National Park Service, Denver Service Center, P.O. Box 25287, Denver, Colorado 80225-0287

C -- INDEFINITE QUANTITY ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACT FOR SERVICES FOR PROJECTS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES SOL 1443-CX-2000-98-031 POC Point of Contact -Edward L. Tafoya, Contracting Officer, Phone 303 969-2116 WEB: Contracting Services Group, http://www.nps.gov/dsc/dsccon. E-MAIL: National Park Service, Denver Service Center, contracts_dsc@nps.gov. The National Park Service (NPS) is seeking a team or teams (prime contractor with subcontractors or consultants) to provide Architect/Engineering (A/E) services for projects related to aviation and noise issues and research affecting NPS areas throughout the United States and its possessions and territories. The Government may elect to award a single task order contract or to award multiple task order contracts to two or more sources under this solicitation. The Government reserves the right to award contracts, based on the selection board's final selection list, in order of preference, to the firms considered most highly qualified to perform the work. Each awardee shall be provided a fair opportunity to be considered for task orders to be issued. The Government will use such factors as past performance, quality of deliverables, or other factors that the Contracting Officer, in the exercise of sound business judgment, believes are relevant to the placement of orders. Scope of Services: The nature of aviation, noise and vibration issues and research affecting units of the national park system is quite different in many ways than the same issues and research in non-park environments, with specific laws, policies, and circumstances that may require different or innovative methodologies, standards, mitigation or other techniques or approaches than similar services in non-park situations. The selected firm(s) must show familiarity with these differences and with relevant studies conducted in parks. The selected team(s) (especially principle investigators) must demonstrate appropriate technical and professional qualifications, credentials, experience and capabilities to (1) consult with the NPS, other agencies, other experts, and the general public; (2) provide expert guidance applicable to the national park system, including park resources, values, visitors, and visitor experiences; and (3) conduct studies; all of the above concerning the following: -- a variety of technical noise and vibration issues related to aircraft overflights, airspace management, and other aviation issues affecting units of the national park system, as well as noise and vibration issues related to non-aviation sources (e.g., motor vehicles, snowmobiles, watercraft, generators, chainsaws, highways, railroads, mining, industry). -- a variety of fields related to the assessment, measurement, and mitigation of impacts concerning aircraft, airports, other aspects of aviation and airspace, and other non-aviation noise sources (such as those listed above), including noise and vibration monitoring and measurement, mitigation of noise and vibration impacts, resources and visitor experiences that may be affected by aviation and other noise sources, and aircraft noise modeling. Examples of types of potential projects or services that may be required include: -- development, implementation, review and/or defense of methodology and/or plans to characterize sound levels from ambient, aviation, non-aviation, self-noise, or other sources, and related impacts and mitigation options affecting parks. -- development, administration, review and/or defense of questionnaires and methodology designed to gather information or responses from park visitors and to assess impacts on visitors and visitor experiences, including surveys of people engaged in recreational and other activities in park environments. -- measuring and monitoring of acoustical and/or sociological data in low-noise, park-type natural environments.- selection, installation, and operation of acoustic monitoring equipment in low-noise, park-type natural environments.- modeling of noise and field validation of noise models for aviation and other noise sources (such as motor vehicles, snowmobiles, watercraft, generators, chainsaws, highways, railroads, mining, industry). -- providing expert guidance on issues and measures for mitigating impacts from noise or vibrations in low-noise park-type environments from aviation or other noise sources that may affect parks.- providing expert guidance in psychoacoustics, acoustical measurements, sound or vibration modeling, outdoor recreation sociology, statistical sampling design, questionnaire design, airspace management, airport planning and mitigation, and environmental impact analysis related to aviation, noise and vibration issues affecting parks. Field studies may be conducted at units of the national park system located throughout the United States, often in remote locations and at sites varying from those accessible by vehicle to sites several miles from the nearest road. The proposed work may extend over several fiscal years, involving projects at various stages, which will require that the selected firm must be capable of managing a multi-disciplinary team from within the firm or in conjunction with subconsultants and/or NPS teams. The A/E firm will need to have direct contact with federal, state and local regulatory agencies to assure compliance with regulations, codes and policies. Selection Criteria The following criteria, in descending order of importance, shall be used in the evaluation of the prospective firms or teams. Please note that these criteria shall be used by the NPS in lieu of the criteria listed under Note 24 in the Commerce Business Daily Numbered Notes. 1. Demonstrated professional experience and technical competence of the firm (including its subcontractors, consultants and project personnel), with recent successful projects of similar type and complexity as those anticipated and described in the Scope of Services above. The examples of types of potential projects are to be used as an indicator of projects under consideration in the future and is not a definitive element of this contract. Include SF-254's for each subcontractor or consultant. 2. Past performance on previously completed projects/contracts, similar to the types proposed for this contract, regarding quality, costs, and time schedules. 3. Capacity to respond to expanded or multiple work orders on short notice and within the established schedules, while maintaininga high standard of quality and controlling costs. 4. Ability of the team to communicate, coordinate, and facilitate work expeditiously with the National Park Service, to design and implement an entire multi-disciplinary project (or portions thereof) accurately and independently, yet readily integrate into a multi-disciplinary NPS or multi-agency team. Emphasis will be placed on the team's ability to work with multiple entities including federal, state, and local agencies, and other involved concerns. In addition to other factors, offers will be evaluated on the basis of advantages and disadvantages to the Government that might result from making more than one award (i.e. multiple awards). Contract work will be performed under an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, and task orders will be issued defining the scope of services for each project as funding becomes available. The total of all task orders for the base contract period (one year) will not exceed $1,500,000. Any individual task order will not exceed $600,000. Each A/E prime awarded a contract is guaranteed a minimum of $25,000 during the life of the contract. The term of each contract shall be one year with four one-year options. This procurement is open to small and large business and is subject to Public Law 100-656, the Business Opportunity Development Reform Act of 1988. The National Park Service supports the Department of the Interior's goals to increase small business participation in its contracting programs. The National Park Service strongly encourages the participation of small business firms including women and minority owned and operated A/E firms and encourages large business firms to include small, women-owned, and disadvantaged business firms as part of their team. Large business firms selected for contract award will be required to submit a subcontracting plan which will separate percentage goals for using small business concerns, women-owned, and small disadvantaged business concerns as subcontractors. The subcontracting plan will need to establish goals for the base and all option years. The government will not indemnify the firm selected against liability involving asbestos or other hazardous materials; that is, no clause holding the firm harmless will be included in the contract. Firms that fully meet the requirements described in this announcement are invited to submit a Letter of Interest and completed Standard Forms 254 for each firm and a Team Standard Form 255 in an original only. Submission of additional supporting material is encouraged, but only to the extent that it graphically (via drawings and photographs) substantiates the relevant project work specifically described on Standard Forms 254/255. In support of the sustainable practices of resource conservation and material recycling, submissions should be concise, make wise use of recycled/recyclable paper and other materials, and be organized in such a manner that the recyclable material can be easily removed after evaluation. To the extent possible, printed/copieddouble-sided paper documents will be submitted. Responses must be received before 5:00 p.m., 30 calendar days from the date of this publication (first work day following a weekend or holiday) in order to be considered for selection. This is not a Request for Proposal. (0075)

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