Mitigation Banking Credits, Comite River Diversion Project Bottomland Hardwood

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), New Orleans District has a requirement to purchase Bottomland Hardwood Mitigation Bank Credits located in the Comite River Diversion Project area, to compensate for unavoidable habitat losses causes by project related impacts.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), New Orleans District has a requirement to purchase Bottomland Hardwood Mitigation Bank Credits located in the Comite River Diversion Project area, to compensate for unavoidable habitat losses causes by project related impacts.

This will be an UNRESTRICTED procurement. All qualified business concerns may submit offers.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), New Orleans District has a requirement to purchase Bottomland Hardwood Mitigation Bank Credits located in the Comite River Diversion Project area as specified below, to compensate for unavoidable habitat losses causes by project related impacts.

As part of the mitigation plan, the USACE intends to purchase mitigation credits from approved mitigation bank(s) that meet the eligibility criteria for the project in order to mitigate for Bottomland Hardwood habitat impacts caused by the construction of the Comite River Diversion. The bank(s) from which credits will be purchased will be selected through a solicitation process; any mitigation bank meeting the eligibility requirements and having sufficient number of the appropriate resource type of credits may submit a bid to sell credits. Award will be made based on low-price.

A mitigation bank must meet all of the following qualifications to be eligible to sell credits to satisfy the Comite River Diversion project mitigation requirements. To be considered technically acceptable, the mitigation bank needs to:

be approved by USACE and in full compliance with its Mitigation Banking Instrument (MBI), its other legal instruments (such as its conservation servitude and its financial assurances) and the standards set forth in 33 CFR Part 332;
be eligible to release credits within the Comite River Diversion project area as defined by the following boundaries: East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, east of the Mississippi River and West of the Comite River within hydrologic units 08070201, 08070202, or 08070203.
provide the habitat type that matches the habitat type being mitigated, which is Bottomland Hardwood habitat;
have a minimum of 50 credits (acres) available; and
have a duly-recorded perpetual conservation servitude/easement.

Habitat assessment models used for USACE Civil Works projects are required to be certified by Headquarters, USACE, Model Certification Panel and comply with the certification criteria presented in Engineer Circular 1105-2-412. Version 1.0 of the Wetland Value Assessment, Bottomland Hardwood model has been certified. Minor revisions of the model are allowed, and the current revision is designated Version 1.3.

NAICS: 523910. Total value is estimated to cost between $5,000,000.00 and $10,000,000.00. Invitation for Bid (IFB) will be issued on or about March 20, 2014, with a bid due date established. Actual issue date will be shown when the solicitation is issued. The solicitation documents for this procurement will be posted on Army Single Face to Industry (ASFI). You can access these files from a link located on FedBizOpps (www.fbo.gov). You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader for .pdf files (www.adobe.com) in order to open most files posted by the New Orleans District. You are encouraged, for marketing purposes, to register as an Interested Vendor in FedBizOpps (www.fbo.gov). This can be done by clicking on the solicitation title and clicking on the button that says Register as an Interested Vendor and entering your business information.

Offerors shall be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM), in order to receive a Government contract award. To register, the SAM Internet address is: https://www.sam.gov. The Contract Specialist for this solicitation is Edith M. Brandon, 504-862-1047; or by e-mail at edith.m.brandon@usace.army.mil AND Michelle Lappen, 504-862-1612; or by email at michelle.y.lappen@usace.army.mil