B.08 - bidder inquiry.pdf

Bidder Inquiry Answers W9127N20B0021 Mouth of the Columbia River Sand Island Test Piles

The only bidder inquiry we’ve received is this:

“Spec Section:01 11 00.00 25

e. Drawing Sheet/Detail:1 1

f. Inquiry Text:Reference Summary of Work, paragraph a: "Incidental removal of timber piles may be required to complete the drivability tests if existing piles are identified as impeding the test program. Only when necessary, remove incidental in-place timber piles, as approved by the Contracting Officer (KO). Any removed timber piles will become property of the contractor"

If a wood pile is encountered, why would we not relocate the test pile five feet +/-instead of attempting to extract it?

If we do need to extract wood pile, would the government be responsible for the cost of the extraction including disposal? Or should contractors include the cost of the risk of encountering and extracting an unknown quantity of wood piles in our bids?”

The answer to this Bidder Inquiry is:

Question 1: “If relocating +/- 5ft is possible (while still meeting the drive location) alleviates the need to remove a timber pile, then do not remove the timber pile.

Offsetting pile driving locations up to 5 ft to avoid removing existing timber piles is generally acceptable. All offsets must be approved by the COR. In some cases, only an offset parallel to the dike centerline will be permitted, in order to maintain the data gathering intent of the testing location chosen, which may limit the ability to avoid interference from existing timber piles at these specific locations.”

Question 2: “The contractor should include the cost of encountering and extracting an unknown quantity of wood piles in their bids. However, considering this is an IFB where price is the only determining factor USACE recommends accurately determining the risk.”