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Portland District

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Architect-Engineer & Professional Services Contract Coordination

Essential Functions

The Contract Coordination Unit acts as liaison between Portland District's Engineering and Contracting divisions. The Unit assists the district's engineering staff in obtaining A-E and professional services contracts; insures proper contract processes are followed and all documentation is prepared correctly; and provides guidance and assistance to the consulting community throughout the entire process.

Solicitation Process Described

1. Contract Types

  • The Contract Coordination Unit assists in obtaining contracts for A-E services, and contracts for other types of professional services. For each of these, the resulting contract may be:
      • A lump sum contract for a specific project.
      • An indefinite delivery contract (IDC) or a requirements contract. Under this type of contract, labor and material rates are established in the basic contract. The basic contract does not authorize a contractor to work, but when a requirement for services arises, a price is negotiated based upon the rates negotiated for the base contract, and the contractor proceeds with the work

2. Process for Obtaining A-E Contracts

Advertisement/Synopsis in the Federal Business Opportunities: The requirement for A-E services is synopsized in the Federal Business Opportunities (www.fbo.gov) for 30 calendar days. The synopsis briefly states the scope of required services, the project location, and selection criteria in order of importance. In addition, it will advise interested firms of necessary forms to submit, closing date of responses and address of the contracting office to receive submissions.
  • A-E Responses: Interested firms respond to the synopsis by submitting Standard Form 330 which, like a resume, detail their pertinent experience and qualifications.
  • Selection Board: The selection board is made up of upper level technical district personnel. The board reviews the A-E submissions and rates them against the evaluation criteria. The selection board chair then contacts the top three firms for telephone interviews to determine if the firms qualifications have changed or if they would like to add any information to that already submitted. The selection board then makes its final ranking by consensus.
  • Notification: All firms are notified of their selection status (i.e. they were not selected; they were among the top three firms selected for negotiation but were not the top firm; or, they are the firm selected for negotiation and will be receiving a request for price proposal in the near future). This notification will not include their ranking among other firms. The notification may include the name of the firm selected for negotiations.
  • Award: The selected firm is invited to submit a price proposal and enter into negotiations with the Government. If agreement on price is reached, a contract will be awarded. If not, negotiations will be conducted with the next firm on the list.
  • Debriefing:Following receipt of notification of their selection standing, a firm may request a debriefing by the board chair. The request must be made in writing to the Contracting Officer within 3 days after the firm receives such notice. During the debriefing the firm is informed of all significant weak or deficient factors in their submission. Debriefings do not reveal the relative merits or standings of other firms or the evaluation scoring.
  • NOTE: The A-E Selection process is lengthy and involved and generally takes seven months or longer.

3. Process for Obtaining Professional Services Contracts

Professional services contracts may be obtained a number of ways. Generally in order to award a contract based upon technical qualifications as well as price, the following process, called Source Selection, is used.

  • Synopsis in the Federal Business Opportunities: The requirement for services is synopsized in the Federal Business Opportunities (www.fbo.gov) for 15 calendar days. The synopsis briefly states the scope of required services and the project location. In addition, it will provide interested firms a point of contact within the Corps of Engineers if more information is needed.
  • Request for Proposal (RFP): Interested firms contact the contracting office and ask to receive a copy of the RFP. It will include the scope of work, line items for pricing, contract clauses and evaluation criteria that will be used to select a firm, as well as instructions to firms about the format and content of price and technical proposals.
  • Proposal Evaluation: After receipt, the initial proposals are evaluated by subject matter experts. By consensus, a board independently ranks the technical proposals against the specified evaluation criteria. Cost/price experts then review the price proposal. The contracting officer combines the technical and price evaluations to determine if award can be made based on initial proposals.
  • Negotiations: Typically, awards are issued without negotiations, but the contracting officer has the option to negotiate if needed. Negotiations are limited to those firms judged to be in the competitive range. When negotiations are concluded, the remaining firms are asked for best and final offers. The responses are evaluated for their affect on price and technical ratings and recommendation for award.
  • Award: After final evaluation, the contracting officer presents the award recommendation to the Source Selection Authority who is charged to decide which offer represents the best value to the government considering price and other factors. After ensuring that all regulatory requirements are satisfied, the contracting officer issues the award. The award is announced publicly in the Commerce Business Daily. Notices are also sent to the unsuccessful offerors.

A-E Qualification Factors Explained

A-E contractors are selected based upon the criteria in the Federal Business Opportunities synopsis for the solicitation. Following are the criteria that are used. Most of these criteria are prescribed by regulation. Primary criteria are used to determine the most highly qualified firm. Secondary criteria are used as "tie breakers" in ranking the most highly qualified firms. The criteria will be listed in the CBD synopsis in order of importance.

  • Professional Qualifications. (Primary) The education, training, registration, and longevity of relevant experience of the proposed key personnel.
  • Specialized Experience and Technical Competence. (Primary) The A-E’s specialized experience and technical competence on similar projects. The effectiveness of the proposed project team (management structure and coordination of disciplines, offices and/or subcontractors) is also considered.
  • Capacity of the firm to Accomplish the Required Services on Schedule. (Primary) The firm’s available capacity of key disciplines and experience with similar size projects is evaluated. This evaluation may be based upon the amount of other work currently being performed by the A-E and the overall size of the firm.
  • Past Performance. (Primary) Past performance on contracts with Government agencies and private industry in terms of cost control, quality of work and compliance with performance schedules. Performance evaluations from the ACASS database are the primary source of information. References and letters of commendation are also evaluated.
  • Knowledge of the Locality. (Primary) The firms specific knowledge related to the project locality, such as geological features, climatic conditions, and local construction methods.
  • Geographic Proximity. (Secondary) The A-E’s general geographic location with regard to other firms and the location of the project is evaluated.
  • Small Business and Small Disadvantaged Business Participation. (Secondary) The extent of participation of Small Businesses (SB), Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDB), historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) and minority institutions (MI) will be evaluated. Participation is measured as a percentage of total anticipated contract effort, regardless of whether the SB, SDB, HBCU or MI is a prime contractor or subcontractor.
  • Volume of Department of Defense (DOD) Contract Awards. (Secondary) To promote equitable distribution of contracts firms with fewer DOD contract awards are ranked higher for this item.
  • Other. Other criteria may be used. Depending on the solicitations specific requirements this criteria may be primary or secondary. Included may be:
    • Ability to Meet CADD requirements - The firm’s ability to produce engineering drawings on a CADD system and provide drawings to the Portland District that are fully compatible with the Portland Districts Intergraph CADD system.
    • Design Quality Assurance - This includes evaluation of a firm’s description of their quality control processes and a description of the management approach the firm would use on the contract if they were the successful offeror.

Professional Services Source Selection Factors

The criteria used for selecting professional services contractors are not prescribed by regulation and therefore they vary considerably depending on the work requirements. In general they may include:

  • Specialized Experience
  • Professional Qualifications
  • Technical Proposal for Accomplishing Required Work
  • Past Performance (references, letters of commendation)

ACASS Explanation and Use

ACASS (Architect Engineer Contract Administration Support System) is the Corps of Engineers database that contains contractor's qualifications (SF 330s), performance evaluations, and A-E contract award information. This database is used by the Corps of Engineers, as well as the Department of the Navy and other federal agencies. Information from this system is used to evaluate contractors for A-E awards. A contractor may obtain copies of all evaluations of their firm contained in ACASS, as well as their SF 330s by faxing a request on their letterhead to (503) 808-4605.

For additional information about ACASS, go to: ACASS/CCASS.

Architect-Engineer Selection Status

List of Current A-E and Professional Services Contracts and Types of Work Involved

POC: Eleanor Collins, CENWP-EC-TB, (503) 808-4817

Content POC: ETDS Managers, 503-808-4825 | Technical POC: NWP Webmaster | Last updated: 11/7/2008 7:58:17 AM

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