Supplemental Architect-Engineer Services for Architectural/Structural Design Services with Mechanical/Electrical Supporting Services for projects located in Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands.

The purpose of the amendment no. 2 is to clarify and incorporate the following questions and answers to this A-E 8(a)solicitation.

Question no 1: Specifically in the description of services to be procured (Fedbizopps) it is stated that "each completed drawing and specification must undergo a bid ability and constructability review certified by a professional construction engineer with 20 or more years experience in construction". Is the professional construction engineer required to be a team member, or are the services to be provided by a consultant contracted whenever required, using the standard procedures for sub-contracting consultants?



Government response to question no 1: A professional construction engineer with 20 or more years is required to be a team member.



Question no 2: How is "professional construction engineer" defined? To the best of may knowledge, that particular title is not recognized in Puerto Rico for the purposes of licenses, as opposed to the PE title that refers to an engineer who is duly-licensed to practice engineering in Puerto Rico. There is no such requirement in order to be a general construction engineer in Puerto Rico. Therefore, could those requirement be filled instead by a licensed professional engineer who has at least twenty years of construction experience.



Government response to question no 2: Yes, the requirement could be filled by a licensed professional engineer who has at least twenty years of construction experience.



The Procurement continue to be set-aside for 8(a) certified SBA Business Development Program for Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individuals.



The services still required under this solicitation are predominately Architectural/Structural Design with Mechanical/Electrical Supporting Services, in nature. Everything else referenced under the initial announcement and amendment no 1 remain the same and in full force.



The Closing date has been changed from August 21st, 2006 to September 5th, 2006. Closing time remains the same (4:30pm).



Three copies of the submissions shall be placed in a sealed envelope clearly identified and appropriately marked as follows: Solicitation No. GS-02P-06-PC-D-3111, Predominately Architectural/Structural Design with Mechanical/Electrical Supporting Services, for projects located in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Closing Date: September 5, 2006. Closing Time: 4:30 p.m. EST. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP).



Faxed, facsimile, or emailed submittals will NOT be accepted nor considered.



Interested parties are encouraged to submit their packages by one of the methods offered by the U.S. Postal Service. (FIRST CLASS MAIL / PRIORITY MAIL / EXPRESS MAIL).

This procurement continues to be set-aside for 8(a) certified SBA Business Development Program for Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individuals.

Supplemental Architect-Engineer Services for Architectural/Structural Design Services with Mechanical/Electrical Supporting Services for projects located in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.



Amendment No 1 is issued to delete in its entirety the Evaluation Criterias and substitute thereof with the following:



The revised Evaluation Criteria's are as follows:

**** A. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE (51%): The design team shall demonstrate technical competence of the firm in design of architectural renovation, addition, repair projects, fire protection, environmental works, project management and construction inspection as required by the scope of work. The team must demonstrate and provide evidence that they have experience working with Federal, State and City Government in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The firm must also demonstrate that they have necessary experience in using project management strategies when meeting a project timeframe as it related to A/E schedule, budget, and quality performance goals. In addition, the firm must submit drawings and specifications on quality control plan and must provide a name of their quality control person.



****B. PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS (10%): The design team must possess registered personnel with experience in the following disciplines: Architectural, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Land Surveying, Geotechnical (Soils Engineer), Fire Protection Engineer and Environmental. The design team must possess registered professionals or the ability to provide registration compliance within Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The firm including their consultants must demonstrate that they have experience with all environmental laws, knowledge of local codes, permits, practices, safety requirements and construction materials within Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Address the proposed method of carrying out the work to meet the anticipated project requirements. Firms must show that they have experience with present staff members. In addition, firms must show that they coordinate their work with other firms on projects referenced in the SF330. Firms must also show capability to provide qualified backup staffing for key personnel to ensure continuity of services and ability to meet unexpected project demands.

****C. SUSTAINABLE DESIGN (4%): Firm will be evaluated in terms of their knowledge and demonstrated experience in applying sustainability concepts and principles to facilities and infrastructures problems through an integrated design approach.

****D. ABILITY OF THE DESIGN FIRM (10%): Provide experience in performing at least four projects concurrently. The firm will be evaluated in terms of their current workload along with their projected project team workload. The design team must also provide a plan and a schedule on how they propose to accomplish the work. Provide an organization chart, roles of key personnel, availability and commitment of key personnel, value engineering and management plan.

****E. PAST PERFORMANCE (10%): Provide past performance reference of specific projects with other Government Agencies and/or private industry. Provide a list of references as they relate to the relevant projects listed under page 2 of the SF330.

****F. Quality Control Program (10%): Firm will be evaluated on the acceptability of their internal quality control program used to ensure technical accuracy and discipline coordination of plans and specifications-list key personnel responsible. The design team must also demonstrate that they can accurately estimate a construction project within the 6% statutory limitation regulations. Provide specific examples of constructability & bid ability reviews, cost control and estimating performance on past projects.

****G. Geographical Area (5%): Consideration will be given to interested firms with an action production office within Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Firms including consultants will be considered local only if their active production office is located in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, or they have a local independently operated branch office, and all of the design, coordination, and management of the project will be accomplished in that office. At least one member of any proposed joint venture must have an existing production office with the geographic limitation. Architect-Engineer firms must indicate their capability to comply with the area of consideration required as part of their response to this acquisition. Joint Venture arrangements will be considered and evaluated based upon a demonstrated interdependency of the member capability to provide quality services during the life of the contract. It is prohibited to pay any fee, commission, and percentage or brokerage fee to any person or firm contingent upon, or resulting from award of a contract. For the purpose of verifying site conditions, the evaluation board will perform site visits to the A-E Office.



Amendment No 1 is also issued to change the closing date from August 19, 2006 to August 21, 2006. Closing time remains the same (4:30 p.m.). This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP).



Everything else referenced in the previous announcement remains the same and in full force.



Any submissions received after 4:30p.m., local time on August 21, 2006 will not be accepted. All submissions (SF 330 - Architect-Engineer Part I and II) shall be mailed to GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, Long Island Field Office 2PMC-BL,170 Federal Plaza, Room 170, Central Islip, New York 11722, Attention: Lydia Ortiz, Contracting Officer, Telephone No.: 631-715-3087.



Three copies of the submissions shall be placed in a sealed envelope clearly identified and appropriately marked as follows: Solicitation No. GS-2P-06-PC-D-3111 Predominately Architectural/Structural Design Services with Mechanical/Electrical Supporting Services for projects located in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Closing Date: August 21, 2006. Closing Time: 4:30 p.m. EST. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP).



Faxed, facsimile, or emailed submittals will NOT be accepted nor considered.



Interested parties are encouraged to submit their packages by one of the methods offered by the U.S. Postal Service. (FIRST CLASS MAIL / PRIORITY MAIL / EXPRESS MAIL).

Procurement is set-aside for 8(a) certified SBA Business Development Program for Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individuals.

The General Services Administration (GSA) proposes to procure SUPPLEMENTAL ARCHITECT-ENGINEER (A-E) SERVICES in accordance with Public Law 92-582 (Brooks Act) for projects located in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These services shall be procured via an individual delivery order and on a as need basis. The services required will be predominately for Architectural/Structural Design with Mechanical/Electrical Supporting Services, in nature.



The contract will include a base year plus four (4) additional one year options, which may be exercised at the discretion of the government. The contract will also have a guaranteed minimum amount of $1,000. for the base year contract only. Should the government fail to issue any work (delivery/task orders) in the base year, which equals or exceeds the minimum guarantee, the amount of minimum guarantee that remains may be satisfied in the subsequent optional contract year periods. The maximum ordering limitation for this contract shall not exceed $2,000,000. per each year. There will be no limit to the amount paid on individual delivery/task orders. However, the total accumulative delivery/task order amount shall not exceed $2,000,000. in any one year contract period, having an aggregate total contract amount over five years (base year and 4 one year optional periods, if exercised) of $10 million.



Under the proposed contract, the A-E may be required to provide the following disciplines: Architectural, Mechanical, Electrical, Structural, Civil, and Geotechnical (Soil-Engineer). Services will also require expertise on the following areas: Fire Protection Engineer, Environmental, Cost estimating, Life safety, Historic Preservation, Courts Design, Value Engineering, Site-Survey, Quality Furniture Woodwork in compliance with Architectural Woodwork Institute (AWI) standards, and Investigations. Additional design services may include, but not limited to one or more of the following: Designs and/or feasibility studies for new structures, various repairs, alterations and/or improvements to barracks, courthouse facilities, child care facilities, border patrol facilities, renovation and/or alterations of fire protection system, administrative facilities, warehouses, road and parking lots and other existing facilities, building condition reports, rehabilitation of historic buildings and structures, project management, constructability & bid ability review, and inspection services for construction projects, auto-CAD services, environmental surveys, reports, studies, and designs for the clean-up, removal, monitoring and/or abatement of asbestos, hazardous/toxic materials and petroleum products.





The contract will provide professional pre-design, concept design, 50% and 100% working drawing design services for construction documents with optional Post Construction Contract Services (PCCS), Construction Inspection Services (CIS) and As-Built Documents Services as required by the government. The budget assessments may include cost analysis. The finish product or services may require construction documents, estimated construction schedule with work breakdown structure with required construction task durations, prime time tasks and associated costs, detailed cost-estimates, survey and evaluation report or other appropriate authentication of the performed services (depending upon the requirement of the services requested). Use of special consultants may be required (e.g. fire safety, hazard abatement, historical architect, acoustical and elevator). The A/E firm must have in place a quality control procedure to detect and correct errors in the drawings and specifications. This procedure must be submitted to the Contracting Officers Representative (COR) for review and approval for each Work Order. Each completed drawing and specification must undergo a bid ability and constructability review certified by a professional construction engineer with 20 or more years experience in construction. The reviews should take place at the thirty, sixty, and ninety percent stages, along with a final pre-bid review after completion of the design. Reviews should include checklists as approved by the COR in the Quality Control Plan. Reviews will include site visits with the COR to spot-check conditions which may not be indicated in the drawings and specifications. Designer must provide a written certification that the drawings have been corrected and/or drawings and specifications are in compliance with the Scope of Work. Quality control checklists must be prepared early in the design period for use during the site reviews by the Property Manager and/or delegated experienced facility manager and the COR.



In addition, the A-E firm will be required to use system design and life cycle analysis to integrated design into existing building facilities to assure cost effect and energy efficient operations.





The Evaluation Criteria are as follows:

**** A. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE (51%): The design team shall demonstrate technical competence of the firm in design of architectural renovation, addition, repair projects, fire protection, environmental works, project management and construction inspection as required by the scope of work. The team must demonstrate and provide evidence that they have experience working with Federal, State and City Government in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Provide a list of projects. The firm must also demonstrate that they have necessary experience in using project management strategies when meeting a project timeframe as it related to A/E schedule, budget, and quality performance goals. In addition, the firm must submit drawings and specifications on quality control plan and must provide a name of their quality control person.



****B. PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS (10%): The design team must possess registered personnel with experience in the following disciplines: Architectural, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Land Surveying, Geotechnical (Soils Engineer), Fire Protection Engineer and Environmental. The design team must possess registered professionals or the ability to provide registration compliance within Puerto Rico and/or the U.S. Virgin Islands. The firm including their consultants must demonstrate that they have experience with all environmental laws, knowledge of local codes, permits, practices, safety requirements and construction materials within Puerto Rico and/or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Address the proposed method of carrying out the work to meet the anticipated project requirements. Firms must show that they have experience with present staff members as well as other A-E firms specifically on projects addressed in evaluation factor (A). Firms must show capability to provide qualified backup staffing for key personnel to ensure continuity of services and ability to meet unexpected project demands.

****C. SUSTAINABLE DESIGN (4%): Firm will be evaluated in terms of their knowledge and demonstrated experience in applying sustainability concepts and principles to facilities and infrastructures problems through an integrated design approach.

****D. ABILITY OF THE DESIGN FIRM (10%): Provide experience in performing at least four projects concurrently. The design team must also demonstrate they can accurately estimate a construction project within the 6% statutory limitation regulations. The firm will be evaluated in terms of their current workload along with their projected project team workload. The design team must also provide a plan and a schedule on how they propose to accomplish the work. Provide an organization chart, roles of key personnel, availability and commitment of key personnel, value engineering and management plan.

****E. PAST PERFORMANCE (10%): Provide examples of specific projects, including past and/or current IDIQ's, with other Government Agencies and/or private industry. Provide specific examples of constructability & bid ability reviews, cost control and estimating performance on past projects.

****F. Quality Control Program (10%): Firm will be evaluated on the acceptability of their internal quality control program used to ensure technical accuracy and discipline coordination of plans and specifications-list key personnel responsible

****G. Geographical Area (5%): Consideration will be given to interested firms with an action production office within Puerto Rico and/or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Firms including consultants will be considered local only if their active production office is located in Puerto Rico and/or the U.S. Virgin Islands, or they have a local independently operated branch office, and all of the design, coordination, and management of the project will be accomplished in that office. At least one member of any proposed joint venture must have an existing production office with the geographical limitation. Architect-Engineer firms must indicate their capability to comply with the area of consideration required as part of their response to this acquisition. Joint Venture arrangements will be considered and evaluated based upon a demonstrated interdependency of the member capability to provide quality services during the life of the contract. It is prohibited to pay any fee, commission, and percentage or brokerage fee to any person or firm contingent upon, or resulting from award of a contract. For the purpose of verifying site conditions, the evaluation board will perform site visits to the A-E Office.



Contract performance must be performed in accordance with each delivery order. Each delivery order will include a scope of work, A/E project schedule, and established budget (ECCA) for A/E services.



Selection criteria will be used in combination with Standard Form 330, Architect-Engineer Qualifications, Part I: Qualifications for a specific contract and Part II: General qualifications of a firm or a specific branch office of a firm. A separate Part II for each branch office that has a key role on the team, and a separate Part II for each consultant must be provided. Three copies of your qualifications (SF 330) will be required.



An A-E Evaluation Board will consist of GSA team members and they will evaluate each submission under this acquisition. The boards will establish a shortlist of three to six firms under this acquisition. The shortlisted firms will be notified and asked to submit more detailed information. Candidates should be prepared to discuss all aspects of the criteria indicated above as well as evaluation criteria established under this announcement. Emphasis will be placed on the A-E teams understanding of the unique aspects of the term contract, their design philosophy, project management process, constructability & bid ability review practices, and quality assurance plan. Responses to the evaluation criteria and interview questions will be used to rank the short listed A-E firms for the proposed contract. Scope of services and draft contract will be furnished to all firms being interviewed under this acquisition. From the interviewed short listed firms, selection will be made, the result of which will be published in the Fedbizopps. A Request for Proposal (RFP) will be issued to the top ranked firm selected in order of preference, and determined by the Evaluation Board(s) based upon the Selection Criteria and Interviews. The A-E selected for this proposed contract will be required to furnish to the contract officer preliminary salary, overhead and profit rates(s) within 14 calendar days of selection notification.



Projects to be designed under this contract will typically have an estimated construction cost amount (ECCA) under the Prospectus Level (currently $2.41 million). A Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) will result from this acquisition, including negotiated profit, overhead and hourly rates for agreed upon disciplines, and for use in negotiating level of effort for each FFP task/delivery order.



All contract drawings shall be produced on AutoCAD for Windows. Compact Disks and molars of drawings shall also be provided. Standard AutoCAD layering Title blocks shall be utilized. All specifications and written documents shall be provided in Microsoft Word for Windows. Firms must be able to perform drafting design work in a computer system compatible with Auto-Cad Release 2000 or later version, and be required to procure the GSA version of Master-spec directly from the American Institute of Architect (AIA) and provide construction specification using the later version of AIA Master-Spec Format, at the firms expense. The firm must provide as-build drawings in Auto-CADD. Further, the A-E firm must also make provision for prime time work in the drawings and specifications when construction interferes with the operation of the facilities, and attend meetings to resolve issues and emergencies as required.



The A-E firm must be able to provide design in metric system with English units in parenthesis where required in the drawings. All firms must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database prior to any award resulting from this announcement.



The Government will not indemnify the firm against liability involving asbestos or other hazardous materials, that is, no clause holding the firm harmless will be included in the contract. It will be the A/E responsibility to identify asbestos/ lead areas and include proper abatement measures in the design/specifications.



All work shall comply with the most recent edition of the Facilities Standards for the Public Buildings Services, PBS-PQ100.1 along with all GSA criteria, standards established by the Secretary of the Interior (NHPA) and National Building Codes referenced therein. For Handicapped Accessibility and in addition to the requirements of the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS), all work shall comply with the requirements of Title III of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). If there is a conflict between the UFAS and ADA Title III requirements, the more stringent requirement shall prevail.



All Security projects shall meet and/or exceed with the Latest standards established by the INS/Home Land Security Administration. A-E firm must be able to coordinate and identify security needs and incorporate them into the design / specifications.



This acquisition is set-aside for 8(a) A-E firms under the 8(a) program, FAR subpart 19.804-2. Should the 8(a) program fail to identify at least, three eligible responsible 8(a) A-E firms under this acquisition, the government reserves the right to convert this procurement to a Total Small Business Set-Aside. The North American Industrial Classification System Code applicable for this project is 541310 for Architectural Services. The size standard for this acquisition is $4,500,000.



Architect-Engineer firms having the capabilities to perform the services described in this announcement, in order to be considered, must submit three copies of the required Standard Forms 330 - Architect- Engineer Part I and II, no later than 4:30 p.m. local time on August 19, 2006. Any submissions received after 4:30p.m., local time on August 19, 2006 will not be accepted. All submissions (SF 330 - Architect-Engineer Part I and II) shall be mailed to GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, Long Island Field Office 2PMC-BL,170 Federal Plaza, Room 170, Central Islip, New York 11722, Attention: Lydia Ortiz, Contracting Officer, Telephone No.: 631-715-3087.



Three copies of the submissions shall be placed in a sealed envelope clearly identified and appropriately marked as follows: Solicitation No. GS-02P-06-PC-D-3111, Predominately Architectural/Structural Design with Mechanical/Electrical Supporting Services, for projects located in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Closing Date: August 19, 2006. Closing Time: 4:30 p.m. EST. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP).



Faxed, facsimile, or emailed submittals will NOT be accepted nor considered.



Interested parties are encouraged to submit their packages by one of the methods offered by the U.S. Postal Service. (FIRST CLASS MAIL / PRIORITY MAIL / EXPRESS MAIL).