Nationwide Contract to Provide and Store Water During Emergency and Non-Emergency Periods in CONUS and OCONUS locations

By way of this notice, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District issues a pre-solicitation notice for a nation-wide requirements contract to provide bottled water during periods of presidential declared disasters. This solicitation is unrestricted as to business size. The selected contractor will be required to provide bottled drinking water, to include transportation, loading and unloading, drayage, additional ground mileage, dry storage trailers, warehousing, and inventory management , etc., to sites in the 48 States and the District of Columbia in the Continental United States (CONUS) and to sites Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS) in the States of Alaska and Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Norther n Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The contract also includes requirements for participation in Partnering efforts and provision of Strategic Planning Services. The U. S. Army C orps of Engineers will utilize this contract for its purchase requirements for bottled water in performance of its responsibilities for man-made or natural emergency or disaster response and recovery activities under the Federal Response Plan, and reserves the right, at its discretion, to utilize this contract for other bottled or bulk water requirements when necessary. Time is of the essence in performance of this contract, as this water is required to sustain life in the aftermath of disasters that have or will disrupt the normal source of water supply in the disaster location. Therefore, this contract requires immediate response, with timely production, delivery, and reporting by the Contractor.

The Contractor may be required to respond to simu ltaneous disasters with deliveries to multiple sites for each disaster. In order to meet the intent of the Stafford Act, the Contractor shall give preference to the extent feasible and practicable in meeting its subcontracting and hiring requirements with those organizations, firms, and individuals residing or doing business primarily in the area affected by the disaster. The period of performance for this contract shall be for one - year base period from April 1, 2008 through March 31, 2009. At the opti on of the Government, the contract period may be extended in one-year increments up to four (4) times. The contractor will be required to submit daily production and product delivery reports through an automated system. That data will be verified through acceptance reports from Government personnel at the receiving locations. The contractor will be required to provide copies of State/local inspection reports and permits for all producers plants. The contractor will be further required to provide period ic reports relative to hiring and subcontracting in the disaster location to monitor compliance with the Stafford Act.

The solicitation shall be made available via the Internet on or about 01/09/08. It will be available to download by accessing the Federal Business Opportunities website (www.fbo.gov), which links to the FedTeds website (www.fedteds.gov). Offerors will be required to register on the FedTeds website in order to download solicitation documents. Neither telephonic, mailed nor fax requ ests for hard copies of the solicitation or amendments will be accepted. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which will be considered by the New England District. This solicitation is a request for proposal and will be awarded to the contractor that represents the best value to the Government, price and non-price factors considered. Instructions and evaluation factors will be provided in the solicitation.