Inactive

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITVE PROPOSALS: This is not a solicitation or a request for proposal and no contract will be awarded from this notification. No solicitation or specifications are avail... THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITVE PROPOSALS: This is not a solicitation or a request for proposal and no contract will be awarded from this notification. No solicitation or specifications are available at this time. Please monitor FBO, this sources sought will not be linked to a solicitation. Description of Requirement: The United States Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of the Secretary (OST), Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center), intends to solicit, negotiate, and award on a sole source basis a contract to CDM Federal Programs Corporation, located in Fairfax, VA. The Government intends to procure, through an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract using both Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) and Firm Fixed Price (FFP) task orders for scientific and technical consulting services to support the development and evaluation of environmental standards for USCG equipment permitting programs and type approval. The Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) is conducting market research to determine if any Small Business sources have the current relevant qualifications, experience, personnel, and capability to perform the work described herein under a program entitled "Technical Support for U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Ballast Water Management (BWM)" Program". The primary NAICS code for this sources sought notice is NAICS 541690 Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services The National Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 (PL 101-646), as amended by National Invasive Species Act of 1996 (PL 104-332), authorized the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to develop and implement a regulatory program to prevent the introduction of Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) into the waters of the United States by vessels discharging ballast water. Pursuant to the National Invasive Species Act of 1996 (hereinafter "NISA"), the USCG published regulations that established the National Ballast Water Management (BWM) Program for U.S. Waters. The program applies to all vessels that are equipped with ballast water tanks and transit the waters of the United States bound for ports or places in the United States. A key component of the USCG BWM program requires that all vessels manage their ballast water if entering U.S. waters after operating outside of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The USCG's Final Rule, Standards for Living Organisms in Ships' Ballast Water Discharged in U.S. Waters (Federal Register Vol. 7, No. 57; March 23, 2012), requires that ships manage ballast water to comply with the discharge standard. While some options exist for managing ballast water without treatment (for example, no discharge of ballast water, use of public drinking water, use of a shore-based discharge facility), the USCG expects that most ships will meet the discharge standard by employing treatment technologies. The Volpe Center provides technical support for the USCG's Environmental Standards Division (CG-OES-3) Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) and BWM programs. The support is specifically for the Ship Technology Evaluation Program (STEP), Alternate Management System (AMS) Program, and Ballast Water Treatment System type approval process. These programs evaluate the engineering design and performance of ballast water treatment systems, integration of the treatment system into ship's operations overall and its ballast management regime, biological study plan and experimental design for determining the operational and biological efficacy. To perform these tasks, the Volpe Center will assemble and manage a Review Panel consisting of a project manager, marine biologist, micro biologist and marine and water treatment engineers who are subject matter experts. Contractor personnel for these tasks shall consist of a marine and micro biologist, and water treatment engineer experienced with shipboard ballast water treatment systems. Responsiveness to the tasks must follow the Coast Guard's guidelines. In order to best provide the needed quality support, the Volpe Center anticipates assistance in the following seven (7) task areas. 1. Participate in intergovernmental and industry stakeholder BWM technical conferences and teleconferences to address current tasks and emerging technical issues. 2. In support of the Ship Technology Evaluation Program (STEP), perform assessments of prototype ballast water treatment systems designed to kill or deactivate marine life by experts in marine biology and engineering. The work will include desktop reviews of system engineering specifications and experimental study plans for assessing treatment effectiveness, field observation of the system's operations and the execution of the tests. 3. Review Alternate Management System (AMS) applications, including detailed evaluations of data packages submitted by manufacturers to demonstrate the biological efficacy of foreign type approved Ballast Water Treatment (BWT) technologies for use in U.S. waters. 4. Perform larger scale analyses of the biological efficacy data held by the USCG on previously accepted AMS submissions. 5. In support of the U.S. Type Approval Program for BWT systems, assess the scaling methods used by BWT systems manufacturers when they increase the treatment rated capacity (ballast water flow rates) by combining base units in series or parallel. 6. Analyze the data vendors provide with an AMS application for missing information compared to the data requirements for U.S. Type Approval. 7. Resolve disparities between the vendor's and the independent laboratory's assessment of test data requirements for U.S. Type Approval. All interested firms must submit a written capability statement (maximum six pages) to the above and named point of contact providing clear and convincing detailed evidence of the firms' capability to provide the required seven task areas as follows: 1. Identify past professional experience which provides clear and convincing evidence demonstrating that your firm is qualified to perform work under all seven (7) task areas identified above. Without the required documentation your response will be considered non-responsive and will not be considered. Please include points of contact and telephone numbers for all referenced projects for verification. 2. Does your firm qualify to compete under NAICS 541690? If yes and assuming question #1 above has provided clear and convincing evidence of your capabilities, will your firm compete? 3. Does your firm have a nationwide presence or capability to meet all 7 tasks no matter where or when they may occur? (If yes, please address in as much detail how you would meet each task through current capabilities and/or national locations of current offices?) 4. Is your firm registered in System for Award Management (SAM)? If yes, please provide both your SAM identification number and DUNS number, and ensure you're Reps and Certs are current or up to date in SAM. https://www.sam.gov/portal/pub!ic/SAM/. If not, you are required to be registered in SAM to do any business with the government. Your capabilities statement shall address all four (4) questions and shall not exceed six (6) type written single pages using 11 font size and Times New Roman. Failure to provide the requested detail addressing your past or current work in all seven tasks and responses to all four (4) questions within the six (6) single page maximum will result in your firm not being considered responsive. AGAIN, THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS. Interested firms must submit a written capability statement (maximum six pages) to the cited named point of contact providing clear and convincing evidence of the firms' capability to provide the required services. Written capability statements must be submitted within seven (7) calendar days from the date of publication of this synopsis. Responses received after seven (7) calendar days or without the required documentation will be considered non-responsive and will not be considered. Such documentation will be utilized solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. The Government will not pay for any documentation provided in response to this synopsis and documentation received will not be returned to the sender. Such documentation will be utilized solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. The Government will not pay for any documentation provided in response to this synopsis and documentation received will not be returned to the sender. Government will accept no phone calls, skyping, and/or face-timing regarding this or any subject-matter related to this requirement. A determination by the Government to compete or not to compete this requirement on a full and open competitive basis will be based upon responses received to the synopsis and is solely within the discretion of the Government. Statements of Capability should be sent no later than April 30, 2019 at 5:00 PM ET too: Roland Regan, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, 55 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02142 or by email to Roland.Regan@dot.gov.