B-21 Renovate Dock 81, Ellsworth Air Force Base (EAFB), South Dakota (SD).

The Corps of Engineers Omaha District is soliciting comments from the construction community addressing the potential use of Project Labor Agreements (PLA) for large scale construction projects (exceeding $25 million) within the Ellsworth Air Force Base (EAFB), South Dakota area.

Provide your responses NLT 2PM, Central Standard Time, 20 December 2023 to gloria.garside@usace.army.mil and Adkins.a.shawn@usace.army.mil. Ensure your response is limited to 5 pages and the Subject Line of your response includes "PLA Survey - B-21 Renovate Dock 81, Ellsworth Air Force Base (EAFB), South Dakota". Please provide your contact information in the body of the email.

A PLA is defined as a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement between a Prime contractor and one or more labor organizations that establishes the terms and conditions of employment for a specific construction project and is an agreement described in 29 U.S. C. 158(f). Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR 22.503) Policy provides that:

     a)    Project Labor Agreement (PLA) is a tool that agencies may use to promote economy and efficiency in Federal procurement. Pursuant to Executive Order 13502, agencies are encouraged to consider requiring the use of project labor agreements in connection with large-scale construction projects.

     b)    An agency may, if appropriate, require that every contractor and subcontractor, or certain subcontractors, engaged in construction on the project agree, for that project, to negotiate or become a party to a project labor agreement with one or more labor organizations if the agency decides that the use of project labor agreements will.

          i.    Advance the Federal Governments interest in achieving economy and efficiency in Federal procurement, producing labor-management stability, and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations governing safety and health, equal employment opportunity, labor and employment standards and other matters; and

          ii.    Be consistent with law. Reference: FAR 52.222-33 Notice of Requirement for Project Labor Agreement; FAR 52.222-34 Project Labor Agreement.

Request responses to the following questions:

     (1)    Do you have knowledge that a PLA has been used in the local area on projects of this kind? If so, please provide supporting documentation.

     (2)    Are you aware of skilled labor shortages in the area for those crafts that will be needed to complete the reference project? If so, please elaborate and provide supporting documentation where possible.

     (3)    Are you aware of time sensitive issues/scheduling requirements that would affect the rate at which the referenced project should be completed? If so, please elaborate and provide supporting documentation where possible.

     (4)    Identify specific reasons why or how you believe a PLA would advance the Federal Governments interest in achieving economy and efficiency in federal procurement.

     (5)    Identify specific reasons why you do not believe a PLA would advance the Federal Governments interest in achieving economy and efficiency in federal procurement.

     (6)    Identify any additional information you believe should be considered on the use of a PLA on the referenced project.

     (7)    Identify any additional information you believe should be considered on the non-use of a PLA on the referenced project.

The information gathered in this survey should include the following information on projects completed in the last 2 - 5 years:
1.    Project Name and Location
2.    Detailed Project Description
3.    Initial Cost Estimate vs. Actual Final Cost
4.    Was the project completed on time?
5.    Number of craft trades present on the project
6.    Was a PLA used?
7.    Were there any challenges experienced during the project?

Project Description:

This is a fully Designed design-bid-build (DBB) Project. This is one of several major construction projects that serves as part of a multi-year facilities beddown in support of the B-21 program at EAFB, SD. This project will renovate approximately +/- 26,000 SF of an existing general maintenance hangar to a fuel systems maintenance dock hangar. Functional areas consist of a fuel cell bay to fit one aircraft.  Modifications at the exterior include providing accessible entrance, a connection corridor to an adjacent hangar. Conventional construction demolition and new construction will be employed for this project.  This anticipates that the utilities, site, and building parameters remain un-affected.

The project may include bid options for furniture, furnishing and equipment (FF&E), user-funded equipment, intrusion detection systems (IDS), access control systems (ACS), airfield pavement replacement (in-kind), and closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems.

Facilities will be designed as permanent construction in accordance with the DoD Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) 1-200-01, General Building Requirements and UFC 1-200-02, High Performance and Sustainable Building Requirements. The facility must be compatible with applicable DoD, Air Force, aircraft, and base design standards.  In addition, sustainable (green) construction materials and techniques shall be used where cost effective and/or where specified.  This project will comply with DoD antiterrorism/force protection requirements per unified facilities criteria.

Special construction and functional requirements include demolition of existing facilities and infrastructure – to include hazardous materials and soils may be required.

The facility contains multiple secure spaces to be designed and constructed. Special oversight of this project may also be required.

Disclosure of the magnitude of construction, as prescribed in FAR 36.204 and DFARS 236.204, is between $25M and $100M.

Contractors responding to this market survey must submit their responses via e-mail to Nancy Garside at gloria.garside@usace.army.mil no later than 2:00 PM CST, 20 December 2023.