C--Architect Engineer Services for the Future Headquarters of the United States Army Maneuver Center of Excellence (Renovation of Building 4), Fort Benning, GA

Technical Point of Contact is Steve Turner at +1 (555) 000-0000 or email: contact@example.gov; Contractual questions: Robin Shafer at +1 (555) 000-0000 or email: contact@example.gov; Questions concerning subcontracting plan: L eila Hollis at +1 (555) 000-0000 or email: contact@example.gov; Questions concerning SF 330; Hunter Lupton at +1 (555) 000-0000 or email: contact@example.gov. **** 1. CONTRACT INFORMATION: The Savannah District, U.S. Army Corps of E ngineers requires the services of an Architect-Engineer (A-E) firm for a firm-fixed price contract. This contract is being procured in accordance with the Brooks A-E Act as implemented in FAR Subpart 36.6. A firm will be selected for negotiations based o n demonstrated competence for the required work. Offerors are cautioned to read this announcement in its entirety. The contract awarded as a result of this announcement will be administered by the Savannah District to prepare a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the renovations of Building 4 at Fort Benning, Georgia. (In accordance with, FAR 36.209 -- Construction Contracts With Architect-Engineer Firms: No contract for the construction of a project shall be awarded to the firm that designed the project or its subsidiaries or affiliates, except with the approval of the head of the agency or authorized representative. This restriction also applies to AE firms preparing design-build RFP documents.)Small businesses are encouraged to team with other businesses. Large business firms that intend to do any subcontracting must convey their intent to meet the minimum small business goals on the SF 330, Section C, by identifying subcontracting opportunities with small business. Award of the contract is anticipated i n April 2007. If selected, the large business offeror will be required to submit a Small Business Subcontracting Plan in accordance with FAR 52.219-9 and DFARS 219.7704/705 as part of the Request for Proposal package. The following subcontracting goals a re the minimum acceptable goals to be included in the subcontracting plan. Of the subcontracted work, 51.2% to small business; 8.8% to small disadvantaged business (a composite of small business); 7.3% to women-owned business (a composite of small busines s); 3.1% to HUBZone small business (a composite of small business); and 0.5% to service-disabled veteran-owned small business (a composite of small business and veteran-owned small business). While the Savannah District does not have a specific target for subcontracting with Veteran-owned Small Businesses, this must be addressed in any subcontracting plan. Written justification must be provided if the minimum small business goals cannot be met. The small business subcontracting plan will be evaluated in accordance with AFAR 19.7, Appendix DD. The plan is not required with this submittal, but will be required with the fee proposal of the firm selected for negotiations. To be eligible for contract award, a firm must be registered in the DoD Central Contra ctor Registration (CCR). Register via the CCR Internet site at http://www.ccr.gov or by contacting the DoD Electronic Commerce Information Center at +1 (555) 000-0000. **** 2. PROJECT INFORMATION: Work includes planning, programming, and preparing a RFP for a solicitation for the Renovation of Building 4 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Building 4 is an existing office and classroom complex of approximately 560,000 square feet. At this time the construction acquisition strategy has not been decided, but the renov ation construction may be accomplished by either a fully designed solicitation or the preparation of a design-build RFP or multiple combinations of both methods. The acquisition method may not be determined until after the A-E has completed preliminary pr ogramming, planning, and budget estimates. The A-E may be required to complete a series of charrettes to explore alternative designs and budgets for each; prep are construction phasing plans and priority of work; prepare designs or criteria for temporary and/or modular and/or renovation existing facilities for office and classroom space during the Building 4 renovations. The A-E may be required to assist in the evaluation of construction contractor proposals and compliance reviews during construction. Engineering services may include requirements to accomplish any or all of the following: project programming and planning; site investigation; topographic survey and utility location; soil borings and geotechnical report, engineering studies to support design development including vehicular traffic studies and utility capacity studies; design charrettes; interior design and furnishings; parametric and construction cost estimating; construction phasing; construction phase services. Construction phase services may include preparation of operation and maintenance manuals, shop drawing and construction submittal reviews; site visits; technical assistance during constru ction; commissioning design and support; design of tenant improvements and support services; and startup services. Supporting facilities may require design and/or upgrade and may include utilities; sanitary sewer lift station; roads; parking; walks, curbs and gutters; storm drainage; erosion control; retention basins; information systems; site improvements and landscaping; anti-terrorism/force protection (AT/FP) measures; and exterior communications and building information systems. Demolition requirement s may include asbestos and lead paint surveys and abatement, underground fuel storage tank removal and disposal, and halon disposal. The project shall be designed in accordance with criteria prescribed in UFC 4-510-01, the Uniform Federal Accessibility St andards/Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines, and Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) 4-010-01. Comprehensive interior design services are required. It is anticipated that design services may be funded over several years with a requirem ent that contract packages for construction be developed for funding over a two to five year period. Total dollars anticipated to be made available for construction contracts associated with this renovation is $50 Million. The basic A-E services contract will be for the preliminary charrettes, programming, and budgeting and that with follow-on options or modifications for additional design and engineering services. Cost estimates must be prepared using the latest version of the MCACES software. All desi gn must comply with the Savannah District Design Manual and the Fort Benning Installation Design Guide. All drawing files which may be developed using BIM technology must be delivered in the (*.dgn) format. All drawing files will be developed using the T ri Service AEC Standard as supplemented by the Savannah District instructions. The standards include naming convention, file and directory structure, line weights, levels, and color. Specifications will be produced in SpecsIntact using the Unified Facili ties Guide Specifications (UFGS). Responses to Government review comments will be provided on the Corps of Engineers Design Review and Checking System (DrChecks). **** 3. SELECTION CRITERIA: The selection criteria for this project are listed below in des cending order of importance. Proposals will be evaluated on each of the criteria factors listed below. Each factor will be assigned a rating from outstanding to unsatisfactory based on the risk to the Government that the offeror will successfully perform the factor being evaluated. An overall consensus rating will be given to each submission. Award will be made to the firm determined to be most highly qualified. Factors listed below will be rated based on a relative weighting as follows: Significantly More Important - means that the factor is at least two times greater in value than another factor. More Important - means that the factor is greater in value than another factor but less than two times greater. Equal - means that the factor is of the same value or nearly the same as another factor. For this solicitation, Factor 1  Specialized Experience and Technical Competence and Factor 2  Key Personnel a re weighted equally and each factor individually is more important than Factor 3  Work Management and Factor 4  Past Performance and significantly more important than Factor 5  Small Business Participation, Factor 6  Volume of DoD Contract Awards, and Factor 7  Knowledge of Locality. Work Management and Past Performance are weighted equally and each factor individually is more important than Small Business Participation, Volume of DoD Contract Awards and Knowledge of Locality. Small Business Particip ation and Volume of DoD Contract Awards and Knowledge of Locality are weighted equally and will only be used as *tie-breakers* among firms that are essentially technically equal. Information on each factor should be submitted FOR THE OFFICE AND/OR EMPLOYE E PERFORMING THE WORK IN RESPONSE TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. It is recognized that for firms with multiple offices, a project team may be formed from personnel from more than one office. If more than one office is represented, this must be stated clearly in t he work management plan and the Selection Board will consider the performance risk associated with that team not being co-located and the geographical proximity to the supported projects. **** FACTOR 1 - SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE AND TECHNICAL COMPETENCE. Sp ecialized experience and technical competence in (in descending order of importance within this category): a. Design for the renovations of similar military headquarters facilities and non-military corporate headquarters facilities. b. Life safety and fi re protection design of administrative facilities. c. Sustainable design using an integrated design approach and emphasizing environmental stewardship, with experience in energy and water conservation and efficiency, use of recovered materials; waste redu ction; reduction or elimination of toxic and harmful substances in facilities construction and operation; efficiency in resource and materials utilization; development of healthy, safe and productive work environments, and employing the SPiRiT/LEED evaluat ion and certification methods. d. Application of the DoD Antiterrorism/Force Protection (AT/FP) criteria for minimum construction standards for design of facilities. e. Use of automated design systems described above (MCACES, CADD, SpecsIntact, BIM and D rChecks). Technical competence will be judged based on a minimum of satisfactory performance and experience of the firm and its design team, longevity and previous working relationships among the working parties on similar projects, and most recent firm a nd employee history of experience on similar projects. The evaluation of this factor will be based on the specialized experience and technical competence from the previous five years. **** FACTOR 2 - KEY PERSONNEL. All key personnel for whom resumes are provided shall be shown on the organizational chart in Section D of SF 330. Additional staff available for work on this contract shall be indicated on the chart by numbers. Resumes shall be provided for qualified professional personnel in Section E of SF 330 in the numbers indicated in parenthesis in the following key disciplines that are required to be licensed, registered, and/or certified: architect (4), structural engineer (2), civil engineer (2), mechanical engineer (2), electrical engineer (2), fire protection engineer (1), interior designer (2), land surveyor (1), geotechnical engineer (1), and certified industrial hygienist (1). One resume each shall be provided for other key personnel as follows: project manager, communications engineer, cost est imator, and landscape architect. Registration/certification for all is encouraged. The fire protection engineer must be either: a registered professional engi neer who has passed the fire protection engineering written examination administered by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveys (NCEES), or, a registered professional engineer in a related engineering discipline with a minimum of five years experience dedicated to fire protection engineering. Experience requirements for the qualified fire protection engineer include meeting all of the following: (a) At least two years experience in the interpretation and application of NFPA 101 and/o r life safety requirements of model building codes for administrative facilities. (b) At least two years experience in the design and/or review of fire suppression systems and fire alarm systems, including experience in the review of shop drawings and sp rinkler system hydraulic calculations, and in the interpretation and application of the National Fire Codes and/or other model building codes. (c) A minimum of three years experience in the design of administrative facilities. (d) A minimum of three ye ars experience in the testing of fire protection systems. Experience and qualification requirements for the communications engineer are a Bachelor or Master of Science degree in Electronics Engineering or in Electrical Engineering and a minimum of five ye ars of communications design experience. A minimum of three years of this experience shall be in the design and testing of complex administrative communications systems similar to those required for this project. The communications consultant if not a de greed electrical or electronics engineer from an accredited institution shall have a minimum of 15 years experience in the design of telecommunications systems for construction projects. The interior designer shall be NCIDQ-certified and shall demonstrate at least two years experience in administrative interior design. The evaluation of all key personnel will consider education, training, registration, overall and relevant experience, and longevity with the firm. **** FACTOR 3 - WORK MANAGEMENT A propose d management plan shall be presented in Section H of SF 330. The plan will be judged on experience producing quality administrative and command facility designs based on an evaluation of the firms design quality management plan. The design quality manag ement plan should include an organization chart in Section D of SF 330 and briefly address the management approach, team organization, quality control procedures, cost and schedule control, coordination of in-house disciplines and consultants, and prior re lationships of the prime firm and any of their significant consultants on similar projects. The SF 330 shall clearly indicate the primary office where the work will be performed and the staffing at this office. Any work not done out of the primary office shall be addressed within this work management plan. **** FACTOR 4  PAST PERFORMANCE Past performance on DoD and other contracts with respect to quality of work, compliance with performance schedules and cost control. Indication of favorable performan ce ratings, awards, and repeat clientele in Section H of SF 330 is recommended. Past performance will be based on ACASS ratings and other data presented by the offeror or as determined by the Government. The evaluation of this factor will be based on the past performance information from the previous five years. **** FACTOR 5 - SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION. Degree of participation of all types small business as prime contractor, subcontractor, or joint venture partner. ALL OFFERORS (except small busines ses) who plan to subcontract portions of the work are required to provide a narrative discussion of their plan for utilization of small and small disadvantaged businesses. As a minimum, the narrative shall discuss: a. Goals for subcontracting acting wit h small and small disadvantaged businesses in sufficient detail to allow government evaluators to determine that these goals are realistic, justifiable, positiv e, and in accordance with the government's policy to maximize opportunities for these types of businesses. b. The extent to which small disadvantaged businesses, and where appropriate, historically black colleges and universities/minority institutions (H BCU/MI) have been identified for participation as part of the offeror's team. c. The offeror's past and present commitment to providing subcontracting opportunities and encouragement to small and small disadvantaged businesses. **** FACTOR 6 - VOLUME OF DoD CONTRACT AWARDS. Volume of DoD contract awards in the last 12 months. **** FACTOR 7 - KNOWLEDGE OF LOCALITY. Knowledge of locality as it pertains to design and construction methods of military projects in the geographic area of Fort Benning, Georgia. **** 4. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS. Interested firms having capabilities to perform this work must upload Parts I and II of the SF 330 to https://sasweb.sas.usace.army.mil/aeselection/ by 4:00 p.m., local time on March 28, 2007. NO HARDCOPY OR FACSIMILE SU BMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED. Any submissions received after the exact time specified for receipt is considered late and will be processed in accordance with FAR 15.208 Submission, Modification, Revision, and Withdrawal of Proposals. The entire submission of the SF 330 must not exceed 5 Megabytes and shall be submitted as one file using Microsoft Word (.doc) or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf). Part I of the SF 330 should not exceed 50 pages, including 15 pages for Section H. Font size shall be 10 or larger. Resumes in Section E and example projects in Section F shall not exceed one page each. Indicate in Section C.11 if the prime has worked with the team members in the past five years. In Section G.26, include the firm each of the key personnel is associated with. Registration in the Savannah District electronic A-E Selection System is required and instructions may be found at the website above. FIRMS SHOULD BE REGISTERED WELL IN ADVANCE OF THE CLOSING DATE FOR SUBMISSION OF THE SF 330 AS THE PROCESS MAY TAKE 3-5 DAYS. FIRMS MUST INCLUDE THE DUNS NUMBER FOR THE OFFICE OF THE FIRM PERFORMING THE WORK IN SECTION B.5 OF THE SF 330. Cover letters and extraneous materials (brochures, etc.) will not be considered. Questions concerning submissions should be directed t o Sherry Turner at +1 (555) 000-0000. **** PERSONAL VISITS for the purpose of DISCUSSING this announcement WILL NOT BE SCHEDULED. THIS is NOT a REQUEST for a PROPOSAL.