Operation and Maintenance of the Dispersal Barrier Project Site, Romeoville, Illinois

With this announcement, the Chicago District Corps of Engineers issues a Pre-solicitation Notice for its CHICAGO SANITARY SHIP CANAL ELECTRICAL DISPERSAL BARRIER Project site, ROMEOVILLE, ILLINOIS. The Contractor will be required to provide all necessary facilities, plants, labor, transportation, materials, and equipment to provide operation and maintenance services for the existing Demonstration Electric Dispersal Barrier IIA, located on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal near Romeoville, Illinois. The facility operation is continuous except during power outages. Equipment to be serviced and maintained includes an emergency stand-by generator, building and site lighting, and submerged electrode array on the canal floor and electric pulse generators. There are patented elements installed at the Dispersal Barrier Project site that may require unscheduled emergency service, which shall be performed at additional cost as needed and may include the use of sub-contractors, divers and local service providers. The Electric Dispersal Demonstration Barrier, IIA, and IIB are located at 750 and 790 East Old Romeo Road, in Lockport, Illinois, 60441. These facilities lie along the banks of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal which is part of the Chicago Waterway system. The barriers were constructed by Smith-Root Inc (SRI), sole licensees of the U.S. patent (Smith 1988), to prevent the movement of invasive species, such as the Asian Carp (Rasmussen 2001), between the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins. The barrier project consists of two distinct parts: Demonstration Barrier and Barrier II (A&B). Demonstration Barrier, which consists of steel cables fastened to the bottom of the canal. Barrier II is also a pulsed DC barrier and is located 800 to 1,300 feet downstream of the Demonstration Barrier. Barrier II is able to generate a more powerful electric field over a larger area and consists of two sets of electrical arrays and control houses, known as Barriers IIA and IIB. Each control house and set of arrays can be operated independently. The Demonstration Barrier is scheduled to be replaced by a newer permanent Barrier by the end of the first option year of this contract. This contract will only include providing services for the Demonstration Barrier until it is replaced by the newer barrier. This contract will not include providing for the future operation and maintenance of the new replacement fish barrier unless it is specifically added to the contract by modification. The Classification Code for this procurement is North American Industry System (NAICS) 488310, with a business size in dollars of $25.5 Million. COMPETITION IS UNRESTRICTED TO BUSINESS SIZE. The Request for Proposal (RFP) Package will be downloadable from the INTERNET ONLY. The project specification files are Portable Document Format (PDF) files and can be viewed, navigated or printed using Adobe Acrobat Reader. Interested Contractors will be able to download the RFP Package from the Internet Site -- Federal Business Opportunities. The Chicago District anticipates issuing this solicitation 30 December 2011 with proposals due on 30 January 2012. In order for contractors to conduct business with the Department of Defense, the contractor must provide registration information to the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). Contractors can access the CCR for free at http://www.ccr.gov. Request for solicitation packages made by telephone, fax or e-mail will not be honored.