This is a request for information (RFI). DLA Troop Support's OCONUS Subsistence Prime Vendor (OCONUS SPV) Program is interested in your comments regarding full service food support to our military and federally funded customers in the Northern Europe, Southern Europe and Littoral Africa. 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. Vendor participation is not a promise for future business with the Government. The sole purpose of this RFI is to conduct Market Research. Please consider the following questions: •1. What type of business is your company in - logistics, food distribution? Who are your firm's major customers, e.g. retailers, industrial accounts, commercial accounts? Is your company foreign or is it considered a large or small business concern? Small business is generally defined as a firm that employs less than 500 employees. Is your business identified under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)? What is your firm's country of origin? •2. Do you have any long-term contracts with your customers and/or suppliers? If yes, please describe. If no, please explain why, e.g., pricing too volatile, no interest. •3. Subsistence Prime Vendor support includes, but is not limited to: sourcing food items; receiving and consolidating product; warehousing and inventory management; quality control, quality assurance, and inspections; transportation and security of product, personnel management, meeting required delivery dates, and extensive reporting requirements. At the present time, customers in Northern Europe and Southern Europe are supported from various countries in Europe. Identify any constraints that may prevent your firm from developing warehouse platforms in Europe. What are the countries that best suit the customers located in the Northern Europe, Southern Europe or Littoral Africa? Note: sales estimates are identified in question 4 below. •4. Total yearly sales are estimated at $61,801,625.95. Product and premium sales (e.g., trucking; airlifts; and storage of Government Furnished Material (GFM)) are included in the sales estimate. Can your firm manage this volume? What is the dollar value of product going through your warehouse(s) on an annual basis? •5. Transportation from the Continental United States (CONUS) to Europe and Africa via the Defense Transportation System (DTS) is anticipated to be required. Offerors will be required to use contracts established by the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM). The Contractor will be responsible for preparing booking requests and the carrier will be responsible for the transportation of the Contractor's products from the specified CONUS manufacturer or CONUS distribution facility to the PV's OCONUS distribution facilities. Would your firm have any issues using the routes already established in DTS? •6. The Prime Vendor may be required to execute intra-country airlifts to meet delivery requirements that cannot be fulfilled by traditional means (e.g. ground shipment). Although there are air tenders in place through USTRANSCOM, do you have a working arrangement in place with a commercial air source that has the ability to provide this type of support, including the ability to tri-wall and utilize dry ice when necessary? Do you have any suggestions that demonstrate new creative ways to meet our customer's requirements? •7. Sometimes the need will exist to transport product between OCONUS SPV warehouses or platforms. Would your firm be able to accomplish this requirement? If so, via which mode of transportation? •8. In addition to your ability to provide domestic products from CONUS, you may need to provide Local Market Ready (LMR) items as well as Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (FF&V) from the local economy. Do you currently have any affiliations with local providers? •9. Operational Rations (OPRATS) and/or GFM will also have to be stored at your OCONUS facilities. Do you see any problems with this requirement? If so, what are the constraints? •10. Would your firm be able to manage emergency deliveries defined as a same day delivery? How many per month, from each warehouse? •11. A Surge Requirement is one that could increase the normal orders by 300% in which you would be required to satisfy requirements for emergency situations (i.e., ramp up to meet early requirements (surge) and/or requirements that may exceed estimated annual quantities). How would you be able to accommodate this increase? What would be the time period to attain these increased quantities? How long could you continue to operate at this increased output of products? •12. For the following questions, please review DLAD 52.216-9065 Economic Price Adjustment - Actual Material Costs for Subsistence Product Price Business Model (OCT 2015) at http://farsite.hill.af.mil/reghtml/regs/other/dlad/part52.htm#P8965_773219 in its entirety. Paragraphs (b) (3-5) generally provide the following: (3) "Product price" is the most recent DLA Troop Support MPA price or the most recent manufacturer, grower or private label holder commercial price per unit to the Contractor, exclusive of standard freight. (i) Exceptions: (A) Fresh fruits and vegetables (FF&V): (1) The product is listed in the distribution category for prime vendor fresh fruits and vegetables (FF&V)){ buyer fill in}; and (2) It is necessary for the product to be transported into the local market of the importer, as otherwise approved under the contract, from a foreign country because local supply does not exist or it is insufficient to meet demand requirements; and (3) The importer that establishes the product price is the firm that actually performs the FF&V import service, including, but not limited to: procurement, storage, consolidation, pallets, and palletizing as it applies to the importer's normal commercial sales, and the importer has comparable commercial sales in the market that is the point of import. (B) A contiguous United States (CONUS) based manufacturer, grower or private label holder's product pricing which is a national price inclusive of transportation costs to a Distribution Point shall be supported by documentation and may be considered by the Government on a case by case basis, upon concurrence of the Contracting Officer. (C) Mandatory source items: The product price shall be limited to the nonprofit agency's price for product as set in accordance with applicable law. The product price shall be based on f.o.b. origin/nonprofit agency. (Prices set in accordance with applicable law (f.o.b. origin/nonprofit agency.) (D) Prime vendor table displays/decorations only: For products listed in category [ buyer fill-in category number ] prime vendor table displays/decorations only, the product price shall be based on f.o.b. origin/point of the manufacturer's distributor because the manufacturer will not sell directly to the prime vendor. This exception must be approved by the Contracting Officer on a case by case basis. Support documentation is required. (E) A CONUS-based redistributor's price for a specific manufacturer's product (also known as a stock keeping unit (SKU)) may be considered by the Government as long as the redistributor's price for the quantity ordered is equal to or lower than the manufacturer's published price inclusive of discounts/allowances. This exception must be approved by the Contracting officer on a case by case basis. Support documentation may be required. (4) "Product allowance" is discounts, rebates, and allowances to be passed on to the Government. In accordance with other provisions of the contract, all discounts, rebates, or allowances on particular items which are reflected in the amounts shown on the face of the manufacture's, grower's or private label holder's invoice (referred to as "off-invoice allowances") or otherwise given to the Contractor by the manufacturer, grower or private label holder, shall be passed by the Contractor to the Government, in the form of an up-front price reduction. The total of these discounts, rebates, and allowances (or product allowance), shall be reflected via a reduced subsistence total order and receipt electronic system (STORES) price, resulting in a lower invoice price to the customer. Any rebates that must be passed to the Government and which cannot be applied as an up-front price reduction must be submitted via check made to the United States (U.S.) Treasury, attached with itemized listing of all customer purchases by line item to include contract number, call number, purchase order number and contract line-item number (CLIN). (5) "Distribution price(s)" means the firm fixed price portion of the Contract unit price, offered as a dollar amount per unit of measure, rounded up or down to the nearest cent. The distribution price is the only method for the Contractor to bill the Government for all aspects of contract performance other than product price, including but not limited to, the performance requirements of this Statement of Work (SOW). Product price is distinct from and not to be included in the distribution price. The distribution price may be further segregated into pricing segments covering discrete, solicitation-specific performance requirements. Can you comply with all terms and conditions within this Economic Price Adjustment clause and pricing model? If not, please explain in detail what part(s) of the clause pose any problems and why. •13. Would Distribution Pricing be more advantageous if categories of product were taken out of the solicitation and resulting contract, i.e., Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (FF&V)? Are there any other categories of product that by removing them would make the Distribution Pricing more advantageous? •14. The terms of the Berry Amendment, 10 U.S.C. 2533a, will apply to the resulting contract. In general, items that are subject to the Berry Amendment must be grown, reprocessed, or produced in the United States or its possessions, see DFARS Clause 252.225-7012. Based on the foregoing, can you provide Berry Amendment compliant products? •15. All packaging and packing shall be in accordance with best commercial practices. Labeling shall be in accordance with commercial labeling complying with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act 21 U.S.C. 301 et seq. and regulations promulgated there under. However, there will be various packaging sizes based on customer needs which include, but are not limited to different packaging/packing size, marking/labeling, and palletization/containerization. The Pallets used must be a two way entry wing type pallet. All Wood Packaging Material (WPM) acquired by DoD must meet requirements of International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) 15, "Guidelines for Regulating Wood Packaging Materials (WPM) in International Trade." DoD shipments inside and outside of the United States must meet ISPM 15 whenever WPM is used to ship DoD cargo, or when wood is being acquired by DLA for future use as packaging material. WPM is defined as wood pallets, skids, load boards, pallet collars, wooden boxes, reels, dunnage, crates, frame and cleats. Are you able to comply with these varying packaging/packing, marking/labeling and palletization /containerization, as stated? •16. As far as shelf life of delivered products the following applies: All products delivered shall be as fresh as possible and within the manufacturer's original shelf life (i.e., Best if Used by Date, Expiration Date, or other markings). Chilled products shall not be frozen in an attempt to extend the products' shelf life, unless approved by the Contracting Officer. For annual pack items, products will be from the latest seasonal pack available, unless approved in advance by the Contracting Officer. For items produced with shelf life greater than 90 days, no product shall be delivered to customers with less than 30 days manufacturer's original shelf life remaining unless the customer grants prior written approval. For items produced with shelf life less than 90 days, no product shall be delivered to customers with less than 5 days manufacturer's original shelf life remaining unless the customer grants prior written approval. Would your business be able to comply with these requirements? LMR and FF&V items have a shorter shelf life than most cataloged items. Would your company be able to deliver these types of products with the required amount of shelf life mentioned above? •17. Navy ships customers use pre-determined items from the Master Load List (MLL). For items with a shelf life greater than or equal to 180 days, your company will be required to keep 90 days of supply (DOS) on hand for every item. For items with less than 180 days of shelf life, your company will be required to keep 60 DOS on hand for every item. For all other customers, your company will be required to keep 60 DOS on hand for every item of the top 30% of sales. Does your company foresee any issues retaining that amount of inventory? If so, what are the issues? •18. DLA Troop Support is looking for creative ways to access inventory information in real-time. What information technology systems do you have available to communicate real-time inventory data for items in your supply chain? Do you have any suggestions to provide greater real-time inventory information? If so, please describe. We encourage, appreciate, and would like to thank you in advance for your participation. Your responses, comments, suggestions and ideas regarding support for our customers are requested back by the close of business on Friday, March 25, 2016. Please response via e-mail to the following addresses:
[email protected] and
[email protected] .