Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

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1 Date: May 9, 2013 Subject: Questions and Clarifications Solicitation Number: CN Due Date/Time: May 22, 1:30 PM Addendum Number: 2 To All Suppliers: The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania defines a solicitation Addendum as an addition to or amendment of the original terms, conditions, specifications, or instructions of a procurement solicitation (e.g., Invitation for Bids or Request for Proposals). List any and all changes: 1) Q) Can you please double check the tonnage on Wayne County? When I add it up I get however you have listed maybe just a transposed number. A) The correct amount for Wayne County should be ) Q) For Westmoreland County what is listed is however when I add it up I get A) The correct amount for Westmoreland County should be ) Q) City of Sharon zip code indicates should be in Mercer County (as where it appeared on past bids) bid has it listed in MONTGOMERY County. Please advise where this item belongs. See District 6. A) City of Sharon should be listed under Mercer County. 4) Q) Miles Township zip code indicates should be in Centre County (previous location) bid has it in CHESTER County. Please advise where this item belongs. See District 6. A) Miles Township should be listed under Centre County. 5) Q) Lackawanna Trail School District zip code indicates should be in Wyoming County bid has it in CLINTON County. Please advise where this item belongs. See District 2. A) Wyoming is the correct county. 6) Q) Swarthmore Borough Delaware County District 6 Is listed on the bid for 10 tons not sure but think this is a typo and should be 100 tons but need verification. A) This is confirmed to be a typographical error. Swarthmore Borough-Delaware County requires 100 tons. Form Revised 02/26/08 Page 1 of 5

2 7) Q) Does the Commonwealth of PA have a procedure to determine whether they will award by county or district. Are you going to use a certain formula? Will you look at the total weighted average price, or dollar amount by county and then by district and determine which is more beneficial? A) We will multiply the estimated tonnage against the bid amount to determine the best value as far as county vs. district. We will use the same process for 1 year vs. 2 years and evaluate with PennDOT whether the increase/decrease is worth locking into 2 years. 8) Q) Some vendors may be awarded whole districts, and others (districts) may be only be awarded on a county to county basis? A) Yes also as an example a vendor may get 2 districts and 5 counties or some other combination and the next vendor may only get 2 counties. Also, if a vendor is award the District they get ALL the counties in that District. 9) Q) Can we get a list of Lot numbers by county? I will need this for the BOLs. A) The lot number identifies a specific quantity, production run, etc. of the sodium chloride. A lot is to be identified because if a failure occurs, the lot from which the failure was taken must be examined, it is a way of identifying the material. The lot number is provided by the supplier. 10) Q) Once determined, 1 year or 2 year, will this be applied to all vendors, or will you award one vendor, 1 year and maybe another vendor 2 years? A) The entire award will either be 1 year or 2 years.there will be NO 1 year counties/districts and then other counties/districts being awarded as 2 years 11) Q) Is this an open bid opening where we can send someone to get results? If not, how long will it take to get bid results, knowing the award will take a while, can vendors at least get results?? A) Tab sheets should be posted in 48 hours. You are welcome to send someone but we will not be reading prices at the bid opening. 12) Q) For the pickup option, are we supposed to give you one pick up price for all of our stockpiles we bid out of, or can we provide a pickup price per pile location? A) Pick up price will be the awarded price (less 10%) in that particular county. If you have a stockpile in a county that you are not awarded we will use the non-awarded county bid price (less 10%) for your stockpile in that specific county Stockpile Pickup Price: "The Department of Transportation recognizes that delivery transportation charges are a real cost. When the Department of Transportation determines it is in its best interest to pick up material at the suppliers stockpile there is a reduction in costs to the supplier. Those reductions in costs should be passed in part or in whole to the Department of Transportation. As such, the Department of Transportation will pay 10% less per ton than the county/district delivered price where the stockpile is located for all tons pickup by PennDOT". Form Revised 02/26/08 Page 2 of 5

3 13) Q) How will liquidated damages be determined and justified for muni s and agencies. Will they be getting approval through the Commonwealth before they can take these deductions? Many municipalities have limited hours of operations, some close at noon, or by 3pm. In these types of circumstances the vendor should be not be held responsible to the minimum 100 ton per day requirement. Also does this mean if a customer orders 500 tons, once delivery starts, are we required to deliver the minimum of 100 tons per day, consecutive days until the order is complete. Would we be penalized if we did, 200 tons Monday, 100 Wednesday, 100 Friday?? A) This has not changed. (Delivery of material to Department of Transportation locations completed within seven (7) business days after receipt of the purchase order) The minimum delivery for the balance of season is 4 trucks or 100 tons per stockpile per day, unless the ordered quantity is less than 4 trucks or 100 tons, in such cases the entire order for that stockpile is delivered. We will evaluate requests for Liquidated Damages on a case by case basis. It is the responsibility of the Department of General Services to investigate instances of late or incomplete deliveries by gathering information from the using agency and the contractor. The Department will determine whether liquidated damages are an appropriate remedy in each instance. The Commonwealth shall notify the awarded supplier in writing of any claims for liquidated damages pursuant to this paragraph before the date the Commonwealth deducts such sums from the money payable to the awarded supplier. 14) Q) Do we know if the state wants to be set up to pay each invoice by credit card and still remain as a NET30 customer or will a credit card be used each time a Muni calls to place an order. Meaning each muni will have their own credit card. We d like to get a jump on setting up the credit card in our system because this process can be very time consuming and we d like to make it as seamless as possible when placing orders during shipping season. A) It is likely the LPPU's will use their credit cards to pay for salt purchases. The Commonwealth of Pa may pay with a credit card although these types of payments are not expected to be extensive. in accordance with the terms and conditions of the sodium chloride (road salt) bid/contract: V.23 CONTRACT Payment (Oct 2006) a. The Commonwealth shall put forth reasonable efforts to make payment by the required payment date. The required payment date is: (a) the date on which payment is due under the terms of the Contract; (b) thirty (30) days after a proper invoice actually is received at the "Bill To" address if a date on which payment is due is not specified in the Contract (a "proper" invoice is not received until the Commonwealth accepts the service as satisfactorily performed); or (c) the payment date specified on the invoice if later than the dates established by (a) and (b) above. Payment may be delayed if the payment amount on an invoice is not based upon the price(s) as stated in the Contract. If any payment is not made within fifteen (15) days after the required payment date, the Commonwealth may pay interest as determined by the Secretary of Budget in accordance with Act No. 266 of 1982 and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto. Payment should not be construed by the Contractor as acceptance of the service performed by the Contractor. The Commonwealth reserves the right to conduct further testing and inspection after payment, but within a reasonable time after performance, and to reject the service if such post payment testing or inspection discloses a defect or a failure to meet specifications. The Contractor agrees that the Commonwealth may set off the amount of any state tax liability or other obligation of the Contractor or its subsidiaries to the Commonwealth against any payments due the Contractor under any contract with the Commonwealth. b. The Commonwealth shall have the option of using the Commonwealth purchasing card to make purchases under Form Revised 02/26/08 Page 3 of 5

4 the Contract or Purchase Order. The Commonwealth's purchasing card is similar to a credit card in that there will be a small fee which the Contractor will be required to pay and the Contractor will receive payment directly from the card issuer rather than the Commonwealth. Any and all fees related to this type of payment are the responsibility of the Contractor. In no case will the Commonwealth allow increases in prices to offset credit card fees paid by the Contractor or any other charges incurred by the Contractor, unless specifically stated in the terms of the Contract or Purchase Ord In accordance with the terms and conditions "Purchase Orders under ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in total amount may also be made in person or by telephone using a Commonwealth Purchasing Card. When an order is placed by telephone, the Commonwealth agency shall provide the agency name, employee name, credit card number, and expiration date of the card. Contractors agree to accept payment through the use of the Commonwealth Purchasing Card." 15) Updated bid spreadsheet and estimate spreadsheet posted with addendum 2. Please use the updated bid sheet included with addendum 2 to submit your bid. 16) Q) If the State decides to renew will we be approached by the state or will we have to approach the state regarding renewal options. A) Either party may express interest that they are interested in renewing. 17) Q) How will it be addressed if the Pick Up location falls outside of the state of PA? A) In those instances where the need should arise for the Commonwealth to pick up salt outside of Pennsylvania the rate will be negotiated between the supplier and the Commonwealth. 18) Q) In the Specifications Sodium Chloride (BulkRoadSalt).pdf on page 1, under Bidding information Items required to be submitted with bid - #9, it states a QC Plan must be submitted with bid. But on page 3, under Acceptance of Sodium Chloride: it states A Current QC Plan forward to the Bureau of Maintenance and Operation (BOMO) within 15 working days of Notification of award. Do we submit the QC Plan with the bid, or 15 days after notification of award? A) Yes, submit the QC Plan within 15 days after notification of award 19) Q)In the Terms & Conditions Sodium Chloride (BulkRoadSalt) 2013.pdf - on page 13, section 11.2 it states Lobbying Certification Form & Disclosure of Lobbying Activities Form submit these 2 forms with the bid. But In the Specifications Sodium Chloride (BulkRoadSalt).pdf on page 1, under Bidding information Items required to be submitted with, it does not state these 2 specific items should be submitted with bid. Do we submit these 2 forms with the bid or not? Where are these forms located? A) Since there are no federal funds involved the lobbying certification form is not required at this time. For electronic solicitation responses via the SRM portal: Attach this Addendum to your solicitation response. Failure to do so may result in disqualification. To attach the Addendum, download the Addendum and save to your computer. Move to My Notes, use the Browse button to find the document you just saved and press Add to upload the document. Review the Attributes section of your solicitation response to ensure you have responded, as required, to any Form Revised 02/26/08 Page 4 of 5

5 questions relevant to solicitation addenda issued subsequent to the initial advertisement of the solicitation opportunity. For solicitations where a hard copy (vs. electronic) response is requested: Attach this Addendum to your solicitation response. Failure to do so may result in disqualification. If you have already submitted a response to the original solicitation, you may either submit a new response, or return this Addendum with a statement that your original response remains firm, by the due date to the following address: Jean Halbleib Attention: Bid Room CN Department of General Services 6th Floor 555 Walnut Street Harrisburg PA Except as clarified and amended by this Addendum, the terms, conditions, specifications, and instructions of the solicitation and any previous solicitation addenda, remain as originally written. Very truly yours, Name: Jean Halbleib Title: Commodity Specialist Phone: Jhalbleib@pa.gov Form Revised 02/26/08 Page 5 of 5