Olmsted Long Term Vessel Charter

A market survey is being conducted to determine if there are a reasonable number of interested small business concerns to set this future project aside for them. If your firm is a Small Business, certified HUBZone, 8A, Woman-Owned Small Business or Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business and you are interested in this project please respond appropriately.

Project Location: Installation/City/State.  Olmsted Locks and Dam, 634 New Dam Road, Olmsted, IL 62970

Project Description:  Design/Bid/Build or Design/Build with a description from the Scope.  It is the object of these specifications to secure for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“USACE,” or “the Corps,” or “Government”) by charter one 1800 to 2200 HP Z-drive towboat to be operated by Government personnel.  The rental period is 1 year paid on a monthly basis.  Options may be awarded to extend the contract up to 4 years.  The vessel is to replace the Olmsted Towboat which supports raising and lowering the wicket dam that was damaged on 1 July 2025.  The boat will be primarily used on the Ohio River as the operations vessel at Olmsted Lock and Dam, Olmsted, IL (ORM 964). The towboat will primarily be used to push barges needed to operate and maintain the dam at Olmsted, which consists of two wicket lifter barges, crane barges, a washdown barge, and flat deck cargo barges. Vessel may operate in the entire Louisville District navigable rivers from the extent of Markland’s pool (ORM 436) to Cairo, IL (ORM 981) in case of compelling need.  NOTE:  THIS CONTRACT IS FOR RENTAL OF A TOWBOAT. 

Contract duration is estimated at 1 year base and 4 option years. All interested Small Businesses, certified HUBZONE, 8A, Woman-Owned Small Business or Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business contractors should respond to this survey via email by Wednesday, 5 November 2025 by 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Responses should include:

1. Identification and verification of the company’s small business status.
2. Contractor’s Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).
3. Documentation from the firm’s bonding company showing current single and aggregate performance and payment bond limits.
4. Description of Experience – Provide descriptions your firm’s past experience on up to three (3) projects with greater than 95% construction complete, or those projects completed within the last five years which are similar to this project in size, and scope.  Provide documentation demonstrating experience for construction of similar type buildings and managing multiple sub-contractors. Demonstrate experience including self-performing 15% of the construction. Provide documentation demonstrating experience for projects of similar type projects.  Each project must include the name, title, project role, e-mail address, and telephone number of at least one reference. References may be used to verify project size, scope, dollar value, percentages and quality of performance.

1. Projects similar in Scope to this project include: Bare Boat Charter of Z-drive tow boats of at least 34’ beam and 1800 – 2000 horsepower for operation on the Ohio River and tributaries. 

1. Projects similar in size to this project include: 6 month to 1 year charters of Z-drive towboats to include limited vessel turnover by the owner to the operating crew, on and off charter inspections of the vessel.  Vessel has to be extremely reliable to be able to support raising or lowering the dam at Olmsted without delay.  Contract includes 48 hour replacement if vessel is found unrepairable. 

1. Based on definitions above, for each project submitted include:

1. Current percentage of construction complete and the date when it was or will be completed.  
2. Size of the project
3. Scope of the project
4. The dollar value of the construction contract
5. The list replacement vessels available and short paragraph how the replacement would work if the chartered vessel is unavailable for more than 48 hours. 

1. Small Businesses are reminded under FAR 52.219-14, Limitations on Subcontracting; they must perform at least 15% of the cost of the contract, not including the cost of materials, with the firm’s own employees for general construction-type procurement. Include the percentage of work that will be self-performed on this project, and how it will be accomplished.

NOTE: Total submittal package shall be no longer than 10 pages.  Please only include a narrative of the requested information; additional information will not be reviewed.

Email responses and any questions to Marcie.Billotto@usace.army.mil. This is NOT a Request for Proposal and does not constitute any commitment by the Government.  Responses to this sources sought notice will be used by the Government to make appropriate acquisition decisions. All interested sources must respond to future solicitation announcements separately for responses to this market survey.

NOTICE: The following information is provided for situational awareness and is not required to respond to this Sources Sought.

All contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (www.SAM.gov) prior to award of a contract. All proposed contractors are highly encouraged to review FAR Clause 52.232-33 Payments by Electronic Funds Transfer – System for Award Management, which indicates “All payments by the Government under this contract shall be made by electronic funds transfer (EFT).” Those not currently registered can obtain registration by going to the website http://www.SAM.gov. The process can usually be completed from 24 to 48 hours after submission. Contractors will need to obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (formerly DUNS number) for processing their registration. If you do not already have a Unique Entity Identifier, one can be obtained from http://www.SAM.gov. Refer to www.SAM.gov for information formerly found in CCR, EPLS, ORCA and FedReg.

Please begin the registration process immediately in order to avoid delay of the contract award should your firm be selected.

ALERT: You must submit a notarized letter appointing the authorized Entity Administrator before your registration will be activated. This requirement now applies to both new and existing entities. Effective 29 April 2018, the notarized letter process is now mandatory on all CURRENT registrants at SAM who have a requirement to update data on their SAM record.  The notarized letter is mandatory and is required before the GSA Federal Service Desk (FSD) will activate the entity's registration. 

Effective 29 June 2018, vendors creating or updating their registration can have their registration activated prior to the approval of the required notarized letter.  However, the signed copy of the notarized letter must be sent to the GSA Federal Service Desk (FSD) within 30 days of activation or the vendor risks no longer being active in SAM.

Vendors can check whether an account is active by performing a query by their CAGE or Unique Entity Identifier (known as DUNS). The new registration process may now take several weeks, so vendors are highly encouraged to begin registering as soon as possible to avoid any possible delays in future contract awards. Remember, there is no cost to use SAM.

To find out additional information about the changes of the SAM registration process, contractors should visit the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) link located at the top of the SAM homepage (www.sam.gov).