Architect Engineer (AE) IDIQ contract for Southwestern Power Administration

SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT NO. 89503624SSW000039 October 25, 2023 A-E SERVICES IDC This is a SOURCES SOUGHT announcement for market survey information only, to be used for acquisition strategy planning purposes. THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR PROPOSALS AND NO CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED FROM THIS SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this Sources Sought announcement or any follow-up information requests. Respondents will not be notified of the evaluation results. The Department of Energy - Southwestern Power Administration (SWPA) has been tasked to solicit and award Architect-Engineer (A-E) contracts for the following functional areas: Substations and Transmission Lines; Communication & Data Acquisition; Protective Relay Systems; General AE Services. The proposed acquisitions will be competitive, Firm-Fixed-Price Indefinite Delivery Contracts (IDCs). The type of set-aside decisions to be issued will depend upon the responses to this synopsis. The purpose of this synopsis is to gain knowledge of the interest, capabilities and qualifications of various members of industry, to include the Small Business Community: Section 8(a), Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), or Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB). The Government must ensure there is adequate competition of responsible firms. Small business, Section 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB and WOSB businesses are highly encouraged to participate. The Government is seeking qualified, experienced sources for professional, multi-discipline A-E Services, procured in accordance with Public Law 92-582 (Brooks Act) and Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 36, capable of performing a wide range of A-E Services. Minimum capabilities required include successful performance of A-E Services for projects within the past 5 years with positive past performance evaluation ratings, with the capability of performing, utilizing either in-house or teaming partner resources, a wide-range of A-E services as listed below. The small business A-E shall provide all services of an architectural or engineering nature associated with the design of specific electric power transmission and generation systems, telecommunications systems, and general architectural and engineering services required for Southwestern projects. This includes providing the services of engineers representing the electrical, mechanical, electronics, telecommunications, structural, and civil disciplines. Substations and Transmission Lines. Work to be performed under the contract includes a broad spectrum of architectural and engineering studies, analyses, and design activities associated with the operation, maintenance, and modernization of a high-voltage electric power bulk-transmission system and associated control, office, warehouse, and maintenance facilities. Typical assigned work projects could consist of the following: Planning (including investigation and recommendation of technologies and equipment available) and design of additions, replacements, structure modeling, or modifications to high-voltage electric power transmission lines, switching stations, and substations at voltages of 69 kV and higher including: high voltage power circuit breaker station service modifications (13.8 kV and below) equipment footings, piers, and foundations high and low voltage bus steel equipment support structures Lattice steel, steel, concrete, and wood pole transmission structures transmission line conductor and shield wire sag/tension calculations Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) instrument transformers disconnect switches power autotransformers Substation/Switchyard bays reactive device additions to include shunt reactors and capacitors grounding grids and drainage enhancement step and touch potential hazard analysis determining potential environmental hazards and impacts physical security enhancements soil boring and analysis surveying low voltage DC power systems oil containment systems Assisting the Government in construction management, reviewing submittals, and performing construction inspection for work identified above. B. Communications and Data Acquisition Work to be performed under the contract includes a broad spectrum of studies, analyses, and design activities associated with the operation, maintenance, and modernization of a telecommunication system used for the operation and monitoring of the Southwestern electric power transmission system. Typical projects may consist of the following: Planning and design of additions or modifications to the telecommunications systems and activities in support of the telecommunications system including: SONET/IP digital microwave SONET/IP multiplex system OPGW monitoring and alarming systems Local Area Network/Wide Area Network (LAN/WAN) voice communication mobile radio system frequency spectrum coordination microwave path profile analysis mobile radio system coverage analysis communication tower analysis and modeling equipment grounding analysis site grading plans foundation design project construction support soil boring and analysis environmental assessment leased telephone lines ordering specifications physical and cyber security enhancements DC power system Planning and design of additions, replacements, or modifications to supervisory control, data acquisition, and telemetry systems including: Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) RTU and programmable logic controllers kilowatt hour meters meter data acquisition systems Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) interfaces including human machine interfaces substation and generation equipment monitoring Assisting the Government in construction management and performing construction inspection for communications and data acquisition work identified above. C. Protective Relay Systems Planning, design, setting, replacement/addition, and analysis of protective relay systems for high-voltage and extra-high-voltage transmission systems and hydroelectric generating plants including: calculating coordinated relay settings protective relay and relay switchboard panels short circuit studies system protection modeling power system interruption and incident investigation performing relay and related equipment configuration and testing prior to and during installation power line carrier replacements D. General Architectural and Engineering Services. Work to be performed under the contract includes a broad spectrum of design activities associated with the operation, maintenance, and modernization of Southwestern supporting infrastructure necessary for the reliable operation of the Southwestern electric power transmission system. Typical projects may consist of the following: Design and construction support for buildings, building roofs, and building additions. Design and construction support for road building and road maintenance projects. Drainage studies and design for drainage improvements Land surveys. Design of erosion repairs. Environmental assessments Incidental services generally performed by members of the architectural and engineering professions. Assisting the Government in construction management and performing construction inspection for work identified above. The contract period of performance is for a 5-year Base Period. The total contract capacity will not exceed $10,000,000. The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) Code for this procurement is 541330, Engineering Services, which has a small business size standard of $25.5M. The Product Service Code is C219. Small Business firms are reminded under FAR 52.219-14 (Deviation 2019-O0003), Limitations on Subcontracting: A Firm will not pay more than 50% of the amount paid by the Government for contract performance to sub-contractors that are not similarly situated entities. Any work that a similarly situated entity further sub-contracts will count toward the 50% sub-contract amount that cannot be exceeded. 50% of the work is anticipated to be in the Substation and Transmission Line area. Prior Government contract work is not required for submitting a response under this Sources Sought Announcement. Anticipated synopsis issuance date is December 2023. The official synopsis citing the solicitation number will be issued on the Contract Opportunities website (https://SAM.gov/) in the November 2023 requesting submission of firms SF330s for selection evaluation; hard copies of the synopsis will not be available. Please note that Firms must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database (https://www.sam.gov/) prior to submission of an offer and to be eligible for award of Government contracts (see FAR 4.11). Firms interested in responding to this Sources Sought must complete the Response Form Attached. PERSONAL VISITS FOR THE PURPOSE OF DISCUSSING THIS SOURCES SOUGHT WILL NOT BE ENTERTAINED. HARDCOPY OR FACSIMILE SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. THIS SOURCES SOUGHT CLOSES AT 3:00pm (Central) Wednesday, 8 November 2023. If you do not receive acknowledgement of your submission within 24 hours please call the Contract Specialist at +1 (555) 000-0000