A1 SITE VISIT NOTES AND INFO (22R0008).pdf

United States Department of Agriculture Procurement and Property Services [PPS] Forest Service Field Procurement Operations, Southwest Zone

Contract Service Area 6, Construction and A&E Branch

Caring for the Land and Serving People

PRE-PROPOSAL SITE VISIT

Topics and Notes from the Contracting Officer

DATE/TIME: February 23, 2022 @ 1030A PST

LOCATION: Powder Can Picnic Area located in the immediate vicinity of the Hume Lake Christian Camps

PROJECT: Road construction, Tenmile Road Bridge Replacement, Hume Lake Bridge Sequoia National Forest

SOLICITATION NO: 127EAW22R0008

A. GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES

Contracting Officer [CO] Jeremy Bedner Procurement and Property Services [PPS], Field Procurement Operations, Southwest Zone Contract Service Area [CSA] 6 – Construction and A&E Contracts Branch 707-562-8756 Jeremy.bedner@usda.gov

Contracting Officer’s Representative [COR] Peter Landucci Assistant Transportation Engineer – Southern Sierra Zone Region 5 Engineering 360-956-2295 peter.landucci@usda.gov

B. SITE VISIT FACILITATORS

Peter Landucci (see above)

Steven Ray Forest Engineer, Sequoia National Forest 559-306-3456 steven.r.ray@usda.gov

Kyle Lane Recreation Staff Officer Hume Lake Ranger District. Sequoia National Forest / Giant Sequoia National Monument.

559-338-2251 x360 kyle.lane@usda.gov

C. SOLICITATION / RFP KEY DATES

02/04/2022 RFP published to Contracting Opportunities (sam.gov)

02/24 Site Visit

03/03 (12p PST) Requests for Information [RFIs] submitted NLT *or within ten (10) calendar days of the RFP due date if extended via amendment

03/15 (12p PST) Bids (price and technical proposal) due NLT

D. REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION [RFIs]

See Section B.2 All Requests for Information [RFIs] shall be submitted to the Contracting Officer, Jeremy Bedner, via email @ jeremy.bedner@usda.gov NLT March 3, 2022, by 12P / 1200 PST. OR NLT ten (10) calendar days of the proposal due date if revised via amendment. RFIs submitted after this due date may not be considered by the Government for review and answer. Answers to RFIs submitted timely shall be posted as an amendment to the solicitation/RFP announcement on Contract Opportunities.

Note on Site Visit Q&A: The Forest Service POCs will document – to the extent practical – relevant questions or discussion points during the SV. FS may provide answers during the SV.

However, it is strongly encouraged that contractors submit any specific questions/RFIs to the CO via email – even if discussed during SV. Contractors are hereby made aware that verbal answers provided during the SV are not binding or enforceable on the RFP or contract award. Contractors must submit the RFIs to us in writing to be receive official/formal answers. The answers to all RFIs submitted will be provided publicly via amendment to the RFP announcement on Contract Opportunities.

E. RFP ATTACHMENTS

1. Specifications Forest Service Supplemental Specifications for FP-14 Standard Specifications for Construction of Roads and Bridges on Federal Highway Projects

2. Drawings-Plans

3. Fire Plan / Project Activity Level [PAL]

4. Davis-Bacon (Construction) Wage Determination x 2 4A. Tulare County 4B. Fresno County

5. Experience Questionnaire*

*RFP only. Required to be completed and submitted with the technical proposal.

See Section L.3, A. Relevant Prior Experience and Past Performance

F. BID / PAY ITEMS

Refer to Section B.1 BID SCHEDULE

BASE ITEMS 1 Hume Lake Bridge Replacement

BASE ITEMS 2 Tenmile Road Construction

OPTION ITEMS. For Tenmile Road Construction

The Option Bid Items – single, all, or combination – may be awarded as fully funded items with the Base Contract award OR awarded as un-funded Option Items to be exercised (funded) at a later date.

IAW FAR 52.217-7 Option for Increased Quantity -- Separately Priced Line Item (MAR 1989). Refer to Section I.7 for the complete clause.

Refer to Section C STATEMENT OF WORK for complete listing of work requirements and restrictions.

G. PRICE AND TECHNICAL PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

REFER TO SECTION L.

Summary of instructions and requirements:

Offerors shall be submitted VIA EMAIL ONLY to Jeremy Bedner, Contracting Officer. USDA Forest Service, Procurement and Property Services [PPS], Contract Service Area [CSA] 6.

Jeremy.Bedner@usda.gov

Offeror shall submit ONE (1) electronic copy – in any combination of Adobe Acrobat, MS Excel, MS Word format. No other forms of submission will be accepted. Email size must be less than 10MB (per email). Electronic proposals must be transmitted and confirmed received by the established due date and time. Contractor is responsible for verifying receipt of proposal by the Contracting Officer.

Offer/proposal submission must include the following:

1. Completed, Signed Offer – SF1442

2. PRICE PROPOSAL – Section B.1 Bid Schedule

3. Representations and Certifications – Section K.

*Offerors may include the electronic version of the completed Representations and Certifications from vendor record/profile from the System for Award Management [SAM].

https://www.sam.gov/SAM/

4. TECHNICAL PROPOSAL. Section L.3 lists the full technical proposal submission requirements.

Comprised of the following:

A. Relevant Prior Experience and Past Performance B. Technical Approach

5. Bid Guarantee The amount of the bid guarantee shall be 20% percent of the bid price.

Refer to Section L.4 for the complete provision.

6. Solicitation / RFP amendments.

“Acknowledge” all amendments with your bid submission – on the SF1442 page 2 no. 18

H. EVALUATION OF OFFERS

REFER TO SECTION M.

The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible and responsive offeror whose offer/proposal conforming to the solicitation is determined to be the Lowest-Price Technically Acceptable [LPTA] offer.

The Government shall evaluate the submitted technical and price proposals in accordance with the following Evaluation Factors:

1. Relevant Prior Experience and Performance

2. Technical Approach

3. Price

The Evaluation Factors will be evaluated as Acceptable or Unacceptable.

“Acceptable” rating defined as follows:

1. For each Factor, the offeror submitted the requested information and content as required by the

RFP.

2. The information and content submitted for each Factor clearly demonstrates the ability to meet the requirements of the RFP.

“Unacceptable” rating defined as follows:

1. For each Factor, the offeror did not submit the requested information and content as required by the RFP.

2. The information and content submitted for each Factor does not clearly demonstrates the ability to meet the requirements of the RFP.

I. GENERAL SOLICITATION, CONTRACT, OR PROJECT INFORMATION

1. Forest Service shall NOT disclose the actual estimate to interested bidders.

FS can provide the following:

The Government has estimated price range of between $5M and $10M.

IAW FAR 36.204 Disclosure of the Magnitude of Construction Projects

2. All questions regarding the solicitation and/or contract award process or requirements should be addressed the CO. Advise contractors to submit those questions as RFIs.

3. The solicitation RFP is a total small-business set-aside under NAICS 237310 – Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction. Small business size-standard $39.5M annual revenue.

4. An active System for Award Management [SAM] registration is required to be considered eligible for contract award. SAM registration must be active at the time of proposal submission to be considered an acceptable/responsive offer.

5. Period of performance [POP]. 365 calendar days from the issuance of the Notice to Proceed [NTP]

Work shall begin during summer 2022 on the TENMILE ROAD construction portion of this project.

Contractor shall not begin work activities related to HUME LAKE BRIDGE REPLACEMENT until after Labor Day. The Hume Lake water level will be lowered beginning immediately after Labor Day to allow bridge replacement activities to begin. The contractor is to use this time to proceed with bridge construction activities requiring access to stream bank when accessible. The Hume Lake Christian Camp [HLCC] 75th anniversary celebration is this year (2022) Labor Day weekend. It is recommended the contractor limit road-related work near HLCC to other areas of the project until after Labor Day to reduce impacts on both HLCC and on the contractor.

Jeremy Bedner, Contracting Officer Date

02/22/2022

02/23/22

10mile Road and Bridge Project – PreBid Talking Points

Project Pre Bid Tour @ 1030, 02/23/22, located at the Powder Can CG 10mile road Hume Lake RD HLCC on the lake side of the stop sign near the HLCC visitors center. Project period of performance 365 days.

Summery of major work items.

1. MP 0.000 – MP 1.300

• Two culvert placements, CMP 24” @. MP 0.286, CMP 36” @ MP 0.826

2. MP 1.300 – MP 1.500

• MP 1.300 Powder can rehab, sheet 04 of 30.

• Traffic bridge bypass, sheet 06 of 30.

• MP 1.345 Bridge Removal and Installation of new with pedestrian Sidewalks.

• Road reconditioning/reclamation, excavation, and asphalt placement at grade.

3. MP 1.500 – MP 5.568

• Road reconditioning/reclamation, excavation, and asphalt placement at on grade.

• Reconditioning of road drainage.

• Culvert replacement, CMP 24” @ MP 2.474

4. MP 5.568 – MP 10.700

• Patch Pave.

• Full Depth Patch Pavement.

• Micro Surface Treatment.

• Micro Surface Treatment (optional).

• Micro Surface @ Quail Flat.

• Culvert Installation (optional), CMP 36” @5.826.

5. Discuss the Bridge Location and Start work, C.3 page 13 of 58 in the solicitation.

6. Look at and Discuss the Traffic bridge Bypass and traffic control plan.

• Look at the Gas Station area, and Visitor Center Parking area, C.8.2 page 19 of 58 in the solicitation.

7. Discuss and look at the asphalt and matching grade around all the HLCC paving areas sheet 03 of 30.

8. Discuss the Equipment staging area at Powder Can, sheet 04 of 30

9. Discuss the barrow/disposal sites, sheet 04&05 of 30

10. Discuss the technical information for the bid proposals, L.3.A&B, 48&49 of 58 in the solicitation.

Road Construction Tenmile Road and Bridge Replacement Hume Lake Bridge. Sequoia National Forest.

USDA Forest Service. ID 127EAW22R0008

Hume Lake pre-bid tour held on site @1000 02/23/2022 was started at 1100 due to travel snow delays.

• The pre-bid site location had fresh snow from the night before about 8-10”.

• The pre-Bid was held near the bridge proposed to be replaced in the gas station parking lot.

• Read the notes given by the CO (Contracting Officer).

• Read talking points and went over the “major” work items list by mile post and mentioned this was the same similar list as on sheet 20 of 30. Also mentioned this is not an all-inclusive list but

“major” work items.

• Contractor asked about working weekends and after hours, referred the contractor to the

Section C.8.4 (Mon-Fri, 7:00am-5:00pm). Told the contractor they could request for after hours per the contract.

• Read Section C.3 for the timing to begin the bridge work.

• Contractors asked about the bridge bypass and what was wanted. It was said the contractor can submit for review one or two lanes, gravel or pavement, but it is the contractor’s responsibility to maintain the bypass and for traffic control sheet 07 of 30.

• Contractor asked about water sources and it was mentioned to reference sheet 05 of 30, Bearskin Ck and Hume Lake. It was noted by the district Bearskin Ck may not flow year-round.

• Contractor asked a question about shoulder backing Sheet 29 of 30 (material placement and dimension). Contractor said they would send in an RFI.

• Contractor asked about photos of the road section that were not currently visible. It was mentioned we did not know if there were “meaningful” photos and to submit an RFI.

• Contractor had asked about culverts and closing the road. It was mentioned there is culvert replacements on either side of HLCC and the contractor was to work on one side at a time if there was a need to close the road, that access for one side had to be maintained sheet 18 of 30 and Section C.5.2

• Contractor asked about the differences and the work required for work item 30322 A&B. Read the item description on sheet 20 of 30. and mentioned this is for the drainage work not specifically called out by pay item and then referenced several items on the quantities sheet 20 of 30 and the drainage list sheets 15-18 of 30. Told the contractor to send in a RFI if there were further questions.

• Several contractors asked about other portions of the 10mile road and the availability to look at

it. The Forest Service said the road past the HLCC (Hume Lake Christian Camp) was closed for the season and was open and used for over snow recreation activity. The road may not open to the public until April depending on the snow and the season.

• Reviewed and read portions of Section “L” and read L.3.B in its entirety. Had a lot of discussion specifically about the gas station and the traffic control plan Sections C.5.2 & C.8.2.

• Contractor asked about is the award low bid or technical. Read Section M.1

• Contractors asked about utilities around HLCC, Powder Can Picnic Area, the Bridge (sheet

03,04,06 of 30), and the 10mile road. The FS (Forest Service) responded there were utilities and

HLCC was going to “mark-up” a drawing set for reference. The contractor is responsible to call utility locate services.

• The FS also told the contractors to ask the CO during contract solicitation for questions RFI with regard to HLCC and not to go to them directly. The FS also said once the contract is awarded to

Road Construction Tenmile Road and Bridge Replacement Hume Lake Bridge. Sequoia National Forest.

USDA Forest Service. ID 127EAW22R0008 go through the COR (Contracting Officers Representative) and the CO and to not go to HLCC directly.

• Mentioned to the contractors the high visibility of the area around HLCC and the 10mile road and bridge project. It was mentioned to the contractors there have been as many as 2.5M visitors through the park gate to access the area per year. The public comes from nationwide to attend the HLCC.

• HLCC did mention the preferred route for the bus drivers bringing campers in for the summer was from the south from Quail Flat down to Hume Lake.

• Mentioned to the contractor they need to talk to HLCC for availability of accommodations for facilities for them self’s during construction. The FS would not be involved, and it is not part of the contract.

• Contractor asked about staying on FS owned campgrounds during the work. Told the contractor it is not permitted per Section C.8.8 but may make a request per the same section.

• Told the group of contractors there was a geotechnical report done on for the bridge design.