This is a re-solicitation of AG-7217S-09-0005 issued on February 25, 2009. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Louisiana requires the services of a professional geotechnical firm with experience in subsurface soil investigations, soil laboratory testing, and foundation recommendations of construction sites in Louisisna. This acquisition process is being conducted in accordance with the Brooks A/E Act as implemented in FAR Subpart 36.6. This procurement is unrestricted. The primary NAICS code is 541330. This announcement constitutes the only notice. PROJECT INFORMATION: The selected firm must be able to work on sites which are landbased, shallow draft and deep draft marine and marshland-based areas. The selected firm will perform the following services: 1. Field investigations. This includes the drilling, field testing, sampling, logging and packaging of soil specimens extracted from locations identified by the NRCS engineers. 2. Laboratory testing. This includes the laboratory classification and testing of soil specimens extracted from the soil field investigation. Specific tests will be defined by the NRCS engineers. 3. Analyses. This item shall include analyses utilizing the data collected and developed from the field investigations and laboratory testing. The analyses shall include but not limited to, slope stability, settlement, shallow and deep foundation, various pile design and other analyses as related to geotechnical engineering. 4. Reports. This item consists of the formulation of a report defining the field, laboratory and analysis results along with appropriate geotechnical design recommendations. The government anticipates the award of a fixed price indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity type contract (IDIQ) as a result of this competition. The initial contract period will be for one (1) year and the Government may, at its option, extend the contract to a maximum of five (5) years by exercising each of the four (4) one-year renewal options. Work under the contract will be subject to satisfactory negotiation of individual Task Orders. The price of any single task order shall be at least $5,000 but shall not exceed $500,000. The maximum order amount for any contract period (based year and each option year) shall be $1,000,000. The guaranteed minimum is $5,000 for the contract. Task Orders will be negotiated as firm fixed price procurements for individual projects. SELECTION CRITERIA: Each firm will be evaluated on the following: 1. Professional qualifications necessary for satisfactory performance of required services. Evaluation will be based upon the professional engineering registration and qualified personnel work experience associated with geotechnical investigations, and their availability to work on this contract. Examples of previous work shall be provided for review, as well as a description of the type of analysis previously performed and references with phone numbers. Previous work examples will be evaluated based on the complexity of work and analyses abiliity demonstrated. 2. Specialized experience and technical competence. Evaluation will be based on the extent of directly related experience in performing geotechnical investigations; specialized education at the university level, and all other application education and training in the engineering disciplines. 3. Capacity to accomplish the work. Evaluation will be based on the number of qualified personnel available to work on this contract, the array of field and laboratory equipment and software/hardware available to work on this contract and the quantity of work currently under contract and the completion dates of existing contract work. Examples of field and laboratory equipment are: quantity and size of truck, marsh buggy, pontoon, jack up barge and airboat drill rigs; quantity and types of testing equipment; laboratory work load capacity; variety of slope stability, foundation, pile design and consolidation software, etc. A complete list and detailed scope of work for current contracts including joint venture contracts shall be submitted. 4. Knowledge of the locality: Evaluation will be based on the past work experience in Louisiana where geotechnical investigations were performed. Firms shall indicate the locality of their past work experience. Preferential consideration will be given to firms that have performed the requirements described in coastal marsh areas of Louisiana. 5. Past performance on contracts with government agencies and private industry. Evaluation will be based on the quality and timeliness of performance under previous contracts. References with telephone numbers shall be provided. The evaluation factors listed above are ranted in their order of importance, with criteria (1) being the most important. In order to comply with the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, all contractors must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) to be considered for an award of a Federal contract. For information regarding registration, contact the CCR website at http://www.ccr.gov. It is also required that all contractors be registered in the Online Representations and Certifications (ORCA) to be considered for an award of a federal contract. For information regarding registration to ORCA, contact the ORCA website at https://orca.bpn.net. Firms which meet the requirements described in this announcement are invited to submit 4 copies of Standard Form 330, Architect-Engineer Qualifications and any other supplemental information deemed relative to the selection criteria. Those firms who previously responded to solicitation AG-7217-S-09-0005 must submit a letter requesting their SF-330's be reconsidered under this solicitation number if there has been no change in the information previously provided on the SF-330. If there are any changes, the entire package will need to be resubmitted. Interested firms must submit their SF-330's no later than June 8, 2009, 9:00 a.m., CST to the attention of Vicki Supler, Contract Specialist, USDA-NRCS 3737 Government Street, Alexandria, LA 71302. Only those firms responding by that time will be considered for selection. Firms responding to the announcement before the closing date will be considered for selection. Facsimile transmissions and email transmissions will not be accepted. Solicitation packages are not provided and no additional project information will be given to firms during the announcement period. After an initial evaluation, three or more of the firms considered to be the most highly qualified firms may be chosen for discussions. The most highly rated firm selected will then be asked to submit a proposal. This is not a Request for Proposal but a Request for Qualifications. Any questions should be addressed to the Contracting Officer. NOTE: Work will be located throughout the State of Louisiana.
