A-E MATOCS - MVD Upper Three Districts - $200 Mil Capacity

12/20/2023 - Updated to include changes in response to vendor questions. 12/19/2023 - Updated to include changes in response to vendor questions. 12/14/2023 - Description updated to include changes in response to vendor questions. CONTRACT INFORMATION: This Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) is being procured in accordance with the Brooks Architect-Engineer (A-E) Act as implemented in FAR Subpart 36.6. Firms will be selected for negotiation based on demonstrated competence and qualifications for the required work. A-E services are required for an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to provide for the primary disciplines of structural, civil, geotechnical, geology, hydraulic, hydrologic, mechanical, electrical, surveying, architecture, and cost engineering. However, other disciplines that may be required include, but are not limited to: landscape architecture, construction engineering, environmental engineering, and cartography. It is anticipated that these contracts will be awarded no earlier than May 2024. This announcement may result in a target of five (5) awards. If concurrent multiple contract awards are made, task orders will be allocated based upon the Contracting Officer's determination of performance; the special qualifications of the firms; the nature of the work involved in the task order; the capacity of the firms to accomplish the work in the required time; and knowledge of the region. In the final selection process, the most highly qualified firms may be interviewed. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this action is 541330 and the Small Business size standard is $25.5 million in average annual receipts. The period for these contracts is five (5) years. The combined capacity of these MATOCs will be $200 million. The most highly qualified firms based on the evaluation of the primary selection criteria presented in the SF 330s will be requested to provide a firm fixed price proposal. If necessary, secondary selection criteria will be used as a tie breaker between firms considered as technically equal. The Government will consider the following factors, in order of importance, in deciding which firms are the most highly qualified will be selected to negotiate a contract: professional qualifications; specialized experience and technical competence; capacity to accomplish the work; past performance; and knowledge of locality. If secondary criteria become necessary due to a tie(s) amongst the most highly qualified firms, the following factors, in order of importance shall be used: geographic proximity of firm relative to the worksite; volume of past DOD contract awarded to firm; and Small Business (SB) and Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) participation. The wages and benefits of service employees (see FAR 22.10) performing under this contract must be at least equal to those determined by the Department of Labor under the Service Contract Act as determined by the employee's office location (not the location of the work). All personnel rates, inclusive of overhead, will be negotiated for the contract period at the time of the original award. 2. PROJECT INFORMATION: A-E services are required for various civil works projects and support for other agencies. The primary A-E service capabilities desired include the following types of projects and related skills and experience: a. Inland Navigation Projects: Rehabilitation work may include projects such as, but not limited to, the repair and replacement of deteriorated concrete, structural features; machinery and electrical systems; lock and dam gates including miter, sector, tainter, vertical lift, slide and roller gates; general improvement and modernization of the facility, and scour remediation. New facility work includes, but is not limited to, the design of both in-the-dry and in-the-wet lock chambers along with the appurtenant structural, geotechnical, mechanical, electrical and architectural structures and equipment such as concrete lockwalls and guidewalls, sheet pile cofferdams, earthen cofferdams, miter/lock gates, culvert valves, dam gates, machinery systems (including electromechanical and hydraulic), hardwired (relay based logic) and PLC electrical controls, and control buildings. b. Flood Risk Management Projects: Projects such as, but not limited to, levee, floodwall, pumping station, and channel projects. Specific projects may include the rehabilitation of existing flood risk management systems; the formulation, conceptual design, and final design of new flood management systems (including all environmental aspects) involving primarily riverine and coastal flooding, and assessments of existing flood risk management systems. Rehabilitation work may include design improvements to meet desired outcomes such as increased resiliency, reduced risk, higher levels-of-protection, improved operation, and recreational and aesthetic enhancements. New protection systems may involve floodwall and levee designs along with conceptual design formulations and analysis; civil site layout; utility and roadway relocations; roadway or railroad closure gates, berms, relief wells, interior drainage structures; and pumping stations. Assessments will include inspection and investigation of existing flood risk management systems for condition evaluation and compliance with levee safety standards. c. Ecosystem Restoration Projects: Projects include island building, construction of fish passages, floodplain restoration, water level management, backwater restoration, side channel restoration, wing dam and dike restoration and modification, island and shoreline protection, topographical diversity, and dredge material placement for environmental purposes. 3. SELECTION CRITERIA: The specific selection criteria (a through e are primary and f through h are secondary and will only be used as a tie-breaker) in descending order of importance are as follows and must be documented in the SF330. Letters of commitment shall be submitted if credit for the experience and past performance of key subcontractors is desired. a. Professional Qualifications. The selected firm must have, either in-house or through consultants, the following registered professionals: (1) Structural; (2) Mechanical; (3) Electrical; (4) Geotechnical; (5) Civil; (6) Geologist; (7) Hydrologic and Hydraulic; (8) Cost Engineers; (9) Land Surveyor; and (10) Architects. Project Managers must be identified and have at least five (5) years of relevant experience and possess a professional license in Engineering or Architecture. Other required experienced personnel include Specification Writers; CADD Technicians/Operators, Lab technicians, GIS Technicians. The Evaluation Team will consider education, training, registration, overall and relevant experience and longevity with the firm of key personnel who will be assigned to this contract. Resumes contained in Standard Form (SF) 330, Part I, Section E, Page 2 shall be completed for each discipline and show relevant education and training, intended contract's role(s) to be filled by person, as well as experience both past and recent (within the last ten (10) years). Resumes shall not exceed 5 pages. Note: one individual possessing the required expertise of more than one contract role is acceptable, but the resume must clearly demonstrate meeting the required length of experience of each contract role via documented assignments/experience. If the resume submitted exceeds the page limitation of 5 pages, only the first 5 pages will be reviewed. b. Specialized Experience and Technical Competence: The categories for specialized experience and technical competence are further described below: Submit a minimum of eight (8) and a maximum of ten (10) projects. Project submissions shall have been completed within the last ten years. Each project submission is limited to three pages. If a project submitted exceeds the page limitation of three pages, only the first three pages will be reviewed by the Evaluation Team. The projects shall be of the following type and size: Type of Project Number of Projects Extra Consideration May be Given for Construction Contract Costs Inland Navigation 4 >$25 M Flood Risk Management 2 >$10 M Ecosystem Restoration 2 >$10 M A project is defined as a stand-alone contract or task order(s) for a single project. For example, separate task orders issued for a Preliminary Engineering Report, Feasibility Study, and Design for rehabilitation of a dam would count as one project example instead of three examples. An IDIQ Base contract does NOT count as a project as it typically covers multiple projects. All projects shall be clearly annotated with applicable A-E firms from the proposed team that performed the work. All pages shall be numbered sequentially either for the entire package or within each Section. Project summaries shall document breadth and depth of expertise and technical competence that the A-E specifically exhibited for the following evaluation criteria listed below in descending order of importance: I. Experience preparing contract plans and specifications for Engineering and Architectural Design projects of the following types: 1. Inland navigation: The Contractor should possess experience in lift-in and other prefabrication methods to construct inland marine structures and familiarity with wintertime construction practices. The Contractor should possess experience in hydraulic steel structures analysis and design to potentially include expertise in fracture and fatigue design, detailing, site inspections, and fabrication inspection. The Contractor should possess experience with geology and the design of soil and rock bearing structures founded on piles, footings, mats, and drilled shafts. The Contractor should possess experience with temporary shoring during construction. Contractor should possess experience with design of mechanical and electrical systems for locks and dams. Contractor should also possess experience in Finite Element Modeling of hydraulic structures and hydraulic gates. The Contractor should be able to perform numerical modeling for riverine and hydraulic structures at locks and dams. The Contractor should possess experience in sediment transport modeling for navigation projects. 2. Flood risk management: The Contractor should possess experience with hydraulics and hydrology including interior and coastal flood control analysis and sediment transport modeling for flood risk management and analysis projects. The Contractor should possess experience in pumping station design and layout including mechanical, electrical, structural, geotechnical, architectural, and civil. 3. Ecosystem restoration: The Contractor should have experience with designing ecosystem restoration projects on large rivers such as the Mississippi to include such items as riprap placement, dredging, material placement, vegetation planting, and general riverine construction methodologies. The Contractor should possess experience in pumping station design and layout including mechanical, electrical, structural, geotechnical, architectural, and civil. 4. Additional consideration may be given to projects designed for USACE. Additional consideration will be given based on technical complexity. II. Experience preparing engineering planning reports such as reconnaissance, feasibility, flood risk management feasibility, navigation rehabilitation evaluation, formulation, and conceptual design, general reevaluation, and design documentation reports. III. Capability to deliver CADD files in the Bentley MicroStation format. IV. Quality management procedures to include Quality Control Plans and Project Management Plans V. Construction cost estimation and preparation of estimates using the most current MII version of MCACES. VI. Construction specification writing and preparation of specifications using SpecsIntact. VII. Demonstrated success in prescribing the use of recovered materials and achieving waste reduction and energy efficiency. c. CAPACITY TO ACCOMPLISH THE WORK: Firms must have the capacity to proceed with work and accomplish it in accordance with scheduled completion dates. In a written narrative, the A-E should demonstrate their (1) ability to meet overall project schedules and certain phase schedules and (2) ability to accomplish multiple task orders simultaneously in a one-year contract period for delivery of a quality product on a timely schedule, (3) and capacity to perform up to $40,000,000 in work over the life of the contract, 5 years. The evaluation will consider the availability of an adequate number of key personnel, equipment availability and the extent of in-house facilities, versus subcontracting needs. This information must be included in the SF 330 Section H. d. PAST PERFORMANCE: Past Performance on DOD and other contracts with respect to quality of work, cost control and compliance with performance schedules will be reviewed. Firms should submit a one-page narrative form and Past Performance data for each project submitted in Section F under Specialized Experience and Technical Competence. The firm shall provide past performance data with respect to cost control, quality of work and compliance with performance schedules, as determined from Past Performance Questionnaires (PPQs), CPARS data, credible documentation included in the SF 330 Section H and other sources. CPARS ratings do not need to be provided with the SF330 submission as the Government will retrieve this information from CPARS with the CAGE number provided. If a firm desires to submit Past Performance Questionnaires, they shall complete Part I of the Past Performance Questionnaire, send it to the customers for these projects to complete Part II of the Past Performance Questionnaire, request that it be returned to the firm, and submit it with the SF330 submission. Past Performance Questionnaires will not count towards the page limit. A blank Past Performance Questionnaire can be found attached to this synopsis/solicitation. The contractor shall provide the Point of Contact Names and Telephone Numbers (Point of Contacts should be verified as those individuals may be contacted) and full contract number and task order number (if applicable). Lack of available data will not be evaluated negatively. The evaluation board may seek additional information on past performance from other sources. e. KNOWLEDGE OF LOCALITY: Extra consideration may be given for projects completed in the district boundaries of St. Paul District, Rock Island District, and St. Louis District. SECONDARY CRITERIA, WILL BE USED IF NECESSARY: f. GEOGRAPHIC PROXIMITY OF FIRM RELATIVE TO THE WORKSITE: Additional consideration may be given to firms based in or having branch offices in the upper Midwest provided there is an adequate number of qualified firms for consideration. Office locations shall be provided in SF 330 Section H. g. VOLUME OF PAST DOD CONTRACTS AWARDED TO FIRM: Volume of DoD A-E contract awards in the last 12 months, with the objective of effecting an equitable distribution of DoD A-E contracts among qualified firms. Provided in SF 330 Section H. h. SMALL BUSINESS (SB) AND SMALL DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS (SDB) PARTICIPATION: Firms are required to submit a short plan in regard to the extent of participation of SB and SDB, including Woman-Owned, HUBZone, SDB, and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned. Participation will be measured as a percentage of the total anticipated contract effort, regardless of whether the SB or SDB is a prime contractor, subcontractor, or joint venture partner; the greater the participation, the greater the consideration The synopsis shall be no more than five (5) pages and include an estimated percentage of involvement of small business firms as well as a firm's history of using small business firms. 4. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: Interested firms having the capabilities to perform this work must submit their SF330 via email to the address below. The email shall contain two .pdf files; one .pdf file for Part I of the SF330 information and one .pdf file for Part II. (Note: Parts I, II, and Subsequent Sections are as defined in the SF330 Instructions). Include the firm's Unique Entity ID (UEI) on the SF330, Part 1, and Block B. On the SF330, Part 1, Block C, provide the UEI number for each subcontractor or consultant, if available. SF330, Part I, Section H (Additional Information) shall contain the following information: a. Item 1 - Management Plan - Include the information requested in Paragraph 3b above. b. Item 2 - Capacity to complete the work. Reference Paragraph 3c above. Provide a 1-2 page narrative discussing the capacity of the design firm to meet schedules, including adequacy of qualified personnel available and past experience in meeting tight design schedules. c. Item 3 - Volume of DoD A-E contracts awarded in the last 12 months - Reference Paragraph 3g above. The listing shall include contract number, agency, date of award, and value of contract. d. The total page limit for the SF330 submission, including Part I and Part II, is 150 pages, and will have a minimum of eight (8) and a maximum of ten (10) projects illustrating specialized experience. A project is defined as a stand-alone contract or task order(s) for a single project. For example, separate task orders issued for a Preliminary Engineering Report, Feasibility Study, and Design for rehabilitation of a dam would count as one project example instead of three examples. An IDIQ contract does NOT count as a project as it covers multiple projects. A page is one side of an 8 - x 11 sheet. If a fold-out is used, each sheet of a fold-out shall count as a minimum of 2 pages. Font size shall not be less than 10 font and margins shall be between one-half and one inch. The SF 330 shall clearly delineate the type of CADD equipment hardware and software intended for use on this contract, the years of operating experience by the appropriate personnel using the CADD system, and the conversion/translation methods to be used. The references to other projects should indicate the CADD system utilized. Tabs and Cover Letters do not count towards the 150-page limit. Cover letters shall not exceed two (2) pages and will not be evaluated as part of the SF 330 submission. e. In order to comply with the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, all contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) to be considered for award of a Federal contract. Information regarding registration can be obtained through the SAM website at www.sam.gov. SUBMITTAL EXPENSES AND PRE-CONTRACT COSTS. This request for qualifications and any subsequent solicitation action(s) does not commit the Government to pay any costs incurred in the preparation and submission of materials or for any other costs incurred by any firm submitting materials in response to this solicitation. Any forthcoming amendments will be available on this website: https://sam.gov/content/opportunities. It is recommended that each registered firm check this website periodically for updates. VENDOR INQUIRIES: Vendors desiring an explanation or interpretation of the requirements, etc., must submit their questions submitted using the ProjNet system at https://www.projnet.org. To submit a new inquiry or to view inquiries submitted by other Vendors, users must be registered and signed into the ProjNet system. Vendors may register online at https://www.projnet.org (click on - Register). The following information will be needed to submit or view inquiries: Managing Agency: USACE Solicitation Number: W912ES24R0004 Bidder Inquiry Key: XGEIAY-9EAD9P Vendors shall submit inquiries not later than 10 days prior to the response date in order to ensure adequate time is allotted to form an appropriate response and amend the posting if necessary. Those who submit an inquiry will receive a system-generated email acknowledgement. All answers to inquiries will be posted in ProjNet after they have been reviewed by the USACE technical team. Vendors are advised to review the solicitation in its entirety and to review all previously submitted questions and responses prior to submitting a new inquiry. Email your firm's submission of the SF330 to Scott Hendrix at contact@example.gov.