Prequalification of Sources, Levee Repair Construction Contracts, United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

***Revision 2, 12 May 2026: Changes made to the following sections:

Responses Section changed Constance Ellard to Nicole Parker

***Revision 1, 12 May 2025: Changes made to the following sections:

"QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT", Paragraph 1. Experience

"RESPONSES", Paragraph 1. Experience 

ANNOUNCEMENT

This is a PREQUALIFICATION OF SOURCES announcement, issued in accordance with DFARS

236.272 and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Acquisition Instruction (UAI) 5136.272. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this announcement or any follow up information requests. Respondents will be notified of the results of the prequalification process.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Omaha District is seeking to create Prequalified Sources List (PSL) for levee repairs in the states of Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska. As a result of flooding in the spring of 2024, there are damages to 30 federal and non-federal levee systems with over 500 miles of earthen levees with the Omaha District. The levees are in the Missouri River Basin on the Missouri River and its tributary rivers and creeks within the Omaha District. The attached list of projects entitled “PSL Projects Missouri River Basin” (Attachment 1) contains a description of each planned levee repair project.

The majority of levee repair construction shall be self-performed by the prime contractors under this prequalification. The objective of the PSLs is to identify and select responding firms that demonstrate the capacity and capability to successfully support critical levee repairs without relying entirely on subcontractors. Subcontracting will be allowed, but will not be part of the prequalification process.

Identifying and selecting prequalified sources will be based solely on the responding firm's ability to meet the specific criteria that assess the firm's bonding capability, previous experience completing construction of levee projects or cut/fill grading operations, and past performance. The selection process will be objective in that responding firms either meet or fail to meet the criteria. Failure to meet any one of the criteria will result in non-selection. The criteria ensure selection of clearly qualified contractors with experience and capability relevant to the anticipated requirements, provide competition, and minimize subjectivity in USACE's assessment.

The PSL will be available for use while other acquisitions are underway for similar requirements. The PSL will be reviewed annually to ensure a legitimate need exists. Presently, USACE anticipates at least 30 contract actions during the next 2 years. As such, it is likely that a legitimate need will continue for the next 24 months. Magnitudes of disclosure will be provided at the time of solicitation for each project.

After the PSL is established, USACE intends to proceed by issuing solicitations using FAR Part 14 procedures (i.e., sealed bidding).

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for procurements using the Prequalified Sources List is 237990, Other Heavy and Civil Construction, which has a small business size standard of $45M.

BONDING REQUIREMENTS

Pursuant to the Miller Act, performance and payment bonds shall be provided for each contract awarded under the PSL. Typically, Notice to Proceed (NTP) will not be issued until after the successful bidder provides sufficient bonding. However, in some time-sensitive situations, USACE may issue NTP at award, which will be stated in the solicitation.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

To be considered qualified for the PSLs, firms must meet the following minimum requirements

1.  Experience: Proven competence as the prime contractor performing construction of at least three earthwork projects or cut/fill  grading operations including either levee construction, levee degrading and reconstruction, and/or large scale cut/fill projects. Each project submitted for experience must have included a minimum cut/fill quantity of 10,000 cubic yards of material. Each project should have a value of at least $750,000.

Relevant experience includes hauling/placement and engineered compaction of soil/sands material, hauling/placement of aggregate material, hauling/placement of rip rap material, placement of geotextile/geogrid, and other engineered slope stabilization solutions, sheet pile construction, seeding, haul material, haul road construction, and/or mass cut/fill operations requiring grading of material. (***Revision 1***) Two (2) of the three (3) projects submitted shall show a minimum selective placement per project of 500 tons of riprap on slopes up to 1V:1.5H with a D50 greater or equal than 12-inches. Selective placement includes placing riprap on an underlying bedding or geotextile without disturbing/shifting the bedding or geotextile.***

2. Past Performance: Information that demonstrates satisfactory ratings by the client for each of the projects cited in Experience above that indicates a recommendation to use the contractor for future projects. A CPARS evaluation or its equivalent from the client meets this requirement. The firm's self-assessment of its own performance is not requested and will not be substituted for the client's assessment. Additionally, past performance may be based on the Contracting Officer’s or Contracting Officers’ Representatives’ knowledge of and previous experience with similar purchases acquired. In addition to the above information required to be submitted with the proposal, the Government may review any other sources of information for evaluating past performance. Other sources may include, but are not limited to, and any information available to the Government, past performance information retrieved through the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS), and any other known sources not provided by the offeror. Past Performance may also be evaluated based on information about contractor performance from existing performance documentation from any past contracts. Additional past performance information from other contracts may be considered by the qualification authority. This information could include contract terminations, safety violations, cure notices, tax delinquencies, non-compliance with subcontracting plans, compliance with labor laws, assessment of liquidated damages, and adversarial management practices or behaviors as viewed by the client. USACE reserves the right to consider past performance information from any source it deems relevant.

3. Bonding: A firm must have a single bonding capability of $5 million and aggregate of $10 million

SET-ASIDES

All firms submitting documentation meeting the standards for prequalification will be placed on the PSL. However, placement on the PSL does not guarantee a firm will be solicited for every requirement. The contracting officer will consider the following set- asides:

1. Small Business Set-Aside: Pursuant to FAR Part 19, the contracting officer may elect to set-aside any solicitation within the PSL for a specific small business category. Small business classification will be determined by the representations and certifications in SAM for NAICS 237990, Other Heavy and Civil Construction.
2. Local Area Set-Aside: Pursuant to FAR Part 26.2, the contracting officer may elect to set-aside any solicitation within the PSL for local firms residing in or primarily doing business in the disaster area.

For the State of Iowa, the disaster area includes the following counties: Cherokee, Harrison, Lyon, Monona, Montgomery, Pottawattamie, O'Brien, Osceola, Plymouth, Scott, Shelby, Sioux, and Woodbury.

For the State of Nebraska, the disaster area includes the following counties/areas: Boyd, Burt, Butler, Clay, Colfax, Dakota, Dawson, Dodge, Douglas, Dundy, Fillmore, Hamilton, Hayes, Hitchcock, Holt, Howard, Keith, Lincoln, McPherson, Nance, Nemaha, Platte, Polk, Red Willow, Richardson, Sarpy, Saunders, Scotts Bluff, Thomas, and Washington.

If additional counties are declared disaster areas for the spring 2024 flood event, they will be considered to meet the definition of the local area for the purposes of this prequalification notice.

If a firm did not reside in one of the disaster areas listed above as of June 19, 2024 and requests to be classified as local, it must submit compelling evidence that its primary business is derived from the disaster area. A mere statement to this effect or incomplete calculations are inadequate.

The contracting officer may elect to utilize both local area and small business set-asides in the same solicitation within the PSL. The contracting officer may also elect to advertise solicitations for levee repairs contracts outside of the PSL entirely. These decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis with considerations including (but not limited to) adequate competition, small business goals, number of small business bidders, administrative efficiency, pricing trends, and industry feedback.

ROLLING ADMISSIONS

After the PSL has been established, firms that wish to be added to a PSL may submit responses at any time according to the instructions stated in this announcement. USACE reserves the right to hold responses received after the first 30 days of this PSL announcement to review in an efficient manner, but for no more than 90 days. A firm will typically be notified of USACE’s review within 7 days of the review. A firm who is initially determined to not meet the qualification standards may re-submit its response no more than once annually thereafter provided its qualifications have changed.

SOLICITATION PROCESS

1. USACE will provide all firms in the PSL notification of its intent to advertise a solicitation via an e-mail to the firm’s designated e-mail address. The notification will include a brief summary of the requirement and identify any small business or local area set-asides. The contracting officer will endeavor, but is not required, to provide the notice to PSL firms at least 7 days prior to  issuing the solicitation. Prior to the issuance of a solicitation, USACE will post at least one interim design package for each solicitation to the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE) Solicitation Module for a prequalified firm to review at its discretion.
2. Solicitations and drawings will be sent via email. Solicitation amendments will be posted to the same forum as the original solicitation. USACE may distribute a solicitation via e-mail to everyone included in the PSL.
3. Sealed bid solicitations will reflect the date of bid opening and will generally allow 14 days to submit a bid. More time will be allowed for those solicitations that are large or complex and warrant more bidding time.
4. Upon identification of the apparent low bidder, the bid will be reviewed for conformity to the solicitation requirements (i.e., responsiveness) and contractor responsibility must be considered. After an affirmative determination of contractor responsibility and price reasonableness, USACE will proceed with contract award.
5. The bid abstract will be made available to the entire PSL via e-mail. Firms or entities outside of the PSL will not be provided bid results. However, the award information (company name, address, and total amount) for a federal contract will be released publicly on SAM.gov.

REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION

Interested parties shall submit questions concerning this announcement via Bidder Inquiry in ProjNet at www.projnet.org/projnet.

1. To submit and review inquiry items, interested parties will need to be a current registered user or self- register in the system. To self-register, go to the aforementioned web page and click on the BID tab, select Bidder Inquiry, Select agency USACE, and enter the Bidder Inquiry Key for this announcement (listed below), your email address, and then click <login>. Verify all information on the next screen is correct and click <continue>.

2. From this page, you may view all bidder inquiries or add an inquiry.

3. Interested parties will receive an acknowledgement of their question via email, followed by an answer to their question after it has been processed by USACE Technical Review Team.

4. The Special Notice number is: W9128F25R0041

5. The Bidder Inquiry key is: SS96KS-R5CXUH

6. Interested Parties are requested to review the Bidder Inquiry System for answer to questions prior to submission of a new inquiry.

7. The Bidder Inquiry call center can be contacted with questions concerning the use of Bidder Inquiry. The call center operates weekdays from 8am to 5pm Central time. The telephone number for the call center is 800-4289-HELP.

RESPONSES

Interested firms shall respond to this Prequalification of Sources announcement no later than 9 June 2025 to be eligible for the first solicitations issued. All interested firms must be actively registered at www.sam.gov using NAICS 237990 to be eligible for award of federal contracts.

Email your electronic response to Nicole Parker at nicole.l.parker@usace.army.mil and Clinton Russell at clinton.e.russell@usace.army.mil. Responses to this Prequalification of Sources announcement shall not exceed 12MB and shall contain:

1. Experience: Narrative identifying at least three self-performed earthwork contracts in accordance with Paragraph 1 of QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.  Narrative must be in sufficient detail to determine the type of work, location, timeframe, value, quantities, client, and whether it was a prime contract or subcontract.  Each project must have a value of at least $750,000 (minimum) and 10,000 (minimum) cubic yards of material. (***Revision 1***) Two (2) of the three (3) submitted projects shall show a minimum selective placement (per project) of 500 tons of riprap on slopes.  Selective placement of riprap is defined as placing on an underlying bedding or geotextile without disturbing/shifting the bedding or geotextile.***

If your firm was a subcontractor, the value and quantities stated should be those of the subcontract, not the entire contract. Do not submit projects completed by teaming partners or planned subcontractors unless there is an approved joint venture or mentor-protégé agreement. Narrative attachments shall be returned in a searchable Adobe PDF. Page Limitation: 10 pages.

2. Past Performance: Information that demonstrates satisfactory ratings by the client for all projects cited and submitted for Experience. The information should indicate the client’s recommendation of the firm for future projects. A CPARS evaluation or its equivalent from the client would meet this requirement. If no rating exists, submit the attached Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ) (Attachment 1) completed by the client. The name, address, phone, and e-mail of the client must be included in the submission. Information submitted by the firm regarding its own assessment of Past Performance may be disregarded. Page Limitation: None.

3. Bonding: A current signed letter shall be provided from your firm's surety documenting the single bonding capability of at least $5 million and the aggregate bonding capability of at least $10 million.

Page Limitation: 2 pages.

4. Designated E-mail: Designate a single e-mail address for your firm to be utilized for all solicitation notices, solicitation postings, amendments, and bid abstracts under this PSL. It is recommended that this e-mail not be tied to any single person. The e-mail account must be able to receive e-mails of 10MB file size. If multiple e-mail addresses are provided, only the first e-mail address will be utilized.

5. Certifications: Certification, including the following information, by the principal of the firm regarding:

a. Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) code, CAGE code, eligibility for federal contract awards, and active registration in SAM.

b. Business Classification: Certify your business’s size standard under NAICS 237990 with a $45 million size standard. Include any other small business representations as well. In the event of a conflict with what is certified and what is in SAM, representations from SAM will be utilized by USACE.

c. Local Firm: Certify whether your firm is a local firm pursuant to Paragraph 2 of SET- ASIDES in this notice. SAM will be utilized to verify residency certification. If you are certifying as a local firm pursuant to the primary business provision, you must submit compelling evidence that your primary business is derived from the disaster area. USACE is the final authority on determination of whether a firm is classified as local for the purposes of local area set-asides under this PSL. Firms that did not have residency or primary business revenues established in the disaster area as of June 19, 2024 may not be classified as local.

d. Accuracy and Completeness: Certify that all information contained in the response is accurate and complete.

Experience, Past Performance, and Bonding will be evaluated for purposes of meeting prequalification standards. Designated E-mail and Certifications are not prequalification standards that are passed or failed, but will affect notification and eligibility for solicitations under the PSL.

Attachments:

PSL Projects Missouri River Basin (Attachment 1)

Past Performance Questionnaire (Attachment 2)