STGDS_IDIQ_PWS_Final.doc

Performance Work Statement Department Of Homeland Security (DHS)

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA)

Seismic Technical Guidance Development and Support (STGDS) Architect and Engineering (A&E) Services

May 22, 2017

1. BACKGROUND:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has the goal of reducing the ever-increasing cost that disasters inflict on our country. Preventing losses before they happen by designing and building a community’s structures to withstand anticipated forces from these hazards is one of the key components of mitigation. Mitigation is the only truly effective way of reducing the cost of these disasters and advance the whole of community concept.

As part of its responsibilities mandated under the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), and in accordance with the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 (PL 94-125 as amended), FEMA is charged with identifying and promoting mitigation activities necessary to improve technical quality in the field of earthquake engineering. The primary methods used to address this charge include:

a. The investigation of seismic issues identified by FEMA;

b. Problem-focused study of seismic technical issues as they are identified by academic research and/or post-disaster field studies;

c. The development and publication of technical design and construction guidance products;

d. The dissemination of these products, and the support of various related training and/or outreach efforts.

The technical guidance products present criteria for the design, construction, upgrade, and function of buildings subject to earthquake ground motions in order to minimize the hazard to life for all buildings, increase the expected performance of higher occupancy structures, and improve the capability of essential facilities to function during and after earthquakes anywhere in the United States. The guidance products ultimately serve as the basis for voluntary implementation at the State and local government level to improve building codes and consensus standards to improve the nation’s resiliency in reducing future earthquake losses.

In order to meet this Congressional mandate, FEMA requires expert contractor A&E support services from a nationally recognized engineering development organization that is intimately familiar with NEHRP, seismic research, building design and construction, and training outreach. The development of NEHRP guidance products must be done in a manner that will be acceptable to and utilized by the nation’s engineering and design communities as well as the nation’s model building code and standards organizations.

The International Building Code (IBC) and the nationally recognized American Society of Civil Engineers/Structural Engineering Institute ASCE/SEI-7 Standard for Minimum Design Loads and ASCE/SEI 41 Standard for Seismic Retrofitting of Existing Buildings routinely revise their seismic requirements to incorporate FEMA’s design guidance products. This demonstrates the successes and effectiveness of the NEHRP as implemented under FEMA’s mandate.

2. SCOPE:

The scope of this procurement is to provide A&E services for:

a. The investigation of seismic and seismic-related technical issues as they are identified by FEMA;

b. The development and publication of technical design guidance products to address identified issues;

c. The dissemination and support of technical design guidance information;

d. Providing Subject Matter Expert support to assist FEMA in carrying out its responsibilities under the NEHRP and

e. The development and use of related training materials and related outreach activities to the various stakeholders.

These services will be required for an undetermined number of projects of varying size and complexity (not to exceed the funding ceiling set forth in the contract). The specific technical issues, work products and tasks shall be identified at the task order level. Task orders may be severable or non-severable in nature. All task orders will be fixed priced.

3. APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS:

a. National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 (PL 94-125 as amended).

b. Government Printing Office (GPO) Style Guide

4. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS:

The Contractor shall perform the following type of services as set forth in task orders:

a. Provide general seismic design recommendations and construction guidance (such as updated guidance on retrofitting existing buildings);

b. Support the development of innovative technical guidance in seismic analysis and modeling methodologies (such as improved guidance on nonlinear time-history modeling);

c. Support the scientific investigation and research of specific technical seismic design issues (such as near field effects and soil-structure interaction);

d. Develop technical guidance for seismic-related hazards (such as tsunami, landslide, liquefaction, and soil failure);

e. Propagate training and outreach activities in support of guidance products and seismic-related hazard issues;

f. Provide Subject Matter Experts (in the following fields: structural engineering, civil engineering, architecture, earth science, geotechnical, construction management, code development and enforcement, public policy, training, and academic research) to complete work and objectives as set forth in task orders;

g. Develop and implement task order specific project management and quality control plans to manage task order projects;

h. Review project activities on a regular basis and be available for consultation with FEMA as set forth in task orders;

i. Manage project tasks and ensure that the work is produced in a timely manner and has been reviewed for both technical accuracy and for effectiveness.

j. Incorporate and leverage available academic and other research materials on seismic and seismic-related issues into FEMA guidance products developed under task orders to the maximum extent. Any research materials used shall be available for public release at no cost the Government. Facilitate sharing of such information as set forth in task orders.

k. Support and conduct transition-in activities through collaboration and cooperation with the Government and existing Contractor as specified at the task order level.

l. Support and conduct transition-out activities as directed by the government and in order to transition STGDS support to a subsequent contractor as specified at the task order level.

m. Potential future task orders may include the following requirements:

i. Support of Performance Based Seismic Design Guidelines:

Upon the completion of the FEMA P-58 Performance Base Seismic Design Guidelines and supporting products, there will be a need for additional support of these products, including training and user technical support.

ii. Support of Issues Related to Advanced Seismic Analysis Methods:

The objective of this project would be to expand and update the FEMA-440 Seismic Analysis Procedures document to address related cutting edge issues identified for the project. The issues could include improving nonlinear multi-degree of freedom simplified modeling. This project may develop new design guidance on this issue based on research results from the NSF-funded EERC’s.

iii. Evaluation of Non-Ductile Concrete Frame Vulnerability:

This task would be to develop an evaluation methodology and supporting guidance to allow for the risk evaluation of non-ductile concrete frame buildings. This evaluation methodology should be exportable into the FEMA Hazards United States (HAZUS) loss estimation modeling software.

iv. Provide Support for the National Earthquake Technical Assistance Program (NETAP):

NETAP is a FEMA program responsible for providing technical assistance, primarily in the form of training, to states and local communities with a recognized seismic risk. The program is primarily managed as a cooperative agreement at the FEMA Region level in association with State Earthquake Program Managers. There is still a need for a NETAP task order to develop specific training materials, conduct specific training non-state level training courses, and provide specific mitigation technical assistance on an as needed basis.

v. Support of Seismic-Related Training Programs:

The objective of this project would be to develop and conduct consistent modular training materials that will help to disseminate the knowledge contained in the FEMA design guidance publications to the broadest possible base of practitioners in the sciences of seismic design and construction as well as building owners, managers, and others involved in construction financing and investment decisions. This includes developing and deploying the means to disseminate the material to the intended audiences.

vi. Update Seismic Rehabilitation Guidance:

The objective of this task would be to develop and execute a multiyear plan to produce new guidance documents for the seismic rehabilitation of existing buildings. Specifically, certain aspects of FEMA 310 (ASCE 31) and FEMA 356 (ASCE 41) need updating to reflect the current state of knowledge of seismic engineering rehabilitation of buildings. The resource and guidance documents that ultimately result from this program will provide specific language that can be used by appropriate private-sector code organizations to incorporate the needed improvements in ASCE 31 and ASCE 41.

vii. Translating Risk of Collapse Building Performance:

Current FEMA seismic design guidance (FEMA P-58, FEMA P-154, FEMA P-695 and HAZUS) all define and treat collapse differently, resulting in confusion within the design community. This guide would clarify this issue and offer a clearer definition and translate between the current guidance. This would also significantly help current projects such as Performance Based Design and the Short Period Buildings projects.

viii. Identification and Documentation of Seismic Retrofitting Issues:

ASCE/SEI 41, Seismic Retrofitting of Existing Building, may be updated to reflect most current state of the art guidance. When ASCE/SEI 41 was first developed, FEMA products, specifically FEMA 273 and 356, served as an effective input mechanism that allowed early editions to be current to the state of practice. There is a need to periodically update FEMA 273 to provide an input mechanism to update ASCE/SEI 41. Like the NEHRP Recommended Provisions, this would need to be an ongoing effort to remain effective.

ix. Design Objectives for Residential Structures

Current code requires life-safe design, which translates as collapse prevention. However, this design goal does not equate to damage reduction or habitability for smaller more frequent events. This project would identify design criteria that would increase the likelihood of residential structures being able to be used after an earthquake, such as using drift as a design goal. This would ultimately reduce the need for temporary housing after a disaster.

x. Design Guide for Soil-Structure Interaction

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently completed a significant effort that resulted in a state of the art research report on the issue of soil-foundation structure interaction. Current design codes need updated to incorporate the NIST findings. This project would take the NIST research report and revise it into a design guide.

xi. Manufactured Home Installation Guidance for High Seismic Areas

xii. Development of Tall Buildings Seismic Retrofit Design Guidance

The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) is currently researching techniques for the seismic retrofitting of tall buildings. Recent research is showing that certain types of older, tall buildings may be more prone to catastrophic failure than previously believed. One serious example is the increased risk of column splice failures shown in recent testing. When completed, this PEER material will need to be published as a seismic retrofitting design guide. This would be a logical joint FEMA-PEER publication.

xiii. Design Guide for Base Isolation and Energy Dissipation Systems

These seismic protection systems are currently covered in the NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions, but current design guidance needs updated. This project would take a fresh and more realistic look at what guidance is needed and develop a new FEMA design guide to encourage its use.

xiv. Design Guidance for Seismically Retrofitting Historic Structures

xv. Update of FEMA E-74. Reducing the Risk of Damage to Nonstructural Components

Damage to nonstructural building components presently account for 80 to 90 percent of all earthquake losses. NIST is currently funding a project to completely examine how the United States designs nonstructural building components for seismic protection. When this project is completed in two years, FEMA will need to update FEMA E-74 to incorporate this new information. Further, the design of nonstructural components in Design Category IV structures, which are essential facilities, is currently flawed. The current 1.5 increase in forces for this category of buildings does not decrease the amount of nonstructural damage as it also allows a corresponding increase in deformations.

xvi. Update of FEMA P-695, Quantification of Building Seismic Performance Factors

The current Short Period Buildings Project, which is expected to be completed in two to three years, will result in guidance that will then require that FEMA P-695 be updated so as not to be in conflict. FEMA P-695 is a critical document that provides a procedure to establish consistent and rational building system performance and response parameters (R, Cd, Ω0) for the linear design methods traditionally used in current building codes. It is seeing significant use by the seismic design community and must be kept current.

xvii. Update of FEMA P-646, Design Guide for Vertical Evacuation refuges From Tsunamis

With the completion of the new ASCE/SEI 7 chapter on tsunami loads and design, portions of FEMA P-646 are now obsolete and provide incorrect guidance. FEMA P-646 needs to be revised to remove duplicative and conflicting guidance, reference the ASCE 7 chapter, and be simplified to focus on the design, construction and operation of vertical evacuation refuges. FEMA is working to partner with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on this project.

xviii. Update of FEMA 83/84, Seismic Considerations for Communities At Risk

This product was originally designed to provide guidance to community officials that have to address a seismic hazard. This was last updated over 20 years ago and needs to be updated. This information may be made available to the public on-line.

xix. Update of FEMA 156/157 Typical Costs for Seismic Retrofitting of Existing Buildings

The existing FEMA 156 and 157 needs to be updated. The recent NIST Memphis cost study provides new information and a methodology that should be expanded to a national basis.

xx. Update of FEMA 313, Promoting the Adoption and Enforcement of Seismic Building Codes: A Guidebook for State Earthquake and Mitigation Managers.

This document was prepared in 1998 prior to the formation of the International Code Council. It needs to be replaced with a guide that falls somewhere between the current Building Codes Toolkit and Chapter 1 of FEMA P-749.

xxi. Update the FEMA 395–400 and P-420, Incremental Seismic Rehabilitation Publications.

This series is dated and only two of the documents, Schools (395) and Hospitals (396) are utilized. The other four documents should be retired and the series updated to better reflect current codes, standards and technology.

5. PERFORMANCE STANDARDS:

The Government will evaluate the contractor’s performance under this contract in accordance with the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP). Performance results will be entered into Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). The performance standard briefly describes the minimum acceptable levels of service required for each requirement. These performance standards are critical to mission success. Task order specific QASP may also apply.

Task Order Project Management Plans

Task Order Quality Control Plans (QCP)

a. Quality standards:

i. All task order work products developed and delivered will be accurate in grammar and technical content.

1. Final products shall be approved by the COR.

2. All work products will be reviewed by FEMA and interested external stakeholders as coordinated by the COR. All FEMA comments and feedback shall be addressed in the final product and the Contractor shall provide documentation if comments and feedback were not addressed for FEMA’s consideration.

b. Timeliness standards:

i. All task order deliverables will be delivered to the Government by the due dates established in the task order or by the date of a mutually agreed upon schedule modification.

6. STAFFING:

The Contractor shall propose the appropriate skill levels, labor mix of personnel and shall take into consideration balance between experience in required areas of expertise and geographic locations to perform task order requirements. FEMA may request Contractor personnel resumes for task orders.

7. KEY PERSONNEL:

a. Project Manager:

i. Qualifications: Degree in Engineering or similar technical education and/or greater than 15 years of experience in general seismic design and construction guidance, seismic analysis and modeling methodologies, specific seismic design issues and guidance for seismic-related hazards.

ii. Description: The Program Manager shall be responsible for the overall management of the contract and insuring that the technical solutions and schedules at the task order level are implemented in a timely manner. The key personnel is considered to be essential to work performance. At least 30 calendar days prior to diverting any of the specified individuals to other programs or contracts (or as soon as possible, if an individual must be replaced, for example, as a result of leaving the employ of the Contractor), the Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer and shall submit comprehensive justification for the diversion or replacement request (including proposed substitutions and resumes for key personnel) to permit evaluation by the Government of the impact on performance. The Contractor shall not divert or otherwise replace any key personnel without the written consent of the Contracting Officer and the Program Management Office.

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8. DELIVERABLES AND DELIVERY SCHEDULE:

a. Other project driven deliverables and their specific due dates and timeframes will be specified under the individual task orders.

b. All task order deliverables shall be provided in CD-ROM format and shall include three copies of a “finished product” CD-ROM that will be identical to the finished product as well as two copies of a Government Printing Office (GPO) package with print files in either pdf or InDesign or another format if specified by GPO, as well as all required font files and GPO forms.

9. GOVERNMENT-FURNISHED EQUIPMENT AND INFORMATION:

No Government furnished equipment or information will be provided unless specifically specified in a task order.

10. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE:

The primary place of performance is at the Contractor’s facilities. In-person meetings shall occur at the lowest cost meeting location which shall be determined in consultation with the COR.

11. TRAVEL:

All travel required by the Government outside the local commuting area(s) will be reimbursed to the Contractor in accordance with the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR). The Contractor shall be responsible for obtaining COR pre-approval (electronic mail is acceptable) for all reimbursable travel in advance of each travel event. Travel requirements will be specified at the task order level. The contractor shall inform the COR, in a proposal, of the estimated total travel costs prior to any travel outside the local commuting area. The COR must expressly approve travel outside the local commuting area in writing prior to the occurrence of the travel. Specific travel requirements shall be in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 31.205-46 requirements and limitations. Reimbursement for travel expenses shall be made in accordance with the Federal Joint Travel Regulations.

12. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:

The overall IDIQ contract will have a period of performance consisting of one (1) 12 month Base Period and four (4) 12 month Option Periods. Each task order will specify a period of performance. Historically, task order periods of performance have been 12 months in duration.

13. SECURITY:

Work under this contract will be unclassified. The Contractor shall not have access to Sensitive But Unclassified (for Official Use Only) Information.

Prior to commencing work on the task order, Contractor personnel will be required to pass a public trust background investigation. Contractor personnel will be required to sign a DHS FEMA Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) prior to commencing work.

The Contractor will not have access to FEMA Information Technology (IT) systems. The Contractor shall coordinate all work products with the COR.

The Contractor shall follow all current versions of Government security policies and guidance. Please refer to Section I of the Solicitation for additional information.

14. CONTRACTOR ACCESS:

When the Contractor is required to access federal facilities, temporary access badges will be provided. Temporary access badges shall be coordinated with the COR. When accessing federal facilities, a legal United States issued identification shall be required. When access includes vehicles, all documentation, decals, and license plate shall be current.

15. EMPLOYEE IDENTIFICATION:

Contractor employees who visit Federal facilities during performance of this contract shall comply with all Government escort rules and requirements. All Contractor employees shall identify themselves as Contractors when their status is not readily apparent and display all identification and visitor badges in plain view above the waist at all times. Contractor employees working on-site at Government facilities shall wear a temporary Government issued identification badge. All Contractor employees shall identify themselves as Contractors when their status is not readily apparent (in meetings, when answering Government telephones, in e-mail messages, etc.) and display the Government issued badge in plain view above the waist at all times.

16. ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS (SECTION 508):

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220) requires that when Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology (EIT), they must ensure that it is accessible to people with disabilities. Federal employees and members of the public who have disabilities must have equal access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that enjoyed by non-disabled Federal employees and members of the public.

All EIT deliverables within this work statement shall comply with the applicable technical and functional performance criteria of Section 508 unless exempt. Specifically, the following applicable EIT accessibility standards have been identified:

Section 508 Applicable EIT Accessibility Standards

36 CFR 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating Systems, applies to all EIT software applications and operating systems procured or developed under this work statement including but not limited to GOTS and COTS software. In addition, this standard is to be applied to Web-based applications when needed to fulfill the functional performance criteria. This standard also applies to some Web based applications as described within 36 CFR 1194.22.

36 CFR 1194.22 Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications, applies to all Web-based deliverables, including documentation and reports procured or developed under this work statement. When any Web application uses a dynamic (non-static) interface, embeds custom user control(s), embeds video or multimedia, uses proprietary or technical approaches such as, but not limited to, Flash or Asynchronous Javascript and XML (AJAX) then 1194.21 Software standards also apply to fulfill functional performance criteria.

36 CFR 1194.24 Video and Multimedia Products, applies to all video and multimedia products that are procured or developed under this work statement. Any video or multimedia presentation shall also comply with the software standards (1194.21) when the presentation is through the use of a Web or Software application interface having user controls available.

36 CFR 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria, applies to all EIT deliverables regardless of delivery method. All EIT deliverable shall use technical standards, regardless of technology, to fulfill the functional performance criteria.

36 CFR 1194.41 Information Documentation and Support, applies to all documents, reports, as well as help and support services. To ensure that documents and reports fulfill the required 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria, they shall comply with the technical standard associated with Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications at a minimum. In addition, any help or support provided in this work statement that offer telephone support, such as, but not limited to, a help desk shall have the ability to transmit and receive messages using TTY.

Section 508 Applicable Exceptions

Exceptions for this work statement have been determined by DHS and only the exceptions described herein may be applied. Any request for additional exceptions shall be sent to the COR and determination will be made in accordance with DHS MD 4010.2. DHS has identified the following exceptions that may apply: 36 CFR 1194.3(b) Incidental to Contract, all EIT that is exclusively owned and used by the contractor to fulfill this work statement does not require compliance with Section 508. This exception does not apply to any EIT deliverable, service or item that will be used by any Federal employee(s) or member(s) of the public. This exception only applies to those contractors assigned to fulfill the obligations of this work statement and for the purposes of this requirement, are not considered members of the public.

Section 508 Compliance Requirements

36 CFR 1194.2(b) (COTS/GOTS products), When procuring a product, each agency shall procure products which comply with the provisions in this part when such products are available in the commercial marketplace or when such products are developed in response to a Government solicitation. Agencies cannot claim a product as a whole is not commercially available because no product in the marketplace meets all the standards. If products are commercially available that meet some but not all of the standards, the agency must procure the product that best meets the standards. When applying this standard, all procurements of EIT shall have documentation of market research that identify a list of products or services that first meet the agency business needs, and from that list of products or services, an analysis that the selected product met more of the accessibility requirements than the non-selected products as required by FAR 39.2. Any selection of a product or service that meets less accessibility standards due to a significant difficulty or expense shall only be permitted under an undue burden claim and requires authorization from the DHS Office of Accessible Systems and Technology (OAST) in accordance with DHS MD 4010.2.