230522-Notice of Intent to Sole Source-Arcadis - revised JUN 2023.docx

This is a special notice prepared in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 5.2 “Synopses of Proposed Contract Actions”.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Memphis District, Contracting Branch intends to negotiate/award a sole-source firm-fixed contract with Arcadis U.S., Inc.

The Helena, Arkansas Floodwall Project consists of the preparation of plans and specifications for the floodwall structures outlined in the Scope of Work (SOW). The Architect-Engineer (A-E) shall review any existing documents pertaining to the site and shall visit the site and its immediate vicinity to evaluate existing conditions. The A-E shall determine if such conditions may affect or be affected by the proposed construction.

The Project is located in the city of Helena, Arkansas located in Phillips County.

Currently, the project plans, specifications, design documentation report (DDR) for the project are at a 95% design effort. The current documents include three sections of floodwall replacement and will need to be revised to include two sections only in order to produce the ready to advertise documents. New survey, geotechnical investigation, design, and plans, as well as specification revisions, will be required for a new borrow material site. Additional details will need to be included in the documents to account for relocations, phasing, and construction schedule. The plans are to go through additional reviews to meet USACE quality requirements.

The services to be performed under this contract consist of completing design of replacement T-wall sections and associated features. Specific work items shall include but not be limited to the following:

· Borrow Subsurface Exploration

· Borrow Survey Quality Control Plan

· Borrow Geotechnical Summary Report

· Borrow Topographic Survey

· Borrow Boundary Survey

· Design Documentation Report (DDR)

· Construction Plans

· Construction Specifications

· Perform Technical Reviews

· Construction Cost Estimates and Schedules

· Real Estate Plans (Including permanent and temporary easement descriptions)

· Engineering Considerations and Instructions for Field Personnel

· Preparing Amendments During Solicitation

The statutory authority for this non-competitive acquisition is 41 United States Code 3304(a)(1) as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1 Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements; this is a follow-on contract available only from the original source and it is likely that award to any other source would result in substantial duplication cost to the Government that would not be recovered through competition and would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Government’s requirements.

The original design contract number was W912EQ-17-D-0005 for Engineering Design Services for the Helena Floodwall Replacement in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas for the development of plans and specifications for the project. Because Arcadis U.S., Inc. has already performed 95% of the work for this project, using that architect engineer contractor’s services for the remaining work will avoid a duplication in cost of the previous work. If we were to compete this requirement to a different firm, the Government would require the incoming A-E firm to assume responsibility of interpreting the plans and specifications which might not result in the original A-E firm’s intended outcome. The Arkansas State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Professional Surveyors prohibits licensees from affixing their signatures or seals to any plans or documents not prepared under their direct control and personal supervision. Arcadis U.S., Inc. is the only A-E firm that directly controlled and personally supervised the existing project plans, specifications, and DDR for the project.

Selection of another A-E for this contract would increase the Government’s costs of obtaining the desired services, since other A-E firms would need to perform greater effort to evaluate and validate the existing Arcadis U.S., Inc. design, complete the design, and prepare their input towards the bidder inquiries and issues that arise during construction using Arcadis U.S. Inc. work. Moreover, selecting another A-E would result in a scenario with 2 different designers of record for the same project. Using competitive selection procedures would be unacceptable because such a selection would take an estimated 4 to 6 months to advertise, negotiate and award. By comparison, negotiation, and execution of the work under the projected contract is expected to take less than 1 to 2 months, which results in an estimated savings in 3 to 4 months of administrative time for re-procurement and will allow the projects to meet current schedule requirements with minimum impact.

A SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE POSTED.

THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS OR QUOTATIONS. However, any interested sources may submit a capability statement to the contracting officer on or before the notice end date of 19 June 2023 at 10:00am CDT. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed requirement is solely within the discretion of the Government.

Electronic responses and questions shall be submitted via email to Kimberly.e.bass@usace.army.mil.