UFAS Travel Trailer RFI.docx

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA)

500 C STREET SW, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20472

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

UFAS Travel Trailer Design

October 20, 2020

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Introduction

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) IN ACCORDANCE WITH FAR 15.201(e) AND FAR 52.215-3, which states:

RFIs may be used when the Government does not presently intend to award a contract, but wants to obtain price, delivery, other market information, or capabilities for planning purposes. Responses to these notices are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. There is no required format for RFIs.

This is NOT a Request for Proposal (RFP). An RFP is not being issued at this time, and this notice shall not be considered as a commitment by the Government to issue a RFP, nor does it restrict the Government to a particular acquisition approach. Requests for a solicitation will not receive a response.

The purpose of this RFI is to determine if there is capability available to provide the services required to assist FEMA’s mission.

1. Background The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides temporary housing for disaster relief throughout the U.S. As part of its efforts to readily provide safe, secure and sanitary temporary housing for all individuals, FEMA is seeking companies that are able to design and produce travel trailers that meet the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)/Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS) for post-disaster temporary housing purposes.

When the need for post-disaster transportable temporary housing arises, FEMA will continue to rely on its current menu of housing options, including travel trailers. However, the available travel trailer options for housing individuals with disabilities who have accessibility needs are very limited. Consequently, the use of the travel trailer option is currently constrained to those without accessibility needs. If the standard travel trailer solutions cannot be deployed to assist individuals with accessibility limitations, the advantage of this option is significantly diminished. FEMA wishes to overcome this limitation.

Therefore, it is the intent and purpose of this RFI to challenge travel trailer manufacturers, as well as all other interested stakeholders, to leverage their industry knowledge and experience to develop innovative new designs and concepts in applying UFAS-compliant accessibility standards to travel trailers for FEMA transportable temporary housing use.

For this RFI, disaster temporary housing is classified as a towable recreation vehicle (RV), and may be a bumper pull travel trailer design, or fifth-wheel design, and may include expandable partial sidewalls (slide outs).

2. Operational Concept and Project Summary FEMA seeks Subject Matter Expert (SME) services to design travel trailers that will accommodate various household compositions, e.g., from a single occupant up to a family of six.

The travel trailers should be equivalent in trim and finish level as those presently available to the general public. The designs must be compliant with UFAS as defined by the U.S. Access Board for spatial and other requirements for living space, such as bedrooms, private bathrooms, private kitchens, hallways, etc.

The intended population are those with particular disabilities who require higher levels of accessibility in their environment, as well as all non-disabled adults, adolescents, and children in the same household. The design of the unit must be able to comfortably accommodate households with individuals of varying degrees of accessibility concerns and needs.

Accessibility:

FEMA is seeking fully UFAS-compliant designs (https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publications/ destech/design_details.html). Site design is not part of this RFI; however, designers are encouraged to consider approaches in making access from the site into the unit more easily achievable for the intended population. This is a common consideration for most/all standard RV designs, and innovative solutions are encouraged.

Occupancy Requirements:

Each temporary unit design can vary its occupancy level from two (2) adults to a total of six (6) household members. Each unit must contain at least one bedroom separated from the rest of the living space by means of a standard door, pocket door, accordion door, or curtain. Additional sleeping spaces may be in an additional bedroom, or in flexible-use general space within the RV but not in the “kitchen area.” No dinettes that convert to beds in the main space are acceptable, but bunk beds elsewhere in the unit are acceptable (see sleeping area guide below). All areas within the unit must be accessible per UFAS requirements.

General Spatial Requirements:

The main bedroom should meet minimum dimensional requirements and be able to accommodate two people.

Additional sleeping areas may be integrated into the general living space (but not kitchen/food preparation area) of the unit (see example below).

A single three-fixture bathroom must be included, as well as a kitchen/food preparation area, a dining area, and a general living space.

Flexible spatial arrangements are encouraged to allow occupants to arrange and use the space as best suited to their needs.

Larger units, or differently configured units with two bedrooms will also be considered.

Minimum square footage is 200 square feet.

Dimensional Requirements:

For all options, maximum nominal width is 102” (in travel mode, excluding mirrors, safety equipment, and accessories up to 6”) and maximum square footage is 320 square feet.

Category of Temporary Housing Unit:

All considered designs must be defined as a towable RV. Either type may be expandable travel trailers with hard-shell pop- outs on one or more elevations containing either expanded living, sleeping, or kitchen facilities.

Deployment Locations/Sites:

FEMA intends to deploy the UFAS-compliant travel trailer design(s) at all typical transportable temporary housing scenarios, including group sites, commercial sites, and individual private sites. All regions and climate zones in the continental US are included.

Reference Standards:

The following standards have been adopted by the RV Industry Association’s Board of Directors for the construction of RVs and Park Model RVs. The primary goal of the Standards Department Inspection Program is to monitor the pledge of member manufacturers to build in conformance to these adopted standards.

Required Standards to be Met:

The following standards have been adopted by the RV Industry Association’s Board of Directors for the construction of RVs and Park Model RVs. The primary goal of the Standards Department Inspection Program is to monitor the pledge of member manufacturers to build in conformance to these adopted standards. In addition, units must be UFAS compliant.

2018 National Fire Protection Assoc (NFPA) 1192 Plumbing, Propane, and Fire & Life Safety 2018 edition ANSI/RVIA LV Standard 12-Volt Electrical System 2015 ANSI A119.5 PMRV Standard Plumbing, Propane, Fire & Life Safety, Construct 2017 National Electrical Code (NEC) 120V Electrical Systems (ART551RV, Art552 PMRV) 2018 edition ANSI TSIC-1 Process control for assembly of wheels on trailers 2018 edition ANSI/RVIA EGS-1 Engine generator sets for RV safety requirements

2014 ANSI/RVIA UPA-1

Uniform plan approval for RVs SAE J684-2014 Trailer Couplings, Hitches, and Safety Chains—Automotive Type National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration

(NHTA)

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) Design Details for Accessible Disaster Relief Housing, August 2011 https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publications/destech/design_details.html

DOT CFR49

Part 565 VIN Part 566 Manufacturer Identification Part 567 Certification

Acquisition Concept

FEMA anticipates issuing a solicitation for UFAS compliant travel trailer design and production. In order to facilitate this solicitation, the Agency is seeking information from several different communities that would be able and willing to provide the types of services described above to FEMA.

FEMA anticipates that this solicitation will result in a single award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for the services required. FEMA will issue task orders under this contract as required to meet the needs of the Agency’s disaster response/recovery operation. There is no minimum guarantee under this contract.

Services, at the overview level, will include:

· Design and Feasibility

· UFAS Compliance

· Ability to be Manufactured

· Reusability

· Thoroughness and attention to detail

· Solutions that demonstrate incorporation and full compliance of accessibility regulations

Vendor Profile

In response to the RFI, please provide a capability statement and offer your experience and recommendations for question numbers 6-11. The Government recommends that you first review the draft requirements so that you may have a better insight on the questions/instructions below.

1. Identify the company and primary contact person responding to this RFI to include name, address, city, state, zip code, phone, fax numbers and email address.

2. Identify the name, title, address, phone and fax number/s, and email address of the primary contact person responding to this RFI.

3. Identify any parent corporation and/or subsidiaries, if appropriate.

4. Identify company’s size and type, i.e. small business – woman owned.

5. Provide a brief overview of your company including number of years in business, number of employees, nature of business, and description of clients.

6. Are the requirements clear, concise, and/or sufficient enough to develop and submit the required information in response to a Request for Proposal (RFP)?

7. Is 45 days a sufficient amount of time for a contractor to prepare a proposal given the scenario of a full trade-off best value source selection requiring a technical and price proposal and past performance references? If 45 days is not enough, please provide a reasonable timeframe to prepare a proposal.

8. Respondents to this RFI should describe their interest and ability to perform the requirements summarized within this notice (both design and production).

9. Discuss any concerns, comments or recommendations you may have with the attached draft requirements.

10. Provide the government with an estimate of production capacity in terms of the number of units that can be manufactured per week or month.

11. Provide the government with a cost range estimate (+/- $3,000) to design and build two prototypes for each unit size.

12. Provide the government with cost range estimate for production of each unit size.

Sleeping Area Guide:

This graphic is only intended for demonstration of acceptable sleeping areas in standard Travel Trailer; is not indicative of a UFAS compliant unit; and is not to scale. Areas identified as not a sleeping area are typically counted as sleeping areas in the RV market; however, FEMA does not consider them sleeping areas.

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