Department of State Worldwide Facilities Infrastructure Reliability Maintenance (FIRM)

• Title: FACILITIES INFRASTRUCTURE RELIABILITY & MAINTENANCE (FIRM) PROGRAM
• Sources Sought Number: 
• Agency: U.S. Department of State
• Office: Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO)
• Location: Worldwide
• Notice Type: Sources Sought (SS)
• NAICS Code: 561210, Facilities Support Services

This notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a commitment on the part of the Government to conduct a solicitation for the below-listed services in the future. Respondents are advised that the Government will not pay for information submitted in response to this Sources Sought (SS), nor will it compensate respondents for any costs incurred in the development/furnishing of a response. The Government will not entertain telephone calls or questions for this SS. Note that a decision not to submit a response to this SS will not preclude a vendor from participating in any future solicitation.

Responses are limited to those companies considered small business under NAICS Code 561210, Facilities Support Services. Respondents are welcome to submit other relevant and appropriate NAICS codes for consideration. The base IDIQ contract will require an already active Top Secret Facility Clearance. This will ensure continuity of operations and limit competition to U.S. offerors. However, offerors may include regional non-U.S. or local companies as part of their solution.

1.0 PURPOSE

The purpose of this SS is to accomplish market research pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10, and to identify small businesses capable of and interested in performing the functions described herein. The Government is requesting information regarding the availability and feasibility of attracting small businesses with proven technical capability and experience in worldwide, multi-discipline facilities, infrastructure, maintenance and repair of mission-critical systems. This includes, but is not limited to, preventive maintenance and major servicing of power generation, electrical distribution and control, mechanical heating and cooling, building automation, potable and hydronic water treatment, and roofing systems, as well as emergency response and rapid mobilization capabilities in austere, high-threat, and logistically constrained overseas environments. The Government seeks to determine whether the small business community possesses the technical depth, cleared workforce, global logistics capability, and program management infrastructure necessary to perform the full scope of the Facilities Infrastructure Reliability & Maintenance (FIRM) Program requirement as a prime contractor, either independently or through a teaming arrangement. The Government encourages responses from prime contractors, joint ventures, mentor-protégé arrangements, and contractor teaming arrangements. Respondents are encouraged to identify portions of the requirement that could reasonably be performed through specialized partners.

The United States Department of State, through the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), requires a comprehensive, technically rigorous, and operationally resilient worldwide maintenance and repair program to sustain U.S. Embassies, Consulates, Missions, Branch Offices, and other designated diplomatic facilities across the globe.

FIRM is not intended to function as a routine facilities service contract or a checklist-based preventive maintenance vehicle. It is intended to provide a technically competent, auditable, regionally responsive, and reliability-focused maintenance and repair capability for the infrastructure that enables U.S. diplomatic missions to operate safely and continuously worldwide.

While the FIRM Program encompasses a limited subset of work previously performed under the legacy International Maintenance Assistance Program (IMAP) contract, FIRM is not a recompete of IMAP. FIRM represents a fundamentally new and expanded requirement, broader in technical scope, more rigorous in performance standards, and greater in operational complexity, designed to meet the full spectrum of mission-critical infrastructure maintenance and repair needs across the Department's worldwide diplomatic facilities portfolio.

2.0 STATEMENT OF NEED

The Department maintains a worldwide portfolio of more than 270 embassies, consulates, and diplomatic missions that function as the physical platforms through which U.S. diplomacy, national security, and foreign policy objectives are executed. These facilities are mission-critical sovereign operating environments where infrastructure failure is unacceptable. They are not commercial office buildings. They must remain operational during emergencies, periods of civil unrest, political instability, natural disasters, degraded host-nation infrastructure, and crisis conditions and, in many locations, serve as protected safe havens for U.S. personnel and authorized occupants.

The Government is currently planning a single-award IDIQ acquisition. This Sources Sought is intended to assess whether the small business community possesses the capability and capacity to compete for and successfully perform a requirement of this scope.

This IDIQ contract is structured around seven primary task order categories and one optional Full Operations and Maintenance Services task order. The seven primary task order categories provide the core FIRM framework for worldwide maintenance, repair, emergency response, condition assessment, water treatment, roofing support, logistics, procurement, and related mission-support services. The optional Full Operations and Maintenance Services task order provides a separate, Government-activated pathway for full-time, site-based operations and maintenance support at designated high-priority posts when mission requirements exceed the capability of periodic maintenance or repair models.

The Contractor shall provide all management, supervision, labor, qualified technical personnel, specialized trade support, tools, test equipment, diagnostic equipment, safety equipment, materials, spare parts coordination, logistics support, procurement support, documentation, quality control, administrative support, security coordination, subcontractor coordination, manufacturer coordination, and other resources necessary to perform the services authorized under awarded task orders and approved work orders.

3.0 RESPONSES

Interested parties are requested to submit a Capability Statement of no more than 15 pages or less (excluding cover page and table of contents) and be submitted as a Microsoft Word Document or Portable Document Format (PDF).

Submissions should include responses to the following categories identified below:

3.1 Company Profile, to include:

• Company name, address, CAGE code, and DUNS/UEI number
• Business size and socioeconomic status (e.g., large business, small business, 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB) under the applicable NAICS code
• Point of contact name, title, phone number, and email address
• Current GSA Schedule contract number(s), if applicable
• Active facility security clearance level, if applicable
• Registered in the system for Award and Management? Yes or No
• On the Excluded Party List? Yes or No

3.2 Technical Capability

In narrative form, please speak to the following:

• Describe your organization's experience performing worldwide or large-scale multi-site maintenance and repair of mission-critical mechanical, electrical, power generation, building automation, water treatment, and roofing systems. Identify the types of facilities supported (e.g., diplomatic, military, hospital, data center, industrial), geographic scope, and contract values.
• Describe your organization's experience supporting U.S. Government overseas facilities, including any experience with Department of State, Department of Defense, or other federal agency facilities in austere, high-threat, or logistically constrained environments.
• Describe your organization's capability to provide Central Energy Plant operations and maintenance, including chillers, boilers, cooling towers, emergency generators, switchgear, and building automation systems.
• Describe your organization's experience with medium-voltage electrical systems, including switchgear, transformers, automatic transfer switches, paralleling gear, and protective relays.
• Describe your organization's experience with emergency power generation systems, including large-frame diesel generators, load bank testing, fuel systems, and paralleling systems.
• Describe your organization's experience with building automation and controls systems, including DDC programming, trend analysis, alarm management, and sequence of operations verification.
• Describe your organization's experience with potable water treatment and closed-loop hydronic water treatment, including chemical treatment, corrosion control, biological control, and water quality testing.
• Describe your organization's experience with roofing systems at mission-critical or institutional facilities, including low-slope and steep-slope assemblies, membrane systems, and waterproofing.
• Describe any assumptions, constraints, or acquisition characteristics that your organization believes would materially affect your ability to compete for or perform this requirement as currently described.

3.3 Workforce and Staffing

• Describe your organization's current workforce depth in the following trade disciplines: HVAC/mechanical, electrical, power generation, building automation and controls, water treatment, and roofing. Identify approximate numbers of journeyman-level and master journeyman-level personnel currently employed or available.
• Describe your organization's experience with apprenticeship and workforce development programs, including any formal apprenticeship programs, journeyman-to-apprentice ratios, and structured training pathways.
• Describe your organization's capability to staff and sustain a globally deployed traveling technician workforce, including experience managing personnel rotations, overseas deployments, time-zone transitions, and sustained field operations.

3.4 Logistics and Procurement

• Describe your organization's logistics and procurement capability for worldwide spare parts planning, sourcing, freight coordination, export documentation, customs coordination, and delivery to overseas locations.
• Describe your experience managing supply-chain constraints, including sanctions, export controls, host-nation restrictions, limited local market availability, and long-lead procurement in austere or logistically challenged environments.
• Describe your organization's experience with GSA Advantage, Federal Supply Schedule procurement, or other Government-authorized procurement channels.

3.5 Program Management

• Describe your organization's program management structure for large-scale, multi-site, multi-discipline Government contracts, including your approach to regional governance, subcontractor oversight, quality control, and performance reporting.
• Describe your organization's experience with Government-designated CMMS platforms (e.g., GMMS, Maximo, or equivalent), including asset data management, preventive maintenance scheduling, work order management, and documentation integrity.
• Describe your organization's subcontracting approach, including your experience managing specialty vendors, manufacturer-authorized service providers, OEM representatives, and specialized technical firms in a prime contractor accountability model.
• Describe how your organization would assemble and manage the resources necessary to perform this requirement as a single prime contractor, including the anticipated use of subcontractors, joint venture partners, mentor-protégé relationships, or other teaming arrangements.

4.0 How to Respond

Please submit your response no later than Thursday, July 30, 2025, at 4:00 PM Eastern, with electronic files sent to the following points of contact:

• Jim Lai, Contracting Officer – contact@example.gov

Please title the subject of your email “Facilities Infrastructure Reliability & Maintenance Program.”

This Sources Sought Notice is issued by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Global Acquisitions. Additional information regarding OBO's mission and the Department's global diplomatic facilities portfolio is available at https://www.state.gov/bureaus-offices/bureau-of-overseas-buildings-operations/.