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REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) FEDERAL EMERGENCY AGENCY (FEMA) DISASTER RESPONSE COMMODITY SHIPPING BY RAIL Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is seeking information from freight rail transport... REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) FEDERAL EMERGENCY AGENCY (FEMA) DISASTER RESPONSE COMMODITY SHIPPING BY RAIL Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is seeking information from freight rail transportation service providers on the possibility and capabilities to ship a variety of commodities by rail during disaster operations. NOTIFICATION: This is a Sources Sought Notice. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the 1) availability and capability of qualified sources and 2) availability of capable firms to provide the contemplated requirement listed below. The information provided herein is for informational purposes only. THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. This notice is issued for information and planning purposes only and does not itself constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP). The Government does not intend to award a contract based only on responses to this Sources Sought Notice. BACKGROUND: FEMA is responsible for ensuring state and tribal governments are supported following a federally declared disaster. In pursuit of this mission, FEMA is frequently tasked with shipping a variety of commodities in support of an area affected by disaster. The Transportation Management Division (TMD) at FEMA is the department tasked with ensuring timely pickup and delivery of a large variety of commodities to include palletized freight, high/wide trailers, vehicles, and specialty items. TMD currently has the capacity to ship by rail using our standard tenders of service program but is interested in reviewing industry proposals to increase our rail shipping capacity. TMD is interested in exploring our capacity to ship product via vendor sourced unit trains and railcar-load shipments as well as potentially intermodal (COFC/TOFC) shipments where trains could need to be offloaded by a transportation service provider in austere conditions outside of established intermodal ramps or transload facilities such as at a military base, leased industrial track, or rail siding. REQUEST FROM INDUSTRY: FEMA exercises and planning studies have identified challenges with relying solely on over-the-road trucking for the movement of disaster survivor commodities. A need exists for leveraging additional transportation modalities such as freight rail. Rail may be used as a mode of transportation for the movement of commodities when the response dictates, but possible scenarios that would require a rail solution include when there is a shortage of trucks or truck drivers, when significant quantities of disaster survivor commodities are needed, or when a disaster has severely disrupted roadway transportation infrastructure. FEMA desires the capability to better utilize rail transportation during our disaster response and recovery efforts with the situation dictates. Potential FEMA Rail Scenario – A 9.0 magnitude earthquake along the entirety of the Cascadia Subduction Zone has caused devastation to 700+ miles of the heavily populated pacific northwest. Initial reports have indicated that 16,000 miles of highway and 7,000 highway bridges have sustained massive damage. Railroads in the area are reporting 6,000 miles of rail and 100 rail bridges require inspection and repair, but the affected areas are expected to be accessible by rail before most interstate highway infrastructure has been restored. FEMA TMB has been informed that rail line repair capabilities are far more robust, and rail lines will be restored relatively quickly. Large quantities of disaster survivor commodities will be sent from a variety of shippers across the nation, and several shippers have been preidentified as having rail access. FEMA TMB is seeking industry information for the following: Vendor to source railcars, coordinate the safe loading of railcars at shipping sites with rail access or coordinate mobile rail to truck transload facilities for rail product loading or offloading in remote and potentially austere conditions, and utilize rail networks to expeditiously deliver commodities to FEMA designated disaster areas throughought the 48 contiguous states. In addition to FEMA and other federal response partners, the Vendor will also have to closely coordinate with a variety of internal and external parties such as rail companies, shuttle truck providers, commodity shippers and receivers, the United States Department of Transportation, and state/local emergency management agencies. Vendor should be prepared to source any type of railcar that could be needed in support of disaster commodity shipping, should have capacity to load/unload railcars in a variety of conditions, and should be able to book the highest possible rail routing priority factoring in rapid transit time and interchange. Vendor should have established relationships with the United States class 1 railroads and short-line railroads and should be able to articulate their ability to overcome commonly encountered rail shipping challenges as well as rail shipping challenges that could reasonably be expected to occur during a disaster-type response. QUESTIONS TO THE INDUSTRY: Provide responses to the following questions and provide any additional information on how this scenario would be supported. How exactly would railcars be sourced for FEMA missions, and how quickly could vendor sourced railcars of various types (boxcar, flatcar, intermodal TOFC, etc.…) be in place for loading? Since no one railroad connects the entire country, how would the vendor ensure reliable rail coverage of all 48 contiguous states? How would accessorial charges be handled if railcars delivering commodities would need to stage for an unknown length of time before being offloaded? Describe a functional operation that could handle transloading product from a train to a truck in an undefined rail served area without an established railyard such as an air force base? Explain the process of tracking railcar movement and how FEMA would be informed of transit progress and delays. Explain what personnel, training, equipment, tools, materials, supervision, and all other items, necessary to manage and perform key logistical aspects and support for the delivery of disaster survivor commodities in railcars as a mode of transportation. Describe how quickly rail infrastructure may be able to be reopen following a severe earthquake. Do you have any capacity to provide storage for loaded railcars? If FEMA wanted to store loaded railcars in such a way that they could be rapidly deployed, what would this process look like? Do you have unique or special capabilities you’d like to highlight? Administratively, the vendor’s statement of capability shall also include the information listed below. Company Name/Division, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone, and website Single point-of-contact name, title, telephone, and email address Please note that companies must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) to receive an award from federal agencies. SAM.gov | Entity Registrations (https://sam.gov/content/entity-landing)Applicable NAICS codes under which the company customarily does business. Business size for NAICS Codes, such as socio-economic status, if qualified as one or more of the following: 8(a) firm (must be certified by SBA) Small Disadvantaged Business (must be certified by SBA) Woman-Owned Small Business HUB Zone firm (must be certified by SBA) Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business RESPONSE FORMAT: To better assist in the review of submittals to this RFI, respondents are encouraged to prepare a capabilities statement and respond to the above questions in a format that closely adheres to the following: The document format shall be either Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) formats. Responses shall be prepared using 12 pt. font, 1-inch margins, and 8.5” by 11” paper and shall not exceed ten (10) pages in length, including images, data displays, charts, graphs, and tables. Respondents are encouraged to ensure that their submittals are complete and address all items outlined within this notice. Respondents may provide additional promotional literature in addition to their response if the literature conforms to the response format. RESPONSE DEADLINE AND POINT OF CONTACT INFORMATION: FEMA will only consider submissions in response to this notice that are in the form of Microsoft Word and/or PDF (searchable format) documents attached to emails received no later than 1:00 PM EST, Friday, September 8, 2023. No phone calls will be accepted or returned. Point of Contact: Isaac Chapple Contracting Officer FEMA Office of Chief Procurement Officer Isaac.chapple@fema.dhs.gov Edward Ruud Contracting Specialist FEMA Office of Chief Procurement Officer Edward.Ruud@fema.dhs.gov