Combined Synopsis Solicitation W912WJ25RA003.pdf

Synopsis for Architect-Engineer (A-E) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity Contract for Geotechnical Engineering and Related Services – Unrestricted

ARCHITECTURAL-ENGINEERING (A-E) SERVICES FOR GEOTECHNICAL

ENGINEERING AND RELATED SERVICES FOR VARIOUS LOCATIONS WITHIN THE

U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS (USACE) NORTH ATLANTIC DIVISION

BOUNDARIES (BUT PRIMARILY IN THE NEW ENGLAND DISTRICT (NAE) MISSION

BOUNDARIES (ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, AND RI) EXCLUDING EUROPE DISTRICT).

General Information:

Solicitation Number: W912WJ25RA003 Document Type: Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Agency: Department of the Army Office: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Location: USACE District, New England

1. CONTRACT INFORMATION: One Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for geotechnical engineering and related services is being procured in accordance with the Brooks A-E Act as implemented in FAR Subpart 36.6. This solicitation is Unrestricted. This solicitation is open to both small and large businesses. The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) Code is 541330 and the size standard is $25.5M.The top firm will be selected for negotiation based on demonstrated competence and qualifications for the required work. Work will primarily be performed within the boundaries of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New England District (ME, MA, NH, CT, VT, and RI), but could also include other states and districts covered by the USACE North Atlantic Division’s (NAD) mission areas in the continental United States (NY, PA, NJ, DE, MD, VA, WV, and the District of Columbia). The contract will be negotiated and awarded with a five-year ordering period.

The capacity of the IDIQ will not exceed $10,000,000. Work will be issued by negotiated firm-fixed-price task orders. Award of the contract to the selected firm is anticipated in August 2025.

The minimum guaranteed amount over the life of each contract is $10,000. There must be a minimum of three most highly qualified firms in the pool to comply with the 2023 NDAA, FAR 16.500(d), and Subpart 36.6. Should there not be at least three most highly qualified firms, this synopsis shall be cancelled.

Any large business that is selected for negotiation will be required to submit a subcontracting plan after selection in compliance with FAR 52.219-9.. Small Business firms are not required to submit a small business subcontracting plan. The selected firm must respond to a Request for Proposal and submit a Small Business Subcontracting Plan, if required. The Small Business Subcontracting Plan shall contain small business goals for all of the Small Business Programs (Small Business, Women-Owned, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, Small Disadvantage Business and HUBZone). The small business percentages are based off the total value of the IDIQ. The Subcontracting Plan must be reasonable, attainable, challenging, and state work for the small business team members.

Upon identification of a need for A-E services within the scope of these contracts, selection for a specific task order will be in accordance with the attached USACE Policy Guidance, "Updated Procedures for the Selection of Task Orders on Architect-Engineer (A-E) Indefinite Delivery Contracts (IDCs)," dated 09 March 2023 (Attachment A). The selected firm will subsequently be issued a request for proposal with the intent of negotiating a fair and reasonable price for a firm-fixed-price task order.

2. PROJECT INFORMATION: The geotechnical engineering and related services work is expected to include, but is not limited to, many different geotechnical engineering and subsurface exploration assignments at various locations in the USACE North Atlantic Division (primarily in the New England District). Work may include designs, evaluations and construction oversight for projects involving soils/rock site subsurface characterizations; groundwater/seepage analysis;

earth and rock structures, coastal and shoreline evaluations and design; foundation design; earth dam analysis and design; seismic, seepage, and slope stability analyses; dam and levee potential failure mode/risk evaluation; finite element modeling; geotechnical instrumentation installation;

land and marine geophysical surveys (including seismic surveys, electrical resistivity surveys, magnetic surveys, electromagnetic surveys, borehole geophysical logging, single beam and multibeam bathymetric surveys, Compressed High Intensity Radar Pulse (CHIRP) sub-bottom profiling, ground penetrating radar surveys and LiDAR and photogrammetric surveys);

performance of subsurface investigation programs on land and in marine environments;

inspections and associated instrumentation reports in support of dam or levee safety programs and assessment of channels, floodwalls, hurricane barriers, breakwaters, pump stations and building structures; and hydrologic, hydraulic and coastal modeling.

Programs for subsurface characterization may include, but are not limited to, the design, execution, inspection, and data interpretation and analysis of soils, sediments, and bedrock. This work may include marine geophysics, terrestrial surface geophysics, and borehole geophysical investigations; marine and terrestrial soil, sediment and bedrock sample collection; and geotechnical laboratory testing. Subsurface marine explorations for navigation projects, including specialized geophysical investigations and borings to characterize material types and engineering properties for dredgeability, and disposal and beneficial re-use are anticipated to form a significant portion of the desired services.

While the above provides a broad scope of potential services, currently the contract is anticipated to be used primarily for subsurface investigations and analysis, inspection of completed works, and geotechnical engineering evaluations.

Products shall be developed in accordance with Corps of Engineers guidelines and specific formats set forth under the base contract and/or by individual task order. The firm shall be required to: provide all drilling and soil testing data utilizing USACE Bentley OpenGround Cloud configured for the project(s) on the USACE Contractor Cloud; provide design drawings in Autodesk CADD software (latest version); use Autodesk Revit Building Information Modeling (BIM) and AutoCAD Civil 3D software; use Corps computer-based specification software for the development of Specifications (SPECSINTACT); use the latest version of MII (cost engineering software as provided by the Government and licensed to the firm) for the development of construction cost estimates; use Primavera P6 for developing detailed construction schedules and use MS Project for more basic design and constructions schedules;

and utilize ProjNet (DrChecks) (https://wwwprojnet.org) for comment resolution of design review submittals or other technical products as specified in individual task orders.

https://wwwprojnet.org/

3. SELECTION CRITERIA: The selection criteria are listed below in descending order of importance (first by major criteria and then by each sub-criteria). Criteria (a) through (f) are primary factors. Criteria (g) (h) and (i) are secondary factors and will only be used as “tiebreakers” among firms that are essentially technically equal. Firms will be evaluated based upon the experience, qualifications, and capabilities of the proposed team (prime and subcontractors) against each of the selection criteria. Applicability of information provided for subcontractors will be evaluated specific to the subcontractor’s role in the team as shown in the SF 330, Part 1, Block C.

(a) Specialized Experience and Technical Competence. Firms should demonstrate specialized experience and technical competence in the following:

1. Developing, performing, and inspecting subsurface geotechnical field investigations and laboratory testing programs for flood risk management projects.

2. Performing subsurface site characterization programs for navigation projects. This work encompasses marine geophysical investigations, borings and probes from a marine plant, and geotechnical laboratory testing programs. Analysis includes interpretation and integration of subsurface site characterization data to develop a comprehensive Conceptual Site Model (CSM) and assess site conditions and engineering properties pertinent to navigation projects (e.g. dredgeability).

3. Evaluating and analyzing of stability, seepage, seismic, and soil/structure interaction using conventional 2-dimensional software programs.

4. Designing geotechnical elements for flood risk management projects.

5. Inspecting completed works such as dams, levees, channels, floodwalls, breakwaters, hurricane barriers, and pump stations.

Information contained in the SF 330 Part I, Section F will be the primary basis for evaluation against these criteria, though Section H will also be used. See Section 4, Submission Requirements, below for specific instructions on project information to be included in Section F. Projects in which the firm’s primary work was completed within the last 7 years will be given greater consideration and those projects in which the firm’s primary work has not yet been completed will be given less consideration.

Projects shall be listed in order of relevance to the work to be done under this contract as determined by the firm (see Section 3.e below).

(b) Professional Qualifications. The evaluation of Professional Qualifications will consider education, training, professional registration, certifications, and relevant experience of personnel to accomplish the work specified above. Any past land and marine-based geotechnical experience on USACE-managed projects should be identified. Information contained in the SF 330 Part I, Section E will be the primary basis for evaluation against these criteria, though Sections D and H will also be used.

(1) Resumes demonstrating experience and associated qualifications are required for the following key personnel. Resumes should clearly indicate which role listed below is being filled by each individual in Block E, Box 13 of the SF 330. All proposed personnel are required to have professional registration in any state unless otherwise specified below. See also additional requirements for certain disciplines below.

Personnel to be provided shall be those individuals expected to be utilized to a significant extent under the contract. Should other personnel be used on specific Task Orders, the expectation is they will be equivalent or have greater experience than the key personnel accepted with the SF 330 submission.

Key Personnel:*

- Project Manager

- Geotechnical Engineer (minimum 2 resumes)

- Geologist

- Geophysicist

- Structural Engineer

- Mechanical Engineer

- Electrical Engineer

- Civil/Site Engineer

- Coastal Engineer

- Hydrology & Hydraulics Engineer

* All Key Personnel are required to have professional registration in one of the six

(6) New England States. The project manager shall be registered as a professional engineer or professional geologist and have at least 10 years’ experience.

Geologists and geophysicists considered key personnel shall be registered as professional geologists and have at least five (5) years’ experience conducting and interpreting results of subsurface explorations. All other disciplines shall have at least five (5) years’ experience.

(2) Should any task orders be issued for work in other portions of NAD’s mission areas (NY, PA, NJ, DE, MD, VA, WV, and the District of Columbia), the firm will need to demonstrate applicable professional registration in those locations within the task order proposal. Should any survey work need to be accomplished under this contract, the firm must demonstrate in the task order proposal that its proposed survey team member is registered in the state where the work is to be performed.

(c) Knowledge of the Locality. The firm must demonstrate knowledge and experience with state and local codes, local soils, geology, geologic and subsurface features, environmental conditions, climatic conditions, permit requirements, and the coast of the New England states and the extent of their capabilities to support projects located in the USACE NAD’s mission areas with a focus on New England. The basis of the evaluation will be the information in Sections F, E, and H of the SF 330.

(d) Work Management and Teaming. A proposed management plan shall be presented in Part I, Section H of the SF 330 that references the organization chart provided in Part I, Section D of the SF 330. The plan shall briefly address the firm’s proposed management and philosophical approach for executing the work to be performed under this contract. The plan shall include team composition, roles and responsibilities of management personnel and each subcontracted firm, and its approach for ensuring the quality of work performed by the firm and its subcontractors. The plan shall include information on quality control procedures, cost and schedule control, coordination of in-house disciplines and consultants, and relevant experience working with each of the subcontractors on similar projects.

Sections C, D, G and H of the SF 330 will be used to evaluate this criterion.

In reviewing the project management and teaming information, the evaluation board will consider how the firms, including joint ventures (JV) and Offerors utilizing affiliates, subsidiaries, parent, LLC, and LTD member companies, are organized and how they propose to execute assigned task orders in accordance with Section 4 Submission Requirements.

(e) Past Performance. The firm shall demonstrate a good record of past performance on contracts with respect to quality of work, management, cost control, compliance with performance schedules, and ability to manage subcontractors. Assessment against this criterion will be determined primarily by evaluating ratings from contracts rated in Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), the Government-wide evaluation reporting tool for all past performance reports on contracts, or via those provided in Past Performance Questionnaires (PPQs). In reviewing past performance information, the evaluation board will consider the relevancy of the past performed work in addition to how well the firm performed. Positive references from customers and other verifiable information as to exemplary performance may also be considered as provided in Part I, Section H of the SF 330.

With the SF 330, the firm shall provide the CPARS report or completed PPQ for each of the first five projects identified in Section F of the SF 330, as these projects should be the most relevant project examples provided. NOTE: The most recent CPARS report is to be provided for any federal contract unless a specific explanation is provided as to unavailability of a CPARS rating. Do not submit a PPQ when a completed CPARS is available.

If the project/s is/are not a federal project or a CPARS report is not available, the firm shall complete Part I of the PPQ, send it to the customers for the project(s) as applicable, request that they complete Part II of the PPQ and return to the firm, and submit it with the firm’s SF 330 submission. A blank PPQ can be found attached to this synopsis/solicitation (Attachment B). The firm shall provide the full contract number and task order number (if applicable) for any Federal contract listed in Section F of the SF 330.

The evaluation board may seek and consider past performance information from other sources but is not required to if none is available from CPARS or if no PPQ is provided. The evaluation board may conduct interviews with organizations and Government personnel familiar with the firm’s performance to corroborate information provided by the firm. If little to no relevant past performance data (CPARS reports, PPQs, or information in Section H) is available for the five most relevant projects, the firm may be given a neutral evaluation regarding past performance. CPARS reports or PPQs shall be placed at the end of Part I of the SF 330 (they will not be counted towards the page count).

(f) Capacity to Accomplish the Work. The firm must demonstrate the capacity to execute the full value of the contract over the ordering period - accomplishing multiple task orders concurrently while maintaining quality and schedule. Firms will be evaluated as to its ability to execute approximately $2.0M in task orders per year over the 5 years of the contract. A firm will be evaluated on the available capacity of key personnel from the prime firm and its team based primarily through a review of each firm’s Part II submission and any information provided in Section H as to its methods for managing workload.

(g) Geographic Proximity. Location of the firm’s office(s) as well as those of its team in the general geographical area of the six New England states will be considered. The basis of the evaluation will be the information in Sections C and H of the SF 330.

(h) Extent of Participation of Small Business (SB) and Small Disadvantage Business

(SDB) Participation. The firm shall identify its small business team members and indicate its commitments to utilizing small businesses on its team. The small business program includes utilization of SBs and SDBs to include Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB), HUBZone Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran- Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) and Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB).

Extent of small business participation will be measured as a percentage of the total anticipated contract effort as determined by the Government, regardless of whether the small business concern is a prime contractor, sub-contractor, or joint venture partner; the greater the participation the greater the consideration. The selected firm’s Small Business Plan shall meet or exceed these small business utilization goals.

(i) Volume of DoD A-E Contract Awards. Firms shall indicate in Section H of the SF

330 the volume of DoD A-E contracts awarded to the prime (or Joint Venture) in the last 12 months. The information will be verified and updated during the interviews with the most highly qualified firms. The equitable distribution of DoD A-E contracts among firms will be considered.

4. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: Interested firms able to perform this work must submit Parts I and II of the SF 330 for the prime firm (or joint venture). Part II of the SF 330 must also be submitted for each consultant and if a joint venture, for the joint venture entity, and each firm in the joint venture. Please note that a separate Part II should be provided for each office of the prime firm and any subcontractors that will have a key role in the proposed contract. If a joint venture is being utilized, a copy of the joint venture agreement should be included in Part II. The joint venture agreement will be consistent with the attached Joint Venture Procedure (Attachment C). If you are part of a DoD or SBA Mentor – Protégé program, please include the agreement. This joint venture agreement or Mentor – Protégé agreement will not be included within the page limit stated below.

The award will be made to the prime contractor listed in Part 1, Block B. of the SF330.

That entity must be registered and active in SAM.gov at time of SF330 submission.

If an Offeror is utilizing experience of affiliates, subsidiaries, parent, LLC, LTD member companies (i.e., Offeror’s name is not exactly as stated on the SF1442), the proposal should clearly demonstrate how that affiliate/subsidiary/parent firm will have meaningful involvement in the performance of this contract. The relevant consideration is whether the resources of the parent or affiliated company - its workforce, management, facilities, or other resources - will be provided or relied upon for contract performance, such that the parent or affiliate will have meaningful involvement in contract performance. The proposal must demonstrate similarity of the parent or affiliate’s proposed role on this procurement and the parent or affiliate’s proposed role submitted for experience in order to receive credit for the parent or affiliate’s experience.

Submissions must be made to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, ATTN: Contracts Branch – Ann Adley, not later than 2:00 PM Eastern on 30 April 2025. See below for the authorized submission transmission method.

Include the firm's Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number on the SF 330, Part 1, Block B.

On the SF 330, Part 1, Block C, provide the UEI number for each consultant.

On the SF 330, Part I, Block F, up to ten example projects shall be listed in order of relevance to the type of work anticipated to be performed under this contract. Note that multiple projects performed under an IDIQ contract cannot be submitted as a single example project but work that encompasses multiple phases/contracts/task orders for a single project can be submitted. Additional projects under these contracts or task orders may be included Section H.

In the SF 330, Part I, Block F, Box 24, provide the following information for each project: month/year the firm’s work started and completed; total contract value of the A- E’s contract on the project including a) a breakout of the value of the work performed by the A-E along with its role on the contract, and b) value of work performed by any team subcontractors on the project and their roles. In Block F, Box 23, provide customer point-of-contact who can be reached for references to include phone number and email address in Box 23 (c). If a sample project is a federal procurement, include the applicable contract number in Block F, Box 21.

In the SF 330, Part I, Section H, the A-E firm may also provide supplemental information to address all aspects for which Specialized Experience and Technical Competence is being sought as well as documentation to support past performance selection criteria such as verifiable information demonstrating exemplary past performance.

The SF 330, Part I, shall have a page limit of 40 pages. A page is one side of an 8 ½” x 11” sheet of paper. 11” x 17” (single side) pages may be used to provide graphical information or images that do not fit well on an 8 ½” x 11” sheet will count as two pages.

Front and back cover, the cover letter, section dividers and past performance questionnaires or CPARS reports do not count toward the page limit. Font size for data entry cells shall not be less than 10 font. The 10-point font applies to all text, tables, and figures within the SF 330. Do not change the existing SF 330 form template text font size. The margins for pages that supplement the SF 330 forms shall not be less than one inch with the exception that ½ inch margins are allowed when using the Standard Form 330 template. Pages in excess of the page limit will not be evaluated.

A recent SF 330 Part II for each office of participating firm in the proposed team shall be provided with each submission. The selected firm must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) prior to proposal submission. Information regarding registration can be obtained online at www.sam.gov or by telephone at 1-866-606-8220.

Effective immediately, the use of UEI+4 numbers to identify vendors are limited to identifying different SAM records for the same vendor at the same physical location. For any general or administrative questions, contact the contract specialist, Ann Adley, at 978-318-8255 or via email at Ann.M.Adley@usace.army.mil. Solicitation packages are not provided. This is not a request for proposal. Personal visits for the purpose of discussing this announcement prior to the closing date of this announcement will not be entertained or scheduled. However, questions may be directed to the point of contact for this announcement.

The Offeror’s response shall be submitted electronically. Files shall not contain classified data. The use of hyperlinks in responses is prohibited.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS (PIEE):

ALL SUBMISSIONS TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT SHALL BE SUBMITTED

ELECTRONICALLY THROUGH PIEE, SOLICITATION MODULE.

SUBMISSIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED VIA THE OPEN SOLICITATION

ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SOLICITATION NUMBER. DO NOT SUBMIT IN

THE “UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS” SECTION.

Electronic proposal submission is required through the Army’s electronic file sharing service, Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE) (https://piee.eb.mil/), Solicitation module, open solicitation associated with this solicitation number. No paper copies, CD-ROMs, email, or facsimile submissions will be accepted.

mailto:@usace.army.mil https://piee.eb.mil/

Information regarding how to set up a vendor registration is included in this link-https://piee.eb.mil/xhtml/unauth/web/homepage/vendorGettingStartedHelp.xhtml

Information regarding role assignment during vendor registration is included in this link-https://sam.gov/opp/2b0a3d5c4c454beb8fefa3d844544a1d/view

File Size Limitations: Offerors are advised to follow the PIEE instructions for uploading files. PIEE supports delivery up to 1.9 GB per file, with no limit on the number of files, as well as multiple file formats. If needed, Offerors may break the files down into smaller sections in order to upload. In such cases, please divide the sections as logically as possible and be sure to clearly name the files as specified below.

File Naming Convention: To ensure your submission is received and processed appropriately, it is important that interested parties carefully ensure their electronic files adhere to the following naming convention:

• W912WJ25RA003-FIRMNAME-VOLUME I

• W912WJ25RA003-FIRMNAME-VOLUME II

Each file name shall begin with the solicitation number followed by the firm’s name and a brief file description. Please see examples above.

Upload Completion and Deadline: Interested parties shall submit proposals no later than the date and time specified on the solicitation document. The time and date of proposal receipt will be the upload completion/delivery time and date recorded within the PIEE, Solicitation module, open solicitation associated with this solicitation number. Do not assume that electronic submission will occur instantaneously. Large files (e.g., 10MB or more) will take some time to upload. Offerors should time their upload effort and not wait until the last minute to submit as there may be delays in the transmittal process.

Offerors are encouraged to keep a copy of the PIEE upload confirmation for their records.

Proposals sent through proprietary or third-party file transfer sites, email, PIEE modules other than the Solicitation module (open solicitation associated with this solicitation number), or DoD SAFE WILL NOT be retrieved and evaluated. It is the responsibility of the Offeror to confirm timely receipt of proposals. All proposals received, as confirmed by the date/time recorded within the PIEE, Solicitation module after the exact time specified for receipt on the solicitation document, shall be treated as late submissions and will not be considered.

Enclosures:

Attachment A: Updated Procedures for the Selection of Task Orders on Architect- Engineer (A-E) Indefinite Delivery Contracts (IDCs),” dated 09 March 2023 Attachment B: Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ) Form Attachment C: Joint Venture Procedure https://piee.eb.mil/xhtml/unauth/web/homepage/vendorGettingStartedHelp.xhtml https://sam.gov/opp/2b0a3d5c4c454beb8fefa3d844544a1d/view