A. General Information



The Tri-Service Mid-Atlantic Region, a military integrated delivery network, comprised of Army, Navy, and Air Force medical commands and medical treatment facilities (MTFs) in the states of Virginia and North Carolina announces a Request for Regional Incentive Agreement Quotation (REFRIAQ) for the standardization of Reusable Blankets, Mattress Pads, & Pillows to include, but not limited to:



1. Blanket Thermal 100% Cotton, Various sizes

2. Blanket Thermal 50/50 Cotton/Polyester, Various sizes

3. Blanket Spread Various Sizes

4. Mattress Pads, Various Sizes

5. Patient Pillows, Various Sizes, to include washable protective barrier coverings



The primary objective of this standardization initiative is to standardize the quality of care across this 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 products be obtained through the DoD Prime Vendor Program.



The major facilities in the Mid-Atlantic Region include: 1st Medical Group, Langley AFB, VA; 43rd Medical Group, Pope AFB, NC; 4th Medical Group, Seymour Johnson AFB, NC; Womack Army Medical Center, FT Bragg, NC; McDonald Army Community Hospital, FT Eustis, VA; Kenner Army Health Clinic, FT Lee, VA; Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Portsmouth, VA; Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, Camp Lejeune, NC; Naval Hospital Cherry Point, Cherry Point MCAS, NC.



This standardization action is part of the Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor program executed by the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, 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 Vendor for the Mid-Atlantic Region (Owens & Minor). This is pursuant to the DAPA clause by which DAPA holders agree to the Standardization process and to allow Prime Vendors to distribute their items. This is a supplement to the Prime Vendor Program and it is not a contract. For additional information regarding DSCP’s Prime vendor program please access our web site at https://dmmonline.dscp.dla.mil



The Mid-Atlantic Tri-Service Regional Business Office (TRBO) will provide anticipated volume (quantity) based on historical usage. The agreement will be for a base period of two (2) years (24 months) from date of award with three (3) 12-month option periods. Anticipated award date is November 2008. The evaluation will be based on clinical, technical, and pricing factors. 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.



Point of Contact Robert Meinertzhagen, 757-953-2134, Bob.Meinertzhagen@med.navy.mil



B. Products & Performance Required



The Mid-Atlantic Region is seeking a complete product line of, Reusable Blankets, Mattress Pads, & Pillows to include, but not limited to:



1. Blanket Thermal 100% Cotton, Various sizes

2. Blanket Thermal 50/50 Cotton/Polyester, Various sizes

3. Blanket Spread Various Sizes

4. Mattress Pads, Various Sizes

5. Patient Pillows, Various Sizes, to include washable protective barrier coverings



and includes at a minimum but is not limited to the functionally equivalent products for the high volume items indicated below.





Manufacturer Product Number CDMIA Sales Product Description

The Sewing Source 2257WH $20,714.20 Blanket Spread 100 Cotton 74x96 in White Snag less 3.0lb

The Sewing Source 2220WH $15,160.01 Blanket Thermal 100 Cotton 72x96 in White 3.5lb

Kendall Healthcare 31163457 $9,906.54 Pad Mattress 2in Thick Foam Convoluted 20x72 in

Standard Textile 78322400 $9,254.44 Blanket Thermal 50/50 Cotton/polyester 74x108 in White Unbleached

The Sewing Source 2250WH $5,402.88 Blanket Spread 100 Cotton 66x90 in White Import Snag Less 2.5lb

Standard Textile 93040173 $1,209.17 Pillow Patient Care Wipe-able Surface 26inL 20inW Polyester Fiber Fill Antimicrobial

The Sewing Source 2227GN $203.04 Blanket Thermal 100 Cotton 72x96 in Color 3.5lb

The Sewing Source 2227RS $203.04 Blanket Thermal 100 Cotton 72x96 in Color 3.5lb



The approximate total annual purchase volume of all types of Reusable Blankets, Mattress Pads, & Pillows for the Mid-Atlantic region is $62,054 based upon the historical usage of standardized Reusable Blankets, Mattress Pads, & Pillows over a one year period. The overall evaluation will be based upon clinical, technical and pricing factors. The final award recommendation will be determined by utilizing the best value and trade off criteria.



At the request of the Mid-Atlantic Region Military Treatment Facilities, vendors will provide on-site support and in-servicing, educational resources and tools for clinical use of these products, conversion information, prime vendor order numbers, MSDS information, and itemization of the brands, types, and packaging information of the products offered by the vendor.



C. Instructions to Vendors



DAPA holders interested in participating in this standardization initiative, email your response to Bob.Meinertzhagen@med.navy.mil and provide: (1) Company name and address, (2) Point of contact information (Name and Phone Number, Fax Number, and E-mail address) (3) your company’s Distribution and Pricing Agreement (DAPA) number and (4) your company’s responses to the questions under Technical/Company Criteria below. Your email will include your agreement to provide for your products necessary technical criteria, no charge samples for clinical evaluation, and submission of electronic best price offers that represent a discount from your companies base uncommitted DAPA pricing. If required, any postal mailings should be sent to the following address:



Robert Meinertzhagen

Tri-Service Regional Business Office

Financial Operations Department, Bldg. 250

Naval Medical Center Portsmouth

620 John Paul Jones Circle

Portsmouth, VA 23708



Email responses must be received no later than 4:00 P.M. (EST) on the specified closing date/time of this Sources Sought FBO Notice. Failure to respond within this timeframe will result in your company being excluded from participation in this standardization effort.



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 Region that its initial submission, quote and literature actually arrived at the 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 4:00 PM EST 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 Region will be digitally signed by the issuer.



Emails and correspondence may be sent to Bob.Meinertzhagen@med.navy.mil .



D. Evaluation Criteria



The Tri-Service Product Review Board (TPRB) is the governing board of the standardization process. This board includes clinicians and logisticians from all of the Military Treatment Facilities within the Mid-Atlantic Region. They are the decision makers for this initiative. Vendors will be required to provide responses to the technical/company criteria.



The Region intends to evaluate price quotes and select a vendor or vendor(s), without discussions. When requested, vendor quotes should contain the vendor's best product matches for the products or product lines requested in the product and pricing request. Vendor quotes should contain the vendor's best responses to all technical and/or company questions listed 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 Region). If a down-selection is made during the evaluation process, the Region may limit the number of quotes to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among vendors.



Vendors are required to provide responses to the technical/company criteria stated

below. The responses will be reviewed under the purview of the Clinical Product Team (CPT) to determine the acceptability of each vendor. After review of the technical/company criteria, the Region will eliminate those vendors who fail to meet the criteria. The vendors who meet the following technical/company criteria will be qualified/invited to participate in the clinical/performance evaluation process via e-mail communication with each vendor. In addition, companies being selected to proceed to the clinical/performance evaluation phase will be requested to submit their best product and pricing offer representing a discount from their DAPA pricing based on a minimum committed volume of 80% of the total requirements for MTFs in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Vendors that fail to offer pricing that is discounted from their DAPA pricing will be eliminated from further consideration. Vendor Product and Price Proposals will be in the Excel template provided by the government. The vendors will provide their completed Excel template by email to Bob.Meinertzhagen@med.navy.mil.



Pricing responses must be received by 4:00 P.M. (EST) fourteen (14) calendar days from the date the request is initiated by the TRBO. Failure to respond within this timeframe will result in your company being excluded from further participation/consideration



All communications of significant milestones, such as invitations to participate, notices of disqualification, etc. must be digitally signed



For those companies that meet the requirements above and the criteria below under Technical/Company Criteria, the CPT will request samples from the product group to be clinically evaluated at select Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs). Vendors are required to ship samples direct to the MTFs. Vendor samples must be received no later than 4:00 P.M. (EST), fourteen (14) calendar days after the request for samples is issued to the vendors. Vendors failing to comply by the deadline will be disqualified from further consideration in the standardization process.



1. To determine acceptability, a CPT comprised of medical professionals from the MTFs will evaluate the products based on the evaluation criteria below. It is intended that clinical evaluations shall be conducted in a non-clinical setting



2. The CPT will evaluate the products provided with the clinical/performance criteria identified in this announcement. The clinical/performance evaluation period will last for 30 calendar days. CPT teams will evaluate the product against the clinical/performance criteria. The evaluation responses will be in a Likert scale format with a 1-5 scoring range. The scale descriptors are: One (1) -- Not Acceptable; Two (2) -- Minimally Acceptable; Three (3) – Acceptable; Four (4) – Acceptable (High Side); and Five (5) -- Highly Acceptable. 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.



Technical/Company Criteria:



The CPT will review the following technical criteria responses from each vendor and determine acceptability.



a. In general, “acceptability” for purposes of evaluation of technical/company criteria is defined as follows:



Generally, responses to all questions in the technical/company criteria demonstrate that:

(1) based on the vendor’s 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 or services;

(2) the vendor’s information provided is factually correct. Any misrepresentation of information will disqualify the vendor from further consideration.



b. 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 vendors who meet the following technical/company criteria will be qualified/invited to participate in the clinical/performance evaluation process via an email communication with each vendor. All communications of significant acquisition milestones (such as invitations to participate, or notices of disqualification) must be digitally signed.



Vendors must provide a response to each criterion listed below:



1. Vendors must provide a complete line of Reusable Blankets, Mattress Pads & Pillows 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. The ability for the vendor to provide these items is considered critical and failure by them to do so will result in the vendor not being included in this standardization effort.



a. At a minimum, a complete product line includes but is not limited to:



1. Blanket Thermal 100% Cotton, Various sizes

2. Blanket Thermal 50/50 Cotton/Polyester, Various sizes

3. Blanket Spread Various Sizes

4. Mattress Pads, Various Sizes

5. Patient Pillows, Various Sizes, to include washable protective barrier coverings



Vendors are to provide a complete list of items supplied (catalog, etc.) and product literature in response to this RFQ.



2. Vendors must have a DAPA or be in the process of applying for a DAPA number for the Reusable Blankets, Mattress Pads & Pillows product line. Provide the DAPA number or proof of the application process with the initial submittal. (Note that vendors that fail to have a DAPA or show a lack of progress in obtaining a DAPA will be disqualified.)

3. Vendors must have, or be obtaining, a separate agreement with the prime vendor (currently, Owens and Minor) for distribution in the Mid-Atlantic Region. (Note that vendors whose products are not available through the regional PV will be disqualified.) Provide documentation of agreement with Prime Vendor.

4. Vendors must agree to 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.)

5. Vendors must provide contact information, i.e. name, address, phone number, and e-mail address of local vendor representative for the Mid-Atlantic Region.

6. Vendors must provide any history of back orders and/or recalls that occurred during the most recent 12-month period for the Reusable Blankets, Mattress Pads & Pillows products, including dates, duration, cause, and resolution. Vendors will not have an opportunity to provide additional information on back orders and recalls 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 points of contact provided in response to this question. Vendors should not provide point of contact information in response to this question.

7. Vendors must have a return goods policy, and should provide a copy of the policy with the initial submittal responding to this RFQ.

8. Vendors must provide a copy of their company’s customer service policy and program

9. Vendors must provide an option to obtain products that are latex-free or otherwise hypo-allergenic.

10. Vendors are required to provide the brands it manufactures and/or distributes.

11. Vendors are required to provide the following information for the products offered: types, sizes, colors, thread counts, stain resistance, durability and laundering qualities, and availability of stenciling/screen-print services

12. Vendors must agree that, when requested, they will provide electronic and hard copy proposed pricing and competitive product cross reference in electronic Microsoft Excel format



Clinical/Performance Criteria:



1. The blankets/blanket spreads provide for a proper fit on the bed

a. A proper fit of the blankets/blanket spreads on the mattress contributes to ease of hospital bedding management and patient comfort

b. Evaluation will be accomplished by applying the blanket/blanket spread to the hospital bed

2. The fabric of the blankets/blanket spreads is soft/comfortable

a. The fabric characteristic of soft/comfortable is an important factor contributing to patient comfort

b. This criterion will be evaluated by touch during the application of the blanket/blanket spread to the mattress

3. The mattress pads provide for a proper fit on the bed

a. The mattress pad must provide for a proper fit on the mattress to ensure patient comfort

b. The proper fit of the mattress pad will be evaluated by applying the mattress pad to the mattress

4. The mattress pads provide adequate cushioning

a. The ability of the mattress pad to provide adequate cushioning is a critical factor in the product performance

b. This criterion will be evaluated by touch and application of pressure after the mattress pad is applied to the mattress

5. The pillows provide adequate cushioning and support

a. The qualities of cushioning and support are fundamental to the performance of the pillow

b. The evaluator will assess these qualities by laying their head on the pillow and/or manipulation of the pillow with their hands