900963 Office Supplies Addendum 9-16

County of Alameda, General Services Agency – Purchasing

RFQ No. 900977, Addendum No. 2

COUNTY OF ALAMEDA

ADDENDUM No. 3

to

RFQ No. 900963

for

Office Supplies

Specification Clarification/Modification and Recap of the Networking/Bidders Conferences

Held on August 14, 2014 and August 18, 2014

***RevisedEXHIBIT A, BID RESPONSE PACKET ATTACHED***

Alameda County is committed to reducing environmental impacts across our entire supply chain.

If printing this document, please print only what you need, print double-sided, and use recycled-content paper.

RFQ No. 900977, Addendum No. 2

Page 1

The following Sections have been modified to read as shown below. Changes made to the original RFQ document are in bold print and highlighted, and deletions made have a strike through.

The RFQ coversheet has been modified to read as follows:

**IMPORTANT NOTICE**

STRATEGIC SOURCING CONTRACT

• Bid pricing must be completed online through Alameda County Strategic Sourcing Portal (Online Bid Process).
• The following pages require signatures and must be scanned and uploaded to Alameda County Online Bid Process:

1. REVISEDExhibit A – Bid Response Packet, Bidder Information and Acceptance page
2. Must be signed by Bidder
3. Exhibit A – Bid Response Packet, SLEB Partnering Information Sheet
4. Must be signed by Bidder
5. Must be signed by SLEB Partner if subcontracting to a SLEB

1. REVISED Exhibit A – Bid Response Packet, SLEB Information Sheet, must be completed and signed by Bidder.

Page 6, Section C (Background), has been modified to read as follows:

C.BACKGROUND

The County of Alameda has more than 9,000 employees in more than 21 agencies and departments located in approximately 169 leased and owned facilities.

Alameda County requires inside delivery of office supplies to an estimated 158 distinct street addresses. This estimate is based on ship to addresses used for office supply purchases during the year (7/01/2012 - 6/30/2013). One street address may have multiple delivery locations. The awarded contractor(s) shall invoice accurately and separately each of the 28 County Business Units and their departments. Some locations, such as the County Administration Building, require delivery personnel and their packages to pass through security inspections.

The County spent approximately $1,333,500$1,735,589 for fiscal year 20122014 on Office Supplies, placing 33,50037,892 orders for a quantity of 135,200158,644 items and over 8,000 products, an average of 3,157 lines ordered per month. Actual dollar volume is not guaranteed and may be more or less.

Alameda County has a strong commitment to sustainability. The Board of Supervisors has passed numerous policies that promote purchasing practices that reduce the County’s environmental impact, including the Climate Action Plan (R-2010-170) and the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy (R-2011-108). As part of this commitment, Alameda County intends to partner with the selected vendor to identify and implement actions that will conserve natural resources, create markets for recycled content products, and reduce pollution, water use and greenhouse gas emissions related to the products and services provided as part of this contract.

Page 8, Section E (Specific Requirements), Item 3, has been modified to read as follows:

3.Contractor’s Office Supplies Catalog

Bidder(s) must provide at least one (1) copy of each of its own full line catalog(s) that include the full array of products offered with bid response. This catalog(s) should contain pictures of the items, catalog numbers, suggested list (retail) prices and brand names. Bidder(s) must also provide access to Bidder’s online website, if available, for County review.

a. Online Catalog for County Office Products

(1)A catalog shall be provided by the contractor for all contract products at no cost to the County. This catalog shall be customized to the County’scontract to show products awarded under this contract and clearly indicate green products. Pricing listed shall be the County’s contract pricing, and shall be the amount invoiced to departments ordering the contract products.

(2)The online catalog shall be updated as needed to reflect product and pricing changes.

(3) The County customized online catalog must be accessible and viewable by all County employees, but shall limit ordering to authorized individuals.

(4)The County customized online catalog must have a hard block feature, whereby individual products that are excluded from this contract may not be ordered. See Excluded Items (Hard Block), page 11, for a list of items excluded from this contract.

(5)The County customized online catalog must have a soft block feature, whereby green products are suggested as an equivalent alternative when a targeted product is selected by a user.

(6)The catalog must clearly identify green products. Green products are ones that meet environmental criteria such as post-consumer recycled content, energy efficiency, reduced toxicity, or reduced waste. See Exhibit E – Environmental Criteria for a list of environmental criteria as defined by the County.

(7)The contractor shall continually seek new green products that are equivalent in quality and cost to traditional products to add to the County’s contract catalog. General Services Agency (GSA)-Procurement & Support Services and Sustainability shall be notified on a quarterly basis of new environmentally preferable products that the contractor has added, or is planning to add, to the catalog.

(8)The contractor(s) shall obtain final, signed approval by the County for the online catalog. At the time of award a suitable and adequate timeline for the design and construction of the online catalog shall be established by the contractor and the County.

(9)The catalog shall include a search function that allows users to use key environmental criteria terms to search for products with those features (e.g., recycled notebook returns search results of notebooks with recycled content).

(10)The catalog search function shall prioritize general product search results by listing contracted items and green product alternatives before off-contract items. For example, a search for Notebook returns contracted notebooks and both on-and-off-contract environmentally preferable alternatives ahead of off-contract notebooks.

(11)To assure maximum accessibility and functionality to the online catalog, the County discourages the use of pop-up windows.

(12)Hard Copy Catalog for County Office Products

(a)The contractor shall provide a copy of their full-line hard copy catalog to departments upon request.

(b)When requested to provide a hard copy catalog, the contractor shall also provide a copy of their green products catalog, if available.

(c)All hard copy catalogs shall be printed double sided on a minimum of 10% post-consumer recycled content paper.

(d)Printed catalog revisions with updated pricing and new product offerings shall be made annually and distributed automatically to all users that have previously requested one.

(e)Care must be exercised to ensure that catalogs clearly identify the contract products, the package quantity, the ordering units, whether the product is green as defined in this bid, and the post-consumer recycled content percentage, if applicable.

(f)The contractor(s) shall obtain final, signed approval by the County for the hard copy catalog. At the time of award a suitable and adequate timeline for the design and construction of the hard copy catalog shall be established by the contractor and the County.

Page 21, Section K (Brand Names and Approved Equivalents), has been deleted:

K.BRAND NAMES AND APPROVED EQUIVALENTS

1. Any references to manufacturers, trade names, brand names and/or catalog numbers are intended to be descriptive, but not restrictive, unless otherwise stated, and are intended to indicate the quality level desired. Bidders may offer any equivalent product that meets or exceeds the specifications. Bids based on equivalent products must:

1. Clearly describe the alternate offered and indicate how it differs from the product specified; and

1. Include complete descriptive literature and/or specifications as proof that the proposed alternate will be equal to or better than the product named in this bid as PDF attachments to your online bid submission.

1. The County reserves the right to be the sole judge of what is equal and acceptable and may require Bidder to provide additional information and/or samples.

1. If Bidder does not specify otherwise, it is understood that the referenced brand will be supplied.

Page 28, Section T (Submittal of Bids), has been modified to read as follows:

T. SUBMITTAL OF BIDS

1. All bids must be completed and successfully downloaded through the Alameda County online bid process BY 2:00 p.m. on the due date specified in the Calendar of Events. Technical difficulties in downloading/submitting documents through the Alameda County online bid process shall not extend the due date and time.
2. Bidders must also submit an attached electronic copy of their proposal. The electronic copy must be in a single file (MS Excel, version XP or more recent), and shall be an exact scanned image of the original electronic Exhibit E – Bid Response Spreadsheet, including additional required documentation.
3. No email (electronic) or facsimile bids will be considered.
4. All costs required for the preparation and submission of a bid shall be borne by Bidder.
5. Only one bid response will be accepted from any one person, partnership, corporation, or other entity; however, several alternatives may be included in one response. For purposes of this requirement, “partnership” shall mean, and is limited to, a legal partnership formed under one or more of the provisions of the California or other state’s Corporations Code or an equivalent statute.
6. All other information regarding the bid responses will be held as confidential until such time as the General Services Agency has completed its evaluation, a recommendation to award has been made by the General Services Agency, and the contract has been fully negotiated with the intended awardee named in the recommendation to award/non-award notification(s). The submitted proposals shall be made available upon request no later than five (5) calendar days before the recommendation to award and enter into a contract by the General Services Agency. All parties submitting proposals, either qualified or unqualified, will receive mailed recommend to award/non-award notification(s), which will include the name of the bidder to be recommended for award of this project. In addition, award information will be posted on the County’s “Contracting Opportunities” website, mentioned above.
7. Each bid received, with the name of the bidder, shall be entered on a record, and each record with the successful bid indicated thereon shall, after the award of the order or contract, be open to public inspection.
8. California Government Code Section 4552: In submitting a bid to a public purchasing body, the bidder offers and agrees that if the bid is accepted, it will assign to the purchasing body all rights, title, and interest in and to all causes of action it may have under Section 4 of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 15) or under the Cartwright Act (Chapter 2, commencing with Section 16700, of Part 2 of Division 7 of the Business and Professions Code), arising from purchases of goods, materials, or services by the bidder for sale to the purchasing body pursuant to the bid. Such assignment shall be made and become effective at the time the purchasing body tenders final payment to the bidder.
9. Bidder expressly acknowledges that it is aware that if a false claim is knowingly submitted (as the terms “claim” and “knowingly” are defined in the California False Claims Act, Cal. Gov. Code, §12650 et seq.), County will be entitled to civil remedies set forth in the California False Claim Act. It may also be considered fraud and the contractor may be subject to criminal prosecution.
10. The undersigned Bidder certifies that it is, at the time of bidding, and shall be throughout the period of the contract, licensed by the State of California to do the type of work required under the terms of the Contract Documents. Bidder further certifies that it is regularly engaged in the general class and type of work called for in the Bid Documents.
11. The undersigned Bidder certifies that it is not, at the time of bidding, on the California Department of General Services (DGS) list of persons determined to be engaged in investment activities in Iran or otherwise in violation of the Iran Contracting Act of 2010 (Public Contract Code Section 2200-2208).

12. It is understood that County reserves the right to reject this bid and that the bid shall remain open to acceptance and is irrevocable for a period of one hundred eighty (180) days, unless otherwise specified in the Bid Documents.

13.Bidders must insert a percentage discount off the published vendor’s catalog price for each non-core product category, which are listed as separate questions on the bid event:

1. Binders and binding supplies,
2. Filing and storage supplies,
3. Calendars, planners & organizers,
4. Labels and label makers,
5. Envelopes and shipping supplies,
6. Staplers, hole punches, etc.,
7. Desk accessories,
8. Batteries and electrical supplies, and
9. Pens, pencils, and markers.

RFQ No. 900963, Addendum No. 3

Page 1

Responses to Questions

Q1)Small/regional office supply dealers rely on large wholesalers (i.e. United Stationers and SP Richards) to fulfill a large percentage of their order. If a qualified, registered Small Local Emerging Business (SLEB) were to respond to your Request for Quotation (RFQ) with the intention of using Office Depot as their fulfiller, would the County accept that scenario?

A1) This bid does not request any information about the identification of the SLEB vendor’s wholesaler/supplier. If Office Depot distributes products or sells at wholesale prices to the Contractor, that relationship between Office Depot and the Contractor does not concern the County.

Q2)Some items on the bid list were customized products and only the incumbent can know the true price. Competitors’ prices will be low, inflating the bid of the incumbent. How can this be addressed?

A2) Attached is a REVISED EXHIBIT A, BID RESPONSE PACKET, page 6, Alameda County Online Bid Process, Online Bid Process,which has been amended and custom products have been removed.

Q3)Have there been any updates to the SLEB requirement for a company that is merged?

A3) This bid requires that the company submitting the bid is SLEB certified. Any award will be to a SLEB certified vendor.

Q4)SLEB Award: The RFQ language states to be considered for the contract award, a minimum of 20% of the total award must be provided by a SLEB. This would suggest that a second (non-SLEB) supplier could be awarded the remaining 80%. This would result in two (2) awards, and two (2) contracts. Per the firstbidders’ conference on Thursday, August 14, 2014, the contract will be awarded 100% to a SLEB supplier. Would the County please clarify?

A)The above RFQ language has been removed from the cover page. The prime contractor must be SLEB certified, and there will be no need for a SLEB partner.

Q5)Off-Contract Pricing: Will the County accept list less discounts by product category (i.e. “X’% off writing instruments, “Y”% off pads & tables) vs. a single list less discount for all off-contract items?

A5) Yes. Bids must include a percentage discount off list price for each of the following nine (9) categories of non-core products: 1. Binders and binding supplies, 2. Filing and storage supplies, 3. Calendars, planners & organizers, 4. Labels and label makers, 5. Envelopes and shipping supplies, 6. Staplers, hole punches, etc., 7. Desk accessories, 8. Batteries and electrical supplies, and 9. Pens, pencils, and markers. Please see revision above for Page 28, Section T (Submittal of Bids).

Q6)Off-Contract Pricing: Will the County accept “X” discount on all items in a select catalog and “Y” discount for all other items, or “X” discount on in-stock and “Y” discount on wholesaler items, and will the County require bidders to quantify the number of SKU’s being discounted?

A)No. Regardless of the manufacturer, bids must include a percentage discount off list price for each of the following 9 categories of non-core products,: 1. Binders and binding supplies, 2. Filing and storage supplies, 3. Calendars, planners & organizers, 4. Labels and label makers, 5. Envelopes and shipping supplies, 6. Staplers, hole punches, etc., 7. Desk accessories, 8. Batteries and electrical supplies, and 9. Pens, pencils, and markers.

Q7)Custom Hard Copy Catalog: Will the County accept a full-line color catalog with an insert containing the County’s core list items and all the required data?

A7) The County will accept a full-line color catalog if it meets all other bid specifications.

Q8)Catalog Items: Is there a minimum number of items that need to be in the hard copy/ virtual catalog?

A8) The 1,500 core items, plus a full-line of office products,need to be included in all catalogs.

Q9)Page 6, Section E (SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS), Item 1.a., states:

Bidder shall provide fixed pricing for the office supplies specified in the Alameda County Online Bid Process bid form. Prices will be fixed for three (3) years.

Page 22, Section M (PRICING), Item 1, states:

The contract pricing may be adjusted annually based on the increase or decrease in the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) () tables under the all items index: for the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, areafor the most recently published percentage change for the twelve-month period preceding the contract anniversary date, which shall be the effective date for any rate adjustment or 3%, whichever of the two (2) rates is lower.