District HQ Building Fire Barrier Upgrades

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Walla Walla District intends to issue a construction solicitation for a project titled: District HQ Building Fire Barrier Upgrades. The work will take place at the NWW HQ Building in Walla Walla County, Washington.

The current Walla Walla Headquarter Building has been in use for about 27 years after the original Walla Walla Headquarters relocated to the new building in 1995. The firestopping measures put in place during the original construction of the building are critical to the safety of personnel. These measures keep fire and smoke out of certain designated areas. The FY21 inspection revealed several rooms in the HQ building having insufficient firestopping measures and not meeting the fire barrier requirements. Many existing ducts, piping, conduit, and wires are improperly sealed as they penetrate horizontally through walls and vertically through ceilings, in their current condition. Some penetrations allow smoke to pass through and in other cases are not able to withstand fire for the necessary duration of that particular rating. In case of an actual fire or smoke event, life safety and property damages could be catastrophic due to insufficiencies in rated assemblies. This is direct endangerment to human life in safe-designated areas, and to government files. The deficiencies are required by code to be corrected.

The solicitation will be issued as an Invitation for Bid (IFB), and will result in a single firm fixed-price construction contract. This procurement is going out as an unrestricted, full and open action. 100% performance and payment bonds will be required for this project. The NAICS code for this procurement is 238310 - Fireproofing buildings. The small business size standard is $19 million. The magnitude of construction is estimated to be between $500,000 and $1,000,000.

The solicitation will be made available for download on the beta.sam.gov Contract Opportunities website in April 2023. Offerors are responsible for checking the referenced page for any updates to the Notice. The Government is not responsible for any loss of Internet connectivity or for an offeror’s inability to access the documents posted at the referenced website. Proposals will be due approximately 30 days after the solicitation is posted. The exact proposal due date will be indicated in the solicitation.

System for Award Management (SAM): Offerors must register in the SAM at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ prior to receiving an award.

Point of contact for this procurement is Nathan Bruce, Contract Specialist at nathan.i.bruce@usace.army.mil.

THE GOVERNMENT RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CANCEL THE SOLICITATION EITHER BEFORE OR AFTER THE CLOSING DATE. NO REIMBURSEMENT WILL BE MADE FO ANY COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH PROVIDING INFORMATION IN RESPONSE TO THIS PRE-SOLICITATION NOTICE OR ANY FOLLOW-UP INFORMATION REQUEST.

All on-site work shall be performed in accordance with the Corps of Engineers Safety and Health Requirements Manual (EM 385-1-1).

The Contractor will be responsible for establishing and managing an effective on-site Safety and Health program in accordance with EM 385-1-1 that will require the development and submission of a comprehensive project specific Accident Prevention Plan for Government acceptance. In addition, the Contractor will be required to develop and submit for Government acceptance Activity Hazard Analyses for each phase of work and a project specific Fall Protection Plan that comply with EM 385-1-1.

A Site Safety and Health Officer (SSHO) employed by the prime contractor shall be required for each shift of the contractor's on-site operations. The SSHO shall possess a minimum of 5-years of experience in construction safety on similar projects, shall have completed the 30-Hour OSHA Construction Safety training within the last 5-years, and shall have completed at least 24-hours of formal safety training each year for the past 5-years.

The contractor will be required to perform the on-site work in compliance with Government Safe Clearance/Hazardous Energy Control Procedures. Prior to commencing on-site work, the contractor will be required to complete applicable safe clearance training for all personnel working in areas involved with Hazardous Energy Control.

The project will involve the development and management of Contractor furnished submittals for items such as pre-construction plans, product data, test reports, and contract close-out documentation as required by the technical specifications of the contract.