Page 1 of 4 I. Introduction: This is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The National Cemetery Administration (NCA) is currently conducting market research to locate qualified, experienced and interested potential sources. Responses will not be considered as proposals, nor will any award be incurred by interested parties in responding to this sources sought announcement. NCA is seeking interested sources (contractors) for a near-future solicitation. We are looking for potential contractors to include manufacturers with a socio-economic status of Large, Small, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Veterans Owned Small Business. At this time, no solicitation exists. Therefore, DO NOT REQUEST A COPY OF THE SOLICITATION. II. Background: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Cemetery Administration (NCA) is evaluating the market to determine if there are commercial vendors with the capacity to assist NCA with providing bronze medallions. III. Requirements: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), National Cemetery Administration (NCA) furnishes headstones, markers, medallions and niche covers for deceased Veterans worldwide. Memorial headstones, markers and niche covers are also furnished to memorialize Veterans whose remains are non-recoverable. Medallions are available in lieu of a headstone, marker, or niche cover and shall be affixed to Veteran s privately purchased headstones or markers. The purpose of this contract is to manufacture, package and distribute worldwide, bronze medallions in small, medium and large sizes. IV. Submittal Information: Responses will assist in determining the acquisition strategy used for this procurement. For example, if enough responsible and capable Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs) and Veteran Owned Small Businesses (VOSB) respond, the acquisition strategy will most likely be a SDVOSB or VSOB set-aside; therefore, interested vendors who are responsible and capable of performing the work are strongly encouraged to respond by the date specified. At this time, no acquisition strategy has been decided. The following Information is requested in response to this RFI: Please include: Company Name, Company Address, Point of Contact, Telephone Number, and e-mail Address. Companies should provide clear and unambiguous evidence to substantiate their capability to fulfill these requirements. Experience Please provide no more than three (3) contracts that your company has performed within the last five (5) years that are related to bronze manufacturing. Please provide no more than three (3) contracts that your company has performed within the last five (5) years that are related to bronze medallions. Experience in producing a large volume of bronze products or medallions. Describe your Self-Performed* effort (as a Prime Contractor) as it relates to the requirements in the draft statement of work. *Self-Performed means work performed by the company themselves, NOT work performed by another company for them for any of the project examples provided. Please be specific and provide a complete reference to include at a minimum the project name (and the government contract number, if applicable), contract award amount, start and completion dates, and the project owners contact information. Additionally, please provide the Contract Type: Firm Fixed-Price, Time and Material, Economic Price Adjustment, etc. B. Capabilities / Qualifications A written response providing clear and unambiguous evidence to substantiate the capacity to fulfill this requirement. Company business size and socioeconomic status (i.e., Large Business, Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Veteran Owned Small Business, Women-Owned Small Business,) the number of years in business, affiliate information: parent company, joint venture partners, potential teaming partners. If, you are a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Veteran Owned Small Business, please provide a copy of your verified VETBIZ VIP capabilities. Specify any teaming arrangements and how those arrangements will impact the structure of services their company can provide including technical expertise provided by each company. Please specify the percentage of work each company will perform. If the company holds a Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Contract, list the GSA Contract Number and relevant Special Item Numbers (SINS) applicable to this requirement. Questions A written response is required and it must be clear and unambiguous. A single response of Yes or No will not be accepted. If this acquisition should be set-aside as a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, will your company be able to meet the following clauses? FAR 52.219-27 NOTICE OF SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS SET-ASIDE (NOV 2011) VAAR 852.219-10 VA NOTICE OF TOTAL SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN OWNED SMALL BUSINESS SET-ASIDE (JUL 2016) (DEVIATION) FULL TEXT OF CLAUSES HAS BEEN ATTACHED How long has your company manufactured these products? What services or products are sub-contracted? Please provide a breakdown of what your company sub-contracts. Business Category Name of Company Type of Service/Supply Large Small Disadvantaged Business** Total Small Business Woman Owned Small Business Hub Zone Small Business Veteran Owned Small Business Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business Are your products or services sub-contracted to a large business or another small business? Can your company handle large volumes of medallion orders required? The requirement will be for these to ship worldwide FOB destination. Will you be able to meet this requirement of shipping FOB destination? Have you previously provided a bronze medallion sample for review? If so, provide the solicitation number and if the results of the sample were approved/disapproved. Antionette Collins-Somerville National Acquisition Center 75 Barrett Heights Road, Suite 309 Stafford, VA 22556 Samples It is being requested that your response to this RFI include one (1) sample medium (M3) bronze medallion upon submission. Samples are due prior to the close of the RFI. The sample medallion shall be sent to the following address: Department of Veteran Affairs Memorial Programs Service Program Support Unit, Rm. 650 1575 Eye Street, NW Washington, DC 20005 Attn: Ernest Diggs RFI: ### All sample submissions shall include the Request for Information Number. Sample submissions do not constitute approvals for subsequent solicitations. This is for market research purposes only. Respondents are responsible for costs and/or shipping associated with submitting a sample. Please submit electronic responses (via email) to Antionette Collins-Somerville at
[email protected] no later than 2:00 PM EST on Friday, October 27, 2017. Please submit emails with compressed or small document attachments to ensure timely and successful submission. Submit any questions related to this RFI through email. QUESTIONS RELATED TO ANTICIPATED DATES FOR SOLICITATION RELEASE WILL NOT BE ADDRESSED. Disclaimer THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality, No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).