Mid-plume groundwater remediation at the Walton & Lonsbury Superfund Site, Attleboro, Massachusetts

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District is issuing this Sources Sought Announcement to determine interest, availability, and capability of 8(a), HUBZone, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, Woman-Owned, and Small Business concerns to perform the work described below under a Best Value Fixed Price Remedial Action Contract (RAC). The NAICS code for this procurement is 562910 (size standard <1,000 employees). Remediation field work is expected to be performed in 2026, and two rounds of performance monitoring would be completed in 2027. The value of the project is expected to be in the $5M to $10M range.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District desires to identify contractors capable of providing Environmental Remediation Services for the installation of a permeable reactive barrier (PRB), or treatment line, using zero-valent iron (ZVI) to reduce hexavalent chromium (Cr[VI]) to less toxic trivalent chromium in groundwater in the mid-plume area of the site southeast of the Walton & Lonsbury (W&L) property. This work is part of ongoing remediation activities in accordance with the Record of Decision (ROD)(EPA, 2019).

Responses to this Sources Sought announcement will be used by the Government to make appropriate acquisition decisions. After reviewing responses to this announcement, and if the Government still plans to proceed with the acquisition, a solicitation announcement will be published in the https://sam.gov/ website for the respective project. NO SOLICITATION IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE. All interested offerors will have the opportunity to respond to the solicitation announcement later.

Project Information:

The W&L Superfund Site is a former electroplating facility that operated from 1940 to 2007. Since 2010, several environmental investigation and remediation activities have been performed at the site, including removal of W&L facility buildings and residual waste materials, excavation and disposal of contaminated site media, and installation of an engineered cover behind residences along Paulette Lane and North Avenue to prevent upwelling of chromium-contaminated groundwater to the ground surface and to prevent direct exposure to chromium-contaminated soil. A PRB was constructed on the downgradient edge of the cover, with the goal of using zerovalent iron (ZVI) to reduce hexavalent chromium (Cr[VI]) to the less toxic trivalent chromium in groundwater before it discharges into Bliss Brook southeast of the W&L property.

The selected remedy for the mid-plume of this project involves installing a minimum 2.5-foot-wide treatment line located along the west side of North Avenue, spanning 209 feet from approximately 80 ft south of PDI-MID-03S to approximately 25 ft north of PDI-MID-04D (see provided site plan) to depths ranging from approximately 25 to 35 feet below ground surface, keyed into the underlying till. The reactive medium is a 63% ZVI/37% sand mixture by weight on average. Bench and Pilot Tests performed by HGL environmental consultants have ruled out injection delivery methods. The USACE is open to other construction means and methods, but consideration must be given to the physical constraints at the site, including a limited working area between a busy road, overhead utility lines, and a wetland (see provided site plan). Management of contaminated saturated soil may be required. A temporary access road would need to be constructed across an existing wetland to facilitate construction of the treatment line. Note that minimizing the road footprint may allow the possibility of leaving the road after treatment line construction if flood storage compensation is maintained and wetland impacts can be mitigated through value enhancements and/or replication elsewhere.

Other work expected to be included with this contract:

• Preparation of work plans, including but not limited to:
  • Work Plan
  • Air Monitoring Plan
  • Noise and Vibration Monitoring Plan
  • Stormwater Management Plan
  • Waste Management Plan
  • Site Access/Traffic Control Plan
  • Accident Prevention Plan with Health & Safety Plan
  • Construction Quality Control Plan
  • Erosion Control Plan
  • Quality Assurance Project Plan with Sampling and Analysis Plan
• Utility Protection
• Tree Clearing
• Earthwork
• Installation of temporary access road to work site.
• Disposal of Contaminated Soil
• Installation of groundwater monitoring wells associated with the PRB.
• Groundwater monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of the PRB (Year 2).
• Wetland restoration.

All work will be performed in accordance with CERCLA, the September 2019 W&L Superfund Site ROD, and EPA green and sustainability principles.

Responses:

In order that we may assess your capability to perform this contract adequately, interested firms should submit a capabilities package to include, at the minimum, the following:

1. Firm’s name, address, point-of-contact, phone number, email address, CAGE and SAM.gov Unique Entity Identifier.

1. Business classification (e.g., small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business).
2. Project overview and description for up to five (5) sample treatment line remediation projects comparable in scale and complexity to the project described above that were completed within the past seven (7) years. The project overviews shall include a synopsis of the project including project name, client, photos, month/year the firm’s work started and completed; total contract value of the firm’s work specifically; physical size of the impacted area; reactive media emplacement means and methods; construction cost; and customer point-of-contact.
3. A table indicating whether the sample projects included any of the following elements:
   1. Method used to create the treatment line.
   2. Using ZVI for reactive media.
   3. Disposal/management of contaminated soil and groundwater.
   4. Working in or adjacent to wetlands.
   5. Constructing temporary access roads on or adjacent to wetlands.
   6. Preparation of Quality Assurance Projection Plans (QAPP) for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) review.
4. A description of the firm’s in-house capabilities to accomplish the above stated work requirements and how the firm will meet or exceed the requirements for Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.219-14 “Limitations on Subcontracting.”  It should also describe the plan/method to be used in selection of team subcontractors for disciplines not provided by in-house resources to ensure an appropriate level of experience and quality of work.
5. Any advice you would give the Government in planning for the procurement of the contract including potential issues related to a Best Value Fixed Price procurement.
6. Any advice you would give the Government on construction execution.
7. If work is intended to be done using a team, please indicate this and include information on the major subconsultant(s) on the team in the information requested above.

Responses should be limited to a pdf file that shall not exceed thirty 8.5x11 pages (not including cover sheet); 11x17 pages (count as two pages) can be used for the project overviews. Responses are due by March 21, 2025.  Responses should be emailed to Contract Specialist Kyle Hall at kyle.k.hall@usace.army.mil. NO APPOINTMENTS OR TELEPHONE CALLS WILL BE ACCEPTED. The Government will not pay for any material provided in response to this market survey nor return the data provided. This is not a request to be placed on a solicitation mailing list nor is it a Request for Proposal (RFP) or an announcement of a solicitation. The results of this survey will be in effect for a period of one year from the date of this notice.

THIS IS A NOTICE FOR SOURCES SOUGHT ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL OR INVITATION FOR BID. THERE IS NO BID PACKAGE, SOLICITATION, SPECIFICATION OR DRAWINGS AVAILABLE WITH THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A PROCUREMENT COMMITMENT BY THE US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE. NO CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED FROM THIS SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT. RESPONSE IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY; NO REIMBURSEMENT WILL BE MADE FOR ANY COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH PROVIDING INFORMATION IN RESPONSE TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT OR ANY FOLLOW-UP INFORMATION REQUESTS. THE GOVERNMENT SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR OR SUFFER ANY CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES FOR ANY IMPROPERLY IDENTIFIED INFORMATION.