IDC OPS-089: Indefinite Delivery Contract for Engineering Support Services associated with dredged material transport and placement at the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS) and artificial reefs off the coasts of New York and New Jersey

1. CONTRACT INFORMATION: This contract is procured as a small business set-aside. The NAICS Code is 541330. The size standard is $25.5 million average annual receipts for preceding three fiscal years. The number one ranked small business firm will be selected for negotiations based on demonstrated competence and qualifications for the required work. The length of the indefinite Delivery Contract (IDC) is a maximum of 60 months and will not include optional time periods. The total capacity of the contract will not exceed $5,000,000. Task Orders will be issued by negotiated firm-fixed-price under the terms and conditions of this IDC contract. The government guarantees a minimum seed task order with a minimum value of $4,000 for the basic contract. The selected small business firm A-E firm will need to demonstrate capability to perform at least 51% of the contract work listed below in accordance with EP 715-1, Chapter 3-8 c which can be found at http://www.publications.usace.army.mil/Portals/76/Publications/EngineerPamphlets/EP_715-1-7.pdf?ver=2013-08-22-094139-520 In particular, in order to be awarded a small business contract the concern will perform at least 51 percent of the cost of the contract incurred from personnel with its own employees. - Any subcontractor and outside associates or consultants required by the contractor (prime A-E firm) in connection with the services covered by the contract will limit to individuals or firms that were specifically identified and agreed to during negotiations the contractor shall obtain the Contracting Officer's written consent before making substitutions for these subcontractors, associates or consultants. If a substitution is necessitated by illness, death, or termination of employment for whatever reason, the selected A-E firm shall notify the Contracting Officer in writing within 15 calendar days after the concurrences of any of these events and provide the following information to the Contracting Officer: Required information for substitution necessitated by illness, death, or termination of employment for whatever reason: The contractor shall provide a detailed explanation of the circumstances necessitating the proposed substitution, complete resumes for the new proposed substitutes, and any additional information requested by the Contracting Officer. Proposed substitutes should have comparable qualifications or better qualifications to those of the persons being replaced. The Contracting Officer will notify the contractor within 15 calendar days after receipt of all required information of the decision on substitutions. Approximate award date: January 2025 The wages and benefits of services employees (see FAR 22.10) performing under this contract must be at least equal to those determined by the Department of Labor under the Service Contract Act, as determined relative to the employee's office location (not of the location of the work). To be eligible for a contract award, the firm must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM). SAM registrations are performed online. Register in SAM at https://www.dol.gov/general/business-ccr . Should you need help completing your registration, please contact the Federal Service Desk (FSD) toll free at (866) 606-8220 or go to www.fsd.gov to find answers about SAM registration in FSD's Answer Center. 2. PROJECT INFORMATION: On September 29, 1997, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2 (EPA) de-designated the New York Bight Dredged Material Disposal Site, also known as the Mud Dump Site (MDS), and simultaneously designated the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS). This action was the culmination of more than a year of cooperation and coordination between the White House Administration, the Department of the Army, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Transportation. The MDS was designated in 1984 for the disposal of dredged material from navigational dredging and other dredging projects associated with the Port of New York and New Jersey and nearby harbors, by EPA, under its authority provided by the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA) (62 FR46142). Historically, the NY Bight Apex had been utilized for ocean disposal of dredged material and a variety of waste products since the 1800s (USACE/USEPA 2010). The HARS is managed to reduce the impacts of historical disposal activities at the MDS and surrounding area to acceptable levels (in accordance with 40 CFR 228.11), and is remediated with uncontaminated dredged material (i.e., - Remediation Material) that meets current Category I standards, and will not cause significant undesirable ecological effects, including through bioaccumulation (62 FR 46142). The remediation consists of placing at least a one (1) meter - cap layer (i.e., minimum required cap thickness) of Category 1 dredged material on top of the existing surface sediments within the nine (9) Priority Remediation Areas (PRAs) of the HARS. The HARS (which includes the 2.2 square nautical mile MDS) is an approximately 15.7 square nautical mile area located approximately 3.5 nautical miles east of Sandy Hook, New Jersey and 7.7 nautical miles south of Rockaway, New York. The HARS (Figures 1 and 2) includes the following three areas: Priority Remediation Area (PRA): A 9.0 square nautical mile area to be remediated with at least 1 meter of Remediation Material. The PRA encompasses an area of degraded sediments. Buffer Zone: An approximately 5.7 square nautical mile area (0.27 nautical mile wide band around the PRA) in which no placement of the Material for Remediation will be allowed, but which may receive Material for Remediation that incidentally spreads out of the PRA. No Discharge Zone: An approximately 1.0 square nautical mile area in which no placement or incidental spread of Material for Remediation is allowed. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), New York District (NYD) is responsible for managing dredged material placement at the HARS. In conjunction with the regional office of the EPA (Region II), NYD prepared a Site Management and Monitoring Plan (SMMP) of the HARS in 1997 (updated in 2020), in accordance with MPRSA 102 (c)(3)(B), which identifies a number of actions, provisions and practices to manage remediation activities and monitoring tasks. The SMMP (USACE/EPA 2020) encompasses precision bathymetric surveying, side- scan sonar analysis and sub bottom seismic profiling. The SMMP recommends that a complete bathymetric survey of the HARS be performed annually, in order to periodically assess the extent to which the HARS has received remediation material coverage. The SMMP is being used as a guideline to manage placement of dredged material at the HARS, to ensure efficient construction of the minimum 1-meter sediment cap, and to monitor changes at the HARS while remediation activities occur and, ultimately, to ensure remediation has been completed. The Scope of this Contract would include conducting high resolution multi-beam bathymetric surveys, conducting side-scan sonar surveys, and conducting sub bottom profiling at the HARS and alternative locations investigated in the New York Bight for ocean placement of dredged materials. This contract will be used to complete the surveying activities described in the HARS SMMP, and related activities, in a timely, technically sound, and cost effective manner. Additionally, this contract will allow data collection associated with the investigation of future sites in the New York Bight for ocean placement of dredged materials. Artificial reefs, used for placement of dredged rock, and the Sea Bright Offshore Borrow Area, used for placement of uncontaminated sand, may also be monitored through this contract. New York District is issuing this solicitation for award of one (1) contract. This contract must maintain data continuity between previous work at the HARS and all subsequent data collection. Task orders issued against this contract will be utilized for collection and analysis of surveying data associated with activities described in the HARS SMMP, and related activities from areas within and/or adjacent to the HARS and the New York Bight, including: (1) conducting high-resolution multi-beam bathymetric surveys, (2) conducting side-scan sonar surveys, and (3) conducting sub bottom profiling at the HARS and alternative locations investigated in the New York Bight for ocean placement of dredged materials. Task orders may be issued on short notice and with limited periods of performance. Special qualifications include but are not limited to capability and experience with precision hydrographic surveying, geotechnical data collection and analysis, monitoring of marine habitats, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) use and formatting of GIS data, GIS metadata preparation, and preparation of studies and reports. The contractor must be familiar with current U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regulations, guidelines, and procedures. The contractor must also have the capability to manage and supervise other contractors and demonstrate the ability to handle the large volume of work under strict deadlines. The contractor must also be capable of providing surveying data in formats compatible with the GIS software used by NY District. The contractor must demonstrate in the submittal its plan for successful quality assurance and integration of all disciplines to ensure that a quality product is produced. Supervisory and/or key personnel should have advanced college degrees in an appropriate discipline and/or Hydrographic Surveyor certification, and should have experience in the following: (1) project planning, (2) project management, (3) marine field work, (4) hydrographic surveying, (5) map preparation, (6) geotechnical data collection and analysis, (7) oceanographic data collection and analysis, (8) GIS software development and GIS data management, and (9) report preparation. 3. SELECTION CRITERIA: The selection criteria are listed below in descending order of importance (first by major criterion and then by each sub-criterion). Criteria a through e are primary selection criteria. Criteria f and g are secondary selection criteria and will only be used as tiebreakers among technically equal firms. Primary Selection Criteria: The firm is required to have the following capabilities: a. Specialized knowledge, technical competence, ability, and experience in: Demonstrate ability to perform geophysical field surveys utilizing analog/digital acoustic acquisition techniques (i.e., multi-beam hydrographic, side-scan sonar imaging, and sub-bottom profiling). Demonstrate ability to conduct field investigations from a variety of platforms: standard research vessel, small craft, etc. Demonstrate ability to analyze tide, wave, current, and other time- series data to properly filter noise and implement corrections, analyze trends, and provide useable results. Demonstrate ability to use innovative strategies/techniques to solve a scientific problem. Demonstrate ability to present survey data and analyses through written reports and oral presentations. Demonstrate ability to produce two and three dimensional physiographic relief maps, sediment accumulation contoured difference maps, contoured bathymetric maps, seafloor surficial sediment distribution data using digital side-scan sonar technology and vertical imaging data using digital sub- bottom profiling, collect and store all field data electronically in GIS formats and submit data in either printed maps or electronic format. Demonstrate ability to collect precise and accurate multi-beam hydrographic data. Demonstrate experience in preparing technical reports. Demonstrate experience in conducting hydrographic surveys. Demonstrate experience in preparing and analyzing GIS data and maintaining GIS databases. Demonstrate experience in writing software for engineering and/or scientific analysis. Demonstrate experience in preparation of engineering technical reports. b. Professional Qualifications: Consideration will only be given to firms that assemble a team of in-house and/or consultants with a professional staff consisting of the following disciplines: Licensed Hydrographic Surveyor/Hydrographic Surveyor (Resume Required) Civil Engineer/Environmental Engineer/Dredging Engineer (Resume Required) Project Manager-Senior Scientist/Engineer (Resume Required) Principal Program Manager (Resume Required) Senior Oceanographer (Resume Required) Senior Geologist (Resume Required) Safety Officer/Industrial Hygienist Technical Writer Survey Technician GIS Spatial Analyst GIS Technician QA/QC Officer Junior Engineer Electronics Technician The evaluation will consider education, registration, and training and overall and relevant experience using information from Section E of the SF 330. The SF 330 includes a matrix in Section G showing experience of the proposed lead scientists on the projects listed in Section F of the SF 330. c. Past performance on DoD and other contracts with respect to cost control, quality of work and compliance with performance schedules, as determined from references, other sources and CPARS. Letters of recommendation from customers addressing your firms cost control, quality of work and schedule compliance capabilities may be included in Section H of the SF 330. Letters should be for projects of a similar nature and shall be no older than three years to be considered. d. Capacity: In an effort to expedite the selection process, the submitters are required to demonstrate how they will complete the work within the time parameters of the project given the employee capacity of the team. The evaluation will consider the availability of an adequate number of personnel in all key disciplines. The evaluation will look at numbers listed in Part II of the SF330 to evaluate the overall capacity of the team. Include Part II form of the SF 330 for each firm and each office of each firm that is part of the proposed team. e. Knowledge of the locality in the general geographical area of the New York Bight. The evaluators will look at the specific experience of the listed key discipline lead scientist (one per discipline) as stated in Section E of the SF 330. Secondary Selection Criteria: f. Geographic proximity of the firm's office(s) in relation to the HARS. g. Volume of DoD contract awards in the last 12 months, with the objective of effecting an equitable distribution of DoD A-E contracts among qualified firms, including small business, Veteran-owned small business, service- disabled small business, HUBZONE small business, disadvantaged small business, woman-owned small business, minority institutions, and firms that have not had prior DoD contracts. 4. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: Interested prime firms having the capabilities to perform these services must submit their SF330 to Stephen DiBari by email stephen.dibari@usace.army.mil. Maximum File size is 25MB. If overall SF330 is larger than 25 MB, please break up the file into smaller separate files. NO HARD COPIES OF SF-330'S WILL BE REQUIRED. DO NOT MAIL SF-330'S (CD or Hard Copies) TO THE CONTRACT SPECIALIST nor to Stephen DiBari at 26 FEDERAL PLAZA. Doing so, will delay the AE Selection/award process. The SF 330 can be found by searching for SF330 on the following GSA website: https://www.gsa.gov/forms The forms can be downloaded in a .pdf file type. Total submittal page limitation is 100 pages. Section E is limited to 60 pages. Section F is limited to 10 pages (1 page per project). Each page shall be numbered. Section dividers, front and back covers, cover letter and Part II of the SF 330 don't count towards overall page limit. Tabloid size paper 11 X 17 pages for organizational chart or other graphics will count as one page. Submittals not following these instructions, may not be evaluated by the Board. Submittals will not be accepted after 2:00 pm on the response date shown in the advertisement in the https://sam.gov/. If the response date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or a Federal Holiday, the response date will moved to the next business day. For questions regarding this contract, contact stephen.dibari@usace.army.mil If a Pre-Selection meeting is required, notifications will NOT be sent after approval of the pre-selection. Notification of all firms will be made within ten (10) calendar days after selection approval. In addition to the two (2) items listed above, the remaining info on Release of information on firm selection shall be in accordance with UAI SUBPART 5.4 (USACE ACQUISITION INSTRUCTIONS). Interviews (discussions) will be held with all the most highly qualified firms as required by FAR 36.602-3(c). All firms will be interviewed by the same method (telephone, video teleconference or in person). Firms will be given sufficient advance notice to allow representatives to participate in the interviews or presentations. All firms will be asked similar questions. The questions will be related to the announced selection criteria including but not limited to, their experience, capabilities, capacity, organization, management, quality control procedures and approach for this project. Firms must be registered in the following: https://www.sam.gov/portal/SAM/#1 NAICS Code is 541330.