SOURCES SOUGHT
65 -- CRUTCHES, CANES and ACCESSORIES
- Notice Date
- 3/9/2009
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Army, U.S. Army Medical Command, Southeast Regional Contracting Office, Southeast Regional Contracting Office, ATTN: MCAA SE, Building 39706, Fort Gordon, GA 30905-5650
- ZIP Code
- 30905-5650
- Solicitation Number
- W91YTV-09-0004
- Response Due
- 3/31/2009
- Archive Date
- 5/30/2009
- Point of Contact
- HERMAN C MCELVEEN JR, 7067873881<br />
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT MS VIRGINIA (GINNY) SLAYTON @ 706-787-2019 OR virginia.slayton@us.army.mil 65-Medical Supplies-Potential Sources Sought A.General Information. The TRICARE Southeast (TRBO Reg. 3 & 4) and Northeast (TRBO Reg. 1) Regions, a military integrated delivery network, comprised of 93 Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and U.S. Coast Guard Medical Treatment Facilities (MTFs) in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and affiliated MTFs in the countries of Honduras and Cuba, and the territory of Puerto Rico announces a Request for Regional Incentive Agreement Quotation (RFRIAQ) for the standardization of CRUTCHES, CANES and ACCESSORIES. The primary objective of this program is to standardize the quality of care across Southeast and Northeast region based on a best value determination that represents the clinically preferred product or source (s) at the best possible price. It is also intended that standardized product be obtained through the DoD Prime Vendor Program. The major facilities in this multi-regional initiative include: Southeast Region - Eisenhower Army Medical Center (FT Gordon, GA), Winn Army Community Hospital (FT Stewart, GA), Martin Army Commuity Hospital (FT Benning, GA), Naval Hospital Jacksonville (NAS Jacksonville, FL), 96th Medical Group (Eglin AFB, FL), Naval Hospital Pensacola (Pensacola, FL), Naval Hospital Beaufort (Beaufort, SC), 81st Medical Group (Keesler AFB, MS), the 6th Medical Group (MacDill AFB, FL). Northeast Region - Walter Reed Army Medical Center (Washington, DC), National Naval Medical Center (Bethesda, MD), Malcolm Grow Medical Center (Andrews AFB, MD), Dewitt Healthcare System (FT Belvoir, VA), Keller Army Community Hospital (WestPoint, NY), and Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center (FT Meade, MD). This standardization action is part of the Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor program executed by the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP), Directorate of Medical Materiel. In order to participate, your company must have a Distribution and Pricing Agreement (DAPA) and a separate commercial agreement with the Prime Vendors for the program. This is pursuant to the DAPA clause by which DAPA holders agree to the Standardization process and to allow Prime Vendors to distribute their products. This RFRIAQ will result in Regional Incentive Agreements (RIAs) that supplement the Prime Vendor Program. The RFQ will not result in a contract award. For additional information regarding DSCPs Prime vendor program please access their web site at https://dmmonline.dscp.dla.mil. The Southeast Region has been designated as the Lead TRBO for this standardization action. The resulting Regional Incentive Agreement (RIA) will be for a base period of two year(s) (24 months) from date of selection with three 12-month option periods (not to exceed 5 years.) Anticipated selection date is July 2009. The evaluation will be based on clinical, technical, and pricing factors. Clinical/performance and technical/company factors will be weighted more heavily than price. The Technical/Company and Clinical/Performance evaluation factors, when combined, are considered significantly more important than cost or price. As the technical and clinical evaluation results become more equal, price will become more important. The selection will be determined utilizing Best Value/trade-off criteria. The selection of a single vendor is anticipated. However, if no single vendor can meet the total requirement of the Southeast and Northeast region, the Government reserves the right to make two or more selections for RIAs. In this event, selection would be based on a combination of MTF preference and product availability. Point of Contact: Virginia Slayton, (706)787-2093, virginia.slayton@us.army.mil B.Products & Performance Required. The Southeast and Northeast Region are seeking product line items in the category of CRUTCHES, CANES and ACCESSORIES, which at a minimum includes the high volume lines below. Within the Southeast and Northeast region, this product line has an estimated annual dollar requirement of $134,333.18. This forecast is based on historical prime vendor sales during a recent 12-month period. The top high volume usage lines for this project are shown in the Technical/Company Criteria below. At the request of the Southeast and Northeast Southeast and Northeast regional MTFs, vendors will provide on-site support and in-servicing during implementation, conversion information, prime vendor order numbers, and itemization of the brands, types and packaging information of the products supplied by the vendor. C.Instructions to Vendors. DAPA holders interested in participating in this standardization initiative should email their detailed responses to the technical/company criteria and (1) Company name and address, (2) Company POC (Name and Phone Number, Fax Number, and E-mail address) to Virginia Slayton, (706)787-2093, virginia.slayton@us.army.mil. Submissions must be received by COB 5:00 PM EDT on the specified closing date/time of this sources sought notice. Vendors that fail to meet this submittal deadline will be disqualified from participating in the standardization process. This process will include vendor requirements to provide electronic responses to technical criteria, no charge samples for clinical evaluation, and submission of electronic best price quotes. Due to the potential for email to be lost in transmission, from network security, etc., vendors are strongly encouraged to confirm with the Southeast region that its initial submission, quote and literature actually arrived at the Southeast Region via email. Each submitting vendor is advised to confirm receipt, allowing adequate time for resubmission before the due date/time, should a problem occur with the first submission. Vendors that do not meet the deadline of COB 5:00PM EDT on the date listed for closing (per the FBO RFQ), will be disqualified from further consideration in the standardization initiative. All email communications between vendors and the Lead TRBO Region should be digitally signed by the issuer. D. Evaluation Criteria. The Southeast and Northeast Regions Tri-Service Product Review Board (TPRB) is the governing body of the standardization process. This board includes clinicians and logisticians from the Military Treatment Facilities within the Southeast and Northeast region. They are the deciding officials for this initiative. The Southeast and Northeast Region intends to evaluate quotes and select a vendor or vendors, on initial submissions/quotes. Vendor quotes should contain the vendor's best product matches for the products or product lines requested in this announcement. Vendor quotes should contain the vendor's best tiered-pricing discounts off of the vendor's DAPA pricing (based on committed volume of 80% of the total requirements of the MTFs in the Southeast and Northeast region). (Note: vendors that fail to submit a discount from DAPA will be disqualified. Note: Where lower FSS prices are available, DAPA holders are required by previous agreement to provide the FSS price as the DAPA price. Vendors shall not quote FSS prices as the discounted price for purposes of this standardization initiative.) However, the Southeast and Northeast region reserves the right to conduct discussions and request revised quotes, if determined necessary. The Southeast and Northeast region reserves the right to limit the number of quotes to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among vendors. The Southeast and Northeast region reserves the right to make a down-selection during the evaluation process based on considerations of efficient competition. Phase I Technical/Company Evaluation Process. Interested vendors are to respond to this FBO announcement by emailing their detailed responses and required documentation to Virginia.Slayton@us.army.mil by the required response date. Vendors are required to meet/provide responses to the technical/company criteria stated below. All technical/company criteria are weighted equally. The responses will be reviewed by the Clinical Product Team (CPT) and determine the acceptability of each vendor. After the review of the technical/company criteria, those vendors who meet the following technical/company criteria will be qualified / invited to participate in the clinical/performance evaluation process as well as the price analysis process and will be requested to submit their best product/price discount quotes via an email communication with each vendor. In general, acceptability for the purposes of validation of technical/company criteria is defined as follows: Generally, responses to all questions in the technical/company criteria demonstrate that: (1) based on the vendors responses, the evaluators have reasonable confidence that the line of products and /or services submitted meet the medical standards of care of the community, applicable to such products and services; (2) the vendors information provided is factually correct. Any misrepresentation of information will disqualify the vendor from further consideration. NOTE: Specific technical/company criteria will require an additional, more-specific definition of technical acceptability. The specific standard for technical acceptability will be set forth with the individual statement of each criterion, as required. The following equally weighted Technical/Company Evaluation Criteria have been established for this standardization initiative: 1.Vendor MUST provide a complete line of Crutches, Canes and Accessories products. A complete line of product is defined as the MTFs requirements for usage items in the product line. Usage items are defined in the Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor contract statement of work, as DAPA items ordered at least once per month, and at least one unit per order. a.At a minimum the vendor must provide the following: Forearm Crutches (aluminum, push button, adjustable, sizes medium and large), Standard Crutches with armrests and hand grips (aluminum, push button, adjustable, sizes youth, adult medium and large), Standard Crutches with armrests and hand grips (wood, adjustable, sizes youth, adult medium and large), Canes (single point, aluminum, adjustable, offset handle), Canes (single point, aluminum, adjustable, curved handle), Canes (single point, wood, curved handle), and accessory items. Accessory items, for this product line include; tips (crutch and cane), hand grips (crutch and cane) and underarm pads (crutch) to fit appropriate listed product line equipment. b.Vendor MUST provide a complete itemized list of items supplied (manufactured and/or distributed by brands) via catalog, and product literature in response to this RFQ with initial submittal. Vendors are required to supply all items listed in all sizes and device type. (Vendors who do not have a complete product line as above will be disqualified in Phase I). 2.Vendor MUST have a DAPA for the Crutches, Canes and Accessories product line. Vendor MUST provide the DAPA number with initial submittal. (Note that vendors without a DAPA number will be disqualified in Phase I). 3.Vendor MUST have a separate agreement with the Prime Vendor (PV) (currently, the prime vendor is Owens & Minor for the Southeast and Northeast Regions) for Crutches, Canes and Accessories in the Regions. (Note that vendors whose products are not available through the regional PV will be disqualified in Phase I.) Vendor MUST provide supporting documentation (four digit code) of agreement with Prime Vendor with initial submittal. 4.Vendors MUST submit discounts off DAPA for all products included in this standardization initiative. (Note: vendors that fail to submit a discount from DAPA will be disqualified. Note: Where lower FSS prices are available, DAPA holders are required by previous agreement to provide the FSS price as the DAPA price. Vendors shall not quote FSS prices as the discounted price for purposes of this standardization initiative.) Vendors who do not provide discounts off DAPA for ALL products in Phase II will be disqualified. 5.Vendor MUST provide all history of back orders and recalls that occurred during the most recent 12-month period for Crutches, Canes and Accessories products, including dates, duration, cause, and resolution. Vendors will not have an opportunity to provide additional information on back orders and recall during any subsequent stage in this evaluation. Vendors are encouraged to submit all information deemed relevant (i.e., positive resolutions, etc.) in response to this RFQ. The Government will not contact any provided points of contact in response to this question. Vendors should not provide point of contact information in response to this question. Phase II Plan Clinical/Performance Evaluations and Pricing Analysis Process: Clinical/Performance Evaluations 1.Following acceptability of the technical/company criteria, the Lead TRBO, on behalf of the CPT, will request product sample sets from the product group to be sent to the Clinical Product Team (CPT) attention at the participating Medical Treatment Facilities and will be allowed 14 calendar days from the date of notification to complete the delivery. Product samples must be shipped to arrive at the Medical Treatment Facilities by COB, 5:00 PM EDT, on the (14th) calendar day after the notice to ship. Vendors failing to deliver the product sample sets by the deadline will be disqualified from this standardization initiative. Note: all vendors must send the Lead TRBO verification regarding the date of shipment from the vendor and final delivery date of the product sample sets. 2.Specific MTFs will evaluate the vendors product sample sets against the clinical/performance criteria in a clinical/patient care setting using a Likert scale. A one to five scoring range will be used to rate the sample products. The scale descriptors are: one (1)-not acceptable, two (2)-minimally acceptable, three (3)-acceptable, four (4)-more acceptable, and five (5)-highly acceptable. 3.All clinical/performance criteria are weighted equally. The clinical/performance evaluation period will last for twenty-one (21) calendar days. The CPT has established a target threshold of 3.00 for the Clinical Acceptability of products for standardization. The CPT will determine the actual Acceptability threshold for this standardization initiative -- at or near 3.00 -- depending on the location of any break in vendors average scores (i.e., a gap between vendors average scores). In addition, the CPT may consider how closely scores are clustered near the Acceptability target threshold of 3.00, in determining the actual Acceptability threshold. Vendors scoring below the actual Acceptability threshold will be determined to be clinically Unacceptable, and be disqualified from further consideration for this standardization initiative. Vendors that have been disqualified will be notified in writing at the conclusion of the evaluation process (DSCP approval). 4.To determine acceptability, the Clinical Product Team (CPT), comprised of medical professionals from multiple disciplines from the Southeast and Northeast Regions will evaluate the products based on the evaluation criteria below in a non-clinical / non-patient care setting. The following Clinical /Performance Evaluation Criteria have been established for this standardization initiative: Standard and Forearm Crutches 1.(Patient Safety) Height mechanism adjusts quickly with only simple steps required to make the adjustment. a. The ability to adjust the crutch height quickly and simply will assist patients and clinicians in making safe and accurate adjustments. National Patient Safety Goal #9 Reduce the risk of (patient) harm resulting from falls b.The evaluator will adjust the crutches and note whether adjustments can be performed easily and quickly. 2. (Patient Safety/Comfort) Hand grips minimize undue strain on the hand/wrist during crutch use. a.An ergonomically designed and padded hand grip supports the palmar arch and wrist without causing undue rotation of the hand. A proper handgrip also reduces; pressure on veins, arteries and nerves in the hand which helps decrease muscle fatigue and the potential for nerve damage. National Patient Safety Goal #9 Reduce the risk of (patient) harm resulting from falls. b.Evaluator will ambulate, non-weight bearing, with crutches and note any wrist/hand discomfort related to hand grips. 3.(Patient Safety)Tips of crutches stay securely seated on the crutch, and promote stability, during ambulation. a.Tips that are easily dislodged from the crutch or tend to slip during ambulation may increase the possibility of a patient falling during crutch ambulation. Any patient fall may cause injury. National Patient Safety Goal #9 Reduce the risk of (patient) harm resulting from falls. b.Evaluator will ambulate, in a non-weight bearing manner, with crutches and note whether the tips stay securely seated during ambulation. Standard Crutch ONLY 4.(Patient Safety/Safety) Underarm pads minimize underarm discomfort during crutch use. a.Crutch pads without certain ergonomic features (smooth, curved surface with non-bulky padding) increase underarm friction causing irritation and soreness. Underarm pads use also decreases the potential for axillary nerve damage. National Patient Safety Goal #9 Reduce the risk of (patient) harm resulting from falls. b.Evaluator will ambulate with crutches in a non-weight bearing manner, and note any underarm discomfort related to underarm pad design. Canes ONLY 5.(Patient Safety/Comfort)Cane handle is comfortable. a. A properly designed and padded hand grip supports the palmar arch and wrist without causing undue rotation of the hand during cane use, minimizing muscle fatigue. National Patient Safety Goal #9 Reduce the risk of (patient) harm resulting from falls. b.Evaluator will ambulate using the cane in a partial weight bearing method, and note any wrist/hand discomfort related to the cane handle. 6.(Patient Safety) Tips of canes stay securely seated on the cane, and promote stability, during ambulation. a.Tips that are easily dislodged from the cane or tend to slip during ambulation may increase the possibility of a patient falling during ambulation. Any patient fall may cause injury. National Patient Safety Goal #9 Reduce the risk of (patient) harm resulting from falls. b.Evaluator will ambulate, in a non-weight bearing manner, with canes and note whether the tips stay securely seated during ambulation. Pricing Analysis Process: Upon completion of the Phase I Technical/Company Criteria Evaluation, vendors who are found technically acceptable will be qualified /invited to provide their product samples and price discount quotes concurrently. Vendors will be given 14 calendar days from the date of pricing requests, to submit RIA pricing quotes, in a prescribed electronic spreadsheet format, based upon the requirements of the Southeast and Northeast Region combined. Pricing must be received at the Lead TRBO by COB 5:00 PM (EDT), fourteen (14) calendar days after the issue date of the vendor notice to submit best product and price quotes. Failure to respond within this timeframe or failure to submit incentive discounts from their DAPA prices will result in the vendor being disqualified from further consideration/ participation. (Note: vendors that fail to submit a discount from DAPA will be disqualified. Note: Where lower FSS prices are available, DAPA holders are required by previous agreement to provide the FSS price as the DAPA price. Vendors shall not quote FSS prices as the discounted price for purposes of this standardization initiative.) The Southeast and Northeast region intends to evaluate quotes and select a vendor on initial submissions/quotes. Vendor quotes should contain the vendor's best product matches for the products or product lines requested in this announcement. Vendor quotes should contain the vendor's best tiered-pricing discounts off of the vendor's DAPA pricing (based on committed volume of 80% of the total requirements of the MTFs in the Southeast and Northeast Region). The Southeast and Northeast Region intends to evaluate quotes and select a vendor or vendors, without discussions as noted above. However, the Southeast and Northeast region reserves the right to conduct discussions and request revised quotes, if it is determined to be necessary. If a down-selection is made during the evaluation process, the Southeast and Northeast region may limit the number of quotes to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among vendors. Clinical/performance and technical/company factors will be weighted more heavily than price. The Technical/Company and Clinical/Performance evaluation factors, when combined, are considered significantly more important than cost or price. As the technical and clinical evaluation results become more equal, price will become more important. Pricing will be evaluated based on best value to the government and will be based on a committed volume for a two year (24 months) from date of selection with three 12-month option periods (not to exceed 5 years). The following elements will be considered in the pricing analysis: (1) Impact of RIA prices on the Southeast and Northeast regions, (Post-Standardization Costs). (2) Impact of Unmatched Lines. (3) Consideration of SKUs by each vendor. (4) Potential Cost Avoidance. This is included as a reporting Matrix. Operational Impact of RIA prices on the LSA Region are considered more important than other pricing elements. THE CLOSING DATE IS 31 MARCH 2009 5:00 PM EDT.
- Web Link
-
FedBizOpps Complete View
(https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=d5b64091441063b4ef56b345561e0112&tab=core&_cview=1)
- Place of Performance
- Address: TRI SERVICE SOUTHEAST REGIONAL BUSINESS OFFICE ATTN: Building 40707 40TH STREET ROOM 105 Fort Gordon GA<br />
- Zip Code: 30905-5650<br />
- Zip Code: 30905-5650<br />
- Record
- SN01765268-W 20090311/090310133346-d5b64091441063b4ef56b345561e0112 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |