SPECIAL NOTICE
55 -- Lumber Industry Day - Minutes - lUMBER Q & A
- Notice Date
- 7/15/2008
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 423310
— Lumber, Plywood, Millwork, and Wood Panel Merchant Wholesalers
- Contracting Office
- Defense Logistics Agency, DLA Acquisition Locations, Defense Supply Center Philadelphia - Construction & Equipment, 700 Robbins Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19111-5096
- ZIP Code
- 19111-5096
- Solicitation Number
- LumberIndustryDayMinutes
- Point of Contact
- Rose Mary Adams,, Phone: 215-737-2512
- E-Mail Address
-
Rosemary.Adams@dla.mil
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) hosted a Wood Products Industry Day Conference in Philadelphia on the May 20, 2008. The purpose of the conference was to obtain Industry feed back on a draft Statement of Work (SOW). The following companies attended: Company Name:POC: Agility Defense & Government Services, Alexandria, VA Jim Sweeney Better Built Construction Services, Inc./DAVCON 3, Middletown, OH Marvin Halsey BlueLinx Corporation, Atlanta, GAMarli SperryEric Vaillancourt Buie Enterprises, Inc. (Buie Lumber Co.), Boerne, TXCarrie Wosnig Mike Buie Conner Industries, Ft Worth, TX Mike Huggins Dooley Lumber, Newport Beach, CADennis Dooley Druids, Inc., St Louis, MI Brian Perkins Kimberly MacLean Ganahl Lumber, Anaheim, CABob Barnard IBM Global Business Services, Fairfax, VA Robert St Thomas Bernie Hoenle JDL Distribution, LLC, Temecula, CA Derek Thews Lockheed Martin, Moorestown, NJ Paul Bland John Schmidt Mark Dunning Industries, Inc., Dothan, AL Phillip Makowski Trita Corbitt Brad Dunning Matheus Lumber Co, Inc., Woodinville, WA Stuart Hagen David Neiger National Lumber / National Procurement & Supply, Warren, MIRyan Strickstein Progressive Services Corp., Lake Oswego, ORDaniel Sprouse Regent Systems, Inc., Bala Cynwyd, PAAnthony DiCioccio S & S Forest Products, LLC, Boerne, TX Ryan Schmidt Scott Scheidt SupplyCore, Rockford, ILKevin Versino David Jonelis Swift Lumber Co., Atmore, ALMike Norman Universal Forest Products Eastern Division, Inc., Gordon, PAMark Hartman Universal Forest Products, Ranson, WVJames Schwille Ed Lobley DSCP began the conference stating that DLA’s primary goal, in researching this new support endeavor, is to improve customer support of Lumber and Plywood at the user level and to ensure World Wide Military Readiness. In addition, DSCP requested that Industry provide input on the following: 1.What can we (DLA) do better? 2.What can you (business partners) do better? DSCP presented the following information: how the Wood Products commodity is supported today both inside and outside the Continental United States (CONUS and OCONUS); a detailed overview of all the challenges that the commodity must overcome in supporting the customer and in insuring that material price is the most current in a volatile market and finally, an overview of a proposed draft SOW. INDUSTRY DAY QUESTIONS: QUESTIONS FROM INDUSTRY DURING THE BRIEF: Question 1: Is DLA looking for total asset visibility of a requisition or total asset visibility of the vendor’s inventory? Answer:DLA is seeking total asset visibility of a requisition. Question 2: Are the Historical Delivery Requirements (CONUS) on Chart 16, DLA standards or historical delivery requirements? Answer:The delivery days provided on slide 16 of the Wood Products Supply Chain Management Industry Day PowerPoint presentation are the standards for delivery in the Continental United States. Question 3: On page 16 of the brief, DSCP only show delivery times for CONUS; what are OCONUS delivery requirements? Answer:Delivery timeframes for Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS) have not been determined. Question 4: What is wrong with what you (DSCP) are doing right now? What is broken with the current program that needs fixed? Answer:DSCP is seeking to apply the Industry’s knowledge and practices to obtain the best solution for the Government and the Integrator(s) while providing our customer the right product at the right time and at the best market price. Question 5: What does the Government feel they are inadequate at? Answer:The Government is always interested in finding a better way to support Department of Defense customers both in the United States and to customers located at overseas bases. The Government is challenged with how to capture the best market prices for the products and at the same time having the material readily available to meet the customers requirements. Most of the wood products are readily available within the Continental United States (CONUS) however they are not easily obtained, stored or supplied to customers located outside CONUS. Overseas support to Europe and the Middle East is currently the area where we are looking to improve support given the fluctuating prices and the logistics of getting material to all customers. Question 6: Will the Government provide the Vendors more demand data to reduce risk? Answer:The Government has the ability to provide both yearly and quarterly demand data, by customer, to the Vendors. This is typically provided at the time a Request for Proposal is issued. Question 7: What is end-to-end support and/or integration? Answer:End-to-end support and/or integration is where a vendor is responsible for the entire support of an item or stock class. In the case of wood products, a vendor would be responsible for supplying all lumber and plywood to all customers world wide. All customer orders would go directly to the contractor. It is the contractors responsibility to decide how to support the customers requirements within the required delivery timeframes. Contractors will need to work with customers for forecasting requirements, the vendor will need to buy material in sufficient quantites or set up distribution networks so that they have material available in the required timeframes, contractors will need to arrange for storage, for transportation, packaging and maintain an information technology system that can integrate with Government computer systems, provide in-transit visibility of customer orders and supply information on all orders processed under the contract.. Question 8: What is RFID? Answer:Please refer to the attached link for more information on Radio Frequency Identification Devise (RFID): www.acq.osd.mil/log/rfid QUESTIONS PRESENTED & SUBMITTED ON INDEX CARDS: Question 9: Are warehouses required overseas? Answer:No, warehouses are not necessarily required overseas. Positioning of material and/or warehouse location(s) are a Vendor’s business decision. However, deliveries are required to be made within contractual requirements. Question 10: How many vendors is DSCP looking for to handle the Worldwide Support? Answer:The number of potential Vendors is unknown at this time. Question 11: Has DSCP considered looking into Transportation Contracts? Answer:No, DSCP has not considered utilizing any transportation contracts. Defense Transportation Command handles Government transportation currently. Question 12: Why is DSCP targeting the SOW (Statement of Work) approach? Wouldn’t a SOO approach provide more insight to the best practices of the Industry? Answer:DSCP will take this approach into consideration Question 13: How often does DSCP have to use OCONUS inventories to support CONUS requirements? Answer:OCONUS inventories are never utilized to support CONUS requirements. Question 14: What is the anticipated contract length (base, options)? Answer:The contract length, including the base year(s) and option(s) is not yet determined. Question 15: Does the US Army Corps of Engineers order their wood product requirements through DSCP? Answer:The US Army Corps of Engineers may procure their wood products through DSCP but there is no requirement for them to do so. Question 16: Will DSCP provide an “Industry Day” participation list to all participants? Will the list of participants be posted on the web? Answer:Yes, a listing of the participants of the Industry Day will be included in the minutes of the event and will be published on FedBizOps. Question 17: Are the same items currently stocked in both CONUS and OCONUS? Answer:No, the same items are not currently stocked at CONUS and OCONUS locations. As indicated on Charts 5 and 6, DLA only stocks 24 items (Wedges, Plugs and Blocks) in CONUS depots and 31 high demand lumber and plywood items in OCONUS depots located in Europe and the Middle East. Question 18: What percentage of sales comes from stock on both CONUS and OCONUS? Answer:Stock CONUS sales account for approximately 2% of DSCP’s wood products sales and stock OCONUS sales account for approximately 20% of DSCP’s wood product sales. Question 19: Are storage locations all Government owned and operated? Will the contractor run the storage locations? Answer:Current storage locations Outside the Continental United States are owned and operated by the Government. Currently there is one location within the United States where a customer provided warehouse space for Vendor Managed Inventory. DSCP does not anticipate that contractors will run any current Government storage locations under this initiative. Question 20: What are the current inventory levels in terms of days of stock? Answer:Current inventory levels for OCONUS lumber and plywood are based on individual item demand combined with available warehouse capabilities. Stock levels are not developed in terms of “number of days” of stock or set usage levels. Inventory levels for the plugs, wedges and blocks that are stocked in the United States are based on a combination of demand and procurement lead times. Question 21: What is the current fill rate for stock issue? Answer:Stock levels are set at an agreed upon level worked out between DSCP and DDC. We are unable to stock at any depot what would be required for 100% support. We normally only fill high priority, small quantity documents from Stock on Hand, and initiate a direct vendor delivery procurement for the balance. Question 22: Do inventory levels include any war reserve requirements? Answer:No, inventory levels do not include any war reserve material. Question 23: What do you see as a “typical” surge requirement as compared to peacetime demand? Answer:Surge requirements for each item required under any acquisition will be provided in the solicitation. Each National Stock Number will have a separate surge quantity if applicable. For the purposes of this Industry Day, vendors are advised that “a “typical” surge requirement can be described as being 10 times our customer’s peacetime demand level. Question 24: Do current supplier contracts include a “surge” requirement? Answer:All current Prime Vendor contracts include surge requirements. Question 25: Will the RFP include a DLA Small Business requirement? Minimum Percentage? Answer:The decision on whether any proposed acquisition will be set aside for small business or issued on an unrestricted basis has not been determined. At this time, there are no minimum small business percentages that will apply. Question 26: Who pays for and arranges for OCONUS transportation – DTS? Answer:OCONUS transportation through Defense Transportation System (DTS) is coordinated/arranged by the contractor and ultimately paid for by the Government activity identified on the order. Question 27: For proposal purposes, can the same supplier be teamed with more than one integrator? Answer:Yes. Question 28: What percentage of orders are routine? Urgent? Answer:Approximately 20 - 30% of CONUS and 90% of OCONUS orders are considered urgent. The balance of orders are routine. Question 29: Will there be a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification requirement? Will there be any other green building product requirements? Answer:The Government follows ALSC (American Lumber Standard Committee) standards. ALSC is looking at this for the future but for now there will not be any FSC or green building product requirement.. Question 30: What are “traditional” payment terms? Are discounts (1% 10 days or other) encouraged? Answer:Traditional payment terms refer to a percentage discount offered by the contractor to the Government if the Government pays the invoice within a specified period of time. Yes; these types of discounts are encouraged. Question 31: 120 days for implementation of the contract seems short, would 180 to 270 implementation period be considered? Answer:120 days for implementation was not fixed; the Government may consider a longer implementation period, if necessary. Question 32: Why is the Government allowing phone / fax / e-mail orders? Answer:This commodity does not lend itself to only electronic requests due to the mobility of the customers. Question 33: Please explain in more detail both the Buy American and Trade Agreement Acts? Answer:“ The Trade Agreements Act applies to the procurement of lumber. Accordingly, all supplies must come from a US domestic, qualifying or designated country supplier unless one of the exceptions applies. DFARs Part 225 explains both Buy American and Trade Agreements. Trade Agreements countries are listed in DFARs clause 252.225-7021 Trade Agreements. Question 34: Does the Government have goals in this (the BAA/TA) process? Answer:The Government does not possess any goals in this procurement. The Government is governed by both FAR and DFAR part 25 and must procure any wood products in accordance with both the FAR and DFAR regulations. Question 35: Please provide an idea of who the users and/or customers are? Answer:A list of current customers both CONUS and OCONUS will be made available at the time any RFP is released. Question 36: Are there any security issues in collaboration with the customers for demand quantities? Answer:Security issues would apply if a contractor were to travel into a “hot” zone. DSCP does not anticipate this as a requirement under any wood products contract. Some security regarding the safeguarding a customers ordering data is expected. Question 37: How many contracts are currently in place for the CONUS and OCONUS? Answer:DSCP is currently utilizing 7 prime vendor contracts to support our customer’s demands both within CONUS and OCONUS. Currently there are no long term contracts in place for supporting Wood Products demand in Europe or the Middle East. Question 38: Please provide an estimated timeline for a draft RFP and corresponding due date as well as the anticipated award date and corresponding first order delivery date? Answer:The Government is currently conducting Market Research for the wood products procurement. A Business Case Analysis would follow the completion of the Market Research. The Government’s anticipates a solicitation to following in 6 -9 months with an estimated award date in 12 – 15 months. The first order’s delivery date would occur after the implementation period. Question 39: What is the proposal timeline going forward? For example, published solicitation, Quote submittal and contract award? Answer:Same as above. Question 40: Will the customer demand history (historical data) be provided pre-award by DODAAC? Answer:Providing historical demand date is possible; however, if the Government chooses to provide such data, a signed disclosure statement might be required by the Vendor. Question 41: Can the utilized purchasing vehicle for the Lumber commodity be a cost plus contract? Answer:A cost plus contract is not a viable option for the procurement of wood products. Question 42: Will there be additional EPA indexes for distribution and transportation? Answer:As the pricing structure of any resulting RFP has not been finalized, it would be premature to assume there will be a separate transportation and distribution element to the pricing structure. Question 43: Will separate CLINS be issued to provide pricing for CONUS and OCONUS? Answer:It is anticipated that separate pricing will be requested for CONUS & OCONUS. Question 44: Will the “integrator” have control over the awarding of business to mills and/or suppliers based on the mills and/or providers performance or will that be contractually set at the time of award? Answer:The Government does not dictate who the Integrator utilizes to fulfill the contract requirements However, contractors must supply material that is in accordance with American Lumber Standards Committee standards and that is in compliance with the Trade Agreements provisions of the acquisition. Question 45: Potential economies of scale evaporate when multiple awards are issued. With that statement in mind, how many awards is DLA currently thinking of issuing and will there be separate awards by region? Answer:The number of potential awards and any possible separations based on regions are both unknown at this time. Question 46: Will DSCP publish all the questions and answers from the Industry Day? For example, e-mail to the respective companies POC’s. Answer:Yes, all questions and corresponding answers will be posted on FedBizOps.
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