The following questions were submitted from interested vendors to this RFQ and answers are provided below. Deadline is extended to 8:00 am, 7/5/16, to allow time to adjust quotes as required when considering these responses. Any follow-up questions must be submitted no later than noontime on 6/24. 1. We usually certify our handlers to a another national K-9 organization which is the American Police Canine Association. It is the same standard as NAPWDA, is it mandatory that your handler receive the NAPWDA cert as on the request? Bottom line is that the training must meet these standards: a. Initial Training (1) Training shall be conducted by a competent, qualified narcotic detector canine trainer from an entity which utilizes a structured curriculum with specific training and learning objectives. (2) The narcotic detection training course shall include training the canine to detect marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and other substances as required to meet the mission, regional and operational deployment needs. (3) Training shall include varying quantities of the odors listed above. (4) Training shall include exposing the canine to a variety of different types of searches and locations. (5) The initial training should continue until the narcotic detection canine team is certified to the minimum standard in this policy paragraph 6 Narcotics Detection Training Requirements sub- paragraph b Canine/Handler Team Certification or deemed not certifiable. (6) Initial training shall represent all conditions that could be encountered during a certification process. b. Canine/Handler Team Certification (1) Certification for the named canine team shall be valid for one year. (2) Parameters of test (a) The narcotic detector canine shall be tested on the substance odors for which it is trained. (b) All odors for which the dog will be certified must be tested. (c) The test shall be designed to resemble normal operational searches by using vehicles, buildings, parcels, luggage, etc. to conceal substances. (d) Certification testing shall be conducted with no less than 5 grams of the actual substance to be detected. (e) The test shall include a variety of searches designed to evaluate the canine's ability to recognize the odor, respond to the odor and the handler's ability to recognize this response. (f) The test shall include scenarios resembling searches within the normal operational environment and include at least 3 different searches (see categories below) designed to evaluate the canine's ability to recognize the odor, respond to the odor and the handler's ability to recognize this response. Not all odors will necessarily be in each type of search and some search areas shall contain no odors (blanks). Types of searches and maximum search times are listed below: 1 Parcels searches with 4 articles per odor used will take no more than 1 minute to search 4 parcels. 2 Baggage searches with 4 articles per odor used will take no more than 1 minute to search 4 bags. 3 Building/room searches (the room may contain zero to three aids depending upon the size and environmental conditions. Rooms that are 200- 1200 sq. ft. with furniture should take 1.5 minute per 100 sq.ft. Training aids will not be placed above 6 feet from the ground and shall not be placed more than 1 feet deep. 4 Motor vehicle searches including interiors and exteriors (4 vehicles per search using passenger cars and trucks, 3 minutes per vehicle). (g) The dog/handler team must demonstrate the ability to detect all trained odors. (h) For successful certification, the canine/handler team shall achieve at least a 90% confirmed alert and no more than two false alerts. For successful certification a positive alert is defined as the trained detection alert in the presence of the target odor. The alert rate is calculated as the number of positive alerts divided by the number of available targets. For example, if the certification has ten target odors and the canine team identifies nine odors, it will have achieved a 90% positive alert rate. A false alert is defined as an alert in the absence of the target odor in the immediate vicinity. (i) A canine team which fails the certification process shall complete a corrective action plan before making another attempt to certify. (3) Use of distracters (a) Natural distracters are normally present in the testing area. (b) Placement of distracters in the certification area is required when no natural distracters are present. (c) Care must be taken not to place artificial distractions in a manner that causes contamination of the test substance odor. (4) Certification will not be conducted in areas in which narcotics detection canine teams have recently trained or certified. (5) Certification for narcotic detection dogs will be comprised of a comprehensive assessment. (a) The handler shall be advised of the parameters of the search, yet shall not know the desired outcome. (b) The handler shall not know the number or placement of the target objects. (c) The evaluating official shall know the desired outcome of the search. (d) The assessments shall include a blank search. 2. Will your handler be commuting or lodging with us for the full duration of K-9 school, which runs Monday through Friday? If the training facility is within 50 miles of Cumberland, RI, the handler would be expected to commute for the entire duration. 3. Will your supervisor who you select also be attending and lodging for the entire school or as selected and agreed upon? We currently do not have a supervisor selected (currently recruiting). As such, I am not sure where the supervisor will reside. In either case, we do not expect the vendor to provide lodging. If upon selecting the instructor we determine that lodging is required, we (VA) will arrange for lodging as we normally do for most of our other trainings outside the commuting distance. This lodging would not be the responsibility of the vendor.
