NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures

This Sources Sought is for 'Market Research' only. The purpose of this Sources Sought is to determine if there are qualified firms interested in this requirement. All interested and qualified parties are requested to submit required information by the closing date listed below. The Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Mitigation Directorate-Building Sciences Branch, is seeking qualified large or small businesses to continue FEMA's support of the model codes and standards development processes and to support related activities such as outreach and education to ensure that seismic hazards continue to be adequately addressed. The specific purpose of this effort is to support and encourage the adoption and enforcement of the seismic portions of the nation's model codes and standards. The reason for addressing one specific portion of the code is that as part of its role in the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), FEMA is committed to supporting this nation's seismic codes and standards to keep them among the best in the world. This support has been manifested in the development and continued triennial updating of the NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures, the latest version of this document being the recently released 2009 edition (FEMA P-750), related training and design materials (FEMA P-751-753), and a simplified introduction (FEMA P-749). Development of the 2014 edition has also now begun. This support has also been manifested in the development and publication of various FEMA guidance documents on existing buildings, such as the Prestandard and Commentary for Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings (FEMA 356). The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for these services is 541330 - Engineering Services. The Small Business Size Standard is $4.5 million average receipts per year over the last three years. The Small Business Administration may be used to verify business size. This sources sought notice is for information and planning purposes only. The government will not pay or otherwise reimburse respondents for information submitted. It is anticipated that a single contract will be awarded. Based upon evaluation of responses received by the closing date, the government reserves the right to set-aside any and all procurements that may result hereunder for small business concerns, the incumbent; or to open the follow-on solicitation to full and open competition. Minimum capabilities must include documented evidence or experience and expertise in the following areas: - 1) Develop, submit and follow a Project Work Plan for this contract; - 2) Update and support the FEMA/BSSC Code Resource Support Committee (CRSC) to ensure that it continues to be staffed with appropriate experts from the seismic design and code development communities; - 3) Monitor and support submitted code changes based on the most recent edition of the NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions and other FEMA publications to ensure that the IBC, IEBC, IRC and other model codes will continue to be substantially equivalent to the NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions as directed under Executive Order 12699 as well as other FEMA design guidance publications for new and existing buildings; - 4) Continuing to monitor the IBC, IEBC and IRC code change process to ensure that code changes submitted by other parties do not reduce the effectiveness of those model codes and to ensure that they will continue to be substantially equivalent to the NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions as directed under Executive Order 12699 as well as other FEMA design guidance publications for new and existing buildings, including FEMA 356; - 5) Continue to monitor the updates of consensus standards such as ASCE 7, 31, and 41 to ensure that these standards will continue to be substantially equivalent to FEMA's design guidance for new and existing buildings; - 6) Perform outreach activities to encourage the adoption and enforcement of adequate building codes at the State and local level as part of FEMA's commitment to pre-disaster mitigation, especially for communities participating in FEMA's Pre-Disaster Mitigation initiative, including assisting local community code officials in adopting and enforcing a suitable code and assisting in the interpretation of that code as it is used by the local community. - 7) Develop and disseminate code-related outreach and education materials to encourage the proper use of building codes to reduce future earthquake losses. - 8) Continue to support training initiatives based on FEMA products that benefit the State and local adoption and enforcement of adequate seismic building codes. All interested persons or businesses with these capabilities who are interested in performing the proposed effort are invited to submit your capability statements. Capability Statement is limited to 15 pages or less; please do not include marketing materials. Responses should be single spaced and single sided, using Times New Roman, 12-point font, and should not include attachments or appendices. Please list your company points of contact including e-mail, regular mail address, and telephone number(s). Please identify your business size, and classification. This notice is not a request for competitive proposals. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.