Inactive Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)

Sacramento Regional Water Bank Water Management Operations Pilot

Inactive

This is a sources sought notice and is for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. This is NOT a request for proposal, quotations, or bids. The Department of the Interior, Interior Region 10 - California Great B... This is a sources sought notice and is for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. This is NOT a request for proposal, quotations, or bids. The Department of the Interior, Interior Region 10 - California Great Basin, requests responses from Small Business, 8(a), Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB), HUBZONE, and/or Women Owned Small Business (WOSB) contractors interested in providing services under a Firm Fixed Price purchase order as outlined below: Task 1 - Project Management The Contractor shall provide project management-related study coordination and management support as outlined below. Subtask 1.1 - Project Management The contractor shall conduct project management activities, including maintaining adequate financial records and preparing accurate monthly invoices and reports on the progress on all tasks including accomplishments, budget, schedule, upcoming activities, and work products. This task includes participation in monthly Project Management Team (PMT) meetings to provide updates and decision-making support, coordination with the PMT to prepare meeting materials for the meetings, and preparation of meeting summaries. The PMT will be established by the contractor in coordination Reclamation and the contractor to oversee study progress and will include Reclamation and non-Federal Partner representatives. Task 1 Deliverables: -Monthly invoices with status reports (electronic format only) -PMT meeting materials (electronic format and hard copies (hard copies only need for in person meetings)) -Administrative records for Study development (electronic format only) Task 2 - Technical Coordination The contractor shall provide technical coordination and management support as outlined below. Subtask 2.1 - Project Management Team Coordination The contractor in coordination with Reclamation will establish a Study Management Team (SMT) with representation from local agencies, state (California Department of Water Resources (DWR)), and Reclamation (California Great-Basin Region Planning and Central Valley Project Operations). The SMT will guide the development of operational strategies for the Water Bank to meet both local water reliability needs and Reclamation operational flexibility needs. The SMT will also develop operational principles to avoid impacts or constraints on CVP operations. The SMT meetings will be held quarterly (every 3 months). The contractor shall participate in quarterly SMT meetings to provide updates and decision-making support, including coordination with the PMT, preparation meeting materials, and preparation of meeting summaries. Meetings will be in person or via video teleconference as appropriate given COVID-19. Acceptable video conference platforms are Microsoft Teams and WebEx. Subtask 2.2 - Technical Team Coordination The Technical Team includes Reclamation staff providing technical support (including any Contractor staff), and the staff and other support of the non-Federal Partners for their cost-share studies and products. The contractor tasks include coordination and management supports, planning and analytic services, and communications and outreach activities. The contractor shall conduct meetings to support development of the WMOP and to coordinate with other parallel planning and modeling efforts in the region will be held monthly with representation of technical staff designated by the SMT. The contractor shall conduct the monthly technical coordination meetings to provide updates and decision-making support, including preparation of meeting materials, and preparation of meeting summaries. Meetings will be in person or via video teleconference as appropriate given COVID-19. Acceptable video conference platforms are Microsoft Teams and WebEx. Task 2 Deliverables: -SMT meeting materials (electronic format and hard copies (hard copies only for in person meetings)) and meeting summaries (electronic format only) -Technical meeting materials (electronic format and hard copies (hard copies only for in person meetings)) and meeting summaries (electronic format only) Task 3 - IWFM Groundwater Model Development Note that this task is being independently completed by the non-Federal Partners, and no tasks will be performed under this contract. It is included here because of the integral role the groundwater model plays in the analysis of the Water Bank and its operations. The task will include model development and calibration; model application and scenario analysis; and model documentation and review. Local agencies in the Pilot area are currently developing a groundwater model application using DWR¿s IWFM platform. This model will provide a detailed representation of the groundwater conditions in the North and South American groundwater sub-basins. The groundwater model will be linked with CalSim 3 to simulate the operations of the proposed Water Bank and assess regional and local effects of its operations. Task 3 Deliverables: -None for this task. For reference only. Task 4 - CalSim 3.0 Operational Model Refinement The contractor shall update CalSim 3 for the American River Basin Study (ARBS) and couple the updated CalSim 3 model with IWFM groundwater model developed under Task 3. Under the ARBS, CalSim 3 was extended to include detailed representation of Upper American River Watershed reservoirs, facilities, and hydrology. CalSim 3 simulation of the proposed Water Bank relies on its capability to model both the groundwater budget and surface water operations. The contractor shall simulate the groundwater budget and its interaction with surface water components, the groundwater simulation module of IWFM is included in CalSim 3 as an embedded groundwater module dynamic link library (DLL). Although the groundwater DLL greatly improves representation of groundwater fluxes and consistency with IWFM, stresses on the groundwater system in IWFM are different from those in CalSim 3.0 because of differences in the spatial distribution of land use types, methods used to compute agricultural and urban water demands, number of diversions simulated, stream flows, and groundwater pumping rates. In addition, the contractor shall develop a fine-grid IWFM model from Task 3 that will require further updates to CalSim 3 groundwater DLL to be effectively used. Subtasks 4.1 and 4.2 describe the steps involved in groundwater module DLL updates. Subtask 4.1 - Revise for Consistency with the IWFM model The contractor shall review the groundwater module DLL embedded in CalSim 3 for consistency with IWFM-based regional groundwater (developed under Task 3). The review will focus on the DLL simulation of stream-groundwater interaction and representation of groundwater fluxes. The review will develop mapping of the groundwater fluxes from the fine-grid IWFM into the coarser CalSim 3 groundwater module. The mapped fluxes will be the basis to develop and implement automated procedures for input/output exchange between CalSim 3 and the IWFM regional groundwater model to increase efficiency of model application and analysis. In addition, based on the review, model updates must also include reconciliation of stream nodes, stream gain/loss arcs, spatial boundaries, resolution of groundwater pumping, and resolution of deep percolation. Subtask 4.2 - Refine Groundwater Banking Operations The contractor shall configure CalSim 3 to simulate Water Bank operations by developing agency-specific accounting routines and allocations for surface water use, groundwater use, banked and recovery groundwater, bank operations, and losses. This subtask will also develop functionality to streamline the implementation of changes to the size of the groundwater bank, bank participants, and operating rules. This functionality will also include the capability to specify operating rules in CalSim 3 depending on groundwater levels simulated by CalSim¿s updated groundwater module. Task 4 Deliverables: -Updated CalSim 3 model data (electronic format only) o CalSim 3 groundwater module DLL o CalSim 3 operational logic (wresl files) and associated input data Task 5 - Formulation of Water Bank Operations This task will build on the "groundwater bank" adaptation portfolio developed under the ARBS to formulate up to four (4) operational scenarios for the Water Bank, evaluate up to two (2) refined operational alternatives, and assess system-wide effects of a preferred alternative. Subtask 5.1 - Formulation of Alternative Operations The contractor shall formulate up to four (4) operational alternatives for the Water Bank using input from the SMT. The operational alternatives will reflect a range of different bank participants, bank size, bank partners (delivery recipients), and conditions of operations. The operational alternatives for storage of CVP supplies will developed consistent with Reclamation's Groundwater Banking Guidelines, Reclamation constraints on Folsom operations, and local participants water supply reliability needs. The updated CalSim 3 model developed under Task 4 will be used to evaluate the alternatives to identify the effects of proposed Water Bank operations on a system-wide basis, including Folsom Reservoir operations, Folsom carry-over storage, CVP yield, and Delta outflow requirements. The SMT will review the initial alternatives formulated and evaluated under this subtask to select for further refinement a preferred operational alternative(s) that has the highest potential to result in mutual benefits to Reclamation and non-Federal partners, while minimizing any local groundwater impacts. Subtask 5.2 - Evaluation of Refined Operations The contractor shall develop up to two (2) refined operational alternatives based on the retained initial alternatives. The updated CalSim 3 model will be used to quantify the potential benefits of the Water Bank for regional water supply reliability and for Reclamation's operation of Folsom Reservoir ability to meet all authorized purposes of the CVP. This subtask will also include evaluation of Folsom Reservoir operations, Folsom carry-over storage, CVP yield, and Delta outflow requirements. Subtask 5.3 - Related Systemwide Effects The contractor shall assess the systemwide effects of one (1) preferred alternative for the Water Bank. These systemwide effects will be limited to temperature on the Lower American River, CVP hydropower production, and Delta water quality. Subtask 5.4 - Climate Change Sensitivity Analysis The contractor shall use the climate data developed for the ARBS assess the operations of one (1) preferred alternative for the Bank under climate change conditions for 2070 conditions. The contractor shall perform sensitivity analyses using central tendency, warm-wet, and hot-dry scenario for 2070 conditions, consistent with the approach used in the ARBS. The climate change sensitivity analysis will be used to refine the initial findings of the ARBS on how the Water Bank can contribute to climate change adaption in the region. Task 5 Deliverables: -Draft and Final Water Bank Alternatives Formulation and Evaluation TM (electronic format only) -CalSim 3 logic and input files (electronic format) Task 6 - Draft and Final Report The contractor shall prepare a draft and final Report to describe the Pilot process, stakeholder participation, and findings and recommendation. The draft Report will be prepared for review by Reclamation and the non-Federal partners. The draft report shall include an approved Technical Sufficiency Review Plan 60-days prior to release of the draft report in accordance with Reclamation Manual WTR 13-01. The contractor shall provide support to Reclamation for all reviews. The contractor shall withhold funding from prior tasks to respond and revise the draft Report for comments received from Reclamation, non-Federal partner, stakeholders, and technical sufficiency review. Based on the review comments, a final Report will be developed and will include a response and disposition of comments received on the draft Report in an appendix to the final Report. Task 6 Deliverables: -Draft Report (electronic format only) -Final Report (electronic format only) Task 7 Stakeholder Outreach and Involvement The contractor will develop a process in coordination with the PMT where stakeholders and other interested agencies, parties, and members of the public will have opportunities to be involved throughout this Pilot. Subtask 7.1 - Communication and Outreach Plan The contractor shall develop a communication and outreach plan (C&O) that will detail the communication methods and strategies to be employed throughout the period the Pilot is being prepared. The C&O Plan will generally describe the communication and outreach process as follows: -Meeting type(s), frequency, location(s), support materials (agendas, meeting notes, task lists, etc.). -Information management, including website(s), email contact list, newsletters, etc. -Preparation and management of a Master Project Schedule (includes all major study task milestones, meetings (including public, stakeholder, PMT etc.); other elements to be described by the PMT. Subtask 7.2 - Stakeholder Briefings The contractor shall conduct communication and outreach activities for the Pilot and will leverage existing venues and opportunities for efficiency. The anticipated efforts for external stakeholder engagement throughout the Study include up to three (3) public workshops or webinars. Summary of the communication and outreach activities will be included in the Final Pilot Report. Task 7 Deliverables: -Materials for external communications and outreach activities (electronic format and hard copies (hard copies only for in person meetings)) and meeting summaries (electronic format only) -C&O Plan and Master Project Schedule (electronic format and hard copies (hard copies only for in person meetings)) -Summary of Communication and Outreach Efforts as part of the Final Report (Task 7) (electronic format only) The government will award a firm-fixed price purchase order. The period of performance will be two years (approximately April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2023). Notice number 140R2021Q0039 has been assigned for this requirement and should be referenced on all correspondence regarding this announcement. Based upon responses to this announcement, the Government may determine to set this acquisition aside or proceed with an unrestricted solicitation. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 541620 and the related small business size standard is $16.5M. All interested parties are encouraged to respond to this notice with all required information by e-mail to the Contract Specialist, Mouang Phan at mphan@usbr.gov no later than 2:00 PM PT on Tuesday, January 19, 2021. The information provided in this announcement is the only information the Government has available at this time. Interested parties should include the following information in their response: 1. Name of organization and address including zip code, Point of Contact including phone number and email address, and the organization¿s DUNS number. 2. Confirmation of organization¿s active System for Award (SAM) registration with expiration date. 3. Business size and classification to include any designations as Certified Small Business, HUBZone Certified Small Business Concern, Section 8(a) contractor, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, Women Owned Small Business, or Small Business Concern. 4. Number of years of experience in this type of service. 5. Provide references for a minimum of two (2), but no more than five (5) similar requirements completed within the past five (5) years from the date of this announcement which demonstrates experience in providing all services included in this requirement. 6. Your company's intent to submit a quote should a solicitation be issued. Questions concerning the sources sought should be directed to Mouang Phan by email at mphan@usbr.gov. No phone calls please. This notice is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or to ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals and the Government will not be responsible for any costs incurred by respondents. This notice is for research and information purposes only. No award will be made as a result of this notice. System for Award Management (SAM), as required by FAR 4.1102, applies to this procurement. Prospective contractors must be registered prior to award. Lack of registration in the SAM database will make an offeror ineligible for award. Information on SAM registration can be obtained via the internet at https://www.sam.gov/SAM/.