Approach to Procure the Design and Fabrication of Rolling Stock (Cask and Buffer Cars) for the OCRWM Program

NOTICE OF PROGRAM INTEREST SUBJECT: Approach to Procure the Design and Fabrication of Rolling Stock (Cask and Buffer Cars) for the OCRWM Program AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management _______________________________________________________________________ SUMMARY The Department of Energy (DOE) is issuing this Notice of Program Interest (NOPI) to obtain input from rolling stock vendors regarding DOEs approach to procuring the design and fabrication of rolling stock for shipping spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) to a monitored geologic repository (MGR) at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. DOE is responsible, under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA), for accepting and transporting spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear reactor sites and HLW and SNF from DOE facilities for ultimate disposal. An overview of the program, including the anticipated project schedule, is provided in Appendix A. DOE is considering the design and fabrication of the rolling stock needed for this purpose. The required rolling stock includes: a.) Cask Cars to carry HLW and SNF transportation casks, b.) Escort Cars to accommodate personnel accompanying the trains, c.) Buffer Cars to provide a physical separation between cars carrying SNF/HLW and those occupied by personnel, and d.) Locomotives to haul the cars. All of these vehicles, except the locomotives, must conform to American Association of Railroads (AAR) Performance Specification S-2043 (Appendix C). With this notice, the DOE seeks comments from rolling stock vendors concerning the appropriate structure for a procurement process that meets the objectives of the spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste management program and is attractive to potential bidders. Your comments will help DOE refine the process and will provide a basis for the discussions with vendors in the initial stage of the process described below. Potential proposers are asked to provide feedback (that may be proprietary) to the Government on: a.) Commercially available technology that responds to Government requirements and strategy, b.) Issues that would discourage potential proposers from responding to the solicitation, and c.) Recommendations for improvement. This notice applies solely to Cask Cars and Buffer Cars. Further details of the anticipated requirements for the Cask and Buffer Cars may be found in Appendices B1 and B2 (Appendices for this notice may be obtained at http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/wat/procure.shtml). It is anticipated that DOE will select more than one vendor for these car types. Each of the vendors will complete the design and fabrication of one prototype Cask Car and one prototype Buffer Car, test their respective prototype cars at the Transportation Test Center in Pueblo, CO and obtain certification of their designs by the AAR. It is then anticipated that vendors will be invited to submit proposals for final design and fabrication of a fleet of up to one hundred and twenty (120) Cask Cars and up to sixty (60) Buffer Cars in accordance with the certified designs. DOE will then select the preferred design and manufacturer for the Cask and Buffer cars. DOE is planning to conduct this procurement in the following stages: 1. Meetings with individual vendors (August/September 2004) DOE will schedule meetings of up to two hours with individual designers and fabricators of rolling stock. These meetings will allow potential proposers to share information with the DOE and obtain clarification of any of the issues outlined below. Potential proposers may distribute written information regarding their products and capabilities for use during the meeting. After the meeting they may either collect their information or leave it for staff review. If proprietary information is left with the DOE, the pages that are considered to be proprietary should be either stamped or headed to identify those pages. The two-hour meetings will be held in August/September 2004. Vendors are allowed to bring no more than five people. The meetings will be held in the Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, Washington, D.C. DOE will schedule meetings with the points of contact identified on vendors letters of interest. 2. Draft RFP (Late FY2004) It is anticipated that DOE will publish a Draft RFP on the FedBizOpps website (http://www.fedbizopps.gov/) for formal comments from the potential vendors and other interested parties. 3. Pre-Solicitation Conference (Early FY 2005) The DOE is planning to hold an open-forum meeting for all parties interested in this procurement. The final time, place and other details will be announced on the FedBizOpps website and by e-mail to points of contact identified during the initial vendor meetings. 4. Final RFP (Early FY2005) It is anticipated that the DOE will publish the final Request for Proposals on the FedBizOpps website for vendor response. 5. Award(s) (FY2005) It is anticipated that the DOE will select a vendor or vendors FY2005. The Department is interested in vendor comments on the following issues. 1. Criteria for selecting design fabrication vendors. DOE has initially identified the following selection criteria: a.) Technical capability to develop designs matching the unique characteristics of the Cask and Buffer Cars; b.) Cost-effectiveness of the design in fabrication, operation, and maintenance; c.) Prior successful history of designing and manufacturing similar types of railcars; d.) Ability to obtain certification for the new designs; e.) Corporate experience/past performance/record of integrity; f.) Corporate financial capacity and stability; g.) Qualifications of key personnel; and h.) Ability to meet schedule requirements. ?X Are these selection criteria sufficient? ?X Do you suggest modifications or additions? 2. Phases of the procurement. DOE is considering this procurement of Cask and Buffer Cars to occur in two phases: a.) Car Design / Prototype Fabrication and Testing: Contractors shall individually provide detailed designs, fabricate complete prototypes, complete analysis and testing at the Transportation Test Center to demonstrate the designs conformance with AAR Standard S- 2043, and obtain certificates of compliance from AAR. The designs shall also demonstrate quality attributes and safety provisions, performance characteristics and the operations and maintenance concept and ability to be manufactured. b.) Production: A single contractor, selected from those that have completed the Car Design / Prototype Fabrication and Testing phase, shall provide final designs incorporating any changes required to obtain certification, as well as final design for production, and shall fabricate the number of cars specified by DOE. ?X Is this procurement phasing appropriate? Would another approach be advisable? If so, please describe. ?X Are two discreet car designs necessary, or may it be possible, economical, or practicable to design and manufacture one car type to fulfill the purposes of both the Cask and Buffer Cars? ?X What is your opinion of the level of interest among equipment designers and manufacturers given DOEs proposed procurement approach? ?X Would your firm be interested in responding to this solicitation given DOEs proposed procurement approach (selection of multiple firms for design, development of a prototype and testing and single selection of firm for manufacturing)? ?X Would you need to team with other firms or can your firm individually respond to the RFP? 3. Commercial provisions: Please address the optimal business, contractual and pricing arrangements that should be employed to meet design, prototype and fabrication requirements for these cars. In particular address the following: a.) Competition: How competition can be maximized throughout the design/prototype/fabrication process. b.) Separate design: Please address whether, as an alternative, it is feasible and/or advantageous for DOE to procure a design, followed by a separate contract for prototype and fabrication. ?X Would it be beneficial for the government to divide the procurement into separate contracts for the Cask Cars and the Buffer Cars? ?X If the Cask and Buffer Cars were built to different designs, would there be any advantage or disadvantage to awarding the manufacture of Cask Cars to one supplier and the manufacture of Buffer Cars to another? Is the number of cars in the order a factor into your response? ?X Do you foresee any difficulty for potential contractors to obtain bonding for any phase(s) of the project? ?X Have you conducted business with the federal government before? ?X Have you had any experiences that may cause you not to participate in this project? ?X Have you learned any lessons that you care to share? ?X Have you any suggestions for design issues that DOE should look out for? 4. Contract pricing: DOE anticipates the use of Firm-Fixed-Price contract vehicles for all contract actions and phases. ?X Would another approach such as time and materials or cost reimbursement be more appropriate for a particular phase? Please explain why another approach would be more appropriate. ?X What pricing terms allow for an equitable sharing of risk on each phase? ?X Does your firm possess a government-approved accounting system that will allow the use of cost reimbursement contracts? ?X Do you have comments with respect to suitable pricing arrangements? ?X Do you think that an incentive program to exceed scheduled project milestones is a mild or strong motivator or any for that matter? In addition to addressing these questions please feel free to provide any other relevant input or suggestions regarding contract-pricing terms. 5. Information requirements: Please define any other types of technical and commercial information / data vendors may need to enable a complete and competitive proposal to be submitted. 6. Collaboration: To support DOEs Program'Vwide objectives, contractors may be required to collaborate and interface with other vendors (e.g.: Escort Cars, Locomotives, vehicle testing at TTCI, Casks, Maintenance Facility) on a given task or requirement. Please address how this collaboration may be achieved and the business considerations with other vendors that will limit the level of collaboration that is possible. 7. Performance incentives: Please describe incentives that could be employed through a contract to encourage excellent performance, compliance with schedule requirements and cost reductions. Where possible please discuss: a.) The metrics that should be employed; b.) The frequency and method of data collection associated with metrics; and c.) Positive or negative financial actions associated with the metrics. 8. Regulatory requirements: Please identify any technology or regulatory challenges or barriers associated with the design, development and fabrication of the Cask Cars and Buffer Cars. In particular, address the impact of AAR Standard S-2043 on the design and production of the Cask and Buffer Cars, whether as adaptations of existing designs or completely new designs. 9. On-going design efforts: Please identify any on-going design efforts directed toward the development of new or modified rolling stock that could be employed to meet the required Cask and Buffer Cars and consist functionalities. Appendices for this notice may be obtained at http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/wat/procure.shtml. Please provide your responses to the above questions by email in a Microsoft Word file to contact@example.gov no later than August 6, 2004. Please limit your comments and responses to no more than 10 pages. No proprietary data should be included in data file that is submitted to the DOE. Cask and Buffer Car Vendor Meetings: The meeting to discuss DOEs approach for procuring Cask and Buffer cars is an opportunity for vendors to share ideas, suggestions and questions regarding this procurement with the DOE. Vendors may want to share information with DOE regarding corporate history and experience at these meetings. This is appropriate to the extent that it is applicable to Cask and Buffer cars procurement. It is expected that this portion of the vendor discussion will be limited to about ten minutes. During the proposal preparation process, the vendors will have the opportunity to submit a significant amount of information to the DOE on their corporate performance, abilities, experience and initiatives. DOE will be able to learn more of the corporate qualifications as the proposals are evaluated. For the NOPI meetings, the DOE is focused on receiving input from the different vendors and organizations that will provide insight and direction for the DOE preparation of the Request for Proposals (RFP) which will determine the nature and type of contract that will be used for the procurement. Therefore, the primary discussion for these meetings should be focused on the vendors responses to the issues listed in the NOPI. Vendors could discuss any suggestions for improvement, any foreseeable problems for the DOE, and any issues DOE may have omitted. With input gathered from the NOPI meetings, the DOE will prepare a draft RFP and publish it for comments. The comments received on the draft will be incorporated into the final RFP as appropriate. The meetings will be held in the Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Ave. DOE will provide a laptop computer with PowerPoint, a projector connected to the computer and a screen for the meeting. Please complete the form in Appendix D as soon as possible and return by email to contact@example.gov United States Department of Energy Office of Business Support Attention: Reggie R. James, RW-31W 1000 Independence Avenue Washington, DC 20585