SOURCES SOUGHT
S -- Utility privatization of the Electric, Water, and Wastewater distribution systems at Fairchild Air Force Base (AFB), Washington
- Notice Date
- 3/2/2009
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 221122
— Electric Power Distribution
- Contracting Office
- Defense Logistics Agency, DLA Acquisition Locations, Defense Energy Support Center, 8725 John J. Kingman Road, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, 22060-6222
- ZIP Code
- 22060-6222
- Solicitation Number
- SP0600-09-R-0820
- Archive Date
- 4/10/2009
- Point of Contact
- Mary Helen Dent,, Phone: 8502836624
- E-Mail Address
-
mary.dent@dla.mil
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Description: The Defense Energy Support Center (DESC) seeks to identify and obtain information from responsible sources in connection with the privatization of the electric distribution (NAICS 221122), water distribution (NAICS 221310), and wastewater collection (NAICS 221320) utility systems at Fairchild Air Force Base (AFB), Washington. Privatization is defined as the conveyance of a utility system to a municipal, private, regional, district, or cooperative utility company or other entity. The conveyance may consist of all right, title, and interest of the United States in the utility system. Utility Privatization (UP) will be accomplished in accordance with 10 U.S.C. §2688 – Utility Systems: Conveyance Authority. Contractor will be required to assume ownership of the electric, water, and wastewater utility systems at Fairchild AFB, Washington, and as the new owner, shall operate and maintain the system and provide utility services to the Government. Contractor shall furnish all necessary labor, management, supervision, permits, equipment, supplies, materials, transportation, and any other incidental items or services required for the complete ownership of and provision of utility services via these utility systems, including operation, maintenance, repair, upgrades, and improvements to the utility systems. This Sources Sought Notice (hereinafter “Notice”) is an essential step in determining market interest and feasibility. Responses received will be used to develop marketing strategies for the potential privatization of utilities at this installation. Should interest be determined sufficient, a formal solicitation may be forthcoming. Interested parties should provide a statement of interest on company letterhead by no later than 4:00 pm EST on April 3, 2009. Responses are preferred via e-mail, but hard copies and facsimiles will also be accepted. At a minimum, the statement of interest shall address: (1) capability and experience in utility privatization or owning and operating utility systems; (2) financial capability to justify potential award of such a contract; (3) a primary point of contact, including phone number and e-mail address; and (4) an indication of the size of the business (large, small, or any sub-category of small business). The potential opportunity for set-asides for small businesses and small disadvantaged businesses will be considered on the basis of the responses received. Offerors are hereby notified that the electric distribution system at Fairchild AFB, Washington currently receives hydropower allocation from Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). BPA is a federal agency headquartered in Portland, Oregon, that markets wholesale electricity and transmission to the Pacific Northwest’s public and private utilities as well as to some large industries. In order for Fairchild AFB to retain hydropower allocation, offerors must be existing preferred customers of BPA or capable of achieving BPA preferred status prior to contract award. Preferred status is defined as meeting BPA’s Standards for Service (SFS). No award will be made to any electric distribution offeror who cannot meet the BPA SFS. Offerors interested in obtaining this status should contact BPA for a copy of the SFS. The BPA point of contact for this action is Mr Michael Normandeau, BPA Power Services Account Executive. He may be reached via email at mrnormandeau@bpa.gov, via telephone at 509-625-1316, or via mail at 707 W. Main, Suite 500, Spokane, WA 99201. This Notice is solely for the Government’s use as a market research tool. As such, the issuance of a competitive solicitation is not guaranteed. If determined appropriate, then both a synopsis and a solicitation may be anticipated in the February 2009 timeframe. All responsible sources are encouraged to submit a response to this Notice. All information received will be considered. Failure to respond to this Notice does not preclude a firm from offering on any resultant solicitation; however, a lack of interest in this requirement may keep this effort from moving forward competitively. This announcement shall not be construed as a commitment or authorization to incur costs in anticipation of an award. The Government is not bound to make any awards under this Notice. If you are interested in this project, please provide the information requested above to the DESC Contracting Office. Installation Description: Fairchild AFB is approximately twelve miles west of Spokane, Washington in the Inland Empire of eastern Washington. Nestled in a high valley between the Cascade Mountains to the west and the Rocky Mountains to the east, the base enjoys relatively mild and dry weather virtually year-round. In 1947, the 92nd Bomb Group arrived at the newly named Spokane Air Force Base and has, under various designations, remained permanently assigned there ever since. In September 1950, after a series of name changes, the Air Force officially designated the installation Fairchild Air Force Base in honor of General Muir S. Fairchild. General Fairchild was a native of Bellingham, Washington who died the previous spring while serving at the Pentagon as the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff. The region enjoys four distinct seasons. Spokane is protected from the damp coastal weather found in Seattle, as well as from severe winter weather because of its location between the Cascade and Rocky mountain ranges. Precipitation amounts to only about 17 inches per year, while the average annual temperature is approximately 47° Fahrenheit. Fairchild AFB encompasses 4,223 acres of fee land plus an additional 1,318 acres in easements, 2 acres of leased property and 148 acres of permitted/licensed land. Fairchild AFB is also accountable for and maintains records for 19 geographically separated installations. These installations comprise 339 acres of fee lands, 55 acres in easements, 26,203 acres of leased property and 505,570 acres of permitted/licensed land from the Forest Service for the Cusick survival area. Family housing consists of 1,108 units on the main installation and 319 units located on geographically separated installations. Also, 2,199 enlisted personnel can be accommodated in dormitory spaces on the main installation in permanent-party and transient quarters. Fairchild AFB is second only to the State of Washington as the area’s largest employer. Approximately 7,625 people are employed by the base. Of this total, 4,118 are military personnel, 1,906 are civilian employees and 1,601 are Washington Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve personnel. The base’s average annual payroll exceeds $137 million. The electric distribution system being privatized is described as follows: The Fairchild AFB electric distribution system consists of all appurtenances physically connected to the distribution system from the point in which the distribution system enters the Installation and Government ownership currently starts to the point of demarcation, defined by the Right of Access, as presented in Section J1.12. The system may include, but is not limited to, transformers, circuits, protective devices, utility poles, duct banks, switches, street lighting fixtures, manholes, transformer vaults, meters, and other ancillary fixed equipment. The actual inventory of items sold will be in the bill of sale at the time the system is transferred. The following description and inventory is included to provide the Contractor with a general understanding of the size and configuration of the distribution system. The Government makes no representation that the inventory is accurate. The Contractor shall base its proposal on site inspections, information in the technical library, other pertinent information, and to a lesser degree the following description and inventory. Fairchild AFB Military Family Housing was privatized in FY08. Specifically excluded from the electric distribution system privatization are: Airfield Lighting, Emergency Power Generators, Parking lots and pedestrian pathway lighting fed off the building internal source, offsite locations of Tacoma Creek and Ruby Creek, and Military Family Housing: Command Circle, Ft. Wright Village, Galena Station, NCO Capehart, Officer Capehart. The Fairchild AFB primary distribution system contains three feeders that run between the North and South Substations (Feeders 1, 2, and 3). Each primary feeder contains a normally open switch that establishes the north-south break point between the north and south feeders. The distribution system is primarily an underground system, with Feeder 1S being the exception. Feeder 1S consists primarily of overhead distribution, with a limited amount of underground. The primary distribution system consists of two substations and three primary feeders. The North Substation is supplied 115 kV power from the Airway Heights Line and the South Substation is supplied 115 kV power from the Sunset-Westside Line. Both lines are owned by Avista Utilities. The North Substation contains a single 10/12.5 MVA, 115 kV-13.2 kV step-down transformer. The North Substation transformer supplies the three north side feeders (Feeders 1N, 2N, and 3N) via 1,200 ampere metal clad switchgear. All north side feeders are underground lines, with limited areas of overhead distribution in housing areas. The South Substation contains a single 12/14/16 MVA, 115 kV-13.2 kV step-down transformer. The South Substation transformer supplies the three south side feeders (Feeders 1S, 2S, and 3S) via 1,200 ampere metal clad switchgear. Feeders 2S and 3S are underground lines and Feeder 1S is the one remaining area of overhead distribution at the base. The main north-south lines of each feeder contain numerous pad-mounted switchgear and/or load-break junction boxes. The switchgear and junction boxes provide sectionalizing capability for the system. The primary line switchgear is predominately 4-compartment switches rated at 600 amperes, with a small number of FPC switchgear of the same rating. The switchgear generally contains one or two fused disconnects to supply loop or radial branch circuits. The junction boxes are primarily units with load-break elbow connectors. The system contains one automatic switch for the Hospital branch circuit, Switch S3-080. Switch S3-080 is also the normal north-south break point for Feeder 3. The hospital is normally supplied from Feeder 3S. If a loss of normal power is detected, the switch automatically aligns the hospital branch circuit to Feeder 3N. A total of ten primary transformers are located inside three different buildings on Fairchild AFB. The transformers range in size from 100 to 750 kVa. Most of the transformers are located in building 2050, which is located on the Flight Line. The water distribution system being privatized is described as follows: The Fairchild AFB water distribution system consists of all appurtenances physically connected to the distribution system from the point in which the distribution system enters the Installation and Government ownership currently starts to the point of demarcation, defined by the Right of Access. The system may include, but is not limited to, pipelines, valves, fire hydrants, storage facilities, exterior backflow devices, pumps, water treatment facilities, wells, and meters. The actual inventory of items sold will be in the bill of sale at the time the system is transferred. The following description and inventory is included to provide the Contractor with a general understanding of the size and configuration of the distribution system. Items specifically excluded from the utilities privatization effort are: Fire Protection Systems, Backflow Prevention Devices located inside existing facilities, Lawn Irrigation Systems, and Military Family Housing: Command Circle, Ft. Wright Village, Galena Station, NCO Capehart, Officer Capehart. The Latah (Hangman) Creek Aquifer, from which Fairchild AFB draws some of its drinking water, is centered on Latah (Hangman) Creek. The majority of the base’s water supply is provided by the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie (SVRP) Aquifer. The base's Fort George Wright groundwater wells have a ground elevation of 1,690-1,697 feet above Mean Sea Level (MSL) and are fed from both aquifers. The water must be pumped uphill 744 feet in 11.21 miles of pipeline to the elevation of the main base's “Water Plant” Bldg 2169. The Fort George Wright Annex water well complex was constructed over a 17-year period beginning in 1943. The complex is comprised of five wells that are pumped by five electrically-driven pumps. The wells tap into an underground water flow from both the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer and the Latah (Hangman) Creek Aquifer that extends south of Spokane. The water pumped from the aquifers is pure enough to drink right out of the well, but to meet health standards; there is an application of chlorine at Geiger Reservoir. The actual combined output of the Ft. Wright well field is not merely the sum of each pump’s individual output. Due to backpressure from the other wells on a common discharge pipe, the combined actual pumping capacity is 4,420 gpm when they are all running at the same time. The water is pumped from the wells through a 16" steel pipe through the inactive Rimrock Booster Station. Here it passes to a 16" concrete cylinder (CCP) pipeline installed in 1950 and although it has never been replaced, it is in decent condition. The water continues to the 515,254-gallon Geiger Reservoir, located northeast of Spokane International Airport. From there, the water is pumped by four pumps (with a combined capacity of 4,100 gpm) to the storage tanks at the main pump house on base (each with a capacity of 464,783 gallons each). The main pump house (Bldg 2169) is equipped with three electrically-driven pumps (with ratings of 2 ea. @ 2,000 gpm, and 1 ea. @ 1,200 gpm). The three pumps are used to fill the three storage tanks via the water distribution pipeline grid. The three pumps can run on generator power. The total on-base rated pumping capacity is approximately 6,200 gpm (including Well #2). The water is fluoridated before entering the ground storage tanks. Located at the extreme southeast corner of Fairchild AFB, the 725-gpm Well #2 pumps water to the water distribution grid and to the elevated storage tanks. It is a permanent water source which was once utilized in the summer months (prior to 2007) as a seasonal well to meet irrigation water demand. The well water is chlorinated at the well site. This well has a 250 kW backup electrical generator to pump water during commercial power outages. The distribution system consists of 10- and 12-inch main distribution pipelines, with 6- and 8-inch pipelines forming the grid network to serve Fairchild AFB. There is no tracer wire on pipe installed in the 1950’s. Although the City of Spokane’s standard is ductile iron, all new and replaced infrastructure piping base-wide is mostly C900 PVC. The average pipe depth is 4.5’ but may range from 3 to 20 feet in depth. Leaks in the distribution system occur once every few months from corrosion of the piping material. Old age is frequently the cause; leaks are repaired as required. American Leak Detection fixed numerous leaks over several years that have improved the water distribution system making the wells more efficient. Several valves on-base were tested and replaced in 2006. All cross-connections within Fairchild AFB have been fitted with backflow prevention devices. Turf grasses and landscaping require irrigation to survive. Water used for irrigation constitutes a majority of the base's water consumption during June-August. Water to White Bluff is completely independent from the water system supplying water to the Main Base due to a 730’-deep well (second well at site is inactive)that supplies the area with potable water. The site's water is pumped through a 4" line to a 65,000-gallon storage tank. A hypo chlorinator supplies a diluted solution of bleach to maintain a chlorine residual between 0.2 and 0.4 ppm. The hypo chlorinator is actuated by the well pump controller. Water is pumped from the ground storage tank to a pressure system which is made up of a pressure tank, two 35-gpm pumps, and an air compressor. Normal operating pressure for this system is between 45 and 60 psi. The pumps and compressor are operated by a mercury control which actuates the pumps to fill the pressure holding tank to a predetermined level which is marked on the sight glass on the end of the tank. When this level is reached, the pump(s) turn(s) off and the compressor will start pumping air into the tank at a predetermined pressure, then the compressor will shut off. Clear Lake Recreation Area is also independent from the Main Base distribution. The existing 340’-deep well pumps to 4 water storage reservoirs. The well house is adjacent to cabins that serve military and DOD personnel from mid-April through Labor Day. Restrictions have been imposed due to reducing amount of well water. A complete renovation of the water system was done for the grand opening of the renovated resort ten years ago. The Tacoma Creek Command Post has a 72'-deep, 23-gpm drilled well that serves the SERE School staff of three instructors. The Ruby Creek Command Post has its own 114’-deep, 25-gpm well. Both posts are comprised of new and or recently refurbished infrastructure. Fairchild AFB does not have federal reserved water rights for their wells. The wells are not located on public domain land, but are acquired parcels of property. Federal ownership of the land does not qualify a water source for federal reserved water rights status. The wastewater collection system being privatized is described as follows: The Fairchild AFB wastewater system consists of all appurtenances physically connected to the collection system from the point of demarcation defined by the Right of Access. The system may include, but is not limited to, pipelines, manholes, and lift stations. The actual inventory of items sold will be in the bill of sale at the time the system is transferred. The following description and inventory is included to provide the Contractor with a general understanding of the size and configuration of the system. Items specifically excluded from the wastewater system privatization are: All Septic Systems, including Ruby Creek, Tacoma Creek, and White Bluff, Grease Traps, Oil/Water Separators, and Military Family Housing: Command Circle, Ft. Wright Village, Galena Station, NCO Capehart, Officer Capehart. All sanitary wastewater is collected in the sanitary sewer system. Wastewater conveyance is mainly through a combination of gravity sewers aided with four lift stations. It is eventually treated at the City of Spokane Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility located north of Spokane. Wastewater discharge is monitored by the city for arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, cyanide, lead, mercury, nickel, silver, zinc and fats, oil and grease. Fairchild AFB has a sewage collection system that serves most areas of the base; local septic tanks handle some of the smaller, more remote areas. The collection system consists of a network of pipes ranging in size from 1.25” to 30” and consists of mainly concrete pipes with some vitrified clay and PVC pipes. The burial depth of the pipe ranges from three to twenty feet. All lines merge at the far northeast corner of the base where a single 30- inch concrete pipe carries the discharge to the Spokane regional sewer system for final treatment and disposal. Most of the system is 50 years old or more. Original pipe materials of construction included vitrified clay and concrete. Later expansions and upgrades have used PVC and have included fiberglass lining of some pipes and manholes. Overall, there are an estimated 146,000 linear feet of sanitary sewer pipe and 440 manholes in the main base area of Fairchild. The remote areas of Fairchild AFB include White Bluff, Clear Lake, Tacoma Creek, and Ruby Creek. Wastewater at Clear Lake is partly collected via a septic system, while White Bluff, Tacoma Creek, and Ruby Creek are completely collected via septic systems. All septic systems are excluded from privatization. Additional installation information may be located at: http://public.fairchild.amc.af.mil/ Central Point of Contact The point of contact for this action is: Mary Helen Dent, Contracting Officer, Phone: 850-283-6624, Fax: 850-283-6466, E-mail: mary.dent@dla.mil (email is preferred method of communication)
- Web Link
-
FedBizOpps Complete View
(https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=bb6af02868edfb96f6433133cec0e1fb&tab=core&_cview=1)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Place of Performance, Address:Fairchild AFB, WA, Fairchild AFB, Washington, 99011, United States
- Zip Code: 99011
- Zip Code: 99011
- Record
- SN01760120-W 20090304/090302215910-bb6af02868edfb96f6433133cec0e1fb (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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