Inactive Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)

The purpose of this solicitation amendment is to re-open the solicitation, update the Quote Preparation Instructions for clarity, and update the Period of Performance in the PWS and Price/Cost Schedul... The purpose of this solicitation amendment is to re-open the solicitation, update the Quote Preparation Instructions for clarity, and update the Period of Performance in the PWS and Price/Cost Schedule: All offerors shall submit all items requested in the Quote Preparation Instructions, failure to supply all requested information will result in your quote being immediately excluded for award. All offerors who have previously provided a quote shall have the opportunity to re-send an updated quote that satisfies all of the required items. Vendors shall re-submit the entire quote package including All Administrative, Technical, Pricing, and Past Performance items. Any vendor who does not provide an updated quote package by the solicitation deadline will be evaluated based upon their previous submission. Any vendor who does or does not submit a new quote package shall provide acknowledgement of this and any future amendments before the solicitation deadline in order to be considered eligible for award. UPDATED QUOTE PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS: To assure timely and equitable evaluation of quotes, offerors must follow the instructions contained herein for quote submissions. Quotes must be complete, self-sufficient, and respond directly to the requirements of this solicitation. FAILURE TO PROVIDE ANY OF THE INFORMATION REQUESTED IN THIS SECTION MAY RESULT IN YOUR QUOTE BEING EXCLUDED FROM FURTHER CONSIDERATION FOR AWARD. All quoters shall submit the following: ADMINISTRATIVE ITEMS: Cover Page with business name, SAM UEI, Business Address, Point of Contact with Phone and email information. Provide a statement concurring or acknowledging the solicitation terms and conditions and any applicable solicitation amendments. Completed VAAR 852.219-75 Limitations on Subcontracting Compliance Certification. Failure to provide a completed and signed certification will result in the offeror being immediately excluded from further consideration. The completed form must be full text with the entire clause included not just the certification page. List of all Vendor Points of Contact that will be used to support this requirement. Please provide full name, email addresses and phone numbers along with their roles. PRICING ITEMS: Fill out the Price-Cost Schedule information. TECHNICAL ITEMS: (Narrative) Provide a Project narrative on how your firm will provide updated and current drug shortage information affecting the United States prescription drug market, including all relevant elements identified in the Performance Work Statement and the sources of reference for data elements and frequency updates. Elements returned from API calls cannot be inferred or assumed by the firm unless they are the nationally defined authoritative information source for the backorder/shortage, subject to review. (Narrative) Provide a narrative on how you will be able to integrate into the VISN 10 Drug File Power BI Tool, per the Performance Work Statement. Please provide detailed documentation (with examples and descriptions) of: How to access and use the API including code required to call the API from a website. Settings/data connections within Power BI that will need to be modified to successfully connect to the API source for one-way receiving of elements. API rate limits for calls per day and throttling criteria. Assumptions should not be made on the VA of nuisance API calls. Return format of the data from API call (i.e. json, xml, csv) and its structure/schema Sandbox testing access and requirements. (Narrative) Provide a narrative of how your firm will provide exceptional customer service in the event of technical support is needed: Include methods for acquiring technical support help. How do we (VA) handle error codes and failed calls. How does the VA handle connectivity issues. The VA takes information security seriously and blocks websites/IP addresses categorized as spam, phishing, alcohol/tobacco, or malicious. Please provide supporting documentation of website recognition by Trusted Internet Connections (TICs) or evidence of support to assist VA in adding the API connection as a Department of Veterans Affairs Trusted Internet Connection. The firm providing the API will also need to secure their own environment. Please describe the cybersecurity steps taken to protect the site/API. Please list the secure connection methods supported by the API. Please list all / any subcontractors if they will be utilized for this requirement? What services will the subcontractors be performing? How is your firm going to comply with Limitations on Subcontracting and IT requirements? The information from API calls will be used for strategy and informed decisions by VA stakeholders. Please describe the terms of use or licensing restrictions of API usage. PAST PERFORMANCE: Provide at least 3 project references to other similarly sized and/or relevant contracts or requirements that you have performed in the past 4 years. Project References can be any of the following: Awards from Federal Agencies or State/Local Governments or Private Sector projects. Agency / Organization, Point of Contact, Contracting Officer, COR, or Technical POC name and contact information including phone number and email address. Contract information, including start dates, ultimate completion date, and total contract value. In the absence of Past Performance for similar requirement(s) please provide background and resumes of key personnel that show familiarity with similar work and/or requirements. Lack of a vendor having performed on a similar sized contract or requirement does not, on this single technical factor, result in a vendor being ineligible for award. (End of Quote Preparation Instructions) UPDATE TO PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: The Period of Performance identified in the PWS and Price Cost Schedule are hereby changed to the following: BASE: 5/15/2024 4/30/2025 OY1: 5/1/2025 4/30/2026 OY2: 5/1/2026 4/30/2027 OY3: 5/1/2027 4/30/2028 OY4: 5/1/2028 4/30/2029 UPDATED SOLICITATION DEADLINE: The question-and-answer period has closed. The Government may not answer further questions from industry. Submission of your response shall be received not later than 1:30 PM EST on 5/7/2024 at Teri.Miller@VA.gov. Only emailed quotes shall be accepted. Quoter shall ensure that the quote is received to the designated contracting person prior to the closing date and time. All quotes, in order to be considered on time, shall be received by the closing date and time of the solicitation. It is the responsibility of the quoter to ensure it was delivered to the Contracting point of contact prior to the closing date and time of the solicitation. For Example: Quoter hits send at 1:59pm and Contracting s emailed time stamp of received is 2:01pm when the closing time states 2:00pm, will be considered late. *VA has a maximum allowable incoming email size limitation including attachments of thirty (30) megabytes. Offerors submitting responses via email which exceed thirty megabytes shall split their response into multiple email messages so as to not exceed the maximum allowable email size limitation. *The VA is not responsible for late responses due to undelivered e-mails that exceed thirty megabytes, or responses that are delayed due to scanning attachments for threats. Failure to submit the necessary information may render the Quote unacceptable, in which case it will not be considered for award. Late submissions shall be treated in accordance with the solicitation provision at FAR 52.212-1(f). Any questions or concerns regarding this solicitation should be forwarded in writing via e-mail to the Point of Contact listed below. Point of Contact Teri Miller Contract Specialist Teri.Miller@VA.gov