Monitoring the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS)

Announcement Information for Monitoring the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS), Artificial Reefs off the Coasts of New York and New Jersey and Investigation of Placement Site(s) in the New York Bight for Dredged Material

HARS Monitoring and Investigation of Placement Sites in the New York Bight for Dredged Material - Services Contract:

THIS IS A NOTICE FOR SOURCES SOUGHT ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL OR INVITATION FOR BID. THERE IS NO BID PACKAGE, SOLICITATION, SPECIFICATIONS OR DRAWINGS AVAILABLE WITH THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A PROCUREMENT COMMITMENT BY THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE. NO CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED FROM THIS SYNOPSIS. RESPONSE IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY; NO REIMBURSEMENT WILL BE MADE FOR ANY COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH PROVIDING INFORMATION IN RESPONSE TO THIS SYNOPSIS OR ANY FOLLOW-UP INFORMATION REQUESTS. THE GOVERNMENT SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR OR SUFFER ANY CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES FOR ANY IMPROPERLY IDENTIFIED INFORMATION.

Indefinite Delivery Contract for Services Contractassociated with monitoring the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS), artificial reefs off the coasts of New York and New Jersey and investigation of placement site(s) in the New York Bight for dredged material.

This is a SOURCES SOUGHT for the purpose of obtaining market research only. No proposals are being requested nor accepted under this Sources Sought. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, will use information obtained under this Sources Sought to develop an acquisition strategy to meet the requirements for the Services. The award will be an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) services contract to provide all labor, supplies, materials, laboratory services, transportation and equipment necessary to conduct required biological, environmental and cultural resource studies on a multiple task order basis.  Work will include, but not be limited to the following: collecting photographs of the ocean sediment surface and ocean sediment profiles using Sediment Profile and Plan View Imaging (SPI/PV) technology, collecting vibracores in deep water offshore, analyzing and collecting bottom sediment and benthic tissue samples for shipment to an approved laboratory for toxicity and bioaccumulation analysis, collecting oceanographic data within the New York Bight, conducting benthic community structure analysis, incremental cost analysis, agency coordination, impact assessment modeling, water, sediment and soil quality activities, essential fish habitat activities, offshore field work in the NY bight, sampling, processing and curation, NEPA activities, preparation of EA and EIS, special field studies and investigations, public involvement activities, presentations and audio visual activities.  

CONTRACT INFORMATION:

The intent of this Sources Sought is to access industry's small business concerns including 8(a) companies within New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania with an SBA approved office for competition in New York, Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUB Zone) and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), WOSB and all small businesses under the size standard, capability and interest in performing a project within the New York Bight Region. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541620. The business size standard is $15,000,000 for the preceding three fiscal years. The IDIQ will span five years and has a ceiling of $6,000,000 for all five years.  The media selected for issuance of Synopsis/Solicitation and amendments shall solely be at the discretion of the Government; accordingly, the media utilized for this project shall be the internet. Paper copies of this solicitation and amendments, if any, will not be available or issued.

PROJECT INFORMATION:

On September 29, 1997, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2 (EPA) de-designated the New York Bight Dredged Material Disposal Site, also known as the Mud Dump Site (MDS), and simultaneously designated the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS) for placement of dredged material.  The HARS is managed to reduce the impacts of historical disposal activities at the MDS and surrounding area to acceptable levels (in accordance with 40 CFR 228.11©), and is remediated with uncontaminated dredged material (i.e. “Remediation Material”) that meets current Category I standards, and will not cause significant undesirable ecological effects, including through bioaccumulation (62 FR 46142).  The remediation consists of placing at least a one (1) meter “cap” layer (i.e. minimum required cap thickness) of acceptable dredged material on top of the existing surface sediments within the nine (9) Priority Remediation Areas (PRAs) of the HARS.

The HARS (which includes the 2.2 square nautical mile MDS) is an approximately 15.7 square nautical mile area located approximately 3.5 nautical miles east of Sandy Hook, New Jersey and 7.7 nautical miles south of Rockaway, New York.  The HARS (Figures 1 and 2) includes the following three areas:

Priority Remediation Area (PRA):A 9.0 square nautical mile area to be remediated with at least 1 meter of Remediation Material. The PRA encompasses an area of degraded sediments.

Buffer Zone:An approximately 5.7 square nautical mile area (0.27 nautical mile wide band around the PRA) in which no placement of the Material for Remediation will be allowed, but which may receive Material for Remediation that incidentally spreads out of the PRA.

No Discharge Zone:An approximately 1.0 square nautical mile area in which no placement or incidental spread of Material for Remediation is allowed.

The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), New York District (NYD) and USEPA Region 2 are responsible for monitoring the placement of dredged material at the HARS.  In conjunction with the regional office of the EPA (Region II), NYD prepared a Site Management and Monitoring Plan (SMMP) of the HARS in 1997 (updated in 2020), in accordance with MPRSA 102 (c)(3)(B), which identifies a number of actions, provisions and practices to manage remediation activities and monitoring tasks (USACE/USEPA 2020). 

The SMMP (USACE/EPA 2020) encompasses, through tiered selection criteria, precision bathymetric surveying, side-scan sonar analysis, sub bottom seismic profiling, surface and subsurface sediment collection and analysis (photography, benthic community structure analysis, grain size, chemical characteristics and toxicity, bioassays and bioaccumulation studies), water quality analysis, oceanographic and sedimentological process studies. The SMMP recommends a complete bathymetric survey of the HARS be performed annually, in order to periodically assess the extent to which the HARS has received remediation material coverage. 

The SMMP is being used as a guideline to manage placement of dredged material at the HARS, to ensure efficient construction of the minimum 1-meter sediment cap, and to monitor changes at the HARS while remediation activities occur and, ultimately, to ensure remediation has been completed.  Investigation of alternative locations for ocean placement of dredged materials in the New York Bight will also be required.