Independent Commissioning Agent (Owner’s Advocate) Services for U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases
This RFI/sources sought seeks industry input and capability statements for an independent, third-party Commissioning Agent (Owner’s Advocate) supporting the USAMRIID replacement facility, Building 8100, at Fort Detrick, Frederick, Maryland, with a non-severable 60-month period of performance and expected on-site presence during functional and failure-testing windows. The Commissioning Agent will independently evaluate, witness, and verify critical containment and facility systems/controls—including BSL-3/BSL-4 boundaries, negative pressure cascades, bubble-tight dampers, APR doors, suit showers, effluent decontamination, emergency power/failure scenarios, and regulatory compliance—without drafting new designs or stamping engineering drawings, while bridging USACE/prime construction execution and USAMRDC/USAMRIID operational, biosafety, and accreditation requirements. The effort includes advising on a staggered/phased transition to functional occupancy, biosafety accreditation, and facility registration, and verifying organizational independence under FAR conflict-of-interest requirements. Interested parties should submit capability statements covering relevant experience, BSL-3/BSL-4 containment commissioning, FSAP regulatory compliance, commissioning/operational systems verification, and Owner’s Advocate project management; the Government will use market data to decide small-business set-aside versus full-and-open competition under NAICS 541330. The Government also requests industry feedback on phased occupancy isolation, centralized RFI/compliance tracking, deliverable turnaround such as reports due 10 days from witnessing testing, oral presentations, a possible Industry Day/pre-solicitation conference, feasibility of a firm-fixed-price contract with performance-based milestone payments, and a non-binding Rough Order of Magnitude estimate for budget feasibility.