FLS-SOW.docx

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS) FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, FIRE PROTECTION ENGINEERING AND LIFE SAFETY CODE REVIEW SERVICES

I. SCOPE:

The Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking an independent third-party fire protection and life safety code review for a delegated construction project as required by Veteran Health Administration (VHA) Directive 7712 Fire Protection Code Reviews of Delegated Construction Projects. The review must be performed by qualified Fire Protection Engineers (FPEs) who meet the qualifications and experience requirements outlined in Section IV, Qualifications. The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, tools, materials, supervision, and other items necessary to meet the requirements.

II. DESCRIPTION OF TASKS:

A. General Requirements

1. All written deliverables shall be phrased in layperson’s language. Statistical and other technical terminology shall not be used without providing a glossary of terms.

2. The COR and/or CO may require the contractor to meet virtually with the CO, contract administrator, and other government personnel as deemed necessary. The contractor may request a virtual meeting with the COR and/or CO when deemed necessary.

3. The contractor shall provide, via email, minutes of all government-contractor meetings. The contractor shall provide these draft minutes within two business days after completion of the meeting. The government representative will review draft minutes; make edits as appropriate and return to the contractor. Contractor shall have one business day after receipt to finalize minutes and return to the government.

4. The contractor shall ensure contract employees maintain open and professional communication with the staff at the VA facilities. Complaints validated by the COR or VA staff will be reported in writing to the CO for action. If the contractor fails to correct validated complaints raised by the COR and CO to the satisfaction of the COR, it will be considered a failure in performance.

B. The Platform

1. The vendor shall provide a Microsoft compatible web-based collaborative platform accessible to VA staff. The purpose is to provide a platform where the design documents can be uploaded by the VA for contractor review. The platform must be compatible with VA Microsoft Office programs and allow for the transfer of large files from behind the VA Intranet fire wall to the platform. The VA email system will not support this function. The construction project documents to be reviewed include drawings, specifications and other documents.

C. Project Fire Protection and Life Safety (FLS) Review

1. Fire protection and life safety review[s] are to be provided at various stages throughout design submission levels. The VA COR or designated representative will submit a fire protection and life safety (FLS) review request and a set of associated project documents for contractor review when design documents are available.

2. Design review documents could include narratives, specifications, drawings, Requests for Information (RFIs), or other documents. The documents will be provided in electronic format to the vendor via email. See VA Program Guide PG-18-15 for typical A/E Submittal requirements that would be reviewed.

3. The written project review report, referred to as the FLS Review Report, must be developed and submitted by the contractor in editable Microsoft Excel format. Both an Excel file and PDF of the review must be submitted to the VA for each review request. A sample FLS Review Report form must be submitted by the contractor and approved by the COR prior to being used for reviews.

4. The written FLS Review Report must provide both suggested mandatory comments (based on code, standard, or VA requirements) and advisory comments (recommendations) regarding fire protection and life safety. All comments must include a specific section reference to the corresponding NFPA code, standard, VA Fire Protection Design Manual reference, and/or other relevant VA reference material. Any comments that are advisory (recommendations, not mandatory) must be identified as such in the FLS Review Report.

6. The contractor shall ensure that the written project FLS Review Report is reviewed by a secondary qualified Fire Protection Engineer to ensure accuracy; the report must include the names of both the primary and secondary reviewers.

7. The contractor must return the completed report via email to the COR or representative who submitted the request within 10 business days of the contractor’s receipt of the submittal package.

8. Where the contractor has performed a previous review of a project and the project is submitted again for review at a later stage of design, the VA COR or facility representative will document the resolutions to the previous comments made by the contractor and will submit that documentation back to the contractor prior to the contractor’s subsequent review of the new design submission.

9. Design reviews must include a review of the following items, at minimum:

a. Classification of Occupancy (this must be determined before a review can be started)

b. Minimum Construction Requirements (and separation)

c. Means of Egress

i. Components (stairs, ramps, doors, door hardware, etc.)

ii. Capacity (Clear Widths)

iii. Number of Means of Egress

iv. Arrangement

v. Travel Distance (including but not limited to exits, within suites, to smoke barriers, etc.)

vi. Discharge from Exit

vii. Illumination

viii. Emergency Lighting

ix. Marking Exit Signs

x. Suites

d. Protection

i. Vertical Openings

ii. Hazardous Areas

iii. Detection/Alarm Systems

iv. Suppression / Extinguishment (Sprinklers, extinguishers, clean agent, kitchen, etc.)

v. Corridors (Separation, etc.)

vi. Subdivision of Building Spaces (Smoke barriers, occupancy separations, etc.)

e. Building Services

i. Utilities

ii. Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning

iii. Elevators

iv. Chutes

f. Design Specifications, if provided

g. Narrative, if provided

h. Confirmation that a fire protection engineer on the A/E’s design team has performed fire alarm, fire suppression, and life safety design for the project.

10. Follow-up technical support shall be provided by the contractor as needed to all facilities to respond to questions regarding the project design review comments.

11. The contractor must inform the VA submitter of potential problems that could interfere with successful completion of the project review within a maximum of three business days after receiving the FLS review request and associated design documents.

III. ACCEPTANCE OR REJECTION OF DELIVERABLES

Reports / documents will be accepted by the VA when all discrepancies, errors or other deficiencies identified in writing by the COR, designee or government representative have been corrected. Electronic copies shall be delivered via email to the VA submitter. The contractor shall use best commercial practice for formatting reports and documents. If the government representative finds that the report/document contains spelling errors, grammatical errors, improper format, or otherwise does not conform to the requirements stated in this PWS, the document may be immediately rejected without further review and returned to the contractor for correction and resubmission.

IV. QUALIFICATIONS - FIRE PROTECTION ENGINEER

The Fire Protection Engineers(s) (FPE) must have the following qualifications:

1. A licensed professional engineer in the United States who has an ABET-accredited bachelor’s degree in fire protection engineering or has a master’s degree or other advanced degree in fire protection engineering (“fire safety” or similar degrees are not acceptable), AND

Has passed the principles and practices examination in fire protection engineering, AND

Maintains a current license (P.E.) in fire protection engineering.

2. Five years of experience in application and interpretation of National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Codes and Standards and the model building codes.

3. Five years of experience in the design/review of automatic sprinkler and fire alarm systems, including all the following:

a. Automatic sprinkler and fire alarm system shop drawings.

b. Automatic sprinkler system hydraulic calculations.

c. Fire alarm system voltage drop and battery calculations.

4. Five years of experience in the application and interpretation of NFPA codes and standards, including, but not limited to, NFPA 1, 3, 4, 10, 13, 14, 17A, 20, 24, 25, 30, 45, 72, 75, 80, 82, 90A, 96, 99, 101, 110, 220, 241 and 2001.

5. Five years of experience in the design of health care facilities on projects of similar relevance and complexity.

6. Five years of experience in acceptance testing fire protection systems.

7. Five years of experience providing fire protection and life safety plan review services for complex health care occupancies (occupancies containing NFPA 101 suites, high-rise buildings, horizontal exits, separated and mixed occupancies, etc.).

Substitution of Personnel All FPEs working on this contract must have their resumes reviewed and approved by the COR and the Contracting Officer. New personnel shall not commence work until all necessary security requirements have been fulfilled, and resumes provided and accepted. The COR or designee will evaluate such requests and promptly notify the contractor of approval or disapproval in writing.

VI. GOVERNMENT AND CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITIES

The VA COR or government designee will provide the contractor with copies of documents that the VA is legally required to provide. The contractor shall request other VA documentation deemed pertinent to the work directly from the COR, government designee or facility representative. The contractor is expected to use common knowledge and resourcefulness in securing all other reference materials, standard industry publications, and related materials that are pertinent to the work without violating any applicable copyright laws. The most current versions of such documents will be used for all referenced documents. If a version cited in this PWS is updated during the period of performance of this contract, then the most recent / updated version will be applied.

The contractor shall maintain communications with the VA COR, government designee or facility representative as needed to complete the scope of this task. The government will be available for communication (calls, email, etc.) as reasonably needed to complete the scope of this task, subject to COR availability.

The contractor is not required to perform services on the following federal holidays set by law (USC Title 5 Section 6103):

New Year's Day Martin Luther King's Birthday Washington's Birthday Memorial Day Juneteenth Independence Day Independence Day Labor Day Columbus Day Veterans Day Thanksgiving Day Christmas Day