Questions_and_Answers_WQM.pdf

FY 2019 MAINTENANCE DREDGING. WATER QUALITY MONITORING SURVEYS,

ALAMEDA & CONTRA COSTA COUNTIES, CALIFORNIA

AS OF: 02 APRIL 2019 Page 1 of 3

QUESTIONS & RESPONSES

SOLICITATION NUMBER W912P7-19-T-0002

The intent of this section is to provide questions & comments received from interested parties on the above solicitation, and our responses to those questions and comments. It is possible that the information below does not reflect 100% of the questions and responses. The questions and comments do not necessarily represent questions received from any particular contractor.

Questions and responses are provided for information only and are not made part of the solicitation. Only a formal amendment (SF30) to the solicitation changes the solicitation.

Changes to any previous responses in this document will be struck-through and new, updated responses will be provided as appropriate.

No. RFP Section Question Response

I am hoping to find out if there is an incumbent contractor currently performing these services, if similar services have been performed in the past, or if this is a new requirement. If there is an incumbent, could you please provide the contract or task order number?

Last year, in Fiscal Year 18, USACE awarded a contract for

Oakland, Richmond, and Redwood City Water Quality

Monitoring. The purchase order number was W912P7-18-

P-0013. The incumbent on that award was Surf 2 Snow.

2 Do the buoys deployed to support dredge background and decant monitoring just read turbidity at one point in the water column?

Sampling approach outlines three depths.

3 Has this project had an exceedances with respect to turbidity from the dredge or decanting?

Not recently, but has occurred in the past.

4 Recognizing they are possibilities, how many times have the two projects been dredged concurrently and more than once in a FY?

Oakland and Richmond Inner Harbor will typically be dredged concurrently during some periods.

5 Is the decant monitoring also held to the same pH and DO requirements specified for dredging in the permit?

Yes

6 Is there a final report from last season or before that can be reviewed or available somewhere?

Yes

Will the dredge work be conducted over 12 straight days, or will it be conducted Monday to

Friday?

Dredging is a 24/7 activity

AS OF: 02 APRIL 2019 Page 2 of 3

QUESTIONS & RESPONSES

SOLICITATION NUMBER W912P7-19-T-0002

The optional tasks indicate that there is the possibility that two dredges may be working at the same time at the same location (Richmond or Oakland). Is there the possibility that dredging at both locations may occur concurrently; and if so, could multiple dredges be operating at one or both of these locations? This would require more than two teams conducting water quality monitoring at any given moment.

Oakland and Richmond Inner Harbor will typically be dredged concurrently during some periods. USACE will not know if a contractor will be deploying two dredges until bid opening for each construction project.

Page 4 of the Scope of Services includes paragraphs C and D (provided below for your convenience). Paragraph C states that turbidity monitoring will be conducted during slack tide and ebb/flood tides, but Paragraph D states that turbidity monitoring will be conducted every 10-minutes at 3 stations (presumably for the entire

12-hour monitoring period, which will require multiple monitoring boats or multiple moored turbidity sensors). Can the USACE confirm that turbidity monitoring is only required during slack tides and peak ebb/flood tides, and that monitoring at 10-minute intervals for the entire

12-hour/day monitoring period is not required?

Para C states to the extent feasible. Requirements are 10 minute intervals regardless of tidal conditions.

The contract description generally reads that monitoring is to happen by a survey technician manually deployed from a small vessel vs a moored real-time data collecting probe. If this is true, then I need to confirm the sampling frequency:

1) On Page 4, Paragraph D-1, the contract states to "...Take and record readings every 10 minutes at..." at three (3) different stations. Can you confirm the significant, continuous amount of sampling, and particularly how it relates to

Paragraph C and the different tidal cycles?

Can you confirm or clarify the sampling frequency for the turbidity monitoring as it relates to the tide? In section III, parts C and D methods are difficult to interpret.

Are there incumbents from prior dredging projects that are expected to bid on the project?

This is sensitive source selection information which cannot be disclosed.

AS OF: 02 APRIL 2019 Page 3 of 3

QUESTIONS & RESPONSES

SOLICITATION NUMBER W912P7-19-T-0002

If Options 1 and 2 are exercised, would this automatically require a second team with a second vessel? If this is the case, our team may not have the capacity to meet two, concurrent dredge monitoring efforts. Would the Corp accept a submission of costs that included only Tasks 1A and 1B or would that cause our proposal to be non-responsive?

It depends on the situation. If the dredges are co-located or on opposite sides of the project. It also depends if they will be working at the same time, overlapping a bit, or done at different times in the project cycle. Contractor must be flexible for all possibilities in this contract

Could you please clarify in Section III.

Frequency of Monitoring, the sampling intervals in which turbidity readings would be taken

"every 10 minutes at one (1) up‐current and two

(2) down‐current locations during the first day of dredging and the first five (5) days of decant monitoring."? Does this mean there will be measurements recorded every ten minutes over each 12-hour day? Section VI. Exceedence and

Exceedence Protocol, suggest instead there will be a certain number in which it notes that "[i]f any of the three measurements taken at the down current point of compliance when decant is occurring show recorded turbidity is greater than

50 NTU...." (emphasis added).

Contract minimum is every ten minutes while the scow is decanting during daylight hours.

15 For consistency with prior dredge monitoring efforts, is there a particular brand or style of turbidity monitor that is recommended to be used?

No