CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE, BUFFALO, NEW YORK. This is a Pre-Solicitation Notice under which the General Services Administration (GSA) is publicizing our intention to contract for the Construction Services for a New U.S. Courthouse in Buffalo, New York based in accordance with GSA’s principals in achieving Construction Excellence. GSA intends to contract for complete construction services for a new U.S. Courthouse in Buffalo, NY with general construction contractors (GC) that offer the best overall value to the Government, by: demonstrating a commitment to construction excellence, providing and maintaining a viable team organization and adherence to the budgetary and time parameters for this project. The proposed U.S. Courthouse will be constructed in the Buffalo Downtown Commercial Business District (CBD), and will consist of approximately 24,246 m2 (260,982gsf) including 2,007 m2 (21,600 gsf) for indoor parking. The building will be occupied by the U.S. District Courts, U.S. Magistrate Courts, District Clerk of Court, U.S. Probation, Circuit Satellite Library, the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Attorney and GSA. The courthouse will provide five district courtrooms, four magistrate courtrooms, related office space, sally port, detention cells, and joint use GSA space, etc. In addition, fifty-four (54) secured, indoor parking spaces will be provided. Occupancy is planned for 2007. The Request For Proposals (RFP) will be issued on or about July 31, 2003. General construction contractors may request a copy of the RFP by submitting a one page letter request to the attention of Enrico Caruso, Contracting Officer, General Services Administration (GSA), Property Development Division, 26 Federal Plaza; New York, NY 10278 or by letter request via fax at (212) 264-0588 or via e-mail to
[email protected]. The Estimated Construction Cost at Award for the project is $70,000,000 to $75,000,000. A Pre-Proposal Conference is for Tuesday August 12, 2003, at 10:00 am Local Time at the Thaddeus J. Dulski Federal Building, located at 111 West Huron Street, Buffalo NY 14202. Any questions that offerors may have concerning the price and technical evaluation criteria will be answered. A Small Business Subcontracting Networking Session is scheduled to immediately follow the Pre-Proposal Conference. Any scope changes by the Government that may result from the pre-proposal conference may be incorporated into the Scope of Work at any time prior to the final request for price proposal submission at no recompense to the offeror(s). This procurement is being issued under the Small Business Competitive Demonstration Program, and will be open to both large and small business concerns. The NAICS code for this project is 236220 with a size standard of $28.5 million. The project is in Metric Units of Measure. The general construction contractor selected will be required to supply all labor, materials, supervision and constructability reviews during the A-E’s Design Phase to perform the complete services as required by the Scope of Work under the resultant contract. The contractor will be chosen competitively utilizing FAR Part 15 Source Selection procedures in conjunction with the Best Value Trade-off process. Based on the complexity and importance of this project, the Government deems it to be in its best interest to consider award to other than the lowest priced offeror or other than the highest technically rated offeror. Therefore, combined technical evaluation factors will be significantly more important than price. The final price will encompass all-inclusive costs for the entire project including the administrative cost of processing RFIs, change orders, etc. throughout the course of this project. The Government anticipates the award of a Fixed-Price Contract (see FAR Part 16.2), based on a final negotiated or accepted price, to the Offeror that provides the best overall value to the Government. The primary objective of this process is to select the most technically qualified contractor that offers the best overall value to the Government when all factors including price are considered. The entire procurement process will be performed in three (3) Stages, for a point total of 1000. [The selection of an Offeror will be made at the end of 50% construction documents]. Stage I Submission: The Government will issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for Technical and Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) submissions coincident with the end of the A/E Final Design Concept Phase. Stage I: Small Business Sub-Contracting Experience as a GO-NO GO Factor, subsequently the technical factors for Stage I will be as follows-point total 400: (1) Offeror’s Experience on Similar Projects (125 Points); (2) Offeror’s Past Performance on Similar Projects (125 Points); (3) Qualifications of Key Personnel of the Offeror (100 Points), and (4) Project Management Plan (50 Points). The submission of price will be simultaneous with the submission of the technical data but under separate cover and will be based on documents supplied by the A-E design firm relative to the Preliminary Design concepts. This price should reflect the contractor’s Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) for General Contractor Services. Following the evaluation of the technical proposals, a competitive range will be established of Offerors in accordance with FAR Part 15.306-(c). The Offerors in the competitive range will be involved from the A/E Final Design Concept Phase through the end of the 50% Construction Documents Phase. Any and all cost saving concepts and scope improvement measures submitted or discussed by the offerors as part of Stage II and III become the property of the Government and may be incorporated into the drawings and specifications for use under this project at no recompense to the offeror. Stage II: During this stage the Offerors in the competitive range will enter into the Participation Phase of the solicitation. The level of effort in this phase includes the following: Participation in two value engineering workshops lasting two days each, participation in two (2) project meetings, preparation of written comments, performance of one constructability review and preparation of one independent estimate during the Design Development Phase. Following the completion of this phase, the offerors’ efforts will be evaluated as follows - point total 200: Stage II Technical Evaluation Factors: (5) Design Development Participation Phase (200 Points maximum) will consist of the following sub-factors: (a) Value Engineering Workshop (50 pts.); (b) Written Comments/Ideas (50 pts.); (c) Design Development Constructability Review (50 pts.); (d) Estimate Development (50 pts.). The Offeror will supply a price that should reflect the offeror’s Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP). At the end of Stage II, the Offerors in the competitive range that participate in good faith will be provided a stipend (amount to be determined) for their total effort for the services rendered during this stage. Stage III: During this Stage, the Offerors in the competitive range will enter into the final phase of the solicitation coincident with the A/E 50% Construction Document Phase. Following completion of this phase the offerors’ efforts will be evaluated as follows- point total 400: Stage III Technical Evaluation Factors: (6) 50% Construction Documentation Phase will consist of the following sub-factors: (a) Construction Document Review, where the offerors will become familiar with these documents and provide in writing, additional ideas, recommendations, identify issues or concerns, substantial changes, cost impacts and any other information to assist the offerors as well as GSA, in ensuring that the project scope, schedule, budget are being fully addressed. (150 pts), (b) Construction Document Presentation (150 pts); (c) Detailed Project Management Plan and Technical Approach (100 pts). The offerors in the competitive range will engage in discussions with GSA, this should include a discussion of the offerors’ submission of their management plan and subcontractor information. After the discussion, the Government will request a revised technical proposal and the contractor’s Firm-Fixed Price Proposal for General Contractor Services. Also to be included will be a mandatory, proactive Subcontracting Plan, pursuant to FAR Part 19.705-4 encompassing the following minimum Socio-Economic Program minimum goals: Small Businesses (40%), Small Disadvantaged Businesses (8%), Woman Owned Small Businesses (5%), Hub Zone Small Businesses (3%), Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (3%) and Veteran Owned Small Businesses (5%). A failure to submit this plan in conjunction with the Stage III final price proposal, when requested, will render the offer non-responsive. All correspondence in response to this announcement must clearly indicate the solicitation number. Offerors are encouraged to submit their proposals on their most favorable terms and following the combination of the evaluation of technical factors 1-6 with the final price proposal submission, an award will be made to the Offeror (GC) that offers the best value to the Government. After the award of this contract to the selected Offeror (GC), a second stipend (amount to be determined) will be provided to each of the Offerors in the competitive range that participated in a good faith effort for their services rendered during Stage III. The selected Offeror (GC) will participate in Constructability Services for the 100% and Final Construction Documents Phase. The selected Offeror (GC) will receive a stipend (to be determined) for services during this Stage. The GSA will subsequently exercise an option for the construction of the project based on the availability of construction funding. Immediately following the Pre-Proposal Conference that is scheduled during Stage I, the General Services Administration (GSA) will host a Subcontracting Opportunities Networking Session for Small Businesses, Small Disadvantaged Businesses, Woman Owned Small Businesses, Hub-Zone Small Businesses, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses and Veteran Owned Small Businesses. The Networking Session is intended to affirm GSA’s recognition of the talent that exists in the small business community and its commitment to opening a dialogue between the community and the firms, which are considering bidding on this project. Prospective small business subcontractors will be given an opportunity to network with potential prime contractors and to showcase their special talents and abilities as qualified subcontractors.