NOTE: THIS IS A SYNOPSIS, NOT A SOLICITATION. SPECIFICATIONS ARE NOT AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME; THEREFORE NO QUESTIONS OF A TECHNICAL OR CONTRACTUAL NATURE WILL BE ACCEPTED OR ANSWERED UNTIL THE SOLICITATION IS ISSUED. INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS SYNOPSIS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. This will be an UNRESTRICTED procurement. All qualified business concerns may submit proposals. The US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District (CEMVN), seeks to purchase Bottomland Hardwood (BLH) mitigation bank credits located in the Barataria Basin watershed, as specified below, to compensate for unavoidable habitat losses caused by the construction of the New Orleans to Venice (NOV), Louisiana Project within the Louisiana Coastal Zone (CZ). As part of CEMVN’s plan to mitigate for unavoidable impacts to CZ BLH habitat caused by the construction of the NOV Project, CEMVN will purchase BLH mitigation bank credits able to mitigate CZ impacts (Louisiana Department of Natural Resources “LDNR” approved) in the Barataria Basin. The bank(s) from which credits will be purchased will be selected through a competitive solicitation/award process. Any mitigation bank meeting the eligibility requirements and having the appropriate resource type of credits may submit a proposal to sell credits. CEMVN may enter into one or more contracts to purchase the amount of credits necessary to meet 100% of CEMVN’s need at the time of purchase; however, CEMVN is not obligated to purchase a lesser amount of mitigation bank credits than it requires. A separate contract shall be executed for each bank credit purchase. Award will be made utilizing the lowest-price, technically acceptable source selection process. A mitigation bank must meet all of the following qualifications to be eligible to sell credits to satisfy the NOV Project mitigation requirements. For the proposal to be considered responsive and for the mitigation bank to be considered responsible, the mitigation bank shall: be approved by CEMVN and in full compliance with its Mitigation Banking Instrument (MBI), its other legal instruments (such as its conservation servitude and its financial assurances) and the standards set forth in 33 CFR Part 332; and be physically located within the Barataria Basin, which is coextensive with Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) 08090301; and provide the habitat type that matches the habitat type being mitigated; and have mitigation credits assessed using version 1.2 of the Wetland Value Assessment (WVA) Community Model available to compensate for the impacts to the particular habitat to be mitigated; and have a duly-recorded perpetual conservation servitude/easement. Models used for Civil Works projects are required to be certified by Headquarters USACE Model Certification Panel and comply with the certification criteria presented in EC 1105-2-412. Version 1.2 of the WVA BLH Community Model has been certified and was used to assess construction impacts. Accordingly, this model will be used to assess compensatory mitigation credit values. To facilitate the solicitation process, CEMVN, in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has run version 1.2 of the WVA on the approved banks in the Barataria Basin with available CZ BLH credits based on information provided by the bank sponsors during the bank approval process. The Value Model results will be included in the solicitation package. NAICS: 523910. A Request for Proposal (RFP) will be issued on or about March 26, 2021, with a proposal due date established. Actual issue date will be shown when the solicitation is issued. The solicitation documents for this procurement will be posted on the beta.SAM.gov website and can be accessed from a link located on this beta.SAM.gov website. You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader for .pdf files (www.adobe.com) in order to open most files posted by the CEMVN. You are encouraged, for marketing purposes, to register as an Interested Vendor in Beta.sam.gov. Prospective offerors must be registered in the Department of Defense “System for Award Management” (SAM) database prior to submittal of an offer in response to the Solicitation. To register, the beta.SAM Internet address is: https://beta.sam.gov. The Contract Specialist for this solicitation is Anedra Baldwin, 504-862-1754; or by e-mail at
[email protected].