Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Small businesses invited to Apr. 26 pre-proposal & networking session for Savannah courthouse annex

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The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is holding a Pre-Proposal Conference — followed by a Networking Session for small businesses — on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 in Savannah, Georgia.  These events are being held in conjunction with a planned design-build construction contract for the Savannah Courthouse Annex.

  • The Pre-Proposal Conference will be held at 9:00 a.m. with the Phase l Shortlist Firms to discuss the project’s Statement of Work.
  • At 1:00 p.m.,  the Networking Session will be held to benefit small business firms interested in meeting with the Shortlist Firms in order to pursue partnering and subcontracting opportunities.
Shortlist Firms:
  • Hoar Construction / Page, Two Metroplex Drive, Suite 400, Birmingham, AL 35209
  • New South Construction / Robert A.M. Stern Architects / Rosser International, 1180 West Peachtree Street, Suite 700, Atlanta, GA 30309
  • White Construction / Waggonner & Ball, 613 Cresent Circle, Suite 100, Ridgeland, MS 39157

Those interested in attending are requested to submit registration information not later than 4:00 p.m. (EST), Tuesday, April 25, 2017.  Attendance is limited to 3 participants per firm.  To register, please respond by email to both the primary and secondary points-of-contact (POCs) with the following information: Name of Firm, Individual(s) Attending, Position Title(s), Email Address, Phone Number, and Type of Small Business.

POCs:

:

Swindale Rhodes, Contracting Officer, swindale.rhodes@gsa.gov

:

Chasity Ash, Lead Small Business Technical Analyst, r4smallbiz@gsa.gov

Conference Location:

GSA

124 Barnard Street,

Juliet Lowe Bldg., 3rd Floor

Savannah, GA 31401

DHS shares more details on border wall specifications

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have released additional specifications for the proposed border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

 

Federal officials have supplemented the original notice posted late last month with details that prescribe 30-foot-tall sections of concrete with anti-climbing and anti-damage features. The formal request for proposals was expected to be posted as early as Mar. 8, 2017.

 

The agency’s notice, posted online, also indicated that before the wall’s construction would begin, the winning bidder or bidders would build prototypes for evaluation. If and when the wall is built, construction is likely to begin in the West, near El Paso, TX, Tucson, AZ, and El Centro, CA, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.constructiondive.com/news/dhs-shares-more-details-on-border-wall-specifications/437634/

GAO decision illustrates breadth of agency discretion in past performance evaluations

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past-performance-relevanceIn the recent bid protest decision of Halbert Construction Company Inc., the Government Accountability Office (GAO) illustrated the breadth of a procuring agency’s discretion in conducting a past performance evaluation.

Halbert Construction brought the protest after being excluded from the competitive range, arguing primarily that the Navy unreasonably included a non-relevant prior project in the past performance evaluation which led to Halbert Construction’s exclusion.  The GAO sustained the protest based on the well- established principle that offerors must be treated equally because the Navy excluded another offeror’s past performance reference from the evaluation as not relevant under the solicitation’s relevancy criteria but then failed to do the same for the protestor.

More notable than the relatively straight-forward application of the disparate treatment principle was the decision’s discussion of the very broad discretion of agencies in past performance evaluations.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2016/10/gao-decision-illustrates-breadth-agency-discretion-past-performance-evaluations/

Critics say federal design-build construction contracts stifling competition

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As lawmakers examine possible reforms to the contracting process for federal building construction, they heard on Dec. 3, 2013 from industry advocates who say current agency practices are chasing away perfectly qualified contractors, wasting money and stifling competition.

The issues surround the government’s use of design-build contracts for federal buildings — a setup in which the architectural work and the actual building construction are bundled into a single contract. Agencies can award those contracts in either a one-step or two-step process, and architects and builders who work in the federal space say they’re seeing problems with both.

In the one-step version, contractor teams have to submit virtually all of the technical details of their proposals all at once, and so do all their competitors.

That’s an expensive process. Charles Dalluge, an associate with the American Institute of Architects, said the average design-build proposal costs a company about $260,000.

“Teams must complete up to approximately 80 percent of the design work in advance, they must determine space needs, mechanic, electrical, structural, HVAC and other systems, building supplies and materials and, of course, the cost of construction,” he said. “As federal buildings become more complex, this work requires a considerable investment of time from the professionals on each of the design build teams.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/76/3517931/Federal-design-build-construction-contracts-stifle-competition

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