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Sources Sought Notice W912P423S0004

Big John Salvage – Hoult Road Superfund Site, Fairmont, Marion County, WV

This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE for Market Research ONLY to determine the availability of firms for construction services as detailed below. The Government is also requesting information from industry as it relates to this project as noted below. NO AWARD will be made from this Sources Sought Notice. NO SOLICITATION OR SCOPE OF WORK IS AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME, and therefore do NOT request a copy of a Solicitation or Scope of Work. Potential offerors having the skills and capabilities necessary to perform the described requirement are invited to provide feedback via email to Frank J. D’Andrea at frank.j.dandrea@usace.army.mil, and Jenna Grainer at jenna.n.grainer@usace.army.mil. All responses will be used to determine the appropriate acquisition strategy for a potential future acquisition. We encourage all firms to respond, including but not limited to, HUB Zone, 8(a), SDVOSB, Small and Large Business.

The NAICS Code is 562910. The size standard is 750 employees.

The sequencing of Non-Time-Critical Removal Actions (NTCRAs) for the BJS Site will most likely be the River Area first followed by the Uplands Area since the design plan and specification packages will be completed in May 2024 and August 2024, respectively. Therefore, the Government anticipates two separate contracts, one for each area.

The construction project magnitude for the River Area is estimated between $25,000,000 and $100,000,000. It is anticipated a solicitation will be released around September 2024.

The construction project magnitude for the Uplands Area is estimated between $25,000,000 and $100,000,000. It is anticipated that the solicitation will be released around January 2025.

GOVERNMENT REQUIREMENTS:

The Big John Salvage – Hoult Road (BJS) Superfund Site is a 38-acre former industrial property in Fairmont, Marion County, West Virginia. Approximately 20 acres of the BJS Site were used for coal tar refining, salvage operations, and waste disposal. The remaining 18 acres includes steep, wooded hillsides with a low-lying drainage area that discharges to the Monongahela River. The property is now vacant land owned by Fairmont Coke Works Site Custodial Trust and Vertellus Specialties Environmental Response Trust (VSERT).

The BJS Site is divided into the Uplands and River Areas. The primary contaminants on the 38-acre Uplands Area are metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and semi-volatile organic compounds (sVOCs) in soil, drainageway sediment, and groundwater. The primary contaminants in the River Area are polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Monongahela River sediment. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an Action Memorandum in 2010 for NTCRAs at the BJS Superfund Site, which was amended in 2023.

The selected response for the River Area of the BJS Site includes reinforcing unstable riverbanks, mechanically dredging approximately 42,000 in situ cubic yards of contaminated Monongahela River sediment over a 6.4-acre area of the riverbed, dewatering/stabilization of dredged sediment, water treatment/discharge, backfilling, sediment sampling, and transportation of material for off-site disposal in an appropriately permitted facility.

Typical slopes on the riverbank approach and exceed 40 degrees with numerous actively eroded areas having subvertical slopes. This results in potential instability within 10 to 20 feet of the water’s edge along most of the eastern bank in its existing condition. Since any removal of soil or sediment along the bank would lead to failure of the slopes, stabilization measures are required to enable the proposed dredging along the bank. In areas where satisfactory stability cannot be accomplished with grading, a structural measure including a combi wall or reinforcement piles will be required to enable dredging. Approximately 135 cubic yards of debris is comingled in contaminated river sediment that will need to be handled separately. Additionally, eight utilities were identified in or near the potential river excavation footprint: two water utility crossings, one sewer utility crossing, one aerial power line crossing, and four gas line crossings.

Slope stabilization and subsequent mechanical dredging must be water-based operations to the extent practicable with minimal spillage and turbidity. The selected contractor will need to meet dredge depth target elevations ranging from 0 to 13 feet below grade. Shallow sediment (0 to 6 inches) exhibits larger grain sizes (i.e., gravels and sands) than deeper sediment. Sediments downstream from the source term are approximately 84% fines, whereas sediment near the source term is roughly 30% fines. Turbidity monitoring and control will be required during the duration of the project. A post dredging bathymetry survey and confirmation sampling are required. Dredged areas would be restored by placing a layer of sand as a residual management layer to control residual contamination and promote natural recovery of sediment. An erosion protection layer would be placed over this area and post-removal elevations within the excavation and restoration area will be restored to pre-removal elevations (i.e., no net fill to river bottom and restoration of habitat). The NTCRA include 5 years of post-removal environmental monitoring and site controls to document and protect the effectiveness of the removal action

The selected response actions for the Uplands Area of the BJS Site include containing contaminated soil and sediment on-site with a low permeability cap and enhance the collection and treatment system for contaminated groundwater. Five-years of post-removal site controls, which include water treatment plant operations and environmental monitoring, were selected to preserve the integrity of the response action. The selected contractor will contain up to approximately 40,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and sediment within an approximately 11-acre Subtitle D cap footprint for potential recreational/industrial reuse of the property. Approximately 32,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil are stockpiled materials from previous EPA actions, 1,000 cubic yards of excavated contaminated soil, and 6,000 cubic yards of excavated contaminated drainageway sediment. The Subtitle D cap must meet performance objectives outlined in West Virginia’s Subtitle D regulations. Obvious masses of tar-derived materials encountered at the surface would be segregated and disposed or treated at an off-site facility to the extent practical prior to cap installation. If grades are too steep to construct a Subtitle D cap over the 7,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and drainageway sediment, an alternative cap can be used to prevent exposure, or this material could be excavated and either consolidated under the on-site Subtitle D cap or disposed offsite. Confirmation sampling to establish that performance criteria was met, and post-removal site controls would be implemented. An engineered surface water runoff and erosion control system would be installed and maintained in accordance with West Virginia stormwater control regulations. Excavated drainageways will be restored to their original function. Post-removal controls will be implemented to preserve the integrity of the response actions.

The selected contractor would augment the existing network of French drains and sumps by installing a new interceptor trench system to provide the site with a more effective groundwater containment and monitoring system that prevents migration of contaminated water from the capped area and minimizes volume of water requiring treatment and disposal. All water collected from the groundwater containment system will be pumped to an augmented on-site groundwater treatment system before being discharged to an on-site sewer manhole. Operation, maintenance, and monitoring of the on-site water treatment plant will continue to ensure influent pretreatment standards are met prior to discharge in the City of Fairmont sewer system. A groundwater and surface water monitoring program will be implemented to demonstrate that contaminated water is being maintained within an area of attainment (i.e., in proximity to the capped area).

QUESTIONS FOR INDUSTRY:

1. Considering the limitations and site constraints on this project as it currently stands, does industry have any recommendations/suggestions on how to simplify, reduce costs, or add value to the proposed approach? What construction challenges do you foresee that industry would like USACE/EPA to note for design of NTCRAs of the River and Uplands Areas of the BJS Site?


2. If land access or land-based work areas were not available during construction of the River Area remedy to dredge, handle/process/stabilize Monongahela River sediment, perform confirmation sampling, treat water, backfill, and restore the river bottom, would you bid the contract with only in water plants (assuming land access to install the stabilization measures would be acquired by the Government)? If so, what impact would a water-based environmental dredging approach have on the fieldwork schedule?


3. If the contract for the River Area remedy did not provide any land access or land-based work areas but did not prevent the contractor from working out their own agreements and obtaining uplands with any of the adjacent landowners, would you plan to bid the contract with only in water plants or would you pursue uplands to construct the project?

SUBMISSION OF REPONSES:

Those interested in providing a response to this Sources Sought Notice for the BJS River and/or Uplands Areas should limit their responses to 10 pages and shall include the following information:

• Potential offeror’s capability to meet requirements demonstrating landfill cap installation experience;

• Potential offeror’s capability to meet requirements demonstrating environmental dredging experience;

• Potential offeror’s capability to perform a contract of this complexity and magnitude;

• Potential offerors are requested to submit no more than four (4) projects each of similar scope and complexity to the River and/or Uplands Area performed within the last ten (10) years. Include a brief description of the project, customer name, timelines of performance, percentage of work performed, and dollar value of the project; and

• Potential offerors can provide supplemental information listing previous Government contract experience and/or Superfund experience that is not similar to the project but demonstrates prime contractor experience working with USACE and/or EPA on Superfund projects. This information should only include Project title, Government Agency, scope of Superfund project, year completed, and the final value.

• Potential offerors shall include a cover letter listing company name, cage code, business size status (and each socio-economic group if applicable).

• Potential offerors bonding capacity

All potential offerors interested in pursuing a contract with the Federal Government and US ARmy Corps of Engineers must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database at https://www.sam.gov.

All interested parties should respond via email by 3:00 PM Eastern Time on 07 July 2023. Please submit capability statements, requested project information, and/or responses to questions to Frank J. D’Andrea at frank.j.dandrea@usace.army.mil and Jenna Grainer at jenna.n.grainer@usace.army.mil.

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