Industrial Products for GSA OCONUS Storefronts

QSRA-RFI-16308 Amendment 001 NOTICE: This is not a solicitation but rather a Sources Sought to determine capability of potential sources and is for information and planning purposes only. The General Services Administration (GSA), Federal Acquisition Services (FAS), Office of General Supplies & Services (GSS), Retail Operations branch requires a comprehensive range of commonly purchased industrial products for its Government-operated GSA Global Supply Stores located on U.S. Air Base Kadena (Kadena AB)in Okinawa, Japan; U.S. Army Garrison Camp Zama (USAG Camp Zama), U.S. Air Base Misawa (Misawa AB), and U.S. Air Base Yokota (Yokota AB)Iwakuni; Osan and Kunsan Air Bases in Korea; and Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, Africa (Djibouti). Under GSA's 4th Party Logistics (4PL) program, Retail Operations is responsible for managing the resources, capabilities, and technology of its own organization, with support from its product and service providers, to deliver a comprehensive supply chain solution along with its requisitioning capabilities to Government customers. GSA Retail Operations 4PL solution provides more favorable product pricing, an increased breadth of products, as well as standardized ordering, packaging, documentation, and billing. Through the BPAs, vendors will provide GSA with commercial consigned inventory to support GSA's Global Supply Store operations. Essentially, that means that while the products are on the store shelves, they will be entrusted to GSA (are under the control and custody of GSA) in the storefronts although they are still owned by the vendors, vendor-owned/consigned inventory (VCI). For example, the vendors will not be required to provide staff at each store; however, the vendors will need to do a physical inventory at least once annually. GSA will provide daily inventory files to the vendors and a daily transaction file. GSA will not own the item until it is requisitioned and processed through GSA's Point of Sale (POS) system. At that point the item is sold to GSA and can be requisitioned by the customer in the GSA Global Supply stores. This Sources Sought is issued for information and planning purposes only. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP). It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals nor will any award be made as a result of this Sources Sought. GSA will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by interested parties in responding to this request. This notice is an announcement that GSA is seeking market information on businesses capable of providing the products and services as described herein. GSA is currently conducting market research to determine qualified, experienced, and interested potential sources. The information requested by this Sources Sought will be used by GSA to facilitate decision making and will not be disclosed outside the agency. However, respondents submitting business information pursuant to this Sources Sought should consult 41 C.F.R., part 105-60 and other implementing regulations concerning the release of such information to third parties under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). All information submitted by respondents that they consider confidential and not releasable to third parties outside of GSA, its employees, agents, consultants, and representatives, must be clearly and conspicuously so marked. Statement of Objectives GSA Retail Operations is seeking potential sources that are interested in or have the ability to provide industrial supplies on consignment to GSA through direct delivery in support of GSA's Global Supply and Retail storefronts located in Japan and Korea. Under the industrial product BPA, the vendor will provide GSA and its customers with industrial type products, and tools, including, but not limited to: commercial coatings (including paints, sealants, adhesives, oils and abrasives); tools including, but not limited to, power tools, accessories, and hand tools; hardware; building supplies; safety products; precision tools and equipment; machinery and tooling components; tool holding and work holding equipment; outdoor equipment and accessories; material handling equipment, building supplies, and appliances. These products represent the bulk of the buying activity at the GSA Retail Stores located in Japan, Korea, and Africa. Interested sources are challenged to provide the most cost-effective approach that meets the following overall objectives: 1. Providing vendor-consigned inventory (stock) to GSA for resale to customers in its Japan and Korean stores. Each vendor, for their product category, will be required to consign stock to GSA; ownership of the vendor-consigned inventory (VCI) will be passed to GSA when the stock is requisitioned by its store customers and the transaction is processed through GSA's POS system. 2. Of particular interest to the Government is the interested vendors' ability to deliver to Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS) location versus a CONUS location, including such issues as supply chain transportation/shipping and distribution methods and practices, and replenishment and maintaining stock levels in an OCONUS Brick & Mortar store environment. 3. Maintain min/max VCI levels, source new products in its assigned category, and provide delivery for products not stocked on-site. As the VCI drops to the minimum level, GSA will place an order via GSA's POS to the vendor. 4. GSA will provide individual storage areas for stocking of required products by each vendor. 5. All vendors will communicate with GSA through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). GSA intends to establish a single Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) for products to fill requisition orders. GSA intends to issue one BPA for industrial products. The proposed North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Codes for industrial products are 444130 (size standard $7.5M); 444110 (size standard $38.5M); and 444190 (size standard $20.5M). The Government requests that all interested parties respond to this notice if applicable and identify their small or large business status to the identified or proposed NAICS code. Questions and Capability Statement: The Government has developed a list of information to facilitate discussion and influence the draft version of the RFP. Part I - Business Information Company Information Company Name: Point of Contact: Address: CAGE Code: Web Page URL: Size of business pursuant to North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Codes: Based on the NAICS Code, the company size is: List of most recent and relevant government or commercial contracts (not to exceed five) to include brief description, names, POCs, contact information, value & type of contract, and period of performance Are you able to provide a cataloged price list of your products? Part II. Capability Survey Questions 1.Describe your company's corporate knowledge and experience in providing materials to industry or the Government. 2.Describe your ability to provide industrial products at a competitive price. 3.Describe the breadth of your products. 4.Describe your ability to consign and maintain minimum level of products and deliver within 30 days. 5.What is your company's standard commercial warranty period? 6.What is your company's standard return policy? All products shall satisfy requirements outlined the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), executive orders on environmental policy and other relevant procurement policies and initiatives. RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS GSA is seeking potential vendors capable of providing commercial products on a vendor-consigned basis to GSA in its OCONUS Global Supply store locations in Japan, Korea, and Africa. Interested vendors shall provide a response document based on the instructions provided below no later than Friday, November 4, 2016, by 12:00 PM EDT. Content Requirements Interested firms responding to this RFI notice must provide a Capability Statement demonstrating their experience, skills, and ability to fulfill the Government's objective described above. Capability Statements shall not exceed twenty (20) pages. Responses to the Part I and Part II questions are not included in this page limitation. PUBLIC RECORDS AND REQUESTS FOR CONFIDENTIALITY Any document submitted that contains confidential information must be marked on the outside as containing confidential information, and each page upon which confidential information appears must be marked as containing confidential information. The confidential information must be clearly identifiable to the reader wherever it appears. COPYRIGHTS By submitting a response, the vendor agrees that the Government may copy the response for purposes of facilitation of review or to respond to requests for public records. The vendor represents that such copying will not violated any copyrights in the materials submitted. CONTENT OF RESPONSES Responses should be based on the material contained in this RFI and any other relevant information the vendor thinks is appropriate. Responses will not be returned. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR TECHNICAL OR PRICE PROPOSALS.