Amendment 0003.pdf

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

30-105-04EXCEPTION TO SF 30

APPROVED BY OIRM 11-84

STANDARD FORM 30 (Rev. 10-83) Prescribed by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

This amendment is issued to extend the bid due date, provide responses to Request for Information (RFIs) and Specification changes and update the Contracting Officer information. All other terms and conditions remain unchanged.

1. CONTRACT ID CODE PAGE OF PAGES

1 11

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

16C. DATE SIGNED

BY 17-Nov-2020

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA15C. DATE SIGNED15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

(Signature of Contracting Officer)(Signature of person authorized to sign)

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., Street , County, State and Zip Code) X W912WJ21B0001

X 9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

14-Oct-2020

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

X The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offer X is extended, is not extended.

Offer must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended by one of the following methods:

(a) By completing Items 8 and 15, and returning 1 copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted;

or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN

REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required)

13. THIS ITEM APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS.

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE

CONTRACT ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(B).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return copies to the issuing office.

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

10A. MOD. OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 5. PROJECT NO.(If applicable)

6. ISSUED BY

3. EFFECTIVE DATE

17-Nov-2020

CODE

US ARMY ENGR DISTRICT, NEW ENGLAND

696 VIRGINIA ROAD

CONCORD MA 01742-2751

W912WJ 7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than item 6)

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO.

CODE

See Item 6

FACILITY CODECODE

EMAIL:TEL:

W912WJ21B0001

SECTION SF 30 BLOCK 14 CONTINUATION PAGE

SUMMARY OF CHANGES

SOLICITATION CHANGES:

1. SECTION 00010 - SOLICITATION CONTRACT FORM

The required response date/time has changed from 24-Nov-2020 01:00 PM to 01-Dec-2020 01:00 PM.

2. Amend 52.003-4021 PLACE OF BID OPENING as follows:

Contracting Officer jessica.m.kiddd@usace.army.mil

TO:

Contracting Officer erin.e.bradley@usace.army.mil

SPECIFICATION CHANGES

1. Amend Section 35 30 00 “UNDERWATER DRILLING AND CONFINED BLASTING” as follows:

A. Under subparagraph 1.2 titled “PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS”, delete the following:

Blasting is not permitted outside the deepening limits shown.

2. Amend Section 35 30 00 “UNDERWATER DRILLING AND CONFINED BLASTING” as follows:

A. Under subparagraph 1.12 titled “SAFETY”, delete the following:

No blasting is permitted when visibility is less than 1,500 feet in fog or rain, and as defined in Subpart 1.3.3.2 "Schedule Restrictions".

B. Under subparagraph 1.12 titled “SAFETY”, add the following:

No blasting is permitted when visibility is less than 1,500 feet. Further required conditions defined in Subpart 1.6.2 “Blasting Schedule Restrictions”.

3. Amend Section 35 20 23 “DREDGING” as follows:

A. Under subparagraph 3.5 titled “DREDGE MATERIAL”, under subpart 3.5.1, delete the following:

The Contractor is responsible for utilizing appropriate plant and equipment to remove both ordinary and hard materials.

B. Under subparagraph 3.5 titled “DREDGE MATERIAL”, under subpart 3.5.1, add the following:

The Contractor is responsible for utilizing appropriate plant and equipment to remove all materials associated with this contract.

RESPONSE TO RFIs

1. 35 30 Section 1.2.1 – “Blasting is not permitted outside the deepening limits shown.” This is a definitional issue. On the plans the actual rock area is defined and annotated as “Material Required to be Removed”. Each grouping of adjacent rock areas are further placed into “Work Areas” which are bounded and annotated as such. On page C-301 Inset A, Note 3 states “The Contractor may remove material outside of the limits provided to achieve grade, however, the government will not include material removed outside of the government Pay Limits (emphasis added) in their calculated payment volume…” There is tension between “deepening limits shown”, “Material Required to be Removed”, “Work Areas” and Note 3 on C-301.

Depending on what constitutes “deepening limits shown” we may or may not be permitted to blast outside of the actual rock area.

Please clarify definition on these terms to prevent any conflicting language while specifically defining where blasting is permitted.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE:

Refer to spec change #1 above.

2. 35 30 00 Section 1.3 – Can the USACE confirm that the requirement to have a Blasting Vibration Consultant and the Undersea Noise and Pressure Consultant can be undertaken by the same person / company or is it a requirement that these two positions are to be fulfilled by two separate people / companies?

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE:

The Blasting Vibration Consultant and Undersea Noise and Pressure Consultant may be the same person or company. However, if a single person, or single company is proposed, they must meet the specified qualifications for both positions.

3. 35 30 00 1.10.5 – The Daily Blasting log requires noting rock types present as well as videos documenting observation in the area after blasting. Please clarify what specific actions are required to satisfy these two requirements? We have the following supporting comments:

a. While drilling and blasting – ascertaining the rock types present poses a challenge in that there is no way to affirmatively confirm the type of rock we are drilling (other then what tailings make their way up the casing).

b. “Videos documenting observations in the area after blasting” – this could mean anything from a video of the surface waters after the blast to sending an ROV down to video the blasted area. Please clarify the Government’s intention.

a. Rock type can be estimated based upon drilling observations, including visual observation of rock cuttings returned to the surface and drilling performance metrics such as rate of advancement, applied downforce, and rate of rotation.

b. Videos are intended to be of the water surface area above the blast to document effects produced by the blast including disturbance of the water surface and any visible fumes released by the blast. Submarine video is not required, although a Contractor may propose the use of underwater video in their preconstruction submittals, if they believe it will be beneficial.

c.

4. 35 30 00 Section 1.10.9 – Can you provide further direction on what is required for the submission of a telephone Vibration Monitoring Report

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE:

The contractor shall be responsible for ensuring that the vibration monitoring equipment and system is set up such that it will generate a SMS text or email alert if/when vibration limits are exceeded. The Government will provide to the Contractor a list of phone numbers or emails to be included for receipt of alert.

5. 35 30 00 Section 1.11 – The Contractor shall perform a post blast bathymetric survey of areas that have been subject to blasting to ensure no hazards to navigation have been created due to blasting. The section does not define what constitutes a hazard to navigation nor what actions to be taken if such a hazard exists as a result of blasting. Can the USACE please clarify the definition of a hazard to navigation in this context as well as what actions are to be taken?

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE:

The Contractor shall assume that a hazard to navigation is any object that presents sufficient danger to navigation so as to require expeditious, affirmative action such as marking, removal, or redefinition of a designated waterway to provide for navigational safety. This is partly defined by CFR, 33, PART 64. Refer to section 35 20 23 “DREDGING”, subpart 3.1.1 “Disposal of Excavated Material”. Due to the nature of the work, materials that are displaced which create shoal material above the Government’s pre-dredge survey as a result of the Contractor’s drilling and blasting efforts (e.g. heaves) should also be considered hazards to navigation and must be removed immediately, by dredging or other means to be determined by the Contractor that are acceptable to the Contracting Officer.

6. 35 30 00 Section 1.12.1.d – No blasting is permitted when visibility is less than 1,500 feet in fog or rain, and as defined in Subpart 1.3.3.2 “Schedule Restrictions”

a. This section is vague in that it could be foggy or raining and visibility is still greater than 1,500 feet – will blasting be prohibited in this case? Please clarify.

b. Subpart 1.3.3.2 “Schedule Restrictions” does not exist. There is a Section 1.6.2 “Blasting Schedule Restrictions”. Please clarify.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE:

Refer to spec change #2 above.

7. 35 30 00 Section 1.12.3 – “When the lightning-detection device indicates a blasting hazard potential” is undefined. Can the USACE define a minimum safe radius, such as lightning strikes outside of a specific number of miles?

It is the Contractor’s responsibility to determine when lightning may pose a potential blasting hazard.

8. 35 30 00 Section 1.12.4 – “The Contractor shall buoy the area with warning signs. The warning signs shall be legible from a distance of 200 feet and shall contain the message DANGER – EXPLOSIVES IN USE visible on either side of the sign”

Adding buoys into the operation plan for the drillboat creates additional hazards to navigation as well as introduces the risk of tangling down lines on the buoys. On past projects the USCG and the USACE have required and allowed large signs to be posted on the bow and stern on the drillboat to caution the public.

Would the USACE NED be willing to make this same safety improvement for the Boston project?

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE:

The Contracting Officer may approve Virtual Marker buoys if and when the Contractor determines that physical Buoys will be a hazard to their operations. The Contracting Officer may also consider other alternatives such as signage if proposed by the Contractor, but these requests will be reviewed and determined based upon the location and situation during blasting operations.

9. 35 30 00 Section 1.13 – Notify the Coast Guard and Boston Harbor Pilots 24 hours prior to a scheduled shot and 2 hours prior to the actual shot.

As we would intend on routinely performing shots twice per day. Will a posted 7 day schedule as well as a planned 30 day shot schedule suffice for the 24 hour notification?

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE:

Bidders shall refer to all notification and coordination requirements, including but not limited to: 1.7.1 Waterways Navigation and Marine Traffic Management Plan which includes daily coordination calls, 1.7.2 Two Week Schedule of Work Activities, 1.10.1 Daily Drill, Blast and Dredge Operations Location Map.

These contract requirements must be met.

10. 35 30 00 Section 2.2.1.e – This section is written expressly for liquid explosives which are pumped into the blast hole and defines the requirements to maintain inventory control.

If stick product (bagged and weighed blasting agent) is utilized for this project, which are delivered and inventoried by the stick, the requirements of Section 2.2.1.e are unnecessary and overly burdensome for stick (cartridge) project. Please consider modifying this clause to define this process for liquid product only and not for stick (cartridge) product.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE:

No change to the specifications. If the Contractor would like to request a variance, they may do so at the time of the submittal, and it will be considered by the Government at that time.

11. 35 30 00 Section 2.2.4 – Requires that each cap period come from one lot number. Mixing of lot numbers for any one cap period is prohibited. Please consider removal of this requirement as all of our planned surface delays are 25ms delays and as we purchase in large quantity, there are times when we may use multiple lot numbers in a single shot.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE:

No change to the specifications. If the Contractor would like to request a variance, they may do so at the time

12. 35 20 23 Section 1.6.4.1 – Protection of Utility Lines – if we take care to request the utility companies identify the location of their lines or cables, and we request that the utility companies provide their “In-Line- Inspection” data, if a utility is encountered in a materially different location – then who is responsible for the damaged utility?”

Liability for a theoretical situation, such as this, will not be made prior to the award of the contract.

13. 35 20 23 Section 3.2 – States that the Contractor is responsible for furnishing, setting, and maintaining ranges buoys, and markers needed to define the work and to facilitate inspection. Please consider the removal of this section since all positioning and survey work is performed with GPS and sonar respectively.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE:

No change to specification. If the Contractor would like to request a variance, they may do so at the time of the submittal, and it will be considered by the Government at that time.

14. 35 20 23 Section 3.5 – States All other disposal operation outside of the window described above (Feb. 1 – May 31) shall be completed with the scow at a speed of 0-4 knots. Please clarify that this speed restriction applies to the disposal event only and not transportation from the project site to the disposal area and back.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE:

Each and every scow opening at the disposal site (i.e., disposal event, dump, placement event – whatever you want to call it) has to be done at speeds of 0-4 knots to insure that the material is dropped over the correct coordinates. This is year-round.

From February 1 through May 31 of any year, disposal vessels including tugs, barges, and scows transiting between the dredge site and the Massachusetts Bay Disposal Site shall operate at speeds not to exceed 5 knots after sunset, before sunrise, or in daylight conditions where visibility is less than one nautical mile. The intent of this condition is to reduce the potential for vessel collisions [during transit] with threatened and endangered species, including right whales.

15. 35 30 00 Section 1.9.2 – Restrictions on charge weights for the test blast plan and operational blasting. “The third test shot and other production shot patterns may use any number of drilled holes and have a maximum charge weight per delay of double the pounds per delay up to the limit of 25 pounds”.

As the blasting agent cartridge planned for this project weighs in at 6 pounds per foot which means we will hit the hard limit of 25 pounds per delay at 4.17 feet of agent. For a bench height in rock of even 5 feet with a low-end subdrill of 8 feet and a stemming collar of 2 feet we would need 5+8-2=11 feet of product or 66 pounds per delay. In higher bank rock (which exists on the project) of 10’ we will need 96 pounds per delay.

Please consider revision to this requirement remove any limits on pounds per delay and instead rely on the vibration limitations defined in 35 30 00 Section 3.1.4.3 Vibration Limits.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE:

No change to the specifications. If the Contractor would like to request a variance, they may do so at the time

16. 35 30 00 Section 1.9.3 – Following completion of the Test Blasts, the Contractor shall submit to the Contracting Officer revisions to the Operational Blasting Plan, based on the recommendations developed as part of the Test Blast Plan Report. The Contracting Officer shall have 30 days (emphasis added) re review after receipt. The Contractor may be required to revise and resubmit the plan. The Contracting Officer shall have 10 days (emphasis added) to review the revised plan. No Drilling shall be started before the Contracting Officer reviews and concurs with the Operational Blasting Plan or any revisions to that plan (emphasis added).

This language essentially requires a cessation of drilling and blasting for between 30 and 40 days (assuming the contractor turns around comments in 0 days)

The USACE has allowed contractors to continue to perform “confirmation blasting” using only those shots which were tested during the Test Blast plan while the USACE reviews the operational blast plan. This allowed an efficient transition between Test Blasting and Operational Blasting by performing Confirmation Blasting during the interim period saving schedule and cost. Vibration verification would have already been collected during the Test Blast program and by utilizing pre-tested shots during Confirmation Blasting there is little to be gained by delaying Operational Blasting. Would the USACE NED consider implementing “confirmation blasting” between test and operational/production blasting to minimize the cost and schedule impact of shutting down blasting during plan review?

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE:

No change to the specifications. If the Contractor would like to request a variance, they may do so at the time

17. 35 30 00 Section 1.13 – The Channel must be kept open to vessel traffic at all times except as permitted by the Coast Guard and the Contracting Officer. Will the Coast Guard and Contracting Officer consider establishing ongoing / continually updated “work zones” in which the contractor can perform continuous drilling and blasting operations in the channel with limited restrictions to vessel traffic – subject to approval by the USACE and USCG.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE:

Yes, the Contractor may offer proposals, such as this, to the USACE and USCG for consideration after award. However, no change to the specifications. The Contractor may submit their proposal along with their preconstruction submittals, and it will be considered by the Government at that time.

18. 35 20 23 Section 3.5.1 – States that “The dredged material shall be removed using mechanical dredge(s) capable of removing fast rock, ordinary, and hard materials as defined in this document, (emphasis added) loaded onto scows, and towed to the disposal site location. The Contractor is responsible for utilizing appropriate plant and equipment to remove both ordinary and hard materials (emphasis added).” Since drilling and blasting will be required to treat the rock before dredges will remove the rock, the dredge only has to be capable of removing blasted rock, ordinary, and hard material, not fast rock. Please consider deletion of this requirement.

Refer to spec change #3 above.

SECTION 00010 - SOLICITATION CONTRACT FORM

The standard size code has changed from $39,500,000 to $30,000,000.

The required response date/time has changed from 24-Nov-2020 01:00 PM to 01-Dec-2020 01:00 PM.

(End of Summary of Changes)