Approved JA W912EF20C0028.pdf

After-the-Fact Justification and Approval

Other than Full and Open Competition Emergency Repair of Guidewall Cable

Lower Monumental Lock & Dam Walla Walla District

9 Sep 2020

Control Number: 20-0067

1. Contracting Activity:

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Walla Walla District 201 North Third Avenue Walla Walla, WA 99362 POC: David Boone, Phone Number (509) 527-7227

2. Description of Action: After-the-Fact justification and approval (J&A) approval is requested for a $960,813.35 new construction dredging contract to Associated Underwater Services Inc.

(AUS), necessary for the installation of a new floating guidewall cable at Lower Monumental Lock and Dam near Kahlotus, Washington. Dredging includes the upland disposal of all dredged material encountered within specified locations and tolerances. The resulting award is a firm fixed-price construction contract. Funds to be used for this procurement are 3123 O&M funds, 300 class, for navigation of inland waterways. FY16, FY17, FY18, FY19, and FY20 funds are being used in combination for the contract. Verbal approval to proceed with the emergency contract award was received on 17 August 2020, from the Alternate Advocate for Competition, Mr Mike Orr.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: Contractor to excavate/dredge riverbed to deadman anchor connection point. There is estimated to be 1,600 cubic yards of inplace material to be removed to gain access to deadman anchor.

The milestones were as follows:

• Issue solicitation 10 August 2020

• Initial Proposal Due 12 August 2020

• Scope Clarifications 13 August 2020

• Revised Proposal Due 14 August 2020

• Contract Award 19 August 2020

• No options

The total contract price is $960,813.35.

4. Authority Cited:

10 U.S.C.2304(c)(2) as implemented by FAR 6.302-2(a)(2) Unusual and Compelling Urgency

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

a. Background: Lower Monumental Lock and Dam, located on the lower Snake River in

Washington State, is the sixth of eight locks encounterd in the Columbia-Snake River Inland Waterway. Millions of tons of cargo pass through the Lower Monumental Lock in any given year. The Lower Monumental navigation lock guidewall is a 3500 ton floating structure that guide barges into the navlock and protects them from being pulled into the boat restricted zone of the Lower Monumental Dam spillway. The guidewall nose has cables that attach to anchors on both the land and river sides of the guidewall.

On 28 July 2020 divers, working for Associated Underwater Services, Inc. (AUS), conducted an inspection of the guidewall cable in preparation to complete a task order under an existing Dive MATOC to repair the cabling. The inspection discovered a navigation lock guidewall anchor system failure, meaning that the main anchor cable was found to be broken rather than a smaller cable, as was previously believed. The main cable is a single point of failure. The (now broken) main cable’s function is to hold the other cables on the land side of the guidewall to the 675,000 pound concrete anchor that keeps the guidewall in place, preventing it from going into the spillway. Without this restraint, the guidewall will be pulled toward the dam spillway, damaging it and the removal spillway weir (RSW). This would result in the shutdown of the spillway and the inability to operate the navlock. The navlock cannot operate without the guidewall. The divers found that the only thing holding the guidewall in place was a smaller safety cable that had become entangled in a nest of old cables, left at the river bottom from work conducted in the 1980s. This nest of old cables could potentially break loose at anytime. These circumstances required the District Commander, to execute an emergency declaration as the unrestrained guidewall structure was a hazard to marine traffic and to the dam. An emergency repair plan has been developed and materials were being sourced to effect repairs. Until repairs can be completed, immediate mitigation actions were taken to use a tugboat to physically hold the guidewall in position. The tugboat must work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in order to maintain the position of the guidewall. The navigation channel remains in service during this critical grain transport season, and navigators have been notified to not make contact with the guidewall. Repairing the cables will require dredging in the river bed in order to reach the anchor block. The time lag between when the emergency was discovered (28 Jul 2020), until an emergency J&A was requested from the senior contracting official (17 Aug 2020), was a result of having to request funds to be reprogrammed to fund the project. Also, it was initially though the repair would be less that $700K which would have allowed the District Contracting Chief to sign the J&A.

b. Justification: The anchor system cable failure requires immediate repair due to the conditions described above. The floating guidewall is 500’ in overall length. It was found to be 47’off its specified perpendicular alignment; should the guidewall move to approximately 60’ off it’s perpendicular alignment, the keyway connection to the dam would shear off creating an unrestrained condition. This would cause serious consequences, including significant damage to Government property, severe economic impacts, life-safety risks, and potential legal impacts. Currently the only thing stopping the guidewall from floating freely is the smaller safety cable snagging on a nest of abondend cables on the river bottom. The snagged cable in the riverbed sediment is being pulled towards the spillways and dam.

Without a tugboat in place, the floating guidewall would move towards the RSW and other permanent spillways, creating alife-safety and property damage hazard. A commercial tugboat was brought to the site immediately upon discovery of the conditions in order to hold the floating guidewall in postion, while an engineered design, adjustments to fish passage, and environemental compliance efforts could be completed. The tugboat remains on station holding the floating guidewall at a daily cost of $12,236.

Due to these unusual and urgent conditions, the resulting severe injury and impacts to the Government if immediate action was not taken to repair the anchor system cable, the Government evaluated the available options for procurement of the required dredging that would enable repair of the cable. The Government evaluated a limited sources competition strategy, but determined that such a strategy would not gain time or better pricing in comparison to a sole-source contract to AUS, the Dive MATOC contract holder, since there is an element of diving required with the dredging work and AUS was already mobilized in the water to perform the work identified in the task order under their MATOC. Based on this analysis, a sole-source contract to AUS was chosen as the most effective acquisition strategy, given the circumstances. In fact-finding with AUS after receiving their initial proposal, the Government requested other than certified cost or pricing data and evaluated it against a recent similar effort at Ice Harbor Dam in March 2020. The cost or pricing data received from AUS was similar to the pricing in the Ice Harbor Dam contract, leading the Government to anticipate that the Contracting Officer would be able to reach a fair and reasonable price for a FFP construction contract to AUS.

c. Impacts: The negative impact to the Government if the Walla Walla District were to procure this required dredging using normal acquisition timelines would be significant if the guidewall failed before a contract was put in place. The impacts to the Corps of Engineers and the region would be far-reaching and include economic, legal and life-safety impacts.

i. Economic: Navigation lock closures result in stoppage to the supply chain and delivery commitments for stakeholders including agricultural growers (wheat, potatoes, peas, lentils), manufacturers, shippers, paper product manufacturers, inland ports, towboaters, cruise and recreational jet boats, and international grain customers. The economic impacts of an extended lock closure should the guidewall fail and the lock be forced inoperable are estimated in the tens of millions of dollars. Additionally, if the guidewall breaks free, the potential damage to the dam, spillway, and the guidewall itself could require repairs costing the Government between $1M -2M monthly. The government could also expect to inurr damages in the millions of dollars if the guidewall itself floates over the spillway.

ii. Legal: If the lock and spillways are forced out of service due to the failure of the floating guidewall, the district will be in violation of the 2014 Federal Columbia River Power System Supplemental Biological Opinion (BiOp) in conjunction with the

Endangered Species Act (ESA), which requires mandated and controlled spillway operations.

iii. Life-Safety: If the guidewall impacted the spillway gate, there is a potential for the uncontrolled release of water that could impact safety. Pleasure boats could also drift to the forebay above the powerhouse and be taken over the spillway, so life endangerment is a real possibility. The dam is in mandatory spill presently, which increases the risk of drift due to water currents generated from the spill.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: As stated in paragraph 5 above, the Walla Walla District Corps of Engineers evaluated the available options for procurement of the required dredging that would enable repair of the cable. The Government evaluated a limited sources competition strategy, but determined that such a strategy would not gain time or better pricing in comparison to a sole-source contract to AUS since there is an element of diving required with the dredging work and AUS already holds the service contract for replacement of the cable and is already mobilized.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: Due to the emergency nature of this acquisition, immediate action was necessary. Furture work of this type under ordinary circumstances is anticipated to be competed.

8. Fair and Reasonable Costs: The cost to the Government was determined to be fair and reasonable prior to award of the contract. As previously noted, a sole-source contract to AUS was chosen as the most effective acquisition strategy given the circumstances. In fact-finding with AUS after receiving their initial proposal, the Government requested other than certified cost or pricing data and evaluated it against a recent similar effort at Ice Harbor Dam in March 2020. The data was similar, leading the Government to anticipate that the Contracting Officer would be able to reach a fair and reasonable price. Contracting Officer analysis of the revised proposal in comparison to the independent Government estimate allowed the contracting officer to reach a fair and reasonable determination, and be in compliance with the statutory cost limitations for civil works contracts in accordance with U.S.C 624 as implemented by UAI 5136.205-100.

9. Market Research:

In accordance with FAR 10.002(b)(2), market research was conducted by contacting knowledgeable government personnel that have worked on dredging projects similar in scope to the immediate action. Use of a small business with a successful past performance record for similar work was deemed appropriate. A sole-source contract to AUS (a small business) was chosen as the most effective acquisition strategy given the urgent circumstances and the fact that they were already mobilized.

10. Other Factors: Repair of these cables hasn’t been accomplished since replacement in 1986 approximately 34 years ago.

Posting of the J&A will be made in accordance with FAR 6.305(b) in which the justification will be posted within 30 days after contract award.

On 7 August 2020 a DD2579 was approved by the Walla Walla District Small Business Deputy.

Small Business Administration concurrence was received the same day.

11. Technical Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Knud Martin Project Manager

12. Office of Counsel: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Theresa Hampson Deputy District Counsel

13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. Certified cost or price data will not be required due to other than certified cost and pricing data being used. In addition, the price analysis will also be made by comparing the proposed price to the Independent Government Estimate.

Hillary Morgan Contracting Officer

14. Contracting Officer: I hereby determine that that above-stated circumstances of this contract action deem limitation of competition in accordance with FAR 6.302-2(a)(2)(b)(2), Unusual and Compelling Urgency.

Hillary Morgan Contracting Officer

JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

CONTROL NUMBER: NWW 20-0067

PROJECT/EQUIPMENT: Lower Monumental Floating Guidewall Cable Replacement Dredging

AUTHORITY: 10 U.S.C.2304(c)(2) as implemented by FAR 6.302-2(a)(2) Unusual and Compelling Urgency

AMOUNT: $960,813.35

Prepared By Telephone: (509) 527-7227 David Boone Date: 08/26/2020

Contracting Officer Telephone: (509) 527-7214 Hillary Morgan Date: 08/26/2020

Technical Telephone: (509) 527-7330 Knud Martin Date: 08/26/2020

Requirements Telephone: (509) 527-7330 Knud Martin PROJECT MANAGER Date: 08/26/2020

REQUIRED SIGNATURES

I have reviewed this J&A and find the justification adequate to support other than full and open competition

Deputy for Small Business Telephone: (509) 527-7434

James Glynn

SIGNATURE DATE: 08/26/2020

Project Manager Telephone: (509) 527-7330

Knud Martin

SIGNATURE DATE: 08/26/2020

Office of Counsel Telephone: (509) 527-7709

Theresa Hampson

SIGNATURE DATE: 08/26/2020

DCC/CCC Contracting Chief Telephone: (509) 527-7201

Ruthann Haider

SIGNATURE DATE: 08/26/2020

NWW Control # 20-0067

AFTER-THE-FACT

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL (J&A)

$960,813.35 Floating Guide wall Cable

Walla Walla District

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the subject after-the-fact sole sources J&A to Associated Underwater Services Inc, for the installation of a floating guide wall Cable, pursuant to the authority FAR 6.302-2, Unusual and Compelling Urgency.

CONCURRENCE:

Digitally signed by WARREN.THOMAS.JACOB.1163420410 Date: 2020.09.13 22:20:45 -07'00'

Thomas J. Warren Date Assistant Counsel, Procurement Law & Contract Disputes Office of the Chief Counsel

APPROVAL:

Michael C. Orr Date Alternate Advocate for Competition (AFC)

WARREN.THOMAS.JACOB.1163420410