US Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, Attn: CENAN-CT, 26 Federal Plaza, Rm 1843, New York, N.Y. 10278-0090

B -- SAMPLING AND TESTING OF DREDGED MATERIAL (PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL ANALYSES DUE 052799 POC Contact Gregory G. Cuyjet, Contract Specialist, 212-264-6707 The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District has a requirement for sampling and chemical testing of dredged material proposed for ocean dumping. The Government intends to use a Two-Step Sealed Bidding method. The Government intends to make multiple awards of indefinite-quantity contracts for Chemical Testing Services. The SIC code is 8734. This requirement is an unrestricted competition. This synopsis notice serves as a letter Request for Technical Proposals for Step One. Step Two will be an Invitation for Bids. Technical proposals that are submitted should indicate that it is for Chemistry Testing, New York Harbor. A description of the services, followed by the requirements of the technical proposal is stated herein. The work to be performed under this proposed contract consists of sampling and testing of dredged material, following the procedures described in the 1992 ACENYD/EPA Region II manual that is entitled Guidance for Performing Tests on Dredged Material Proposed for Ocean Disposal, also referred to as the Regional Guidance Manual (RGM) and subsequent updates. Work orders will include some or all of the following: sediment and water collection on a contractor supplied ship; sample handling, processing, and shipping; physical and chemical analyses; Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) procedures and necessary corrective actions. Reports containing the sampling logs, all testing results and QA/QC information in a format required by USA Corps of Engineers, New York District shall be provided by the contractor for each work order. A Work/QA Plan prepared by the contractor and approved by USA Corps of Engineers, New York District shall be required prior to any sampling or testing. Sampling will be performed within the Port of New York and New Jersey, the length of the Hudson River, in the Atlantic Ocean at the Mud Dump Reference Site, and in Long Island Sound at the Western and/or Central Reference Sites. Instructions for submitting a technical proposal and the required contents of proposal are stated herein and as follows. (A) Project experience. Offerors shall submit a list of all datasets that have been generated by the laboratory since January 1994, in which bivalve tissues were analyzed, in triplicate, alongside a Standard Reference Material (SRM) for all analytes listed in the Regional Guidance Manual (RGM), and in which the laboratory has attained all QA/QC objectives specified in the RGM. From this list, the Government will request three complete datasets for evaluation. Points will be assigned for project experience based on the number of datasets listed by the laboratory in its initial submittal. (B) Past performance. Points will be assigned for the quality of the offeror's deliverables for previous contracts to include reporting requirements; for ability to meet deadlines (timeliness); and for customer satisfaction on prior contracts for chemical testing. Customer satisfaction includes the contractor's history for reasonable and cooperative behavior and commitment to customer satisfaction and generally, the contractor's business-like concern for the interests of the customer. These points will be assigned based on input provided by program managers from previous work, who will be contacted by members of the technical evaluation committee. The list of datasets shall include the project/contract name, contract number, location of project, dates and duration of each project, name and phone number of client's project manager or technical point of contact. If subcontractors had performed any of the work, this shall be specified and the subcontractors identified. (C) Offerors shall submit a Laboratory Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) containing standard operating procedures for sample collection, sample storage, and all physical and chemical testing listed in the RGM for sediment, water and tissue samples. The QAP should also list all pertinent lab equipment and facilities, and state how the offeror proposes to perform this work with technical personnel and/or commitments with subcontractors. Lines of authority and a technical point of contact shall be clearly specified. This information will be subjectively reviewed by the evaluation committee and awarded points. (D) Datasets. Evaluation factors are stated herein and as follows. Each dataset will be reviewed as follows: For each of 14 analytes (silver, cadmium, copper, mercury, lead, benzo(a)pyrene, 2378-TCDD, dieldrin, 44-DDT, 24-DDT, 44-DDD, 24-DDD, 44-DDE, 24-DDE), points will be awarded for meeting RGM-specified detection limits, and for meeting QA/QC objectives regarding Relative Percent Difference (RPD) and SRM values. (E) A Grand Total will be determined. The grand total for each offeror will be transformed into a percentage by dividing the maximum score possible into the grand total. Rounding will be to the nearest 1% and will follow standard mathematical rules. Based on these calculated percentages, offerors will be placed into one of three categories: technically acceptable, reasonably susceptible to being made acceptable, or technically unacceptable. All proposals submitted by offerors that are deemed technically acceptable will be invited to submit a bid in Step Two. Offerors submitting proposals that are deemed reasonably susceptible to being made acceptable may be requested to submit three more complete datasets and/or a revised QAP for review and will be given an opportunity to discuss information obtained from references on which the offeror had not had a previous opportunity to comment on. The proposal would then be considered acceptable if an evaluation of the additional information indicates that their score places the proposal in the technically acceptable range. The evaluation of datasets is more important than the evaluation of the quality assurance plan, past performance and project experience. The evaluation of the quality assurance plan is more important than either past performance or project experience. The evaluation of past performance and project experience are of equal importance. The technical proposals shall not include prices or pricing information. Offerors should submit proposals that are acceptable without additional explanation or information. The Government may make a final determination regarding a proposal's acceptability solely on the basis of the proposal as submitted. The Government may proceed with the second step without requesting further information from any offeror. However, as previous stated the Government may request additional information from offerors of proposals that it considers reasonably susceptible of being made acceptable, and may discuss proposals with their offerors. A notice of unacceptability will be forwarded to the offeror upon completion of the proposal evaluation and final determination of unacceptability. Only one technical proposal may be submitted by each offeror. Information provided herein on delivery or performance requirements is not binding on the Government. In the second step, only bids base upon technical proposals determined to be acceptable, either initially or as a result of discussions will be considered for award. Each bid in the second step must be based on the bidder's own technical proposal. The actual delivery or performance requirements will be contained in the invitation for bids issued under Step Two. The proposed contract will be an indefinite quantity-indefinite delivery contract. The base period will be one year and the contract will have two option periods of one year each. The date and hour by which the proposal must be received is May 27, 1999 not later than 4:30 local time. Proposals shall be submitted to The Contracting Division, ATTN: CENANCT-C, Room 1843, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, 26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY 10278-0090. The provision at FAR 52.214-23, Late Submissions, Modifications, and Withdrawals of Technical proposals is applicable to this Step One under this Two-Step Sealed Bidding. Also, the clause at DFARS 52.204-7004, Required Central Contractor Registration is applicable. Offerors and contractors may obtain information on registration and annual confirmation requirements by calling 1-888-227-2423, or via the Internet at http://ccr.edi.disa.mil. A copy of the 1992 Regional Guidance Manual (RGM) and may be obtained by submitting a written request to the address for proposal submission or by facsimile to (212) 264-3013. All requests for the RGM must allow five days to respond and for mailing. The RGM cannot be forwarded by facsimile. The minimum value is $10,000.00 for the base year and $5,000.00 for each of the one year option periods. The Request for Technical Proposals and the Invitation for Bids includes the provision at FAR 52.216-27, Single or Multiple Awards. See Note 26. ***** Posted 04/06/99 (W-SN317028). (0096)

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