Multiple Award for Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity Contracts for Architect-Engineering (A&E) Support Services for Intercity Passenger Rail and High Speed Rail Programs

CONTRACT INFORMATION: These contracts are being procured in accordance with the Brooks Architect-Engineer (AE) Act as implemented by FAR Subpart 36.6. A maximum of five Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quanity Contracts will be awarded to support the Office of Railroad Development Programs. The contracts will be for a five year period and the total contract amount of each contract will not exceed $15,000,000.00. Individual task orders will not exceed the total contract amount. The firm must be capable of responding to and working on multiple, large task orders concurrently. Task orders will be awarded based on the A-E's current workload and its ability to accomplish the order in the required time, geographic location, type of services required, previous experience, including customer satisfaction, and performance and quality of deliverables under the current IDC. The concentration of work will be for the Office of Railroad Development. Contracts may be issued up to one year after selection approval. The North American Industry Classification Code (NAICS) for this procurement is 541330 and the size standard under this code is $4,500,000.00 average annual receipts over the last three years. This announcement is Unrestricted. Contracts will be firm-fixed-price. SUBCONTRACTING PLAN REQUIREMENTS: For large business concern, a subcontracting plan consistent with Section 806 (b) of PL 100-180, PL 95-507, and PL 99-661 will be required with the final fee proposal. A minimum of 50% of the total planned subcontracting dollars shall be placed with small business concerns. At least 10% of total planned subcontracting dollars shall be placed with Small disadvantaged businesses (SDB), including Historically Black Colleges and Universities or Minority Institutions; 8% with Women-owned small businesses (WOSB); 3% shall be placed with Hub-zone Small Businesses (Hub-SB); and 3% with Service Disabled Veteran-owned small businesses (SDV). The subcontracting plan is required with this submittal. Upon receipt of your SF330 for this project, the prime will be reviewed by the Contracting Officer to determine if you have complied on past projects with the subcontracting requirements for that respective contract. Any prime or joint venture found to be officially notified of non-compliance on past contracts and the non-compliance is outstanding will not be considered for this project. Failure to adequately explain reasons for not meeting previous contract goals may result in a lower overall rating and ultimate non-selection. 2. PROJECT INFORMATION: The work may consist of overseeing intercity passenger rail capital projects, evaluating rail freight projects, developing standard methodologies and requirements to evaluate passenger rail programs and properly conduct technical and/or programmatic and financial evaluations of existing or proposed passenger and/or freight rail operations and/or improvements, conduct review and oversight of the implementation of specific passenger and/or freight rail improvements, and evaluate the feasibility of developing passenger services including high-speed rail in various corridors. The firm may be called upon to prepare various supporting documentation for passenger and freight rail to include such items as financial analyses, project or program management assessments, railroad master plans, environmental impact statements/assessments, or schedules and budgets to accomplish series of projects sponsored by Federal, State or local governments, Amtrak, and other current or future operators of intercity passenger rail service, freight operators or commuter agencies.. 3. SELECTION CRITERIA: Contracts will be awarded in each of the five (5) areas if expertise listed below/ each responding firm may apply for one or more of the five (5) areas of expertise. Responding firms will be ranked in each area they apply for using the elements listed in items B and C: A. The firm must demonstrate specialized and technical competence in: (1)Environmental/Historic Documentation; This may include preparation or reviews of Categorical Exclusions (CE), Environmental Assessments (EA), Findings of No Significant Impacts (FONSI) and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS). The work may include site visits and coordination with State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPO) as appropriate. (2) Railroad Operations: This may include analysis of existing and proposed operations of freight, commuter, conventional intercity and high speed intercity trains operating separately or in any combination on the same infrastructure as the same or at different time(s), in order to prepare or review a Railroad Transportation Plan typically projecting railroad services 20 or more years in the future. The Railroad Transportation Guidance Manual can be found on the Federal Railroad Administration website at: http://www.fra.dot.gov/ select Passenger Rail; Publications, Studies, and Reports; Corridor Transportation Planning Guide. This analysis would typically be expected to include Train Performance Calculator (TPC) runs, computerized train operations modeling/simulation of train movements for different track configurations, preparation of railroad fleet plans (locomotive, and passenger car, and/or any other relevant vehicle(s) ), interactions with other modes of transportation (multimodal), sequence and staging of routine maintenance activities, etc. These tasks may also include analyses of the on-time performance of specific routes or regions, the identification of the nature and likely effects of potential options for improving such performance, and the comparison of the actual versus the projected costs and benefits of such options when implemented.(3)Railroad Engineering; This may include preparation or review of detailed railroad related engineering designs for signal systems and train control systems, track structures, bridges, tunnels, electric traction systems, maintenance facilities, passenger stations, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations, and any other component or feature of railway infrastructure, etc. (4)Railroad Rolling Stock; This may include review or preparation of design specifications for Diesel, or electric, or any other type of locomotives and self-propelled passenger cars as well as conventional trailer type passenger cars and maintenance equipment. This would also be expected to include analysis of rolling stock failures that may or may not have lead to safety related incidents. This would also include compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations on passenger cars. This may also include tasks related to the design, conduct, and evaluation of equipment development and demonstration programs. (5)Railroad Financial Analysis and Organizational Planning; This may include cost/benefit, financial, and operational analysis of proposed railroad projects and of potential network restructurings; railroad operating cost analysis and allocation methodologies; long range budget planning;, staffing levels, estimates of the effects of proposed work rule changes and potential labor actions; analyses and projections of the likely operating, financial, legal, and economic effects or implications of alternative corporate organizational/institutional structures for the provision of railroad services; corporate insolvency planning and analysis; passenger and freight demand, traffic, and revenue projections (including all types of revenue potentially accruing to railroad companies); etc. A contractor will be chosen to perform work in each of the above specified areas. If a contractor is found to have a conflict of interest with a particular project, the FRA can authorize another contractor from another area to perform the necessary work. In a similar manner, if a task in one area involves a relatively small effort in another area, the FRA would normally expect that smaller effort to be performed by the contractor responsible for the major portion of the task. Depending on the number of responses received for each of the above areas of effort, more than one contract may be awarded in ranked order to provide conflict of interest backup if contractors capabilities in other areas are deemed insufficient to cover the anticipated circumstances. Prime Contractor's Extent of participation of small businesses including Woman owned small business, Small Disadvantaged business, Historically Black Colleges & Minorities, Hub-Zone small business, Veteran Owned Small Business, and Service-Disabled Veteran-owned small business within Subcontracting Plan; Geographic location. B. The firm must have registered and licensed personnel, either in-house or through consultants, in the following key disciplines: civil, signal, electric traction, railroad, structural, electrical and mechanical engineering; ridership demand forecasting; environmental analysis; financial and economic analysis; railroad operations analysis; project management; program administration; construction cost estimating and accounting; architecture; and transportation and urban planning. The evaluation of these disciplines will consider education, training, overall and relevant experience and longevity with the firm. The availability of an adequate number of personnel in the key disciplines shall be presented to insure that the firm can meet the potential of working on multiple task orders for multiple customers. C. Work and Design Quality Management Plan: A proposed management plan shall be presented which shall include an organization chart and briefly address management approach, team organization, professional registration, quality control procedures, cost control, coordination of in-house disciplines and consultants, and prior experience 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. 4. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: Interested firms having capabilities to perform this work must submit Parts I and II of the SF 330 for the prime and joint venture(s). Part II of the SF 330 must be submitted for each consultant to the address below, no later than the close of business on the 30th day after the date of this announcement. If the 30th day is a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday, the deadline is the close of business the next business day. On SF 330, Part I, Block 5, include DUNS number for the prime firm. On the SF 330, Part I, Block F, provide the title and contract award dates for all projects listed in that section. Submit responses to U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, ATTN: Sharon L. Roland, Room W36-484, Mailstop 50, Washington, D.C. 20590. Technical questions should be directed to richard.cogswell@dot.gov. Contracting questions can be directed to Sharon L. Roland or sharon.roland@dot.gov. These forms shall be submitted to the above address not later than 2:00 P.M. on July 23, 2008. Four copies of the SF 330 submission are required. Part I of the SF 330 shall have a page limit of 125 pages. A page is one side of a sheet. Font size shall not be less than 10 font. Effective immediately, the use of DUNS+4 numbers to identify vendors is limited to identifying different CCR records for the same vendor at the same physical location. For example, a vendor could have two records for themselves at the same physical location to identify two separate bank accounts. If you do not have a DUNS number, or want to register subsidiaries and other entities, call Dun and Bradstreet at 1-866-705-5711. Solicitation packages are not provided. NOTE: In order to maintain total objectivity in the AE selection process, phone calls and e-mails to discuss this announcement are discouraged unless absolutely necessary. Personal visits for the purpose of discussing this announcement will not be scheduled. Hypothetical examples are attached to this announcement to provide assistance with contractor's submission. This is not a request for proposal. Hypothetical Task Order No.1 Corridor Transportation Plan It is approximately 30 miles from Chicago Union Station to Joliet, IL via the Illinois Central Railroad route through Lockport. Amtrak currently operates 3 round trips per day over this route, but anticipates increasing service to 10 round trips in the future. Metro currently operates 3 round trips per day, but anticipates increasing service to 15 round trips. Freight service varies from 6-10 round trips over various portions of the route including locals. Within this distance are 6 diamond crossings, 5 of which have more than 50 moves per day across the corridor. It is desired to reduce the current trip time from 50 minutes (including a stop at Summit) to 40 minutes with service densities increased to the proposed levels. Please outline the process that you would consider necessary to undertake in order to prepare a concept level track configuration and construction staging plans along with appropriate construction cost estimates. The estimated period of performance is 9 months. Your proposal shall specifically address the following: 1. Organizational management and staffing requirements and assignments for the prime contractor and any subcontractors. 2. Field site visits and investigations to define existing conditions. 3. Simulation of train movements/performance. 4. Bridges. 5. Track work. 6. Signals and communications. 7. Passenger station impacts/modifications. 8. Minimize operational impacts of freight and commuter service. 9. Interactions with the owning rail carrier(s) for operations analysis and field surveys. Hypothetical Task Order No. 2 Corridor Environmental/Historic Documentation Local officials have identified a 350 mile rail line between two major cities as a prime candidate for high speed rail passenger service. Approximately 200 miles of line near one city used to be double track, but the remainder has always been single track without signals and has few short passing tracks. There is several wildlife preserves scattered along the route and a tribe of American Indians claim to have a burial ground near MP 287. Three former passenger stations and an adjacent freight house have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as an iron bridge at MP 286. A former telephone pole creosoting plant near one city is proposed as the site of a passenger car yard with an adjacent electro-plating shop to be used for locomotive repairs. Plans call for reinstalling the second main track, adding new main line crossovers at 12 sites, replacing wood ties with concrete ties, installing 300 miles of welded rail and a new signal system. The single track segment will get a new signal system, 6 new 5 mile long passing tracks centered on MP 221, 245, 265, 285, 310 and 330. The iron bridge at MP 286 is damaged and must be replaced. The local agencies expect to operate 15 round trips per day over this route at speeds up to 150 mph. It is expected to take 15 months to complete the various environmental/historic documents. Outline how your company would handle this task, what documents need to be prepared, what organizations need to be consulted or approvals obtained, the need for public consultations, etc., discuss the use of environmental impact statements, categorization exclusions, and findings of no significant impacts in this situation. Hypothetical Task Order No. 3 Grade Crossing Protection Evaluation Course The FRA has a requirement to prepare a course on techniques to assess and evaluate highway grade crossing protection on designated high-speed corridors around the United States. The course is to be given to various State and local officials. In addition to assessing and evaluating existing protection systems associated with various levels of highway and train traffic, the course needs to address techniques for improving highway grade crossing protection using approaches similar to those undertaken by the State of North Carolina (Sealed Corridor Program). Likewise, the system developed by the State of New York, which assesses risks associated with alignment, traffic volume and vehicle mix, train volume and type of train (passenger, commuter, and freight), road surface, etc., shall be included in the course. Development of the course is expected to take 6 months. Describe how you would go about preparing the course, what would be included, who would be tasked to do the work, what the finished product would look like and how you would go about giving the course in 27 States to an average audience of 25 people.