Synopsis for A-E Service Contracts

C-ARCHITECT AND ENGINEERING SERVICES "Small Business Set-Aside Indefinite Delivery Contracts (IDC) for Architect-Engineering (A-E) Services within the Northwestern Division (MEGA Phase B)" General Information Document Type: Synopsis for A-E Service Contracts Solicitation Number: W912DQ18R3000 Posted Date: Original Response Date: Current Response Date: Classification Code: C - Architect and Engineering Service 1. Contract Information: The Northwestern Division (NWD) of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a requirement to acquire Architect-Engineer (A-E) Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste (HTRW)/Environmental Indefinite Delivery Contracts (IDC) for execution of its environmental mission. This contract acquisition is part of NWD's Phase B of the Multiple Environmental Government Acquisition (MEGA). These regional A-E contract acquisitions will be conducted in accordance with the Selection of Architects and Engineers statute (40 USC Chapter 11), and Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 36.6 and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 236.6. The majority of the work will be located in NWD (including Kansas City, Omaha, and Seattle Districts), with the potential for work on EPA Region 2 projects. In support of this effort, the Government intends to award contracts to three (3) Small Business firms sharing $12 million in total contract capacity. However, if the Contracting Officer determines during the selection process that fewer or more than three (3) contracts should be awarded, based on the selection criteria, the Contracting Officer has the discretion of adjusting that number, or awarding none at all. This announcement is open to all Small Businesses. The period of performance for each contract will be five (5) years. It is anticipated that the contracts will be awarded not earlier than April 2018. Task orders will be issued as the need arises during the contract ordering period. Task order assignments will be determined with consideration of each firm's specialized experience and technical competence, professional qualifications, past performance, capacity, and knowledge of locality. These task orders may be either firm fixed-price or cost reimbursable type orders. There is no limit on the value of individual task orders and the period of performance on individual task orders shall not exceed five (5) years. The NAICS Code for this procurement is 541330 -- Engineering Services. For the purposes of this procurement a concern is considered a Small Business if its average annual gross receipts are $15 million or less. More than one contract may be awarded for the same scope of work. Under the Selection of Architects and Engineers statute, price competition is not allowed for A-E contracts. Due to the nature of the requirements, projects are completed in phases such as preliminary assessment, remedial investigation, feasibility study, and then design. The project scope will be reviewed to determine whether the requirement can be accomplished using a firm fixed-price task order or whether uncertainties will require the use of a cost reimbursable task order. When the requirement is identified, the government will notify all contractors in the pool that an evaluation will be conducted. The notification will include whether the contractor's SF 330 will be used, or if the government requires unique experience or qualifications to be submitted for the task order evaluation. Specialized experience and technical competence, professional qualifications, past performance, capacity, and knowledge of locality will be considered for task orders to determine which firm is best qualified to accomplish the work. The period of performance for task orders awarded under the IDCs will be determined based upon the work requirement (not to exceed five (5) years) and will be included in the task order solicitation and negotiated award documents. A Request for Price Proposal (RFPP) will be issued to the selected firm for each task order. The Service Contract Labor Standards statute is applicable to this solicitation and resulting contracts and will be incorporated into same. Service wage rates will be determined based on the locality where the services will be performed. Prospective contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database to be eligible for contract award. In order to register in SAM, a firm must have a Data Universal Number System (DUNS) number from Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). If a firm does not have a DUNS number, one can be requested by visiting D&B at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform. Contractors may obtain information on registration and annual confirmation requirements via the Internet at http://www.sam.gov. Additionally, in accordance with FAR Part 22.1303, all firms must complete their VETS-4212 report. Information can be found at the Department of Labor website https://www.dol.gov/vets/vets4212.htm, or call the service center at +1 (555) 000-0000; you will be asked to provide your company name, employer identification number (EIN), and DUNS number. 2. Project Information: Firms must be capable of performing work on a wide variety of HTRW sites in a manner that complies with federal, state, and local regulations and laws, and within time frames required. At least 50 percent of the cost of contract performance incurred for personnel shall be expended for employees of the Prime/Joint Venture (JV) firm. It is anticipated that a majority of the work will be performed within NWD under the CERCLA regulatory framework. These contracts may be used to provide A-E services for EPA Region 2 projects. Specific needs will be determined based upon project requirements as described in each task order. Project assignments will typically require performance on-site and in an office setting. Selected firms will work on a variety of hazardous waste and other environmental projects, including, but not limited to contaminated soil and groundwater, contaminated sediments, radioactive and mixed wastes, underground storage tanks and fueling systems, and habitat restoration and mitigation. Assignments will include Preliminary Assessments, site investigations, subsurface exploration, chemical sampling, testing and analyses, hazard evaluations, feasibility and other engineering studies and reports, groundwater and other modeling, contaminant fate and transport analysis, human health and ecological risk assessments, Proposed Plans, Decision Documents, HTRW remedial designs, preparation of plans and specifications, cost estimating, value engineering screenings and studies, field inspections, verification of existing conditions, pilot studies, vapor intrusion studies, surveying and mapping, community relations, construction-phase services (engineering design during construction, checking design drawings), Five Year Reviews, archaeological investigations and mitigation, wetlands determination and mitigation studies, storm water design (including drainage studies and hydraulic modeling), evaluations of green technologies and energy conservation measures, and other related services. 3. Primary Selection Criteria: Selection of the firms will be based on the following primary criteria, listed in descending order of importance, first by major criterion and then by each sub-criterion. Additional consideration will be given for experience and qualifications by the Prime or Joint Venture (JV) firms. Criteria A through E are primary criteria and will be evaluated for all offerors. (A) Specialized experience and technical competence of the firm demonstrated for a broad range of CERCLA HTRW work performed under the CERCLA regulatory framework. Firms will be evaluated for experience and competence in areas 1 through 3 below, clearly demonstrated in the past five (5) years. The most highly qualified firms will have extensive experience in all of the following areas: 1. Remedial Investigations, Risk Assessments (human health and ecological), Feasibility Studies, development of UFP-QAPPs, execution of field investigations including soil and groundwater sampling, installation of monitoring wells, groundwater modeling, and Remedial Design. Experience with differing contaminants in various media including soil, groundwater, sediment, and bedrock, should be demonstrated. Experience providing A-E services for HTRW projects located within NWD should also be demonstrated. The basis of the evaluation will be the information in Section F of the SF 330. 2. Demonstrated quality management processes and procedures that result in high quality work products. The Prime/JV firm should demonstrate a strong understanding of quality management principles by describing quality management roles and responsibilities and organizational structure, and by documenting quality management process and procedures. The basis of the evaluation will be the information in Section H of the SF 330. 3. Managing cost reimbursable contracts. The Prime/JV firm should demonstrate experience managing government cost reimbursable contracts as the prime including accounting systems, cost tracking, managing cost and schedule variances, cost/budget projections, and indirect rate adjustments. The basis of the evaluation will be the information in Section H of the SF 330. (B) Professional qualifications of a firm's staff and team consultants to be assigned to this contract. The education, professional registration, proposed job title, overall and relevant HTRW work performed under the CERCLA Regulatory Framework, longevity with the firm, and experience of key personnel will be considered. This criterion is primarily concerned with the qualifications of the key personnel and not the number of personnel. The number of personnel is addressed under the capacity criterion below. Responding firms should demonstrate the professional qualifications of their staff in these key disciplines, which are listed in descending order of importance. Responding firms shall submit resumes for each of the following key disciplines: (1) Project Management; (2) Hydrogeology / Geology; (3) Civil/Geotechnical Engineering; (4) Chemistry; (5) Environmental / Process Engineering; (6) Risk Assessment; and (7) Industrial Hygiene. A maximum of three (3) resumes for Project Manager, and a maximum of two (2) resumes for each of the other disciplines shall be submitted. The basis of the evaluation will be the information in Section E of the SF 330. (C) Past performance on DoD and other contracts with respect to cost control, quality of work, management/business relations, and compliance with performance schedules. The Contractor Performance Assessment Reports System (CPARS) is the primary source of information on past performance. CPARS will be queried by the Government for all firms submitting a SF 330. No submittals are required by the offerors for this criteria. Each project in Section F of the SF 330 shall include owner's contact information. If deemed appropriate by the evaluation board, performance evaluations for any significant team subcontractors may also be considered. The board may seek information on past performance from other sources, but is not required to seek other information on the past performance of a firm, if none is available from CPARS. When evaluating past performance, the board will consider the relevancy of performance evaluations on A-E services contracts to the proposed contract. (D) Capacity: The board will consider available capacity of key disciplines identified above from the Prime/JV firm and its team consultants to perform work in the required time. The basis of the evaluation will be the information in Section H and Part II of the SF330. (E) Knowledge of the Locality: The board will evaluate a Prime/JV firm's knowledge and experience with geological features and the state/ local regulatory agencies. Work under these contracts may be in a widely dispersed geographic area, therefore, responding firms should demonstrate the extent of their capabilities to serve projects located throughout the USACE NWD. The basis of the evaluation will be the information in Sections F and H of the SF 330. 4. Secondary Selection Criteria: The following secondary criterion will only be used as a tie-breaker among technically equal firms. The secondary criterion will not be co-mingled with the primary criteria in the evaluation. The secondary criterion is Volume of DoD A-E Contract Awards in the last 12 months. Responding firms should cite all contract numbers, task orders and modifications, award dates and total negotiated fees for any DoD A-E contract awarded within the past twelve (12) months. This information will assist in effecting an equitable distribution of DoD A-E contracts among qualified firms. The basis of the evaluation will be the information in Section H of the SF 330. 5. Submittal Requirements: Interested firms having the capabilities to perform this work must submit one (1) original plus five (5) copies and one (1) CD or DVD with searchable Adobe PDF files of one SF 330 (current version can be found in the GSA Forms Library at GSA.gov) for the prime firm that includes all team consultants. Include the firm's DUNS number and CAGE codes in the SF 330, Part I, Sections B and C. A maximum of ten (10) projects for the proposed team, including joint ventures and teaming partners, shall be shown in Section F. For the ten (10) projects submitted in Section F of the SF 330, a "project" is defined as work performed at one site or at a single installation. An IDC contract is not a project. A project may contain multiple task orders or contracts if they are for multiple phases of the project at the same site or installation. Project descriptions shall clearly state extent of work performed by the team, extent of work completed, and dates of completion. If the offeror provides a specific task order as its "project," it shall provide the base contract number(s) and the task order number(s) for reference purposes. If the offeror provides a site-specific contract as its "project," it shall provide the contract number for reference purposes. Firms should include information regarding the Secondary Selection Criteria in Section H of the SF 330. The SF 330 shall have a total page limitation of 70 printed pages with Section H limited to ten (10) pages, and Part II is excluded from the 70 printed page limit. Double-sided sheets will count as two pages. Page sheets of 11 inches X 17 inches will be counted as two (2) pages if printed on one side, and four (4) pages if printed on both sides. For all SF 330 sections, use no smaller than 11 pt. font. Solicitation packages are not provided. This is not a request for proposal. Submittals must be mailed or delivered to the following address not later than January 25, 2018, 2:00 pm Central Time (no faxed or other electronic submittals will be accepted): U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District Attn: CECT-NWK-H (David Miller) 601 East 12th Street Kansas City, MO 64106-2896 +1 (555) 000-0000 Submit questions, in writing only, to David Miller at contact@example.gov and Michael Dolly at contact@example.gov. Questions must be submitted in no later than January 09, 2018 and must contain the solicitation number in the subject line of the e-mail. Contracting Office Address: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District 601 East 12th Street (Room 647) Kansas City, MO 64106-2896 Place of Performance: N/A General Information Notice Type: Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Posted Date: Response Date: Archiving Policy: Automatic, on specified date Archive Date: Original Set Aside: Small Business Set Aside: N/A Classification Code: C -- Architect and engineering services NAICS Code: 541 -- Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services/541330 -- Engineering Services