Sources Sought Notice to 3PL firms for Transportation of Dry and Temperature-Controlled Food Products

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE. THIS NOTICE IS ISSUED FOR MARKET RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT, NOR IS IT A SOLICITATION OR REQUEST FOR OFFERS. The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to invite comments, suggestions, and questions concerning a potential decision to transition from FOB destination delivery to FOB origin delivery of dry and temperature-controlled food products and to gain knowledge of potential qualified transportation company size classifications and capabilities. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is conducting market research to identify qualified business(es) capable of providing transportation services between AMS contracted vendors and recipients of federally mandated Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) programs. Qualified business(es) must be able to accept and process orders from USDA's food ordering system, the Web Based Supply Chain Management system (WBSCM) and be responsible for all transportation functions for dry and/or temperature-controlled truckload commodities from AMS vendors to recipients. Qualified business(es) should also be able to add additional routes on an as-requested basis and support multi-stop direct deliveries. Please describe your firm's ability to provide this level of service, including past-experience in providing this service to customers. Please include specific information about your business's capability to provide these services on a national basis to all states within the continental United States. Note: AMS believes any future contract for FOB origin transportation services would include provisions for: - Transportation cost by dry truckload using route lanes of service. - Transportation cost by temperature-controlled truckload using route lanes of service. - Single out-of-route mileage rate for all multi stop shipments. - Stop charges on multi-stop deliveries - A standardized fuel surcharge matrix that would be provided by AMS - Provisions for special handling circumstances (such as damaged loads, etc.) - Pickup rescheduling fees In order to assess the competitive environment of this potential business decision, AMS requests that respondents provide the following information: 1) What is your company's business size (small or large) according to the following criteria? Criteria: Businesses with 27.5 million or less in annual revenue are considered small businesses. Businesses with greater than 27.5 million in annual revenue are considered large businesses. 2) Is you company capable of providing transportation services across the entire continental United States? 3) Is your company within a special socio-economic category as identified in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) relative to NAICS code 484121 (General Trucking, long distance freight), such as 8(a), HUBzone, SDVOSB, or WOSB Programs? If so, what is that designation? 4) Does your company have the capability of handling several hundred truckloads per quarter? Describe how you would move this volume. Specifically, would you use your own trucks or broker the transportation to other trucking companies? 5) What is your capability of reporting real time status of shipments to AMS? Describe your capability to manage data electronically, including shipment scheduling, delivery reporting invoicing, metric tracking, and any other pertinent data and information you see relevant. What is your capability to transmit and receive this information electronically to/from USDA's Web-Based Supply Chain Management System (WBSCM), which is based on SAP commercial software? 6) Describe your customer service process and how problem resolution resulting in customer satisfaction is conducted. (For example, how easy is it for the customer to get in contact with someone to discuss a problem, is there a specific process for tracking problems until resolution is achieved, how follow-up is handled and documented, how USDA will be notified, etc.) 7) What is your capability to manage a service account to handle all AMS transportation needs? Do you assign project managers and account teams to monitor and maintain the status of all deliveries? 8) Does your company take advantage of intermodal transportation methods to get the best rates available? If so, please describe in detail. 9) What is your company's experience in transporting food products? Please describe in detail. 10) Are there any additional comments or information concerning FOB origin delivery (such as potential requirements that haven't been identified in this RFI, specific capabilities that make your company stand out from other companies, or additional value-added services) that AMS might want to consider should the decision be made to pursue FOB origin delivery? Written responses to this RFI should be limited to 3 pages, e-mailed to the attention of James D. Sprandel, Contract Specialist at james.sprandel@ams.usda.gov. Please include "FOB Origin, RFI - Market Research" in the subject line. These responses must be received no later than January 10, 2019.