RFI- FEMA Disaster Ops for Transportation Services (DOTS) VIPR

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency Logistics Management Directorate Transportation Management Division Disaster Operations for Transportation Support for Virgin Island Puerto Rico (DOTS VIPR) The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has developed this Request for Information (RFI) to solicit market research information from industry. FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters. One of FEMA’s responsibilities are to ensure the effectiveness of emergency response personnel in responding to emergencies and disasters. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. This notice is not a Request for Proposal, a Request for Quotation, an Invitation for Bids, a Solicitation, or an indication that the Government will contract for the services detailed herein. This RFI is part of government market research efforts to determine the scope of industry capabilities and will be utilized for informational purposes only. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responses to this RFI are strictly voluntary and the Government will not pay respondents for information provided in response to this RFI. Responses to this RFI will not be returned and respondents will not be notified of the results of the review. If a Solicitation is issued, the Government does not guarantee that it will be issued to RFI respondents. The Government is also requesting that restrictive or proprietary markings not be used in response to the RFI. Please note that this RFI does not restrict the Government's acquisition approach on a future Solicitation. NO PROPOSALS ARE BEING REQUESTED OR ACCEPTED AND NO CONTRACT SHALL BE AWARDED AS A RESULT OF THIS RFI. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this RFI or any follow up information requests. The purpose of this RFI is to receive responses to the list of questions provided by FEMA. Information regarding this specific requirement is included in this notice for reference. PROPRIETARY INFORMATION AND DISCLAIMERS: Respondents shall identify any proprietary information in its response. Information submitted in response to this RFI will be used at the discretion of the Government. Further, the information submitted will remain confidential insofar as permitted by law, including the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts. FEMA reserves the right to utilize any non-proprietary technical information in the anticipated PWS or solicitation. Although it is not necessary to address in their response, respondents shall be aware of any potential, actual, or perceived organizational conflicts of interests. Any real or potential conflicts must be sufficiently mitigated prior to a contract award. For further guidance, refer to the FAR Part 9.5. BACKGROUND The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has the responsibility of supporting the disaster response and recovery efforts for the severely impacted United States territories of Puerto Rico (PR) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). Past major hurricanes have brought unprecedented damages intensifying the response and recovery effort challenges that affected FEMA’s response to survivors located throughout the islands, specifically to those secluded areas like the mountain and inland regions. Accessibility issues due to damaged transportation infrastructure has survivors waiting longer periods of time to receive life sustaining supplies. A major part of the response and recovery effort revolves around supplying the affected area with Initial Response Resources (IRR). These include life supporting and life sustaining IRRs such as but not limited to water, meals, cots, tarps, plastic sheeting, blankets, sandbags, generators, and fuel which are needed to lessen damage before or after a disaster. FEMA has limited readiness on these islands due to the deficiency in warehousing space and minimum full time FEMA/CORE personnel in the USVI & PR to support the magnitude of this response. FEMA is also tasked with the movement of Inter-agency resources and support functions into the affected areas to support critical needs such as infrastructure, electricity, and sewage repairs; provide medical requirements and services; and bring basic human needs like water and meals to those in need. PROJECT SCOPE/DELIVERABLES FEMA has determined that a full suite of transportation services such as air, maritime, and ground transportation (including point of origin at both air/seaports to destination) is key to fulfill the requirement. In addition, warehousing services, essential equipment, and all necessary labor to fulfill such transportation services, are needed to successfully complete FEMA’s mission. This includes but is not limited to: 20-foot and 40-foot containers, 53-foot trailers and chassis, specialized trailers (e.g. flatbeds, lowboys, refrigerated) container/material handling equipment specialized trucks (e.g. box trucks, 20 ft. pups and lift gates) drayage services and a robust cross-docking operation staging yards and storage Continuous sailing/shipping without interruption except for US Coast Guard restrictions on sailing vessels due to hazardous weather Operations for 24-hours a day, 7-days a week with all necessary contractor labor and supervision Asset tracking and management The contractor shall have resources, equipment, and crew available to perform 24 hours, seven days a week operation. The Contractor must have the capability within their network to meet the demand and respond to the movement of approximately 4,000 containers, on monthly basis; with enough chassis for to support the continuous service required and meet the minimum expected level of effort defined herein. The contractor shall also have the capacity for the movement of vehicles, utility poles and other assets not containerized. The Contractor shall be fully functional within 48 hours of the start date of this contract to ensure minimum disruption to Government business. The Contractor shall have the capacity to cross-dock 100 containers within 24-hours of award and reach and sustain an average of 300 containers daily. The NAICS code is 48311 (Deep Sea Freight Transportation) and the PCS code is V115 – Transportation –Vessel Freight The Small Business Size Standard for this action is TBD. SUBMISSION OF CAPABILITY PACKAGES INSTRUCTIONS: Interested contractors shall submit a brief capabilities’ statement package electronically to the Points of Contact listed below. The vendor’s statement of capability shall also include the information listed below: Company Name/Division, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number and website. Single Point of contact name, title, telephone number and email address UEI Number, Cage Code, and company structure (Corporation, LLC, partnership, joint venture, etc .) Please note that companies must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) to receive an award from federal agencies. https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ Applicable NAICS codes under which the company customarily does business. Company size and socioeconomic status, if qualified as one or more of the following: 8(a) firm (must be certified by SBA) Small Disadvantaged Business (must be certified by SBA) Women-Owned Small Business HUB-Zone firm (must be certified by SBA) Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business. RFI Response for “(program office and requirement title)” shall be in the subject line of your email. All responses shall be unclassified, with proprietary information clearly marked. The document format shall be either Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) formats. Pages shall be 8.5 by 11 inch and shall use a type of pitch that is no smaller than a standard 11-point font type, except for charts, graphs, or tables, which shall use a pitch not smaller than 10-point font. Responses shall not exceed 5 pages in length including images, displays, charts, graphs, and tables. Page limitation does not include: 1 cover page. Do not include promotional materials. QUESTIONS FOR INDUSTRY Interested parties are requested to submit as part of their statement of capability how they can meet the requirements below and provide recommendations to the Government on alternative solutions. What is your company's experience with providing multimodal transportation and shipping services to remote and disaster-impacted regions, specifically for areas like Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI)? How do you ensure the timely and efficient delivery of critical Initial Response Resources (IRR) such as water, meals, temporary / long term power equipment, shuttle units, containers, trailers, chassis, and medical supplies to inaccessible or severely damaged areas, such as mountain or inland regions in Puerto Rico or USVI? Can your company provide detailed capabilities regarding the availability of various container sizes (e.g., 20ft, 40ft, 53ft containers) and specialized trailers, including refrigerated and lowboy trailers? What contingency plans or protocols does your company have in place to handle adverse weather conditions or U.S. Coast Guard restrictions that might impact shipping and transportation operations to Puerto Rico and the USVI? How does your company manage asset tracking and delivery accountability from the point of origin in the Continental United States (CONUS) to the final distribution point in Puerto Rico or the USVI and will your company provide FEMA visibility of the vessel manifest to ensure correct reporting of resources …i.e. meals/humanitarian cargo/box meals? What technologies or systems do you use? What is the capacity of your company to handle cross-docking operations, warehousing, and storage services for large volumes of critical supplies? How fast can your company secure additional MHE/CHE and intra-island vessel support? Can you provide examples of past operations in similar disaster response situations? Can your company be Fully Operational Capable in both CONUS and OCONUS in 48 hours from the time of award. If not, what is feasible. Can your company support drayage services, including transportation from seaport to destination points across various islands, and if so, what is your operational capability to manage high volumes of cargo under tight timelines? What is your approach to ensuring effective coordination and communication between FEMA, other federal agencies, and local partners to support disaster response logistics, especially in areas with limited infrastructure? Given the requirement for retrograde support, what strategies does your company employ to manage the return of unused or surplus materials from Puerto Rico or the USVI back to the U.S. mainland, including reverse logistics and potential storage solutions? Discuss your companies CONOPS for controlling the flow of resources to the SPOE and what do you need from FEMA to assist with control and does your company have a plan to separate FEMA cargo from other cargo? Can they obtain a staging area to prevent saturation at the SPOE (cross-dock location)? How would your company reconcile reports to ensure accurate accountability of item content is maintained between your system and FEMA (LSCMS) and type after vessel is loaded? Does your company have a plan to minimize unnecessary opening of containers at SPOD? How will your company avoid Jones Act violations to avoid shipments are not combined for PR and VI? How can FEMA support your company obtain mission success? DHS/FEMA intends to assess submittals in response to this RFI/Sources Sought Notice; however, feedback may not be provided back to respondents. FEMA will only consider submissions in response to this notice that are in the form of Microsoft Word and/or PDF (searchable format) documents attached to emails received no later than 12 PM EST, Monday, February 24, 2025. No phone calls will be accepted or returned. RESPONSE DEADLINE AND POINTS OF CONTACT INFORMATION FEMA will only consider RFI/Capability Statements submitted no later than 5:00PM ET, Friday February 28, 2025. No phone calls will be accepted or returned; deadline extensions will not be granted. Submit RFI/Capability Statements to [email protected] and ensure “Subject line: FEMA RFI for VIPR [+business name]” Points of Contact: Edward Rudd Contracting Officer FEMA Office of the Component Chief Procurement Officer [email protected] Danielle Sweetney Contract Specialist FEMA Office of the Component Chief Procurement Officer [email protected]