Questions_related_to_Solicitation_No_W91237-16-B-0001_(002).docx

Questions and Answers for W91237-16-B-0001 Regional Dredge IFB

Question 1: FAR clause 52.222-6 Construction Wage Requirements, and Section 00800 Special Contract Requirements, paragraph 23. Wage Rates—Please provide wage rate classifications for boat pilots and deckhands. We do not see where on the wage decision provided that they would fit.

Answer: Wage Rates are provided as a courtesy for bidders. It is the responsibility of the contractor to interpret the classifications and formulate their bid prices accordingly. We do realize that this determination differs from previous formats, and is more general in nature. The USACE declines from interpreting the decision, as an erroneous interpretation could result in more complication than clarification.

Question 2: FAR clause 52.222-30 Construction Wage Rate Requirements—Price Adjustment indicates that wage rates that are issued and are effective at the time of an exercised option year are to apply to that period. Section 00800 Special Contract Requirements, paragraph 23. Wage Rates, states that the “Wage Rate Determinations are attached at the end of this Section, and contain wage rates applicable to all work under this contract.” Our interpretation is that the wage rates provided will be applicable to all work, base years and any option years as they are all part of the same contract, but that wage rates for areas that were not included as a bid item will be negotiated on a Task Order basis as required and will be at the wage rate determination issued at that time. Please confirm our interpretation—that the wage rates provided in this solicitation will be “locked” in for the duration of the base and any possible options.

Answer: The interpretation is correct.

Question 3: 00800 Special Contract Requirements, paragraph 4. Contract Amount, indicates that orders up to $45,000,000.00 over the life of the contract (potentially up to 5 years) may be made with a guarantee of $30,000.00 per year. Is that $30,000.00 per contractor per year? Will there be a designated allocation limit per year—i.e. $9,000,000.00 per year, and if 3 contractors, then $3,000,000.00 limit per contractor per year? Please expand on this.

Answer: The overall capacity limit for the life of the contract is $45M. This will be a shared capacity contract. There is no annual maximum, and no maximum per contractor. The guaranteed amount for each year (per contractor) is $30k.

Question 4: Section 00800 Special Contract Requirements, paragraph 6. Contractors Responsibility, subparagraph 6.1 Licenses and Permits, indicates that the contractor at his own expense obtain any license or permits required to perform the contract. Does the government plan to identify and provide the permits required as part of the scope of work to allow the contractor to recover the costs of obtaining permits?

Answer: Applicable 401 Water Quality Certifications for disposal operations are the responsibility of the USACE to obtain. Any permits or certifications beyond this are the responsibility of the contractor (foor example, USCG, crane licensure, wide load permits for highway haulage).

Question 5: Section 00800 Special Contract Requirements, paragraph 9. Supervision, indicates that there is to be at least 2 people in supervisory roles including a Contractor Representative and Quality Control Inspector(s), and that a Quality Control Inspector is normally appointed for each work crew. For a 2- crane operation, how many people does the Corps expect for these supervisory personnel?

Answer: It is permissible for the contractor to provide one supervisory person per project, with the collateral duty of quality control representative, unless otherwise indicated per individual Task Order. This is one person per project, regardless of the machinery involved. We do realize that this work will be primarily basic dredging operations, however, this contract is inclusive of activities that may vary in complexity (for example, rock placement, upland disposal). It is not our intention to force the contractor to provide an oversized supervisory chain for routine dredging activities, but the Government reserves the right to vary this requirement for projects of a more complex nature. Also, see answer 18 Question 6: Section 00800 Special Contract Requirements, paragraph 11. Quality Control, indicates a Quality Control Program is to be submitted to assure the requirements of the contract are provided. Due to the type of dredging, and the Positioning System that is required that shows where each bucket was dredged, and the operator confirming depth, what else would be required in this plan? The paragraph also states that a Quality Control Report (QCR) to be provided for each crew and each shift, so are we correct in assuming that we would have at least 4 QCR’s to complete each day if we have 1 crew digging, 1 crew unloading and for 2 shifts? Lastly, will this Quality Control Program be for the entire contract, or will there be a different one for each Task Order?

Answer: Quality Control reports will be prepared for each Task Order, 1 per shift, unless otherwise required by the Task Order’s Statement of Work Requirements. Again, we do realize this work primarily consists of routine dredging work, but individual Task Orders may vary in complexity. Positioning Equipment cannot be depended on to suffice as the only means of contractor quality control, especially when more complex work is involved (for example, seeding, rock placement). There will also be issued Task Orders that do not require GPS positioning equipment, and proper Quality Control documentation is required as electronic files are then non-existent.

Question 7: Section 00800 Special Contract Requirements, paragraph 22. Payment, indicates that pay time will be measured to the nearest minute. Who will be responsible for determining the time? Will there be a full-time Corps inspector on each dredge rig or rigs if more than one rig dredging? Will there be allowances for dredge operator lunch breaks or bathroom breaks or will that be at a reduced rate?

Answer: By Army Regulation, Corps inspector(s) will be on site any time the plant(s) are in a production status. Pay time will be kept and computed by the Government personnel on site. The contractor is welcome to maintain their own records of time for comparison purposes. For each day, a report will be submitted to the contractor and (when in agreement) signed by a Government Representative and a Contractor’s Representative. Pay time is computed based on the activity of the plant(s) dedicated to dredging activities only. When the machinery is not in a productive status, it will only be paid at a 60% rate for activities that are necessary for project purposes (for example, changing location, moving barges, passing vessels) that are not controllable by the Government or the Contractor. Bathroom breaks, lunches, etc. are considered controllable by the contractor and will be considered as down time (no pay). It is the responsibility of the contractor to staff relief operators (can be a collateral duty with other functions) to facilitate these instances. See paragraph 22 in section 00800.

Question 8: Section 00800, item 22. Payment, paragraph 22.2 Effective Time, gives several circumstances to receive 100% payment. Does that time include shifting barges? Does that time include cleaning barges?

Answer: Pay time is for material production only and any work outside of that is either paid at 60% or 0% as per the contract requirements. The plant dedicated to dredging operations governs the pay rate. If this machine stops production for any reason, the contractor will either be paid for non-effective time or placed in a non-pay status. Final cleaning of equipment, post work, is covered under “Demobilization”. See paragraph 22 in section 00800.

Question 9: Section 00800, item 22. Payment, paragraph 22.2 Effective Time, (5) related to placing structures indicates 100% payment will only be for “plant actively placing the primary material.” What rate of pay will be for performing work preparing for the primary material placement such as clearing and grubbing, filter fabric, trench excavation, or post installation of primary material, such as seeding, etc.?

Answer: Each item of work will have individual rates for segments performed as separate activities. For example:

The government issues a Task Order requiring the contractor to construct an upland disposal area and to dredge a particular channel area. The material will be placed in the aforementioned disposal area.

Clearing and Grubbing (prepping the DA) will have its own rate of pay based on the personnel and equipment required. Dredging will likewise have its own effective rate. Dressing and Seeding will have another effective rate based on equipment and personnel. Time will be kept separately for each of these activities.

Any materials required (for example, rock, filter fabric, seed) will be paid on a unit quantity basis, included on each Task Order’s respective bid schedule.

Question 10: Section 00800, item 22. Payment, paragraph 22.3 Non-Effective Time indicates that moving the dredge plant and/or barges to be at 60% of the Effective Rate despite the contactor continuing to pay for fuel and labor during this time for these work items.

Answer: Fuel, wages, repairs, etc. are the contractor’s responsibility during effective status, non-effective status, or non-pay status.

Question 11: Section 00800, item 22. Payment, paragraph 22.3 Non-Effective Time (2) and (3) talks about moving distances greater than 5 miles that would include a “transit mile rate.” Are we correct in assuming this transit rate is in addition to the 60% Non-Effective hourly rate?

Answer: Any moves greater than 5 miles in distance (not including Mob/DeMob) are only paid on a transit per mile rate. There will be no 60% time payment made for moves greater than five miles, regardless of distance or time required.

Question 12: Section 00800, item 22. Payment, paragraph 22.3 Non-Effective Time indicates that it includes time to stop the dredging operation in order to pass navigation traffic. Will the contractor be allowed to temporarily delay traffic passing until more than one vessel or tow is in queue to reduce the amount of time at 60%?

Answer: The contractor must coordinate passing vessel situations between themselves, approaching vessels, and the Government. The practice of holding traffic to increase efficiency is permissible, when reasonable and agreeable to all parties.

Question 13: Section 00800, item 22. Payment, paragraph 22.4 Suspended Operations, indicates in the paragraph that the contractor is obligated to stay up to 3 days in a standby status. It goes on to say that after 3 days the contractor may leave the site, but must return within 3 days upon notification by the government at his own cost to remobilization. How long is the contractor expected to stay around at zero pay after the 3 days before he would be paid to remobilization to the site? Would the contractor be given more than the 3 days to resume work if the suspension was for an extended time frame? Will the government provide a secure location to moor the dredge plant during non-work hours, or during suspended operations?

Answer: Extended periods of suspended operations are not common. After three days of paid suspension the contractor can do whatever they wish with their equipment, as long as it can be returned to the worksite within a reasonable timeframe. There will be no standby time payment for this occurrence. The three day return requirement is the contractual metric. Situations that may require an extension of this time requirement will be handled on a case by case basis.

Question 14: Section 00800, item 22. Payment, paragraph 22.5 Non-Pay Time, (5) refers to suspension of operations “based on lack of normal dredge output per working hour.” Will the government establish production rates for each dredge location? Will they be different for each Task Order?

Answer: Rates of production will be specified for each Task Order or dredge area.

Question 15: Section 01000, DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/WORK STATEMENT, paragraph titled Typical Work Requirements: (1) indicates that work will not be restricted to floating plant situations—what percentage of the work might be considered land-based or upland disposal? Paragraph (2) under this same section indicates that it is to include removal of trees, snags, debris, wrecks, and other miscellaneous items and paragraph (3) indicates that some In-Water Structures may be constructed. How will the Section 00800 Special Contract Requirements, paragraph 22. Payment, apply to these types of work?

Answer: Situations of work may include cleaning of public access ramps, creating upland disposal areas, constructing haul roads, or other miscellaneous activities. This is not anticipated to be the primary part of the work from this contract, but this contract is a vehicle for accomplishing these requirements when needed. Rental payment will be made based on each activity and manpower/equipment composition therefore. Also, see answer 9.

Question 16: Section 01000, DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/WORK STATEMENT, paragraph titled DEFINITIONS, j. Dredge Quality Management (DQM) Equipment—the sentence appears to end mid-stream. Please complete the sentence/paragraph.

Answer: Sentence omits the last word, or reference. Please see Amendment 0002, as posted on FBO for correction.

Question 17: Section 01000, DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/WORK STATEMENT, paragraph titled WORK TO BE PERFORMED, b. Contractor’s Representative, indicates that all work is to be executed under the direction of a Project Manager. Is this person above and beyond the Contractor’s Representative and Quality Control Inspector(s) mentioned above in Section 00800 Special Contract Requirements, paragraph 9. Supervision and does this person also have to be onsite for all shifts? Please explain.

Answer: The contractor’s Project Manager should be the employee contact that is at the office level responsible as the official company contact above the on-site representative. It is not required that this person be on-site, but is expected to be responsible and familiar with the daily activities of the project.

Question 18: Section 01000, DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/WORK STATEMENT, paragraph titled WORK TO BE PERFORMED, h. Safety and Health Program, the last sentence of the first paragraph states “Each Task Order shall have a designated individual responsible for the site safety.” Please confirm this person must be on site full time and must not have any other duties. Also in a multi-crane/crew scenario is one person sufficient for the entire operation, or does there need to be a designated individual for each crew?

Answer: Reference the safety specifications and EM 385-1-1 (Nov. 2014). The SSHO may not be performed as a collateral duty when 7 or more workers are on a particular shift. It can when there are 6 or less. This number includes all workers, including dredge and disposal sites. Only one SSHO is needed per project, including all areas. Please see Amendment 0002, as posted on FBO for Safety Specifications.

Question 19: Section 01000, DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/WORK STATEMENT, paragraph titled WORK TO BE PERFORMED, paragraph l. Performance and Payment Bonds/Notice to Proceed, (1) Final Price Proposal; paragraph m. (2); and m. (2) (c) all reference an “MMR action”. What is an “MMR action”?

Answer: The reference included is MRR, not MMR, and stands for maintenance, repair and/or rehabilitation action.

Question 20: Due to the number of Bid Items, would the government be willing to provide the Bid Schedule in an Excel Format, or fillable PDF?

Answer: Bidders, by law, must use the bid schedule provided. If desired, bidders may use spreadsheet computations to formulate their calculations and submit in addition to the Government provided bid schedule.

Question 21: Bid Items 0046, 0047, and 0048 Dredge Package 1 and Bid Items 0052, 0053, and 0054 Dredge Package 3 appear to be identical except that Dredge Package 1 indicates 10 hours per day. Is there something else that was intended to be different? This also applies to the subsequent Option Year respective Bid Items.

Answer: Correct, the equipment is the same, but not limited to 10 hours per day.

Question 22: Bid Items 0049, 0050 and 0051 Dredge Package 2 each includes item 0041 (1 each) which is a sweeper for farm tractor, and 0042 (2 each) which is a 15kw generator. Is this what was intended? This also applies to the subsequent Option Year respective Bid Items.

Answer: The items for Dredge Package 2 (all occurrences) should NOT include item 0041, but instead: items 0042 (1), 0043 (2), and 0044 (3). The other items included in this package remain unchanged. Please see Amendment 0002, as posted on FBO for REVISED Bid Schedule.

Question 23: How is standby time calculated?

Answer: Standby time is an incidental item associated with contractor’s equipment that is in an idle status, but is not yet released by the Government. An example would be loaded barges that must sit idle until the loaded material dries for testing purposes. This would be a separate calculation or bid item associated with individual task orders Question 24: In regards to Mobilization/Demobilization for equipment, is the travel mileage for land based equipment based on Road Miles?

Answer: Yes.

Question 25: Can Hydraulic Excavators with Clamshell capacities exceeding requirements be used?

Answer: Equipment differing from the bid schedule may be approved and added under section 01000, Miscellaneous Equipment, Materials and Fees. Such items will be negotiated on a Task Order Basis.

Question 26: Confirm that “Crane Unit Price” does not included barge.

Answer: A barge mounted crane would have separate costs for the crane and the barge, as defined in the bid schedule.

Question 27: Please clarify Item #0028 – Define “Self-Propelled Crane”: Is this a land based crane or is this a crane mounted on a self-propelled barge?

Answer: This is a rubber tired crane, either land based or mounted on a barge.

Question 28: Please define Dredge Quality Management (DQM) requirements.

Answer: When requested by individual Task Order, reporting the USACE’s DQM center may be required. See section 0800 – Plant Positioning and Accuracy. Also, see: http://dqm.usace.army.mil/.

Question 29: Does the contractor have to completely fill out the entire bid schedule, items 0001 through 4085 or is the contractor allowed to fill out parts of it at their own determination?

Answer: The bid schedule is developed for all labor categories that we believe we will need to utilize. Therefore, it is necessary for it to be filled out in its entirety.

Failure to submit a unit price for each item where required in the Schedule will be considered as a material deviation from the requirements of the solicitation, and the bid will be rejected.

Question 30: Amendment 1 deleted Section 00800 – Special Contract Requirements, however that section includes numerous definitions and other pertinent information concerning insurance requirements, pay time, effective time, requirements for supervision, quality control, safety responsibilities and other important considerations. Will there be a subsequent amendment adding a new Section 00800 or otherwise defining these requirements?

Answer: Published amendments only include sections that have changes. Any section not referenced in the Amendment remains unchanged. The original section 00800 is still considered a part of the solicitation.

Question 31: Will there be an amendment defining measurement and payment? It is not entirely clear whether the hourly equipment and dredge package items are to include the cost of labor given the separate hourly labor rates requested in the proposal.

Answer: No. Labor will be bid separately from equipment for each Task Order.

Question 32: Are the hourly rates to include the cost of the required SSHO, QCM, Project Manager, and Project Superintendent? The level of effort needed for these personnel is entirely dependent upon the number of people and equipment assigned to a given task order. Since we cannot predict this, it is impossible to accurately estimate the proportion of each of these important individuals to include in the various unit prices. A much more accurate and fair way to handle these jobsite supervisory personnel would be to add bid items and an estimated number of hours for each. That would ensure the USACE only pays for the personnel required for a given task order. Please consider adding bid items for Superintendent, Project Manager, SSHO, and QCM.

Answer: Refer to section 00800, section 22.7 thru 22.9.

Question 33: Do the estimated quantities listed in the proposal represent the total for the project and therefore subject to being split amongst 3 different contracts, or are these estimated quantities anticipated for only one of the three potential contracts?

Answer: The estimated quantities are for bidding purposes only. They are a proportional representation of the expected usage of each item, and will not be considered as binding amounts.