The sole purpose of this RFI is to conduct market research to assist the Agency in crafting an appropriate solicitation in the future.

Background: The Agency intends to issue a solicitation and ultimately enter into indefinite quantity contract(s) ("IQC") with a commercial firm(s) to supply fresh Milk and Dairy products to military customers in the Norfolk, Virginia area. Freshness requirements. Fluid dairy products and other dairy products shall have sufficient remaining shelf life commensurate with good commercial practice. Each container, carton, etc. shall have visible, legible, and understandable "sell-by-date" or equivalent.

1. Milk, Whipping Cream (fresh), Cream (fresh) and Half-and-Half (fresh), Ice Milk Mix, Fresh (soft serve), Milk Shake Mix, Fresh (direct draw), Buttermilk and Eggnog must be delivered with a minimum 10 days shelf life remaining.

2. Whipping Cream (ultra-pasteurized), Half-and-Half (ultra-pasteurized), and Cream (ultra-pasteurized) must be delivered with a minimum 14 days shelf life remaining.

3. Cottage Cheese, cultured and acidified, normal and extended shelf life must be delivered with a minimum 14 days shelf life remaining.

4. Sour Cream must be delivered with a minimum 21 days shelf life remaining.

5. Yogurt must be delivered with a minimum of 18 days shelf life remaining.

6. Ice Cream must be delivered with a minimum 120 days shelf life remaining.

Commercial standards should be used to maintain temperatures appropriate for the individual items.

When proposing in response to a solicitation, failure to propose the specified quality requirement per item as identified above may render an offeror's proposal technically unacceptable. This will consist of DoD/Troop customers in Norfolk, VA area. After soliciting, the Agency intends to make two awards. Offerors are required to propose on all items in the Schedule of Items for each Group on which it offers. Failure to do so may result in a proposal being deemed technically unacceptable and therefore excluded from further consideration for award.

Because the Contracting Officer is not obligated to initiate negotiations, when proposing to the solicitation each offeror shall submit its most competitive proposal chosen to propose on. Said proposal shall be responsive to all of the Solicitation's requirements and free from any deficiencies.

Proposed contract ordering period is January 5, 2020 to December 31, 2022. If interested, we strongly encourage you to respond using the attached questionnaire. We appreciate, and thank you in advance for any feedback. Your responses regarding this solicitation are requested back by the close of business on September 23, 2019. Please respond via e-mail to the following addresses: Vincent Key, Contract Specialist, Vincent.Key@dla.mil, James Barr, Contracting Officer, James.Barr@dla.mil.

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