The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers intends to award a sole source firm fixed-price type contract to IHS-Global Insight, Incorporated. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is involved in collecting and maintaining critical navigation information for the general benefit of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers District offices for study applications and decision-making support. The total work effort described here will add to that inventory of strategic navigation information by providing quick accessible information on current and projected traffic flows between individual U.S. ports and harbors and international countries of origination or destination. Future traffic flows will be forecasted to provide planning information and support the Corps' civil works program evaluation. The capability to evaluate deep-draft waterborne trade flows at the port level, both from the perspective of historical, present, and the foreseeable future is often required for the execution of detailed project evaluations for new waterway improvements as well as evaluation of the programs for ongoing maintenance and operation (O&M) of current or existing projects. The requirement to sole source is due to the fact that prior work has been completed in developing an information framework that compiles information on historical, current, and foreseeable traffic flows by commodity and vessel type(s) between U.S. ports and foreign countries or trade partners. This information framework is part of the World Trade Service (WTS), a proprietary commercial product available from IHS Global Insight. This service is a forecast of trade by commodity, general vessel type and volume for U.S. coastal regions or reaches (i.e., North Atlantic, South Atlantic, etc.) over a 20-year forecast horizon. The purpose of this continued effort is to develop a second generation information framework (tentatively identified as the U.S. Port Trade Navigator) incorporating considerably more detail for cargo and waterborne traffic projections and respective trade flows that can be cross-tabulated or stratified by vessel type and vessel characteristics. The required Firm-Fixed-Price contract will provide for IHS Global Insight to modify their "Trade Navigator" software to allow for the disaggregation of WTS regional coastal forecasts to the individual port level. IHS Global Insight will also disaggregate the vessel fleet associated with these port-level trade forecasts into discrete vessel categories according to service, size, and capacity stratifications that will allow Corps planners and economists to determine channel depth requirements for vessels forecasted to call at individual U.S. coastal deep draft harbors. USACE is requesting two general deliverable products with the first, Product I, to be considered a requirement, and the second, Product II, to be proposed as an option for acquisition by the Government. The first product primarily constitutes a one-time extraction or "dump" of data and statistics of the WTS system with disaggregation of corresponding tonnage forecasts according to year, U.S. port, origin/destination, commodity (where available) and general mode of waterborne transport (i.e., containerized versus bulk, etc.) for a specified number of ports of interest. The second product involves providing the same capability with enhancements to include estimation or forecast of supporting fleet service frequency according to carrier type, deadweight ton (DWT) class, and summer load-line draft (SLLD) class within a computerized system directly accessible by USACE personnel. These items are generally described as follows: a. Product I: Complete analyses and work at the level of effort executable with the existing WTS system for the top 24 U.S. ports as prioritized by HQUSACE and deliver the results in an Excel workbook, Access database, or Oracle database. b. Product II: Further develop the Trade Navigator as a system directly accessible via the internet by Corps personnel to support analysis of any U.S. Coastal deep-draft port (as needed) for which the Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC) compiles data, with a capability and option for continued annual maintenance to support ongoing USACE access and usage. This contract will include allowances for Option Years 1 through 4. Each Option Year provides for continued maintenance of the Trade Navigator software module developed in the Base Year, and continued access by USACE economists and planners to this tool in conjunction with IHS Global Insight's WTS forecast subscription service. This is a special notice prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii), Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. However, any firm that believes it can meet this requirement may give written notification to the Contracting Officer within 15 days from the date of publication of this announcement. Supporting evidence must be in sufficient detail to demonstrate the ability to comply with the requirement. Responses received will be evaluated; however, a determination by the Government to compete the proposed procurement based on the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. If no responses are received, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will proceed with awarding a Firm Fixed Price contract to IHS Global Insight, Inc. for these services. These services will be provided to the US Army Corps of Engineers, Institute of Water Resources, Alexandria, VA. Point of Contact for this requirement is Nancy Hilleary at
[email protected], 7701 Telegraph Road, Alexandria, VA 22315.