# Presentation: 448915

## Thriving Through Partnership 

**October 3 & 4, 2005**
**Chicago Marriott O’Hare Hotel **

## WELCOME

**FSS 101 – Simplifying the FSS Process**

## FSS 101 – Simplifying the FSS Process

**Scott Sands – CO Pharmaceuticals**
**Bonita Miner – CO Medical Equipment & Supplies**

## FSS 101 – Simplifying the FSS Process

**Listing of contracts to multiple companies supplying comparable commercial supplies and services.**
**National contracts awarded to responsible vendors to provide supplies and services at established prices, terms and conditions.**
**Authorized Users – All Federal Agencies and Activities in the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches including State Veterans Homes sharing agreements.**

## FSS 101 – Simplifying the FSS Process

**Historically, just about any type of commercial item the government uses from paper clips, to fire engines were on the FSS.**
**Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act in 1994 and Clinger Cohen Act in 1996 expanded the definition of commercial item to include services.**
**With the new flexibilities available through procurement reform, the FSS program was expanded to include services.**

## FSS 101 – Simplifying the FSS Process

**Product/Service Groups delineated by Federal Supply Class (FSC)/Product Service Codes (PSC).**
**  **
**Products/Services are further delineated by Special Item Numbers (SIN) and Subcategories.**

## Authority – GSA delegated to Veterans Affairs National Acquisition Center the responsibility for the Federal Supply Schedule program for medical care related supplies, equipment, pharmaceuticals and services.

**Authority** – **GSA delegated to Veterans Affairs National Acquisition Center the responsibility for the Federal Supply Schedule program for medical care related supplies, equipment, pharmaceuticals and services.**

**Notes:**
The VA acts under a delegated authority on behalf of the GSA FSS program.

GSA Number/GSA Contract/FSS contract/VA number/Schedule   - all mean the same thing.

## Federal Supply Schedule Service        Overview of the VA Schedules Program    

- 65 I B- Drugs and Pharmaceuticals
- 65 II A- Medical Equipment and Supplies
- 65 II C- Dental Equipment and Supplies
- 65 II F- Patient Mobility Devices
- 65 V A- X-Ray Film, Equipment and Supplies
- 65 VII- Diagnostic, Reagents, Test Kits and Sets
- 66 III-Cost-Per-Test for Clinical Laboratory Analyzers
- 621 I- Professional and Allied Healthcare Staffing
- 621 II – Medical Laboratory, Test and Analysis Services

## Federal Supply Schedule Program

- _Type_
**Multiple Award Contract**
**Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) **
**Firm Fixed-Price Contract with Economic Price Adjustment **
**Open and Continuous Solicitation Cycle**
**They are multi-year (5 years base), with option to extend for up to an additional 5 years (except for Pharmaceuticals)**
- _Scope_
**National and World-Wide Coverage contracts awarded to responsible manufacturers, distributors or dealers.**

**Notes:**
What this all means is that multiple companies supplying comparable products and services, at varying prices, are awarded contracts.  This provides ordering activities with the variety and flexibility to select the best value item that meets their needs at the lowest overall price.

## Benefits of the FSS Programfor Contractors

**Closely mirrors commercial buying practices.  **
**Streamlined contract vehicle for selling to the entire Federal Government.**
**New supplies/services may continually be introduced to the system.**
**Ordering activities place orders directly with vendors.**
**Participation with wholesale offerors**

## Benefits of the FSS Programfor Agencies

**Ordering activities are not required to synopsize/advertise.**
**Prices have already been determined fair and reasonable.**
**All ordering activities, large or small, even those in remote locations, are provided with the same services, convenience, and pricing.**
**Shorter lead-times, lower administrative costs.**
**Enables the customer to focus on the quality of the product or service acquired and not the process to acquire it.**

## FSS Major Characteristics

**Product Availability-****  ****Similar and Identical products are available from multiple sources (more than one contractor) providing a variety of products and services.**
**Other Terms and Conditions**
**Open & Continuous Solicitations ****– Vendors may submit offers at any time vs. once a year.  This allows contractors to provide the latest  technology to Federal customers.  **

## FSS Major Characteristics

**Worldwide Deliveries:**
- Domestic (48 Contiguous States, DC, Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico)
- Overseas (Overseas destination other than AK, HI & PR)
**FOB Destination Pricing (except 65 VII)**
- At a minimum, includes the 48 Contiguous States and DC.
**Use of Government Purchase Card f****or micro purchases (at or below $2,500) .**
**Economic Price Adjustments (EPA)**** Allows price increases as required/allowed. At least a 30 day lapse and no increase within 60 days of contract expiration.  **

## FSS Solicitation	

**A solicitation is a document that contains terms and conditions that apply to the procurement as well as identifications of products and services solicited and the time of performance of any ensuing contract.**
**A solicitation becomes an offer when a contractor completes, signs and submits it.**
**A completed solicitation package typically contains the solicitation, brochure/literature, 2 copies of the offeror’s commercial pricelist and any related attachments.**

## Solicitation Package Contents	

- Cover Page Notices
- Standard Form 1449 – Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items
- Schedule of Items (SIN)
- Clauses
- Commercial Sales Practices
- Small Business Subcontracting Plan
- Other Related Attachments

## How to complete the Solicitation Package

**Cover Pages Notices**
- General Information
- Notice of significant changes (since last issuance)
- Remove prior to sending
**Standard Form 1449**
- 1st page to complete
- Name & Address – important
- Authorized signatory

## How to complete the Solicitation Package 

**Clauses**
- Not vendor choice, all relevant
- Encourage to read all
- Complete necessary sections (use Handy Index)
**Commercial Sales Practices (CSP)**
- Disclosure of commercial sales practices
- Commercial Customer Identification
- Discounts
- Volume requirements
- FOB Terms
- Additional Concessions
- Submission of proposal to Government

## How to complete the Solicitation Package

**Assigned/Reviewed/Clarifications, etc. **
**    ****If not completely correct, the Contracting Officer will work with the vendor to provide an opportunity to submit additional information to update minor deficiencies/clarifications.**
**Questions - POC**
**	**

## Solicitation PackageRequired Clearances

- Equal Employment Opportunities Compliance  (If estimated award value is over $10 million)
- Trade Agreements Act:  Offers estimated over $175,000
- FDA Approval for pharmaceuticals
- 510K pre-market approval for Med/Surg
- Vets 100
- CCR

## Solicitation Package Required Reviews

** **
- Over $500,000, additional (above AD) in-house review
- Over $3 million to $5 million per year (dependent upon commodity), Office of Inspector General (OIG)
- Review offer for accuracy, completeness, and currency
- Recommend pricing position
- Vendor will update, if discrepancies

## CSP

## Commercial Sales Practice (CSP)

- 1.       Provide the dollar value of sales to the general public at or based on an established catalog or market price during the previous 12 month period or the offerors last fiscal year.
- 	SIN $__________	SIN $__________	SIN $__________
- 	State beginning and ending of the 12 month period.  Beginning __________ Ending______________.  In the event that a dollar value is not an appropriate measure of the sales, provide and describe your own measure of the sales of the item(s).
- 2.       Show your total projected annual sales to the Government under this contract for the contract term, excluding options, for each SIN offered.  If you currently hold a Federal Supply Schedule contract for the SIN the total projected annual sales should be based on your most recent 12 months of sales under that contract.
- 	SIN$__________	SIN $__________	SIN $__________
- 3.       Based on your written discounting policies (standard commercial sales practices in the event you do not have written discounting policies), are the discounts and any concessions which you offer the Government equal to or better than your best price (discount and concessions in any combination) offered to any customer acquiring the same items regardless of quantity or terms and conditions? YES____ NO_____.  See definition of "concession" and "discount" in 552.212-70.
- 4.       (a) Based on your written discounting policies (standard commercial sales practices in the event you do not have written discounting policies), provide information as requested for each SIN (or group of SINs for which the information is the same) in accordance with the instructions at Table 515-1 which is provided in this solicitation for your convenience.  The information should be provided in the chart below or in an equivalent format developed by the offeror.  Rows should be added to accommodate as many customers as required.

***Commercial Sales Practice (CSP)***

## Commercial Sales Practice (CSP)

**Paragraph 1 – Sales to General Public**
- Provide the dollar value of sales to the general public at or based on an established catalog or market price during the previous 12 month period or the offeror’s last fiscal year.
**	****       ****SIN_____ $________    SIN_____ $________    SIN_____ $________**
**	****State beginning and ending of the 12 month period.  Beginning ________ Ending ________. **
**	****In the event that a dollar value is not an appropriate measure of the sales, provide and describe your own measure of the sales of the item(s).**

## Commercial Sales Practice (CSP)

**Paragraph 2 – Projected Annual Sales to Government**
- Show your total projected annual sales to the Government under this contract for the contract term, excluding options, for each SIN offered.  If you currently hold a Federal Supply Schedule contract for the SIN the total projected annual sales should be based on your most recent 12 months of sales under that contract.
**	****      ****SIN_____ $________    SIN_____ $________    SIN_____ $________**** **

## Commercial Sales Practice (CSP)

**Paragraph 3 – Discounting Policies**
- Based on your written discounting policies (standard commercial sales practices in the event you do not have written discounting policies), are the discounts and any concessions which you offer the Government equal to or better than your best price (discount and concessions in any combination) offered to any customer acquiring the same items regardless of quantity or terms and conditions? YES____ NO_____.
- Concessions
- Discounts
**	**

## Commercial Sales Practice (CSP)

**Paragraph 4(a) – Discounting Policies**
- Based on your written discounting policies (standard commercial sales practices in the event you do not have written discounting policies), provide information as requested for each SIN (or group of SINs for which the information is the same) in accordance with the instructions at Table 515-1 which is provided in this solicitation for your convenience.  The information should be provided in the chart below or in an equivalent format developed by the offeror.  Rows should be added to accommodate as many customers as required.
**	****	**
**	**

## Commercial Sales Practices (CSP)

| Column 1— Customer | Column 2—Discount | Column 3 Quantity/Volume | Column 4 – FOB Term | Column 5— Additional Discounts or Concessions |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |

- 4(a) continued

***Commercial Sales Practices (CSP)***

## Commercial Sales Practices (CSP)

**Customer** – Any entity, except the Federal Government
**Discount** – Best discounts based on written or standard commercial discounting practices
**Quantity/Volume** – Minimum quantity or sales volume to purchase/order to earn a discount
**FOB Delivery**  – Shipping cost responsibility
**Concessions** – A benefit which reduces the overall costs of a customer’s acquisition or encourages a customer to consummate a purchase.

## Commercial Sales Practice (CSP)

**Paragraph 4(b) – Deviations from Discounting Policies**
- Do any deviations from your written policies or standard commercial sales practices disclosed in the above chart ever result in better discounts (lower prices) or concessions than indicated? YES ____ NO_____.  If YES, explain deviations in accordance with the instructions at Table 515-4-2 which is provided in this solicitation for your convenience.

## Commercial Sales Practice (CSP)

**Paragraph 5 – Dealer/Reseller**
- Based If you are a dealer/reseller without significant sales to the general public, you should provide manufacturers' information required by paragraphs (1) through (4) above for each item/SIN offered, if the manufacturer's sales under any resulting contract are expected to exceed $500,000.  You must also obtain written authorization from the manufacturer(s) for Government access, at any time before award or before agreeing to a modification, to the manufacturer's sales records for the purpose of verifying the information submitted by the manufacturer.  The information is required in order to enable the Government to make a determination that the offered price is fair and reasonable.  To expedite the review and processing of offers, you should advise the manufacturer(s) of this requirement.  The contracting officer may require the information be submitted on electronic media with commercially available spreadsheet(s).  The information may be provided by the manufacturer directly to the Government.  If the manufacturer's item(s) is being offered by multiple dealers/resellers, only one copy of the requested information should be submitted to the Government.  In addition, you must submit the following information along with a listing of contact information regarding each of the manufacturers whose products and/or services are included in the offer (include the manufacturer's name, address, the manufacturer's contact point, telephone number, and FAX number) for each model offered by SIN:
**	****	**a. Manufacturer’s Name
- 		b. Manufacturer’s Part Number
- 		c. Dealer’s/Reseller’s Part Number
- 		d. Product Description
- 		e. Manufacturer’s List Price
- 		f. Dealer’s/Reseller’s percentage discount from List Price or net prices
**	****	**** ****	**

## How to complete the Solicitation Package

**Documentation and Justification**
- Justifying your offer
- Provide complete rationale, when Gov’t is not offered equal to or better than your best commercial customer pricing
- Provide copies of commercial agreements, when  relevant
- Contracting Officer will request additional information as needed to support the data

## How to complete the Solicitation Package

**Timeframes for submission**
- For follow-on contract – coordinate with enough time to meet expiration date
- For new – at vendor’s discretion

## How to complete the Solicitation Package

**Trade Agreements Act**
- Buy American – does not apply
- Substantially transformed (wholly different product)
- Customs website:
- 	_[http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/](http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/)_

## How to complete the Solicitation Package

## Offer Submission Analysis

**Government Price Analysis:**
- Starting Point for negotiations - Most Favored Commercial Customer (MFC):
*“**Defined as that customer or class of customer which receive(s) the best discount and/or price arrangement on a given item from a supplier.  The term includes any entity which does business with the supplier.  In MAS contracting, the Government’s negotiation objectives are developed based on a comparison of the MFC arrangement.”*

## Offer Submission Analysis

** ****How we negotiate:**
- Offers evaluated independently
- Identification of MFC pricing
- Identification of MFC terms and conditions
- Establishment of negotiations targets
- Negotiation discussions – usually conference call
- Final Pricing Revisions (FPR) – document from which award decision is made

## Negotiation Process

- Tracking Customer
- Basic Discount
- Quantity Discount
- Delivery Terms
- Prompt Payment
- Return Goods Policy
- Expedited Delivery
- Warranty terms

**  ****What do we negotiate?**

- Installation/Training
- Software License
-    Agreements
- Leasing/Rental Terms
- Annual Rebates
- BPA/Incentive Programs
- Distribution Program
- Minimum Orders

## Negotiation Process

** ****Tracking Customer**
- Price Reduction Clause
- Establishment of commercial relationship to track    award against
- Paragraph (a) – Before award of a contract, the  CO and the offeror will agree upon:
- The customer (or category of customers) which will be the basis of award, and
- The Government’s price or discount relationship to the identified customer (or category of customers) Identify price objectives

## Negotiation Process

** ****Tracking Customer**
- Terms:
- Agreement of both parties
- Start with category, helps to avoid future concerns
- New Companies – possible – All Commercial Customers
- Tracking customer ratio determined by dividing discount relationship to Gov’t by discount relationship to agreed upon tracking customer

## Negotiation Process

**Tracking Customer (cont’d)**
- VERY IMPORTANT
- Agreed to tracking customer and subsequent ratio will affect price changes
- If the ratio is disturbed with a decrease to commercial customer, automatic to Government
- If tracking customer did not receive increase, Government cannot
- Very important to understand this relationship

## Negotiation Process

- Awarded FSS price:				$5.00
- MFC price at award:			$10.00
- List price at award:				$20.00
- Awarded tracking customer =		MFC
- Tracking customer changed price:	$15.00
- List Price Change:				$40.00
*	**What would be the acceptable Government price increase?*

_**Tracking Customer Example**_

## Negotiation Process

- Answer:
- 1) Ratio = $5/$10 = .5
- 2) Commercial pricelist change noted
- 3) Apply ratio to current tracking customer:
- 		Ratio times new tracking customer price
- 				*.5($15) = $7.50*
*The highest price that can be accepted by the Gov’t would be limited to $7.50.*

_**Tracking Customer Example**_

## Negotiation Process

**Final Proposal Revision (FPR)**
- Reiteration of all agreed upon issues
- Will include pricing, terms and conditions
- Award decision made from this document
- Must be complete
- Must be signed by an authorized signatory

## Award Decision

**Determining factors:**
- Is it in the best interest of Government?
- Did we achieve a fair and reasonable price?
- Is Offeror responsive and responsible.
- Did Offeror complete all certifications and regulatory requirements in their entirety?
- Is past performance history satisfactory?
- Are they financially capable?
- If yes to all --- contract is awardable.
- Any award over $500,000 – In house review
** **

## FSS 101 – Simplifying the FSS Process

**From Offer to Award Process Flow**

- Request a  copy of the solicitation from our office or download from the FED Biz Opps web site.

- Complete and submit your offer to the appropriate AD.

- AD reviews & assigns new offer to a team member

- Assigned CO conducts initial review and issues a clarification/missing information letter

- Upon receiving completed offer, CO completes review and schedules negotiations.  If offer value exceeds $ threshold, may require OIG  pre-award audit.

- Once all terms are agreed to, CO issues Final Proposal Revision (FPR) request

- Once the FPR is received, the assigned CO determines if award should be made.  If decision is made to award, the offer is submits for final award review.

- If award is made, information is forwarded to the vendor.

## Director and Assistant Directors

**Carole O’Brien**
- 	Director, Federal Supply Schedule Service
- 	(708) 786-4957
**Paul Skalman**
- 	Assistant Director, Medical Equipment and Supplies
- 	(708) 786-5247
**Cheryl Ward-Roberts**
- 	Assistant Director, Pharmaceutical, Dental and Other
- 	(708) 786-5259
**Dore Fessler**
- 	Assistant Director, Medical Services
- 	(708) 786-5223**	****	****	****	****	****	**

## Schedule Managers

**James Booth**
- Schedule Manager
- 65IIA -Medical Equipment and Supplies
- (708) 786-5183
**Sandra Perkins**
- Schedule Manager
- 65 IIC - Dental Equipment and Supplies
- 65IIF - Patient Mobility Devices
- 65 VA - X-Ray Equipment and Supplies
- (708) 786-4958
**Bob Satterfield**
- Schedule Manager
- 65 IB - Pharmaceuticals
- 65 VII - Diagnostics, Reagents, Test Kits and Sets
- (708) 786-4955

## Post-Award

**Presented by****:**
- James L. Booth – Program Manager,
- 	Medical Equipment and Supplies
- Sandra Perkins, Program Manager
- 	Dental Equipment and Supplies

***FSS 201 – Successfully Administering your FSS Contract for Maximum Results***

## FSS 101 Simplifying the Acquisition Process

**Copy of Presentation will be made available after 5 p.m. on October 4 at **_**[www.va.gov/vastorenac](http://www.va.gov/vastorenac)**_
**Q&A**
**	****	****	****	****	****	*****Thank You***