Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District, 100 Penn Square East, Rm 643, Philadelphia, PA 19107

19 -- DESIGN, CONSTRUCT, TEST, AND DELIVER A MOTOR TENDER Sol. DACW61-97-R-0004. Contact Point, Contract Specialist, William A. Bailey, 215/656-6932. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers intends to procure a Tender for use in support of the Crane Barge TITAN in the Philadelphia District. The vessel to be acquired shall be a self-propelled, twin screw, diesel-powered tender of all welded steel construction. The vessel shall have two engines with a total continuous rating of 500 to 600 Hp. The dimensions of the vessel shall be between 45 and 55 feet in length. The maximum draft of the vessel shall not exceed 5 feet at full load. The vessel shall be constructed to meet all American Bureau of Shipping, U.S. Coast Guard, and other marine construction regulatory standards. Testing will be required and must be performed in open water prior to delivery. The acquisition will be performed using the Two-Step Formal Advertising Method described in Subpart 14.5 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations. Step One consists of submitting technical proposals. The technical proposals will be evaluated to determine that (a) The proposal is numbered, dated and signed by a Corporate Officer, (b) The proposed contains all the data and information required by Part III, ``Proposal Requirements'', (c) The vessel is within the range of physical dimensions of Part III. ``Design Criteria'', (d) The proposed hull form is an existing design with proven performance, suitable for and capable of operating safely in the service and conditions outlined in the Design Criteria, or is based upon a significant body of credible research, (e) The proposal contains an adequate plan for the Evaluation Team to witness operation of the proposed vessel hull and verify performance, (f) The vessel meets all the design criteria of Part II, ``Design Criteria'', of the RFTP (Request For Technical Proposal), (g) Simplicity of construction and ease of maintenance are apparent in all features, (h) All machinery and equipment applications are appropriate for the intended service and represent machinery currently in production and in use in similar service, (i) Pilothouse and control locations are such that the operator has unobstructed visibility about the vessel, particularly when underway, (j) Superstructure arrangement and headroom provide adequate working space, and (k) ``First Class'' workboat practice is apparent in all aspects of design. The technical proposals SHALL NOT include prices or pricing information. The RFTP will be made available on or about 4 Dec. 1996, with Technical Proposals due by close-of-business 8 Jan. 1997. Offerors should submit proposals that are acceptable without additional explanation or information. The Government may make a final determination regarding a proposal's acceptability solely on the basis of the proposal as submitted; however, the Government may request additional information from offerors of proposals that it considers reasonably susceptible of being made acceptable and may discuss proposals with their offerors. Only one technical proposal may be submitted by each offeror. A notice of unacceptability will be forwarded to the offeror upon completion of the proposal evaluation and final determination of unacceptability. In the Second Step: (a) Only bids based upon technical proposals determined to be acceptable, either initially or as a result of discussion, will be considered for award, and (b) Each bid in the Second Step must be based on the bidder's own technical proposal. Step Two will be accomplished by Sealed Bid Procedures. Award will be made as a whole to one bidder. The applicable SIC code is 3731 and the sized standard is 1000 employees. All requests for a proposal package must be in writing. Telephonic requests for the proposal package will not be honored. This acquisition is 100 percent Set-Aside for Small Business Concerns. (3230)

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