SYNOPSIS:
INTRODUCTION:
In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 10.002(b)(2), this Sources Sought Notice is for market research and information purposes only at this time and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The VA, Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Program Contracting Activity Central (PCAC) is conducting a market survey and is seeking potential sources for the Design Specialty Care Building construction project (project number 608-315) at the Manchester VA Medical Center (VAMC) located in Manchester, NH. The Request for Information reference ID is 36C77624Q0117.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
This project will construct an approximately 12,830 sf addition to Building 1 for Audiology and Eye Clinic services. The contractor’s responsibilities are, but not limited to, furnishing all labor, equipment, and materials required to prepare the site and construct the building addition as shown in the drawings, specifications, and project documents.
The project includes site work, reconfiguration of existing utilities and new connections to existing utilities. Most of the utility connections for the addition are new connections to campus utilities. The project includes new underground piping and conduit to connect to the campus steam plant, emergency generators, and switchgear. It also includes new connections to the existing campus water distribution, sanitary, and stormwater systems and installation of a new stormwater infiltration system. Site work includes ledge removal, a retaining wall, minor modification to an existing parking lot, new sidewalks, bollards, and landscaping.
The addition is primarily a single-story addition to the west end of the first floor of Building 1. It has a small basement to accommodate steam system infrastructure and a mechanical penthouse containing the air handler, an electrical room, and other components of the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing infrastructure. The addition connects along the length of the existing building and requires modification of the existing exterior wall and windows, an expansion joint, and connecting the roofs.
The project includes providing and installing audiology booths and utilization of specialized construction details to acoustically isolate the audiology booths.
The sprinkler, fire alarm, building controls, and security systems will connect to the existing systems in Building 1.
Work takes place adjacent to operational clinical space on a fully operational medical center campus. The project includes measures to minimize disruption to existing clinic operations, including construction and infection control barriers, phasing, noise mitigation, and off hours work for particularly disruptive work, such as utility outages.
PROCUREMENT INFORMATION:
The proposed project will be a competitive, firm-fixed-price contract utilizing the design-bid-build approach (Final Specifications and Drawings will be provided). The anticipated solicitation will be issued as a Request for Proposal (RFP) in accordance with FAR Part 15, considering Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA). The results and analysis of the market research will finalize the determination of the procurement method. The type of socio-economic set-aside, if any, will depend upon the responses to this notice and any other information gathered during the market research process.
This project is planned for advertising in late-April 2024. In accordance with VAAR 836.204, the magnitude of construction is between $10,000,000.00 and $20,000,000.00 (Note that the VAAR magnitude of construction is closer to the higher end of this range). The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 236220 (size standard $45.0 million) applies to this procurement. The duration of the project is currently estimated at 540 calendar days from the issuance of a Notice to Proceed. The services for this project will include providing all construction related services such as: providing labor, materials and equipment required to complete the project as per contract documents prepared by an independent Architect-Engineer firm.
CAPABILITY STATEMENT:
Respondents shall provide a general capabilities statement to include the following information:
Section 1: Provide company name, DUNS number and Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), company address, Point-of-Contact name, phone number and email.
Section 2: Provide company business size based on NAICS code 236220. Also, provide business type (i.e., Large Business, Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, Women-Owned Small Business, Hub Zone Small Business, etc.).
Section 3: Provide a Statement of Interest in the project. As part of this statement, please indicate if your firm is more likely to submit a bid if it is competed as a FAR 14, Invitation for Bid, (Price Only) as opposed to a FAR 15 solicitation using Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) under a Request for Proposal. Would a FAR 15 procurement dissuade you from submitting a proposal?
Section 4: Provide the prime contractor’s available bonding capacity in the form of a letter of intent from your bonding company with this submission. Provide the amount of aggregate bonding remaining at this time. *Please ensure that the individual bonding capacity is in line with the VAAR Magnitude of Construction listed above and is provided for the Prime contractor.
Section 5: Provide the type of work your company has performed in the past in support of the same or similar requirement. This section is IMPORTANT as it will help to determine the type of socio-economic set-aside, if any. Please provide the following in your response:
- No more than three (3) contracts that your company has performed within the last seven (7) years that are of comparable size, complexity, and scope to this requirement. Include the project name, project owner and contact information as this person may be contacted for further information, project scope, project size (Example: square footage), building use (Example: Medical Facility, Office Building, etc.), project dollar value, start and completion dates.
- Describe specific technical skills and key personnel your company possess to perform the requirements described under description of work.
- Describe your Self-Performed** effort (as either a Prime or Subcontractor). Describe Self-Performed work in terms of dollar value and description. **Self-Performed means work performed by the offeror themselves, NOT work performed by another company for them for any of the project examples provided.
- Provide a response to each of the following items:
- Describe your company’s experience managing a construction project of this magnitude ($10-$20M range).
- Discuss your specific experience with previous projects constructing new outpatient space. What was the dollar value and project title, and what was your role?
- Describe in detail your company’s experience in the following areas:
- Site work, including retaining walls;
- Underground utilities i.e., water, sewer, and electric with utility tie-ins and coordinated outages;
- Underground stormwater infiltration systems;
- Steam utility construction and tie-in to a central plant;
- Excavation and trenching;
- Structural concrete, foundations, slabs, structural steel;
- Connecting new construction to an existing building; and
- Audiology booth installation or specialty acoustic construction.
- Describe your experience demonstrating an ability to manage multiple simultaneous construction crews, and how you plan to adequately staff to work multiple areas of the project at once to reduce schedule impact to meet Specialty Care Building construction timeline.
- Include your demonstrated ability to manage subcontractors and maintain work schedule timelines.
- Describe your Phasing experience: This includes your ability to use an existing system online while building what is being replaced, and transition to take down the old system and install the new system. Demonstrate your ability to schedule work to minimize impact to the existing facility, including minimizing downtime of existing roadways.
- Describe your experience mitigating the impacts of construction, such as noise and dust, on adjacent occupied space.
It is requested that interested contractors submit a response (electronic submission) of no more than ten (10) single sided pages, single-spaced, 12-point font minimum that addresses the above information. This response must be submitted as a single application-generated (not scanned) PDF document that is less than or equal to 4MB in size. Please note that hard copies will not be accepted. Please also include a cover page, which includes, at a minimum: the company’s name, address, Dun & Bradstreet number, Unique Entity Identifier (if available), socio-economic status, point-of-contact name, phone number, and e-mail address. Responses must include “36C77624Q0117 – Sources Sought Specialty Care Building” in the subject line of their e-mail response. Submissions (responses) shall be submitted via email to the primary and secondary points of contact listed below by April 1, 2024, at 3:00 PM ET. No phone calls will be accepted.
The Capabilities Statement submitted in response to this Sources Sought shall not be considered to be a bid or proposal. This notice is for information and planning purposes only and is neither to be construed as a commitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for information solicited. No evaluation letters and/or results will be issued to the respondents. After completing its analyses, the Government will determine whether to limit competition among the small business categories listed above or proceed with full and open competition as other than small business.
At this time no solicitation exists; therefore, please do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released it will be synopsized in Contract Opportunities at https://sam.gov/. It is the potential offeror's responsibility to monitor this site for the release of any solicitation or synopsis.
Contracting Office Address:
VHA Program Contracting Activity Central (VHA-PCAC)
6100 Oak Tree Blvd. Suite 490
Independence, OH 44131
Primary Point of Contact:
Shardae Webb
Contract Specialist
Shardae.Webb@va.gov
Secondary Point of Contact:
Maria Rodeffer
Contracting Officer
Maria.Rodeffer@va.gov
