The U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Senior Procurement Executive (OSPE), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (OASAM), Washington, DC is seeking information on behalf of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for cafeteria services.
CONTRACTING OFFICE ADDRESS: U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Office of the Senior Procurement Executive (OSPE), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (OASAM) located at 200 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC 20210.
INTRODUCTION:
The mission of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is to protect the safety and health of the nation’s miners. The Mine Safety and Health Academy in Beaver, West Virginia, requires a contractor who can establish and operate in the contractor's name the food service facilities for the purpose of dispensing food, nonalcoholic beverages and such other items as may be authorized by the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR).
The National Mine Health and Safety Academy (Academy) is a residential training facility operated by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). It is the world’s largest facility devoted to health and safety in mining. It is a central training facility for Federal mine safety and health inspectors, mine safety professionals, other government agencies, the mining industry and labor. The National Mine Health and Safety Academy was constructed on 74 acres in the early 1970s with the intent to provide a self-contained training facility for the Agency and the mining industry. Mining professionals from across the United States and many foreign countries come to the Academy for health and safety training. The Academy complex, which opened in 1976, consists of 15 buildings, eight of which are inter-connected, making up 388,110 square feet and includes classrooms and laboratories accommodating 600 students, a residence hall of 174 lodging rooms, a cafeteria, a library, auditorium, and wellness facilities.
This food service will operate primarily for the students but there are approximately 150 building occupants. The Academy has visitors during the day that attend short seminars, on-site meetings and other functions. These visitors have access to the food service but may not necessary “overlap” the breakfast or lunch period.
REQUIREMENT DESCRIPTION:
The scope of this contract will include cafeteria facility management functions such as procuring food, receiving and storage of food, food preparation, food serving, and facility sanitation services. The vendor will also be responsible for vending machines and the student store.
The Contractor shall establish and operate the food service facilities described herein for the purpose of dispensing food, nonalcoholic beverages, supporting catering events as requested and such other items as may be authorized by the contracting officer (CO) or Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract. The contractor shall, an all respects, conduct the food service operation in accordance with all accepted industry practices and comply with all local, state and federal health regulations. The Contractor shall provide prompt, efficient, and courteous service, and avoid undue interference with the operation of buildings in which services are provided.
Service Schedule.
Food services will be provided 5 days per week, Monday through Friday (except for holidays observed by the Federal Government) at a minimum for the below listed hours. The food service will remain open daily until 1pm for student classroom breaks. If requested for afternoon classroom breaks, coordination with food service director and COR is required. The schedule is as follows:
Period Opening Closing
Breakfast 6:15 AM 8:00 AM
Lunch 11:30 AM 1:00 PM
Dinner (Optional) 5:30PM 7:00 PM
On weekends, Saturday and Sunday, when requested by the Government, cafeteria services will be provided as follows:
Period Opening Closing
Breakfast 6:30 AM 8:30 AM
Lunch 12:00 PM 2:00 PM
Dinner (Optional) 5:30PM 7:00 PM
The above hours are minimum hours to which the Contractor must adhere. If the Contractor wants to extend the service schedule to increase its financial viability, the hours can be extended. Changes must be requested in accordance with modification to service schedule. The Contractor has the option of opening for the dinner period to increase its financial viability without a financial guarantee from the Government.
Alcoholic beverages (beer and wine) may be served 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM, Monday through Friday, and 12:00pm to 7:00 PM Saturday and Sunday. These beverages may be required by MSHA and other catered events specific to special events. This is optional if the food service is requested to be open by the CO or COR or specific events.
The number of meals served vary due to variations in student and staff being on site. See attached spreadsheet showing historical numbers for 2023 and 2024.
Location:
National Mine Health and Safety Academy, 1301 Airport Road, Beaver, WV 25813
Cafeteria and Kitchen
The kitchen and cafeteria are located on the first-floor level
Seating Capacity
Approximately 275 seats.
Access to Building
The Academy allows convenient access to the food service level to visitors that have a valid driver’s license or other form of identification. All visitors must pass thru the security guard at the entrance gates.
It is estimated the cafeteria will be closed 9-10 weeks a year due to low student count. Those weeks generally fall during the weeks of Government holidays but may include other weeks due to low students counts. These weeks will be determined prior to exercising each option and added via modification. These weeks are also subject to change with two weeks’ notice to the contractor. The base year of the contract the following weeks will be closed:
- May 25, 2025 – May 31, 2025
- June 15, 2025- June 21, 2025
- June 29, 2025- July 5, 2025
- August 31, 2025- September 6, 2025
- November 9, 2025- November 15, 2025
- November 23,2025- November 29, 2025
- December 20, 2025-December 26, 2025
- December 27, 2025-January 3, 2026
- January 18, 2026- January 24, 2026
The anticipated Period of Performance will be as follows:
Base period: March 27, 2025-March 26, 2026
Option Period I: March 27, 2026-March 26, 2027
Option Period II: March 27, 2027-March 26, 2028
Option Period III: March 27, 2028-March 26, 2029
Option Period IV: March 27, 2029-March 26, 2030
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
STAFFING AND QUALIFICATIONS
The Government requires that all food service employees have a certified food hander’s card as required by the Raleigh County Health Department.
The Contractor is required to provide a professional, full-time, qualified food service person to act as the project manager of the food service facility. The Contractor's manager will be delegated the authority, and shall be able to effectively manage the day-to-day operation of the food service relative to supervision of personnel and training, execution of the Contractor’s proposal, menu planning, purchasing, cost control, sanitation, and customer satisfaction, etc. The manager/alternate must be onsite when the food service is open for the entirety of this contract.
ATTENTION: Please complete and return the below questionnaire with your response.
INDUSTRY FEEDBACK:
This is a REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to obtain industry’s feedback on the anticipated scope of work, potential cost, and performance risks as well as any other related considerations for the required services (see attached “DRAFT” Requirements Document).
Attachment 1: Market Research Questionnaire:
Please review and respond to the following questions regarding business size.
- Please indicate your business classification for NAICS code 722310 – Food Service Contractors (Size Standard of $47 Million) below:
Small Business Other Than Small Business
- If your business classification is Small Business, do you anticipate remaining under the size standard for the next five years?
Yes No
- If your business classification is Small Business, do you qualify under any of the following certification programs and socio-economic categories?
HUBZone
Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)
Women Owned Small Business (WOSB)
8(a)
- Do you provide cafeteria services via a GSA Schedule? If so, please provide your GSA Schedule number, the contract expiration date, and the possible ultimate completion date:
GSA Schedule # _____________________
Contract Expiration: _____________________
Ultimate Completion Date: ____________________
Please respond to the following questions:
1. Provide your technical comments and recommendations on elements of the attached “Draft” Performance Work Statement that appear vague. This will assist in development of a well-defined requirement and ensure a more accurate quote submission.
2. For these particular services, please describe the experience you have in performing the required cafeteria services.
3. The Government’s goal is to award firm fixed price contracts to the maximum extent possible. The Government intends to award the routine services required for this effort using a minimum fixed monthly price. Other services that will be used only upon request will be priced with an established Not to Exceed amount. A draft CLIN structure is attached identifying how we plan to solicit quotes and structure the resulting award. If you have alternate recommendations regarding the structure of this requirement, please provide them in sufficient detail for the Government to understand and consider.
4. Within the common contracts you currently have for these services, what are some of the standard performance measures utilized (i.e., tracking, ordering, and ensuring timeliness of food deliveries, cleanliness of the facility, selecting nutritional menu items, etc.).
5. Are there any potential risks related to performance or cost given this scope of work? If so, please identify and provide recommendations for risk mitigation.
6. What are the key cost drivers?
7. The Government has determined NAICS Code 722310 – Food Service Contractors - to be the most appropriate for this requirement. If there is another NAICS code that your company would recommend as appropriate for this type of work, please provide it.
8. Please provide details regarding potential joint ventures, teaming arrangements, strategic alliances, or other business arrangements to satisfy requirements. Offerors are encouraged to identify teams, indicating each team member's size based upon the NAICS code of the work that the team member may be doing and provide size status information.
9. Is your company anticipating subcontracting to satisfy requirements? If so, identify the anticipated subcontracting efforts and the types of the work the subcontractor would be performing. If your company is a large business, how successful have you been in meeting small business subcontracting goals?
10. What, if any, recommendations can your company provide that are innovative and cost saving on these types of projects?
SUBMISSION DETAILS:
Submissions shall reference RFI - Cafeteria Services in the subject line.
Interested parties who wish to respond to this RFI should send responses via email no later than Tuesday, November 19, 2024, 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) to Contract Specialist Rhonda Sizemore at Sizemore.Rhonda@dol.gov.
Interested parties should respond to the areas of concerns cited under the “INDUSTRY FEEDBACK” section of this document. No page limitations for responses.
Questions and comments regarding this requirement will be accepted and reviewed. The Government will provide answers if the Government determines responses are warranted.
Submissions must include:
- Company Capabilities Statement
- Responses to all questions cited in “Industry Feedback” section of this RFI
- Business name and address
- Name of company representative and their business title
- Type of Business
- Business Size
- Socio-economic Status; and
- UEI Number
PROPRIETARY INFORMATION:
Proprietary information and trade secrets, if any, must be clearly marked on all materials. All information received that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. All government personnel reviewing the RFI responses understand their responsibility for proper use and protection from unauthorized disclosure of proprietary information as described 41 USC 423.
The Government shall not be held liable for any damages incurred if proprietary information is not properly identified.
DISCLAIMER:
THIS RFI IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTES/PROPOSALS. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION AND SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT. RESPONSES IN ANY FORM ARE NOT OFFERS AND THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT AS A RESULT OF THIS POSTING. NO FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE TO PAY FOR PREPARATION OF RESPONSES TO THIS POSTING. ANY INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY RESPONDENTS TO THIS TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY.
Attachments:
- Draft Performance Work Statement
- Historical Information for 2023-2024
- Draft CLIN structure
