96--Sources Sought Responses extended to Monday, January 14, 2008 by 2:00 pm.

This sources sought announcement response period has been extended to Monday, January 14, 2008, at 2:00. THIS NOTICE IS FOR SOURCES SOUGHT ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL OR INVITATION FOR BID. INFORMATION RECEIVED IN RESPONSE TO THIS REQ UEST WILL BE CONSIDERED PROCUREMENT SENSITIVE AND WILL NOT BE RELEASED TO ANY OTHER PARTY, FOR ANY PURPOSE OTHER THAN TO DEVELOP MARKET INFORMATION FOR INTERNAL USE BY THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS. SOLICITATION, SPECIFICATIONS AND DRAWINGS ARE NOT AVAILABLE. The NAICS code for this proposed acquisition is 212325. The project number for this announcement is W912P8-08-SS-0002. The Government will use responses to this Sources Sought synopsis to make appropriate acquisition decisions regarding the possible proc urement of earthen clay material for improving Louisianas Hurricane Storm Damage Reduction System (HSDRS). The US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, solicits a Capability Statement from all interested parties. All projects are located in the following Southern Louisiana parishes: Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, and St. Charles. The overall programmatic requirement for earthen clay material is estimated at 145 million cubic yards. The Government anticipates minimum orders of 50 0,000 cubic yards with delivery durations of 3 months, resulting in a sustained delivery rate of approximately 6,000 cubic yards/day. All interested parties are invited to submit a Capability Statement consisting of appropriate documentation, litera ture and brochures providing responses addressing the following: 1) Firm name, address, telephone and fax number, 2) If submitting as a small business, provide identification of the company as a Small Business with proper certification; 8(a), Hub Zone, Se rvice Disabled Veteran or Woman-Owned. (NAICS Code 212325 Business Size Standard is 500 employees). 3) Past experience with excavating and transporting clay material, 4) Letter from bonding agency indicating your performance and payment bond capacity, 5) List of existing teaming agreements in place with other businesses. 6) List of equipment to be used to excavate and transport clay. 7) Location of clay material source(s) and approximate quantities in acres per site. 8) Do you own the source of clay or do you have a documented agreement to excavate material from the site? 9) Has your source of clay been environmentally cleared in accordance with the requirements shown below? 10) Has geotechnical testing been conducted on your source of clay in accord ance with the requirements shown below? The Contractor shall use his or her own borrow areas, subject to approval by the Contracting Officer in accordance with the Requirements for Suitable Earthen Clay Material. All costs arising or growing out of the use of Contractor-Furnished borrow areas shall be borne by the Contractor. Submission of a Capabilities Statement is not a prerequisite to any potential future offerings, but participation will assist the Corps in making appropriate procur ement decisions. This synopsis is for information and planning purposes only and is neither to be construed as a commitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for information solicited. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the eva luation. REQUIREMENTS FOR SUITABLE EARTHEN CLAY MATERIAL The minimal New Orleans District Corps of Engineers requirements for suitable earthen clay material for levee construction are described below. Material which would be acquired th rough a possible procurement for earthen clay material will require full documentation to demonstrate these requirements. The Government may or may not elect to purchase earthen clay materials based on the market research gathered under this sources sought . 1. MAPS (a) Site Map. The site map showing boundary of property with latitude and longitude. (b) Vicinity map. The vicinity map should use USGS 1:24,000 quad maps as a background and zoomed out enough to show nearest city or town. 2. ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCES 2.1 Jurisdictional Determination of a Wetlands Delineation. Section 404 of the Clean Water Act: Include a copy of Corps of Engineers Jurisdictional Determination (JD) letter with a map of the proposed borrow site. 2.2 Cultural Resource Report. A Cultural Resources Investigation Report that meets Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Ac t standards prepared by a professional cultural resource management company. The report should include a map of the studied area with the study area boundary defined by latitudes and longitudes. 2.3 Environmental Site Assessment Environmen tal Site Assessment (ESA) Phase 1 that shows a low risk of encountering recognized environmental conditions (REC) completed by a professional knowledgeable in this discipline. The ESA must conform to ASTM 1527-05 standards. Include a map of the studied ar ea boundary defined by latitudes and longitudes. 2.4 Coastal Zone Management Act (CZM) If applicable, a letter of No Objection or a Coastal Use Permit (CUP) from the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources in Louisiana, or respective stat e agency for other states should be included. 2.5 Threatened and Endangered Species Act Include a consultants report and a concurrence letter from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that concurs with a determination of the impacts the projec t will have on any Threatened and Endangered species or their designated critical habitat. Include a map of the studied area boundary defined by latitudes and longitudes. 2.6 Out of State Earthen Clay Material Sources If the borrow source i ncludes the importation of earthen clay materials from outside of the state of Louisiana, include the steps planned to be in compliance with all applicable Federal and State regulations governing the importation of soil into the State of Louisiana. 2.7 Mitigation for Unavoidable Impacts If upon review by the Government of the Contractors plan the Government determines that any resources will be impacted that can not be avoided, then the Contractor will be required to perform mitigation f or those impacts that the Government determines mitigation is required for. 3. GEOTECHNICAL PROPERTIES Submit a summary of Soil Borings, Logs, Reports and Laboratory Classification Test Results that are taken in accordance with the requir ements detailed below. 3.1 Soil Boring, Logs and Reports Soil Borings and Laboratory Soil Classification Test Results of the Contractor-furnished borrow area shall be provided to a depth of at least 5 feet below the depth of planned excavatio n. The borings shall be at a spacing that will adequately define the material in the pit but in no case spaced greater than 500 feet on center. Borings within the proposed borrow area boundary shall be located no farther than one-half of the boring spaci ng in the pit or 250 feet, whichever is less. Provide continuous sampling of all borings to the depths required. Samples should begin at the ground surface (grass and small vegetation may be removed to provide a smooth surface. A field boring log shall be kept as a record of soil stratification and soil sampling. 3.2 Laboratory Classification Testing and Results The soil samples will be preserved in airtight containers to prevent loss of moisture. Soil samples from these borings shall be cla ssified in accordance with the Unified Soil Classification System and shall include water content determinations based on the dry weight of the representative soil samples, taken at 1 foot intervals (recommended) or 2 foot intervals (required) or when a ch ange in strata occurs, whichever is less. These representative soil samples shall be submitted to a Corps of Engineers validated soils laboratory, properly lab eled and sealed in an airtight container to preserve the natural water content for laboratory determination. The Contractor shall submit organic content tests (in accordance with ASTM D 2974 Method C) results at a minimum interval of 5 feet in the clay and silt materials. Samples with moisture contents at 70% or higher or having a Liquid Limit of 70 or higher must be tested for organic content. In addition, organic content tests shall be conducted on samples 2 feet above and 2 feet below that sample (2.5 f eet also acceptable). Grain size distribution determinations will be required for samples that classify as CL (with a PI greater than 10) and for all clay samples (CH and CL) with greater than 10% coarse grain materials for 2 or more consecutive feet. Gra in size tests shall be limited to one test every 5 feet of sampling and shall conform to ASTM D1140-00 (#200 sieve required). Grain size distribution determinations will be required for samples that classify as a ML, but limited to one test every five feet of sampling. Atterberg limits tests shall be required and performed in accordance with ASTM D 4318, at a minimum interval of 5 feet in the clay and silt materials. 3.3 Earthen Clay Material The earthen clay material shall be naturally oc curring or Contractor blended. Soil that is classified in accordance with ASTM D2487 and the Unified Soil Classification System as CH and CL is suitable. Soil classified as ML shall be considered unsuitable; however, minor amounts of ML may be suitably b lended with CH or CL to formulate a material that classifies as a CL as per ASTM D2487. Material consisting of greater than 35% sands (by dry weight) or materials with a Plasticity Index, PI, of less than 10 will not be accepted as well as Material having an organic content exceeding 9% by weight. 3.4 Soil boring location map. Soil boring locations shall be numbered appropriately and be shown on a layout map with GPS readings (latitude, longitude to the nearest one-tenth of second.) 4. CERTIFIED AGRONOMIST TEST RESULTS Written results of tests performed by a certified public or private agronomist to prescribe whatever modifications, if any, will have to be made to the material to insure a satisfactory growth of grass. 5. CAPABILITY STATEMENT SUBMITTALS Capabilities statements submitted in response to this SOURCES SOUGHT notice are not required to address all of the Requirements for Suitable Earthen Clay Material at this time. Future solicitations will require full documentation of these and any additional requirements requested in the solicitation. For the purposes of this sources sought and to gather market research on available suitable clay sources, respondents are encouraged to submit a single, com plete package in duplicate which presents all of their existing documentation to provide suitable clay material for levee construction in accordance with the Maps, Environmental Clearances, Geotechnical Properties and Agronomy Testing sections in this Sour ces Sought. Electronic submissions of packages will be accepted and must be provided on a CD (Do not email responses). The responses to this SOURCES SOUGHT synopsis may be mailed or delivered to the addresses below. Responses must be received n o later than 2:00 PM Central Time Zone, 7 January 2008. Physical Address: US Army, Corps of Engineers, Contracting Division Attn: Brenda Welty (CEMVN-CT-P) Room 163 7400 Leake Ave New Orleans, LA 70118 Mailing Address: U S Army, Corps of Engineers, Contracting Division Attn: Brenda Welty (CEMVN-CT-P) Room 163 P.O. Box 60267 New Orleans, LA 70160-0267 Fax: Attn: Brenda Welty 504-862-2892