SPECIAL NOTICE
65 -- Responses to Industry Day Questions Reference RFI 36C97124Q0004
- Notice Date
- 2/16/2024 7:23:25 AM
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 339113
— Surgical Appliance and Supplies Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- COMMODITIES & SERVICES ACQUISITION SERVICE (36C791) DENVER CO 80225 USA
- ZIP Code
- 80225
- Solicitation Number
- 36C79124Q0009
- Response Due
- 2/23/2024 2:00:00 PM
- Archive Date
- 03/24/2024
- Point of Contact
- Shamaar Bowlby, Contract Specialist, Phone: 303-273-6221
- E-Mail Address
-
Shamaar.Bowlby@va.gov
(Shamaar.Bowlby@va.gov)
- Awardee
- null
- Description
- This Request for Information (RFI) is a follow up to the Industry Day Invitation RFI 36C79124Q0004, is issued solely for the purpose of answering vendor questions from Industry Day, January 2024, and does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP). This notice does not commit the U.S. Government to contract for Customized Power Wheelchair. Furthermore, the U.S. Government is not seeking proposals at this time and will not accept unsolicited proposals in response to this special notice. All information received in response to this RFI, that is marked as proprietary, will be handled accordingly. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Submittals will not be returned to the responder. Vendor questions have been compiled and are answered below. If you have any questions regarding the responses, please contact the Contract Specialist, Shamaar Bowlby, at Shamaar.Bowlby@va.gov, and the Contracting Officer, Susan Dela Cruz, at Susan.DelaCruz@va.gov. Questions and Answers from the Industry Day 1Q. Will all procurement of Power Wheelchairs Sin F-2 - Group 3 and 4 be mandated through the ROES system? 1A. Yes, unless the clinical wheelchair needs of the patient cannot be fulfilled by products available within the DLC contracts. This will save time ordering Group 3 and 4 chairs. 2Q. At the starting order entry point in Roes - does Contracting shop product or does the clinical staff designate wheelchair? 2A. Clinical staff designate based on medical assessment. 3Q. Creation of the P.O. from Roes would require configuration rules that are normally unique for each manufacturer based on the product and manufacturing process. How would these rules on selections be managed? What occurs if rule changes and how often would they be updated? 3A. We are giving further consideration to a model in which the manufacturer s configurator is used to construct a quote rather than replicating configurator functionality within ROES. The quote would then be sent electronically to the DLC for processing and issue of an authorizing Purchase Order. This will eliminate the concerns raised in this question. 4Q. If a product is ordered that does not meet or align with MTRs in Roes, how would VA order product? 4A. A product that does not meet MTRs would not be allowed to be included in the contract award and would not be available for ordering in ROES. Such product would need to be ordered outside the contracts and ROES. If they need to order a product that is not in ROES, they will place a consult to PSAS. 5Q. If product ordered is not in Roes, how does contracting proceed? 5A. See answer to Question 4. 6Q. What is the advantage to a manufacturer to drop pricing lower via a national contract with multiple awards? 6A. The VA Wheeled Mobility clinical community will be required to use the national contracts and ROES as the procurement source for Group 3 and 4 wheelchairs. The advantage of competitive pricing by manufacturers is that their products will be available through these contracts and easily available for ordering and receiving by VA providers. 7Q. Current Contract pricing through FSS produces requires MFC pricing with no volume commitments. This national award does not have volume commitments but a strict adherence to system requirements (administrative burden) above and beyond FSS requirements that are already difficult. 7A. No question here. 8Q. How will price play a part in offering product that may have significant better quality standards based on past performance. 8A. Once the solicitation is publicized in contract opportunities, offerors will be provided an instruction and how the company will be evaluated for customized power wheelchair on price and past performance. 9Q. Small business FSS contractors will now be unable to compete with large manufacturers. Is there still set asides for small business? 9A. Once the solicitation is publicized in contract opportunities, offerors will be provided if the requirement is set-aside or full and open competition. 10Q. What criteria will the VA utilize to evaluate whether the award reduces actual spend. 10A. Once the solicitation is publicized in contract opportunities, offerors will be provided an instruction and how the company will be evaluated for customized power wheelchair. 11Q. Will all submitted configurations that meet MTRS be granted an award? What criteria does the manufacturer have to meet beyond noted MTRs and quality standards? 11A. This is a multiple contract award. Once the solicitation is publicized in contract opportunities, offerors will be provided an instruction and how the company will be evaluated for customized power wheelchair. 12Q. Technology has changed drastically since the 2019 meeting for both power wheelchairs and ordering capabilities. Is VA considering alternate ordering options such as manufacture configurators in the quote/ order process (with a secure connection, Multi Factor Authentication (MFA, other)? A Manufacturer configurator is rule based and will systematically manage the complexity of options, allowing/ not allowing therapist to progress with their choice of options per Veterans clinical requirements. 12A. Yes, VA is considering and developing a plan for an ordering process that makes optimal use of manufacturer configurators and the experienced logic that manufacturers are able to incorporate in the product selection process. 13Q. The complex rehab power chairs described in the MTRs are veteran specific. As such, they are configured from a vast number of components. With that capability, there are many instances in which components are not compatible based on the option choice/ class. How can industry and VA work to accommodate rules/ compatibility with model specific flat files? 13A. The flat file design does account for designations of compatibility between different types of components. However, with the model that s being considered using manufacturer configurators, it may be unnecessary to rely on the flat files for compatibility associations. Some examples would include: Drive program and power module programming selections based on the seating and electronics choice Incompatible Leg-rest and Positioning component configurations (can cause interference) Accessories specific to seating systems WC19 compatible options Joystick receiver mounts based on joystick and arm selection Rules specific to alternative drives and specialty controls (requirement of attendant control, etc.) 14Q. Quoting is an instrumental component of the evaluation and recommendation process as it ensures that the chosen options are compatible and can result in an executable PO to order. We didn t see Quoting as one of the steps in the presentation. Will Quoting be a defined step in the evaluation hierarchy? Assuming so, what format is preferred by VA (XML, etc.) for Quote and Order Acknowledgements? 14A. Yes, quoting is envisioned as a part of the process. Format of the quote will be determined as we proceed through the planning process. 15Q. Power wheelchair configurations change based on clinician requested options, product improvements, component availability, etc. At what frequency will VA be able to accommodate/ maintain changes within updated files? 15A. Frequency of changes is being discussed. 16Q. Will there be identifying information for the evaluating clinician as the PO works its way through the DLC system? If there are compatibility issues, or questions, we want to be able to resolve them quickly with the prescribing therapist. 16A. Clinician name and potentially other contact information will be provided on the PO issued to the contractor. 17Q. Naming conventions and sequence varies across manufacturers, is there a specific format / order that VA is planning to utilize? 17A.Formats and naming conventions will be provided in an eventual RFP once requirements are more fully defined. 18Q. Will new product offerings be able to be added to the IDIQ contract? 18A. New product offerings are subject to CO and clinical team determination during tech refresh. 19Q. Due to the complexity of customized power wheelchairs specific to a veteran s clinical needs, has VA considered starting this initiative with limited options, ie similar to the 2012-2017 National Contract in which only captain s seat, solid seat pan, and power elevating seat were options? 19A. VA would like the product offerings under the initiative to be as comprehensive as possible and starting with limited options would be counterproductive to the desired outcomes, but consideration is given to setting boundaries around the spectrum of options. 20Q. Many custom power wheelchair orders get delayed if they exceed the purchase card threshold and go to contracting for review/ approval. Has VA considered increasing the purchase card threshold to accommodate some of the more costly and/ or complex configurations that typically go through contracting? 20A. This program will remove use of purchase cards from the equation for ordering custom wheelchairs. The dependency on purchase card thresholds will be eliminated. Purchases will be executed under the authority of a warranted Contracting Officer. Purchasing authority determinations will be addressed up front in the RFP and contract award phases, not at the point of individual wheelchair purchases. 21Q. Can VA provide more clarity to delivery and assembly expectation? Does this mean delivery and set up to the veteran s home or to the VA clinic? 21A. Delivery will be made to the location specified on the Purchase Order received from the DLC, which could be either a VA clinic, the Veteran s home, or a third party, depending on circumstances. 22Q. Does VA intend to make this solicitation a set-aside for Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business or any other Small Business? 22A. Once the solicitation is publicized in contract opportunities, offerors will be provided if the requirement is set-aside or full and open competition. 23Q. Since multiple contracts will be awarded, how will VA prioritize one power wheelchair over another, or is it clinician preference? 23A. Clinician preference. 24Q. Can VA detail how clinicians would find the appropriate power wheelchairs in ROES. Is there a decision tree that would guide clinicians on which chair to order? 24A. All chairs available on contract would be available in ROES. Clinicians would select the desired chair and components/customizations based on specific clinical needs of the patient. 25Q. What decision criteria will be used to award contracts? 25A. Once the solicitation is publicized in contract opportunities, offerors will be provided an instruction and how the company will be evaluated for customized power wheelchair. 26Q. Will VA allow TAA compliant products or restrict to BAA compliant products? 26A. Once the solicitation is publicized in contract opportunities, offerors will be provided an instruction and if this is TAA or BAA compliant. 27Q. Within the ROES system, how would a clinician actually choose items from a flat file of options? Would this information be turned into a clickable pick-sheet? 27A. In the ordering model originally described, DLC application logic would use the flat file to present products and customizations for users in a selectable format within the ROES web application. VA is shifting its thinking to a model that uses manufacturer configurators, so this question may no longer be a concern. 28Q. We fairly regularly make changes to our product offerings. This could be a new-product launch, older model discontinuation, or a feature change that would alter the configuration options. How will this work with updating ROES? Is there a frequency or number of times we could modify the information? 28A. Allowable frequency of product changes is being discussed. 29Q. How does the contract affect our current FSS contract? As you know the FSS process already ensures that we are offering the government the best pricing in the market; would this replace or eliminate the need for a FSS? 29A. The FSS contract would remain in place and continue to be available to other government agencies. VA procurements would be required to be executed through the VA national contracts such that VA requirements for integration with supply systems and patient records would be met. 30Q. One of the goals stated was to standardize pricing. What does this mean to this initiative? Standardized across manufacturers? 30A. This initiative is not intended force standardized pricing upon manufacturers. It is intended to ensure competitive pricing through the acquisition process. The standardization goals apply more to the product evaluations for contract award and to ordering methodologies than to pricing. 31Q. In order to achieve a successful outcome of the chair build, it is highly recommended that secure links to the manufacturer s online configurator be used as opposed to trying to reinvent the configuration process. This would ensure a buildable chair is entered the first time. Utilizing a flat file will result in manufacturers receiving many chair requests that are not valid. How would this be handled as there will be a lot of back and forth on options and pricing? 31A. VA is shifting toward favoring a model that utilizes manufacturer configurators to build valid chair requests.
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