Power and communication line and related structures construction

Added: Aug 28, 2010 7:52 pm Modified: Oct 21, 2010 6:13 pmTrack Changes This amendment is issued to provide answers to questions that were submitted by the deadline contained within the solicitation.

Q1. The Solicitation indicates that a bid bond is required; however, there is no mention as to where the bid bond should be inserted into our proposal. Should it be with Part I, Part II or Part III?

A1. The bid guarantee is not part of the three-part proposal package but is required by the solicitation. The bid guarantee can be placed within PART-I Technical Proposal as long as it is clearly identified.

Q2. Will there be a job walk scheduled for interested parties to attend?

A2. The Government has made the determination that a job walk, site visit, pre-bid meeting for this requirement is not necessary and will not be scheduled. Once the contract has been awarded site visits will be conducted, at the Governments discression for each delivery order issued to the awardee.

Q3. Will there be any drawings provided for bidding that will show trenching pathways and diversity of terrain?

A3. No. Drawings will be provided for each individual delivery order issued.

Q4. What type of soil/terrain will be encountered? Will there be percentages provided for what type of terrains is to be expected for underground work?

A4. The types of soil/terrain that may be encountered but not limited to are Riverbend, Carrizo, Cristobal, Chuckawalla, Superstition, Rositas, Carsitas, Tucson, Tremant, Antho, Gilman, Harqua, Glenbar, Lithic Torriorthents, Typic Torriorthents and Gypsiferous substratum. The Government is unable to provide percentages as it is unknown what amount of work will be performed in each type of soil/terrain.

Q5.Line item A231, Install 4-4 PVC concrete encased. This task might include trenching, conduit, spacers, concrete, backfill and surface repair. Is our per ft price to include all of these items.

A5. The Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) description for each year states that the ELIN pricing shall include all equipment, labor, materials, supervision and overhead required to complete the desired task.

Q6.Line Item A291, Install cable in conduit. This line item does not show the size of cable to be installed, the level of difficulty increases with large cable plant. Please provide size of cable for this item.

A6. The Government is unable to provide a specific cable size as this is dependent on each individual delivery order. Historical data indicates that the cable size installed has ranged from 6-strand to 288-strand but this is not all inclusive.

Q7. Line Item A261, Slurry Trench. Trench details are required for this line item to create an accurate cost. Can you provide trench details?

A7. The trench will be at least 36 deep to top of conduit and narrow as possible for a safe work area.

Q8. Are we to price all cabling for inside wiring using plenum rated cable?

A8. No.

Q9. There are many line items that begin with Install. Are all of these line item prices to include material cost (e.g, Provide and Install)?

A9. Yes. See A5 above.

Q10. There are many line items in the pricing schedule that the terrain has a very heavy impact on how things are priced. Will there be any information given for bidding that reflects terrain (e.g, dirt, rocky soil, sand, asphalt, concrete)?

A10. See A4 above. Most terrain can be plowed, in some cases rock or asphalt may be encountered. Asphalt would include repairing asphalt at completion.

Q11. Line Item A550, Re-enter to splice or re-splice Fiber. Quantity 30 each. Can you specify the quantity of strands at each of the 30 locations?

A11. This line item is for labor and supplies to open a splice case and reseal it.

Q12. Line Item A560, Splice cabinet in MH. Is this line item to cover providing and installing the splice cabinet into the MH only? If so is the splice cabinet to be fully loaded with splice trays?

A12. Yes. See A5 above.

Q13. For all the line item pricing asking cost to install copper cable pairs, are we installing into underground conduit? If yes, what size conduit?

A13. Yes. See A5 above. All underground conduits shall be 4 conduit.

Q14. Line Item A810 Install fiber tip cable. Can you describe what size and how long the tip cable is? Are we to include cost of tip cable into our number?

A14. Yes. See A5 above. Dependant on the job, estimate materials and labor for 12, 24, 48, and 72, strand pigtail cable. Anything over 72 strands we will use a combination of 72 plus. Example a 288strand cable will have four 72-strand pigtails

Q15. Line Item A820 Install copper MDF. Is this line item labor only to install the copper MDF frame shown in the drawings under copper distribution frame?

A15. Yes.

Q16. Line Item A828, Install copper MDF connector. Are we to assume this item is to cover labor and material to install a 100 pair tip cable? Can you please explain?

A16. Yes. See A5 above.

Q17. Will there be a pre-bid meeting for this proposed work?

A17. No. See A2 above.

Q18. The price of copper is very volatile. How can we quote the government copper cable for the next 5 years if we have not certainty as to what the price of copper be a year from now? Can the government provide the contractor some sort of price protection? For example, if the price of copper increases by more than X%, the contractor can pass-along the increase to the government?

A18. The solicitation contains the following Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clause 52.216-4 ECONOMIC PRICE ADJUSTMENT--LABOR AND MATERIAL (JAN 1997). The Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer if, at any time during contract performance, the rate of pay for labor (including fringe benefits) or the unit prices for material shown in the Schedule either increase or decrease. The aggregate of the increases in any contract unit price made under this clause shall not exceed 10 percent of the original unit price. There is no percentage limitation on the amount of decreases that may be made under this clause.

Q19. Is there a specific walkthrough date established? If there is no specific date set, we would like to set a site visit as soon as possible.

A19. No. See A2 above.

Q20. What is the deadline for the past performance submittal?

A20. All past performance questionnaires are to be submitted by 11:00 a.m. 2 November 2010.