RFI USMMA Campus Modernization Program SATOC Seawall Project

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ANNOUNCEMENT ONLY

This announcement is issued solely for market research purposes in accordance with Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) Part 10, Market Research. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), New York District, is seeking information regarding the interest, capability, and qualifications of firms that may be capable of performing the requirement described below. 

This RFI is for planning and informational purposes only. It does not constitute a solicitation, Request for Proposals (RFP), Invitation for Bids (IFB), or commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or award a contract. Responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. 

The Government will not pay for, reimburse, or otherwise compensate respondents for costs associated with preparing or submitting information in response to this RFI. The Government does not intend to rank submissions or provide individual responses to interested firms. Information submitted and clearly marked as “Proprietary” will be handled accordingly.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) for an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity, Single Award Task Order Contract (SATOC) to determine interest, capabilities, and qualifications to for Design-Build contractors. The NAICS codes for this procurement is 237990, Size Standard is $45 Million.  The Request for Proposals is planned to be issued in the Spring of 2027 with construction to begin early in 2028. The estimated SATOC capacity is $70,000,000 with the anticipated Task Order magnitude between $10,000,000 and $25,000,000.  Work under this contract is expected to begin in winter of 2028.

The SATOC will be for contractor to replace/restore 2,800-foot seawall at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, NY.  The project will be constructed within the access-controlled installation along the waterfront of the United States Merchant Marine Academy.  Adjacent facilities will remain occupied during construction with minimal disruption to operations requiring precise construction planning. Work for this project is described below:

1. Project Purpose and Program Context
USACE and USMMA have undertaken an agreement to modernize the campus in its entirety providing upgraded Barracks, Academic Buildings, Training Buildings, Athletic Facilities and Waterfront Spaces. The Seawall will serve to protect critical land side facilities essential to the education and training of Midshipmen from storm, wave action, and tidal erosion.

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2. Existing Conditions
The existing seawall along the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) campus shoreline extends approximately 2,800 linear feet and is aligned generally north–south along the western waterfront. The seawall exhibits significant variability in height, construction type and functional purpose along with its length.

At the northern end (north of Hague Basin), the shoreline protection system transitions through several construction types in sequence: beginning with a timber (wooden) bulkhead, followed by a stone and mortar wall, then reverting to a timber bulkhead and transitioning to a steel sheet pile bulkhead with a concrete cap. (See Attachment - USMMA Seawall Site Map)

Within the Hague Basin, the shoreline structures consist primarily of steel sheet pile bulkheads and stone façade walls. Presume the stone façade walls incorporate a concrete core based on visual assessment.  South of Hague Basin, the shoreline is predominantly stabilized by a concrete seawall with riprap protection, which further transitions to cast-in-place (poured) concrete only toward the southern extent.  The southernmost seawall segment, segment 9, includes stabilizing the adjacent slope to address its instability, mitigate further erosion, and support a future 12 ft. wide roadway/walkway to connect existing roads on campus.
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3. Design and Construction Scope
This project will rehabilitate/restore 2,800-feet of seawall at the United States Merchant Marine Academy.   The scope includes progressing the government provided 35% design consisting of nine segments to 100% Design, completing all required permitting documents, reconstructing the seawall, and restoring the waterfront.

The contractor will review, validate, and advance the government-furnished 35% Design RFP package to 65% and 100% Issued for Construction (IFC) submittals across civil, structural, coastal, and geotechnical disciplines.  Following design finalization for a segment construction will commence to remove and/or restore the degraded segment of seawall.

The contractor will be required to complete the work in accordance with all required permits, certifications and licenses required by Federal, State, and local law for the execution of this work.

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4. Design Standards and Performance Requirements
All work will meet the USMMA Campus Design Guide and Engineering Design Standards which contain DOT standards including the International Building Code (IBC), GSA standards, and DoD Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC).

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5. Acquisition Strategy and Contracting Approach
The Government intends to establish a Design-Build (D-B) Single Award Task Order Contract (SATOC) Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a total contract capacity of $70,000,000 over an anticipated five-year ordering period.

INFORMATION REQUESTED FROM RESPONDENTS

Areas of particular interest to the government are responses to the following questions:  

1)  Is your firm interested in competing for this project? If so, do you anticipate proposing as an integrated prime contractor/Designer of Record (DOR) team, a joint venture (JV), or a prime construction contractor with a subcontracted design firm?

2)  Based on the anticipated scope (steel sheet pile, bulkhead replacement, concrete seawall replacement, splash pads, and drainage system replacement), what percentage of the construction work do you anticipate self-performing with your own labor and equipment versus subcontracting?

3)  Describe your teams experience over the past 5–10 years designing and constructing coastal infrastructure or shoreline stabilization projects of similar scale (exceeding 2,000 linear feet) or projects involving multiple, distinct structural wall types within a single contract.

4)  What is the largest existing bulkhead or seawall replacement contract (by total dollar value and approximate linear footage) that your firm has completed as the prime contractor and/or Designer of Record? (Please specify whether each project was executed as Design-Build or Design-Bid-Build).

5)  In a Design-Build delivery model, how would your team approach executing in-water geotechnical borings in tidal Long Island Sound conditions? Do you possess the in-house marine equipment and personnel to perform this subsurface investigation, or would you subcontract it to a specialized marine geotechnical firm?

6)  Given that the 2,800-foot seawall is divided into 9 distinct segments with varying construction types (e.g., sheet pile, gravity wall, revetment), what specific technical challenges or efficiencies do you foresee in transitioning between these different wall typologies?

7) Describe your experience obtaining and/or working in compliance with Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certifications through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and Section 404 permits through USACE Regulatory, including managing design and construction schedules around Long Island Sound tidal and seasonal in-water work windows.  What other permits would you anticipate on this project?

8)  To minimize shoreline exposure, tidal vulnerability, and site disruption, would you recommend designing and constructing the 9 segments sequentially, concurrently in clusters, or prioritized by existing structural degradation? Based on your recommended approach, what is your estimated overall duration (broken down by design/permitting vs. construction)?

9)  Considering the varying geometry and coastal exposure of the 9 segments along Long Island Sound, do you anticipate utilizing land-based equipment, marine-based barges/vessels, or a hybrid approach for demolition, material delivery, and staging? What specific site access, staging, or upland constraints should the Government clarify or address in the Design-Build Request for Proposal (RFP)?

10)  Describe your team’s in-house or sub-consultant capabilities to perform advanced coastal engineering and numerical modeling, including nearshore wave transformation, wave overtopping, toe scour, and sea-level change lifecycle analysis. Which specific modeling tools or field measurements (e.g., spectral wave models such as SWAN/STWAVE, Boussinesq models, or Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler [ADCP] current measurements) do you anticipate needing to support final design?

11)  Describe your team’s experience managing complex marine geotechnical risks along Long Island Sound or similar coastal environments, specifically regarding Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) modeling, lateral earth/hydrostatic loading, and global slope stability analysis in soft, saturated marine sediments or variable glacial till strata.

12)  Based on your experience with coastal Design-Build solicitations, what specific baseline coastal, hydrographic, and geotechnical data (e.g., historical storm surge/water-level statistics, offshore wave hindcast data, recent bathymetric/topographic surveys, or preliminary boring logs) do you expect the Government to provide in the 35% RFP package so that your team can accurately price and propose on the project?

13)  Assuming the Government provides regional water-level statistics and baseline offshore wave data in the 35% RFP, what site-specific numerical modeling (e.g., nearshore wave transformation, EurOtop wave overtopping, localized toe-scour analysis, or USACE Sea Level Change projections) would your team anticipate executing post-award to finalize the design across the 2,800-foot alignment?

14)  Given the variable subsurface stratigraphy of Long Island Sound, what supplemental field investigations (e.g., Standard Penetration Test [SPT] borings, Cone Penetration Testing [CPT], laboratory testing) and geotechnical modeling (e.g., PLAXIS 2D/3D, SEEP/W seepage and piping analysis, or global slope stability) do you anticipate performing post-award to advance the 35% concept into a sealed, Issued-for-Construction (IFC) foundation and wall design?

15)  How will regional regulatory moratoriums and site usage restrictions along Long Island Sound (e.g., Essential Fish Habitat [EFH] and winter flounder/anadromous fish spawning windows, protected avian nesting seasons, and peak summer recreational beach/waterway usage) impact your proposed mobilization, staging, and construction sequencing across the 9 segments?

16)  Are there specific materials anticipated for this seawall replacement (e.g., marine-grade steel sheet piling compliant with federal domestic sourcing requirements, specialized corrosion coatings, custom precast concrete units, or specific armor stone gradations) that are currently experiencing extended fabrication lead times or significant price volatility?

17)  What do you view as the top three technical, schedule, or commercial risks for this 9-segment Design-Build project (e.g., unforeseen subsurface boulders/obstructions in glacial till, coastal storm events during open excavation, or permitting/utility delays), and how can the Government best structure the RFP or allocate risk to mitigate them?

INFORMATION REQUESTED FROM RESPONDENTS

All interested, capable, qualified, and responsive firms are encouraged to reply to this announcement. The Government is requesting that interested firms furnish the following information in addition to responses to the questions above:

Corporate Information
        1.    Company name, address, point of contact, telephone number, and e-mail address.

        2.    Geographical areas in which you are capable of servicing.

3.    Business-size and socioeconomic status, as applicable:

        a.    Small or large business firm as defined by SBA, or

        b.    Certified HUBZone firm, or

        c.    Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) firm, or

        d.    SBA certified 8(a) firms.

4.    Contractor’s comments or recommendations. Please provide, if any.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Due Date: All responses must be submitted no later than the date and time specified on the first page of this RFI. Limit response to 5 pages.

Format: Submissions should be in Adobe PDF format. The file name should be: [Company Name]_Response_RFI_W912DS-27-S-0008.pdf.

Submission: Responses shall be submitted via email only to the following points of contact:

Contract Specialist: Mohenda Surage at mohenda.r.surage@usace.army.mil

Project Manager:   Richard Gussenhoven at Richard.Gussenhoven@usace.army.mil