0004 Attachment 1 -Construct Mental Health Facility Question Responses 2.pdf

SOLICITATION # 36C77622B0047 ALASKA MENTAL HEALTH FACILITY

TECHNICAL QUESTIONS AND VA RESPONSE TRACKING SHEET #2

ITEM

NO.

QUESTION GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

1. Section 01 91 00 para 1.8 states that the Contractor will appoint the Commissioning Agent (CxA). However, each of the following sections indicates that the VA will appoint the CxA: 07 08 00, 22 08 00, 26 08 00, and 28 08 00. Also in 23 08 00 para 1.5 it is indicated that the VA will supply the Commissioning Agent.

Contractor is to provide and pay for the commissioning agent and required support services.

2. Section 01 11 00 para 1.1/A states that the parking lot must be complete before the work on Part B Building Addition.

With the relatively short season of decent weather in Alaska, it is imperative to get the civil work completed and the building dried in before the cold months. Will the Government allow us to work on the parking lot and the building addition concurrently to take advantage of the good weather months (April/May to September/October)?

Contractor may work on the parking lot and building addition concurrently as long as the available day time parking spaces are not reduced from the current number.

3. I am hoping you can help me locate the mechanical/boiler schedule for this project. I have attached the specifications that we found via building connected and would like to have access to the schedule so we can see if we can provide a proposal before the bid date.

Please let me know if you can help with this or if you have a contact that I can reach out to.

Gas boiler schedule is on drawing sheet MH603.

4. Specifications calls for Carlisle 300 ht vapor retarder, insulation attachments calls for a adhered insulation system. The specified vapor barrier will not work in this application. Please advise on a vapor barrier that will accept adhesive.

Moisture retarder with a moisture vapor permanence (ASTM D1970) of 0.02 and acceptable to proposed adhesive manufacturer is acceptable.

5. Section 05 12 00 paragraph 1.5/B indicates that the structural steel installer is to be an AISC-Certified Erector, Category ACSE. AISC certified erectors are few and far between in Alaska. Would the Government consider enhanced special inspections in lieu of AISC certification for the structural steel erector?

Enhanced special inspections per IBC 1705.2.1 is acceptable.

Special inspection for structural steel shall be in accordance with the quality assurance inspection requirements of AISC 360.

6. Section 07 81 23 Water-Borne Intumescent Fireproofing: We are finding no direction on the drawings as to where spray applied fireproofing is required. The building addition seems to be classified as a non-rated building (Type IIB), as indicated on

Sheet GI005, so our fireproofing subcontractor says they would not typically include any steel unless directed to do so. Are we missing something? Any direction or clarification you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

See drawing AF-201. Intumescent fire proofing is to be provided for the structural framing and metal ceiling deck for rooms 1A 402 mechanical and 1A 300 elevator machine room.

ITEM

NO.

QUESTION GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

7. We understand that there can be a 2-month lag in approval through the vetbiz.va.gov portal. Considering that there is an upcoming modification of the certification process from the VA to the SBA (January 1, 2023), would the VA consider SBA SDVOB self-certification as an alternate to CVE verification? For the limited purpose of counting an agency’s SDVOSB goals, a firm may still self-certify- the SBA states: “a self-certified SDVO SBC may be awarded a small business set-aside and the agency may count the award as both a small business and SDVO SBC toward the agency’s goals.”

No. Refer to instructions, Conditions and other statements to offerors section 2.3 which states: Offers must be verified by CVE and visible in the vendor information portal (VIP) data base at TIME OF SUBMISSION OF BIDS AND TIME OF AWARD. Failure to be BOTH visible and verified at the time of bid submission will result in the offerors's bid being deemed non-responsive and ineligible for award.

8. In 01 00 00, the elevator is described as a deductive bid item. Deductions are not shown on the bid sheet, please provide clarification

Elevator is to be included in the base bid lump sum bid. There are no bid alternates now.

9. Is there a cost for access to the Project Management Software

System, Building Blok Project Management Software for the contractor and subcontractors? If not, what level of service is necessary? Standard, Pro or Enterprise Custom?

Contractor and sub-contractor will be given free access. Level of service to be standard.

10. 01 11 00, page 2 of 4, references Unit Costs to be provided on a bid form. Please provide clarification.

No unit costs are required. See provided bid form provided with solicitation.

11. Please provide access to the full sets of drawings in PDF and

AUTOCAD formats, as referenced in the solicitation 00 01 15, page 11 of 11.

Full sets of PDF and AutoCAD drawings will be provided to the successful bidder.

12. Please provide the geotechnical report from the construction of the existing AVAHS Muldoon Clinic if available.

Geotechnical report for existing clinic and the geotechnical report for the addition will be provided to the successful bidder.

13. (for Communications Systems) calls out rigid conduit to be installed in furred or suspended ceilings and in walls. This rules out using EMT for typical outlet box stub ups into drop ceilings or other installations in which EMT would typically be considered “not susceptible to damage”. Can EMT be used for typical outlet box install as shown on Sheet EJ106 Detail 2? Can

EMT be used for the Backbone raceway and spare between rooms 1A191 and 2A351 (Sheet EJ106 Detail 1)?

EMT is acceptable in these applications. We would interpret the use of the word rigid in this specification to include EMT as allowed otherwise by the NEC.

14. Sheet EJ106 Detail 2 calls out 1.25” conduit for the conduit stub

up. This is atypical. Can the conduit stub up be installed as a 1” conduit?

Stub up is called for at 1.25” due to the use of larger diameter Category 6A cable and in accordance with VA Telecommunications Design Manual 2.1.1.1.

ITEM

NO.

QUESTION GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

15. Sheet EJ106 Detail 3 The backbone bonding schedule does not call out proper bonding cable sizes required for notes 1 thru 3.

Can these bonding cable sizes be made available?

Bonding cable sizes shall be in accordance with ANSI/TIA 607-D. For the telecom bonding backbone, it would be a 750 kcmil if routing to the Computer Room, however, the contractor can connect to the existing bonding infrastructure and size smaller as applicable (for example if the bonding backbone to a nearby telecom room is accessible). For the connections to structure and the rack, these shall be a minimum of #6 AWG IAW 607-D. Due to the lengths, we see no need for them to be larger than #6.