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 Republic of Korea area of responsibility (AOR). 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 for 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 commitment 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, Government accounts? 2. Is your company foreign? Is your company considered a large or small business concern? A small business concern is generally defined as a firm that employs less than 500 employees. Is your business identified under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)? 3. Do you have any long-term contracts with customers and/or suppliers in this AOR? If yes, please provide a description of the type of work and nature of the contracts. Would you be able to support a long term contract with a length of 5, 7, or 10 years? If no, please explain why, e.g., pricing concerns, disinterest in an extensive commitment, subcontract concerns. 4. OCONUS SPV 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, and meeting required delivery dates, and extensive reporting requirements. At the present time, our customers are located in the Republic of Korea, including the Jeju Island. Note: Support includes, but is not limited to land based customers with an estimate of 77 different locations in addition to Navy visiting ships and other approved military and federal customers. Total yearly sales are estimated at $32.2M. Do you have warehouse facilities in the Republic of Korea? 5. Many of our customers expect delivery "skip day delivery" (e.g., order placed on Monday is delivered on Wednesday) which qualified as the normal course of delivery. Emergency deliveries may be required (same day delivery). Would your firm be able to manage a requirement of this type? 6. This region is anticipated to include a Surge Requirement. A Surge Requirement is a requirement under which normal orders could be increased by 200 - 300% and requirements for emergency situations would have to be satisfied. These conditions could result from a ramp up to meet early requirements, contingency operation, training exercises, surge testing and/or other conditions where requirements 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? 7. 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? 8. In addition to your ability to provide domestic products from the United States, you will also need to provide Local Market Ready items (LMR) as well as Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (FF&V) from the local economy. Do you currently have any existing relationships with local providers? 9. The Government may require storage of Operational Rations and/or Government Furnished Material (OPRATS/GFM) at your OCONUS facilities. Do you see any problems with this requirement? 10. For the following questions, please review DLA Procurement Language "Economic Price Adjustment - Actual Material Costs for Subsistence Product Price Business Model" in its entirety. ECONOMIC PRICE ADJUSTMENT - ACTUAL MATERIAL COSTS FOR DLA TROOP SUPPORT - SUBSISTENCE PRODUCT PRICE BUSINESS (a) Warranties: For the portion of the schedule that is covered by this economic price adjustment (EPA) language, the Contractor warrants that -- (1) Contract unit prices covered by this contract do not include allowances for any portion of the contingency covered by this EPA language; and (2) All price adjustments invoiced under this contract shall be computed in accordance with the provisions of this EPA language. (b) Definitions: As used throughout this EPA language, the term (1) "Contract unit price" means the total price per unit charged to DLA Troop Support for a product delivered to DLA Troop Support's customers. The Contract unit price consists of two components: Product price and distribution price as identified in the schedule of items. The sum of the two component prices shall be rounded to the nearest cent to determine the final Contract unit price. (2) DLA Troop Support "Manufacturer's Price Agreement" (MPA) means an agreement between DLA Troop Support and manufacturers which identifies a fixed product price for specific items that will be cataloged by the prime vendor. (3) "Product price" is the most recent DLA Troop Support MP) 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))[contracting officer 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 [contracting officer 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. (6) "Ordering catalog" means the electronic listing of items and their corresponding contract unit prices available for ordering under this contract. (7) "Ordering month" means from Sunday 12:01 AM of the first full week in a calendar month through the last Saturday 11:59 PM that precedes the Sunday of the first full week in the next calendar month (eastern time (ET), standard or daylight as applicable). (8) "United States Defense Transportation System (DTS) Ocean Shipping Costs:" DTS ocean transportation costs (for shipping the product from the Prime Vendor's CONUS facility(s) to the prime vendor's OCONUS facility(s), aka "point to point" delivery via DTS), shall be excluded from the distribution price. The Defense Transportation System is responsible for point-to-point delivery. (c) Price adjustments: (1) General: (i) All contract unit prices shall be fixed and remain unchanged until changed pursuant to this EPA language or other applicable provision of the contract. Only the product price component of the Contract unit price is subject to adjustment under this EPA language. After the first ordering month, if the Contractor's product price changes for any or all contract unit prices, the Contract unit price shall be changed in the next month's ordering catalog upon the Contractor's request, submitted in accordance with paragraph iii below, by the same dollar amount of the change in the Product price, subject to the limitations in paragraph (d). The price change shall be effective at the beginning of the next ordering month. All ordering catalog unit prices computed in accordance with this EPA language and in effect when an order is placed shall remain in effect for that order through delivery. DLA Troop Support will be charged the Contract unit price in effect at the time of each order regardless of any changes in the unit price occurring in any subsequent ordering month. (ii) Catalog product prices must be reflective of the prime vendor's last receipt price (the price of the stock most recently received into the OCONUS inventory). For all distribution categories, when multiple sources are being utilized and more than one manufacturer's product is receipted prior to a catalog update, the Contractor shall establish the product price based on the mix of invoices received after the previous changes period. The product price would be derived as follows: Supplier A - {contracting officer fill-in percentage and price} Supplier B - {contracting officer fill-in percentage and price} Supplier C - {contracting officer fill-in percentage and price} Product price = {contracting officer fill-in dollar amount} (iii) Updates to the product price: All notices and requests for new item product prices and price changes shall be submitted monthly, no later than {contracting officer fill-in time} local Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (U.S.) time one week prior to the first day of the next ordering month, to be effective in the next ordering month's catalog prices. The product price shall have any and all product allowance subtractions made prior to presenting the product price to DLA Troop Support. The Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer of its notice/request in the form of an electronic data interchange (EDI) 832 transaction set. The change notice shall include the Contractor's adjustment in the product price component of the applicable Contract unit price. Upon the Contracting Officer's acceptance of such electronic data interchange (EDI) 832 price changes in accordance with (v) below, the price change transaction sets will post in the next month's ordering catalog and each Contract unit price shall be changed by the same dollar amount of the change in the product price in the next month's ordering catalog. (iv) All price changes, and catalog contract prices, are subject to review by the Government. The Contracting Officer may at any time require the submission of supporting data to substantiate any requested price change or the requested continuation of the pre-existing price for any item, including prices applicable to prior ordering months. Upon notice from the Contracting Officer that supporting data is required, the Contractor shall promptly furnish to the Government all supporting data, including but not limited to, invoices, quotes, price lists, supplier documentation regarding rebates/allowances, and any other substantiating information requested by the Contracting Officer. (v) Price change requests that the Contracting Officer questions or finds to be inconsistent with the requirements of this EPA language shall not be posted until the Contracting Officer specifically authorizes the posting. If the Contracting Officer does not notify the Contractor by close of business local Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. time on the{contracting officer fill-in day} day immediately following the{contracting officer fill-in day} that a price or a price change request is being questioned or has been found to be erroneous, the price change(s) will post to the ordering catalog effective the beginning of the following ordering month. The posting of updated prices in the ordering catalog, calculated in accordance with this EPA language, constitutes a modification to this contract. No further contract modification is required to effect this change. (vi) Should the Contracting Officer determine that, or question whether, a price change request contained an erroneous unit price or price change, or cannot otherwise determine the changed price(s) to be fair and reasonable, such as when the changed price(s) is (are) higher than lower product prices for items of comparable quality which are reasonably available to the Government or Contractor from other sources, the Contracting Officer will so advise the Contractor, prior to close of business local Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. time on the {contracting officer fill-in day} immediately following the{contracting officer fill-in day}. If the Contracting Officer cannot determine a price fair and reasonable, and the Contracting Officer and the Contractor cannot negotiate a fair and reasonable price, the Contracting Officer may reject any price change and direct in writing that the item in question be removed from the Contractor's ordering catalog, without Government liability. The Contracting Officer may subsequently remove any such item from the ordering catalog if the Contractor fails to remove it. The Government has the right to procure such removed items from any alternate source of supply, and the failure of the Contractor to supply such item will be considered a negative instance of performance. (vii) In the event of a price change not posting or an ordering catalog contract unit price not computed in accordance with this EPA language, resulting in an incorrectly increased or decreased Contract unit price, the prime vendor shall immediately notify the Contracting Officer in writing and promptly thereafter correct its ordering catalog and submit a refund for any amounts paid to the Contractor resulting from the erroneous price. In the event of an erroneous price decrease in the ordering catalog, if the Contractor can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Contracting Officer that the error did not result from the fault or negligence of the Contractor, the Contractor may submit a request for equitable adjustment for consideration by the Contracting Officer. (2) Limitations: All adjustments under this EPA language shall be limited to the effect on contract unit prices of actual increases or decreases in the product prices for material. There shall be no upward adjustment for -- (i) Supplies for which the product price is not affected by such changes; (ii) Changes in the quantities of material; and (iii) Increases in unit prices that the Contracting Officer determines are computed incorrectly (i.e. not adhering to the Contract unit price definition in this EPA language) and/or increases in unit prices that the Contracting Officer determines are not fair and reasonable. (d) Upward ceiling on economic price adjustment: The aggregate of contract product price increases for each item under this EPA language during the contract period inclusive of any option period(s) or tiered pricing period(s) shall not exceed {contracting officer fill-in percentage} (%) {contracting officer fill-in percentage} (%) for fresh fruits and vegetables (FF&V)) of the initial Contract product price, except as provided below: (1) If at any time the Contractor has reason to believe that within the near future a price adjustment under the provisions of this EPA language will be required that will exceed the current contract ceiling price for any item, the Contractor shall promptly notify the Contracting Officer in writing of the expected increase. In the event the latest actual market price for an item would result in a Contract unit price that will exceed the allowable ceiling price under the contract, then the Contractor shall immediately notify the Contracting Officer in writing or via its EDI price change request and separate email no later than the time specified in paragraph (c)(1)(iii) above. With either such notification the Contractor shall include a revised ceiling the Contractor believes is sufficient to permit completion of remaining contract performance, along with appropriate explanation and documentation as required by the Contracting Officer. (2) If an actual increase in the reference price would raise a contract unit price for an item above the current ceiling, the Contractor shall have no obligation under this contract to fill future orders for such items, as of the effective date of the increase, unless the Contracting Officer issues a contract modification to raise the ceiling. If the contract ceiling will not be raised, the Contracting Officer shall so promptly notify the Contractor in writing. After evaluation of a requested actual price increase, if the Contracting Officer authorizes the change in the Contract unit price, the Contractor shall submit the EDI 832 price change. The price change shall be posted for the following month's ordering catalog. (e) Downward limitation on economic price adjustments: There is no downward limitation on the aggregated percentage of decreases that may be made under this EPA language. (f) Examination of record: The Contracting Officer or designated representative shall have the right to examine the Contractor's books, records, documents and other data, to include commercial sales data, the Contracting Officer deems necessary to verify Contractor adherence to the provisions of this EPA language. Such examination may occur during all reasonable times until the end of 3 years after the date of final payment under this contract or the time periods specified in Subpart 4.7 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), whichever is earlier. (g) Final invoice: The Contractor shall include a statement on the final invoice that the amounts invoiced hereunder have applied all decreases required or authorized by this EPA language. (h) Disputes: Any dispute arising under this EPA language shall be determined in accordance with the "Disputes" clause of the contract. 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. 11. 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.S. 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. For Navy ship customers only, 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? 12. 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. Customers generally receive a shelf life of not less than thirty (30) days from the expiration date at time of delivery. Would your business be able to comply with these requirements? Some items such as ESL milk, sour cream, and cottage cheese have 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? 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 close of business July 19, 2019. Please respond via e-mail to the following addresses:
[email protected] and
[email protected]