Description
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research Facilities (ORF), Office of Acquisition (OA) has a requirement for the construction of the Northwest Child Care Center (NWCCC) to be located in Bethesda, Maryland. Description of Requirement The NWCCC shall be a new, freestanding structure providing additional campus-wide capacity for daytime childcare. The primary objective is to create a center that provides necessary facilities for a safe and effective learning environment that is conducive to the well being of the children. This new facility must provide a welcoming appearance with a design that encourages positive identification with the facility, respects children's needs and abilities, and permits them to develop their potential in a safe and enriching environment. The NWCCC is intended to supplement the existing East Childcare Center as the need for daytime childcare has outgrown this existing facility. Additionally, new facilities at the northern portion of the NIH campus are needed to make childcare more convenient for parents who work in that area. The center must have a licensed capacity to house up to 170 children, and be of approximately 21,000 gross square feet (15,274 net assignable square feet), and include complete site development (demolition and new construction) for parking facilities, utilities connections, building services, loading and receiving access, landscape features, pedestrian-ways (sidewalks), site lighting, security features, and functional playground suitable for certification (provide minimum required playground equipment). The new facility must comply with NIH design guidelines and physical security criteria, GSA Childcare Center Design Guide, Code of Maryland ( Subtitle 16, Chapters 01-19, Child Care Centers ), governing fire safety and building codes, and must meet NAEYC accreditation. The contractor shall be responsible for delivering a project that is LEED accredited/certified and provides sustainable features to achieve flexibility, energy efficiency, for quality of environment. This NWCCC facility must qualify for LEED Silver rating, coordinated and obtained by the contractor. Procurement strategy Pursuant to FAR Subpart 15.3, NIH will employ source selection tradeoff procedures to procure and award the construction contract for this project. All evaluation factors other than cost or price, when combined, are significantly greater than cost or price. This is a Two Phase Design Build Selection Procedure in accordance with FAR 36.303-1(b). The selection process will have two phases. Phase I, Request for Qualifications (RFQ), shall result in the establishment of a list of offerors identified as Viable Competitors, who will be invited to participate in the next stage of the procurement, Phase II. Phase II, Request for Proposals (RFP), shall result in the selection of the construction contractor whose offer provides the Government with the best value. In Phase I, the Government shall identify the evaluation factors other than cost or price that are critical to this procurement and that will serve as the basis for the determination of the viable competitors. Interested offerors will be required to submit their responses to the RFQ by the due date established in the RFQ. The Government will evaluate all the responses to the RFQ in accordance with the criteria in the RFQ, and advise each offeror in writing either that it will be invited to participate in the RFP or, based on the information submitted in the RFQ response that it is unlikely to be a viable competitor. Notwithstanding this advice, an offeror that is unlikely to be a viable competitor may participate in Phase II of the procurement. Offerors that did not submit a timely RFQ response in Phase I will not be allowed to participate in Phase II of the procurement. After evaluating Phase I proposals, the Government shall select the most highly qualified offerors, not to exceed three (3). In Phase II, the Government will issue the RFP to the viable competitors and the other offerors from Phase I that elect to participate in Phase II. The RFP will serve as the basis for the firm-fixed price offers from the offerors in Phase II. The firm-fixed price offers will be due by the date established in the RFP. Based on the Phase I and Phase II submissions, the Government shall select the offer that reflects the best value to the Government. The Government reserves the right to make an award upon the basis of the initial Phase I and Phase II offers without discussions. Any resulting contract will be firm fixed price. NAICS Code: 236220 with a size standard of $33.5 million. It has been determined that competition will be limited to eligible 8(a) firms located within the geographical area serviced by the Washington DC Metropolitan and Baltimore District Offices, and other eligible 8(a) construction firms with a bona fide place of business located within the geographical competitive area per 13 CRF §124.507. All other 8(a) participants are deemed ineligible to submit offers. Magnitude of Construction is between $10 million and $25 million. All responders are advised that this project may be cancelled or revised at any time during the solicitation, selection, evaluation, negotiation and final award. All contractors are advised that they must be registered, by the time of Phase 1 submissions, in CCR and ORCA (http://orca.bpn.gov). Joint ventures must also be registered in CCR and ORCA as a joint venture. We advise contractors to begin this process when they prepare their proposal in order to ensure this registration is in place should they be selected for the award. Lack of registration in the CCR database will make an offeror ineligible for award. One or more of the items under this acquisition is subject to the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement and Free Trade Agreements. The procurement is an 8(a) competitive set aside for the local area of Metropolitan Washington DC and Baltimore District Offices of the Small Business Administration per FAR 19.804-3(d).