Inactive

PURPOSE: By way of this Sources Sought Notice, the USACE-Omaha District intends to determine the extent of capable small business and other than small business firms that have the availability in prov... PURPOSE: By way of this Sources Sought Notice, the USACE-Omaha District intends to determine the extent of capable small business and other than small business firms that have the availability in providing the requirement described hereunder. The responses to this notice will be used for planning and development of the upcoming procurement(s). Therefore, this notice does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Quotation or Bid; it does not guarantee the future issue of an RFQ/RFP/IFB; nor does it commit the government to contract for any supply, service, or construction. There is no solicitation currently available. Further, this Agency will not accept unsolicited proposals. Respondents are advised that this Agency will not pay for any information or administrative cost incurred in response to this Notice. All costs associated with responding to this Notice will be solely at the responding party's expense. At this time, proprietary information is not being requested, and respondents shall refrain from providing proprietary information in response to this Sources Sought Notice. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The goal of this project is to award a contract to conduct a Phase 2 investigation study of anchor bar installation to support on-going bar anchor evaluation and design for spillway anchorage in the Fort Union shale foundation. The Phase 2 information will be used to ensure the anchor production design is constructible, repeatable, and capable of resisting potential design loads. The Government will provide program anchor design information and construction installation details. The Contractor will procure materials, drill, install, and test the Phase 2 anchors to achieve the above objective while sharing construction observations and findings for use in the bar anchor production design. A secondary objective is to continue to refine understanding of site geotechnical properties required to support the bar anchor production design. The Phase 2 work will include: Pre-field works submittals. The pre-fieldwork submittals will include the anchor installation and testing plan with review of Government prior to the start of field work. The Government will provide anchor design as part of the anchor installation and testing plan for contractor concurrence. Anchor bar acquisition. The contractor is responsible for acquiring all components to the anchor system. The contractor shall then mobilize to install anchors and construct reinforced concrete anchor test pads. All anchor bars must be fabricated and delivered as part of the award to ensure sufficient lead time is achieved. Anchor bar installation. The contract shall perform drilling and anchor bar system installation in accordance with the anchor design scope assumptions included approximately 12 anchors with depths ranging from about 50 to 150 feet deep. Drilling will include special requirements for development of either underream or bell drilling for the anchor tip installation. The underream or bell shape may range from 18-inch to 36-inch diameter. Also, require specialized experience in grout-to-bar anchor installation. Anchor field testing. Installed bar anchors shall undergo full-scale proof load, performance, and/or extended creep testing according to the testing requirements. These tests will be in accordance with applicable PTI and FHWA guidance with some modified testing to account for variability of foundation strengths anticipated on this project. The Government to provide the modified testing plans for contractor field use. The Government to provide criteria for contractor use in developing a long-term monitoring system for anchors to monitor load loss, creep, and deformation of the stressed anchors which shall be capable of providing meaningful data for no less than 10 years. **To provide more details on the statement above 'the Government has had construction concerns with underream anchors with longer sump lengths and some of these challenges were realized during the Phase 1 anchor program', the below information is being provided. -The foundation consists primarily of thin beds of stiff clay and silt with low hydraulic conductivity. -There are also intervals of lignite coal and sands which have higher conductivity. -If the anchor under-ream bond zone or sump intersects a lignite or sand then the borehole is much less likely to pass watertightness testing and require pre-grouting prior to anchor installation (with impacts to cost and schedule). One of the goals of the Investigation Program is to determine optimum construction cost and schedule, and repeatability for a future large anchoring project. Small uncertainties with respect to repeatability, or small increases to cost or schedule associated with the Anchor Investigation Program will have a substantial magnitude for future production anchors. -Initial research into pier bell drilling suggests that the bell zone can be constructed with a shorter sump than for under-reaming, favorably decreasing likelihood of encountering sand or lignite.** Estimated Project Solicitation Issue date: 14 February 2025. Company Name, address, phone number, point of contract, email, web address: CAGE Code and Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS): State whether your firm is classified by the Small Business Administration as any of the following: Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Section 8(a), Women Owned Small Business (WOSB), HUBZone, None of the above Is your company currently registered in System for Award Management (SAM)? Has your company performed work for the federal government under a different name or UEI/DUNS #, or as a member of a Joint Venture (JV)? If yes, provide an explanation: CAPABILITIES AND SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: SUBMISSION DETAILS: All interested, capable, qualified, and responsive contractors under NAICS 541380 - Testing Laboratories and Services are encouraged to reply to this request. Interested PRIME CONTRACTORS ONLY should submit a narrative demonstrating their experience in projects of similar nature as described in the Project Description. Responders shall provide a brief narrative describing a minimum of two (2) to a maximum of three (3) projects the interested firm has completed in the last seven (7) years that were in remote locations with similar size, scope, cost, and complexity to the anticipated project requirements described above. Narratives shall be no longer than 2 pages per project. Email responses are required. Please include the following information in your response: Company name, address, and point of contact, with phone number and email address CAGE Code and UEI number Business size to include any official teaming arrangements as a partnership or joint venture Details of similar bar anchor projects in remote locations and state whether you were the Prime or Subcontractor Start and end dates of work Project references (including owner with phone number and email address) Project cost, term, and complexity of job Please include the following additional information in your response: The anticipated award is May 2025 and with the dam located in North Dakota the fieldwork completion date is anticipated by 31 Oct 2025. Provide any concerns or feedback on a possible 6-month period to prepare pre-fieldwork items, procure materials, and perform the required field work. The foundation conditions and material strengths will likely require an anchor type different than traditional grout-to-bar type anchors to achieve the required bearing capacity needed for design. Also, the Government has had construction concerns with underream anchors with longer sump lengths and some of these challenges were realized during the Phase 1 anchor program. The Government recently began to consider an alternative installation method of pier bell drilling that looks promising and appears similar to the original Garrison Dam constructed anchor tips. However, this different method requires different equipment and likely different crews. Currently, Phase 2 anchor scope proposes both underream anchors and pier bell anchors. Provide the following contractor input: The Government preference is to award this contract to a single contractor so provide any input if you would submit as a prime, joint venture, or subcontractor. Provide any benefit(s) or hindrance(s) with separating the different types of construction methods into two separate contracts for government consideration. Provide any preferences your company may have to two separate contracts or one contract for both underream anchors and pier bells. Provide any preliminary thoughts on the application of pier bell drilling in the Fort Union Shale formation and possible challenges that should be considered in the scope requirements. Drill hole stability in the clay shale and high permeable lignite zones was a concern during the Phase 1 anchor program; however, duplex casing drilling was used successfully to prevent hole collapse and without sacrificial casing. Please provide any concerns with use of duplex casing during Phase 2 and any other suggestions your company has to improve drill production. The underream tool used in the Phase 1 anchor program was a drilling drag type underream tool that deployed cutting arms to a designed opening diameter to meet our underream requirements. The arm deployment was conducted for both pneumatic (air) and water with the preferred fluid for Phase 2 being pneumatic. The underream tool presented some challenges with achieving the desired underream shape/geometry. Provide any concern(s) with using this tool and drill fluid type for the underream drilling for Phase 2 and any other tooling known that could be used for consideration in the Phase 2 field program. The Phase 2 anchor program will focus on data collection to better characterize the Fort Union Shale foundation strengths and improve our understanding of possible anchor production consideration for future construction requirements. This will require the contractor to provide field engineer support with the necessary experience to ensure scope requirements are met and the necessary study data is collected. Provide any concerns or thoughts on how your company may meet this requirement. Provide input on your company’s interest in this project and the anticipated crew and equipment availability during the field dates listed above. Due to the foundation properties, casing will be required above the top of bell. Provide any experience your company has installing belled piers through casing. Also include for a 36-inch diameter bell, what is the auger hole (or pilot hole) diameter your equipment would need to construct a bell through casing. The anchor test program desires to test constructed pier bells loaded in tension. For design of the anchor tip, it is critical that the pier bell be constructed with a rounded base vice a nearly horizontal base. Provide any issues with procuring tooling to produce a rounded base on the pier bells that your company may foresee. Provide comments or identify any concerns your company has regarding the planned solicitation(s). Note that the Government will not be responding to inquiries about the proposed solicitation(s) at this time. Your responses and comments will be used by Government personnel to assess the viability and scope of the proposed solicitation(s) and will be kept in strictest confidence. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted.