Army Corps of Engineers Albeni Falls Dam Fish Passage Industry Day

The United States Army Corps of Engineers, Northwestern Division - Seattle District (NWS) is hosting a Virtual Industry Day on 15 November 2022 to provide additional information and gain feedback from industry on an upcoming requirement for the Two-Phase Design-Build large civil works project for the installation of a Fish Passage Facility located at Albeni Falls Dam, Oldtown (AFD), ID.

The agency has been tasked to solicit for and award of a Design-Build construction contract for an upstream “trap and haul” fish passage facility at AFD for the passage of sub-adult and adult Bull Trout; The planned facility includes an entrance structure designed to discharge approximately 300 cubic feet per second (cfs) with two vertical slot entrances, a gravity water supply system, a fishway, such as a ladder, a pre-sort pool, a fish lock for lifting fish, a sorting facility, and a truck loading area. The operation is anticipated to be year-round, excluding the warmest month of August when temperatures exceed lethal thresholds for bull trout and during winter periods of river or facility ice-over. The facility is designed to operate between tailwater elevations from 2,031 feet to 2,048 ft. The gravity water supply can operate at forebay elevations as low as 2,045 ft and forebay-tailwater elevation differentials as low as 4 ft.

The construction activities may include the installation of isolation devices, like a cofferdam or equivalent, delivery of materials and equipment by trucks or a barge, tunneling through rock, drilling, and blasting of rock (both in and out of the water), placement of piles, and the curing of concrete for the assembly and attachment of the parts. The assembly of most of the structure will take place on land; however, construction of the entrance structure and parts of the auxiliary water intake may need to occur from a floating barge. The staging areas will be coordinated with AFD personnel. Limited laydown areas will be located on the right abutment within and adjacent to the Corps employee parking area. In general, access to the Project site will be from two areas: (1) barges working in the tailrace or forebay, and (2) the right abutment through the Corps access gate, parking area, and over the powerhouse intake deck. River access will be required to construct the fishway entrance as well as the auxiliary water supply intake structure. Access to the remaining project elements will be from the right abutment off U.S. Highway 2 via the dam access road.

Attached is a preliminary layout of the major features of work. The construction of this project will have constraints which include but are not limited to: Seasonal work windows, blasting requirements, in-water work complying with water quality requirements, monitoring and construction work taking place alongside an active Hydroelectric dam while the dam continues to operate normally. Construction of the fish passage will be required to be in coordination with the terms of the Biological Opinion which can be found at https://ecos.fws.gov/tails/pub/document/9799287

The proposed project is anticipated to be competitive, firm-fixed-price type contract to be procured in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 36.3 (Two-Phase Design-Build Selection Procedures) and FAR Part 15 (Contracting by Negotiation), using the Tradeoff process.

The Government is seeking qualified, experienced sources capable of performing the construction of the AFD Fish Passage Facility. Activities will include, but are not limited to:

• Design and construction of a fully integrated fish passage facility (target species bull trout) including an entrance structure, fish ladder, holding pool, fish lock, water supply, sorting facility and supporting infrastructure.
• Construction near an Active Hydroelectric Dam: The dam will be always operational during construction. Blasting and construction near or alongside an operating hydroelectric dam will be required.
• Construction under the terms of a Biological Opinion: The contract will contain constraints and measures as outlined in the Biological Opinion for activities such as in-water blasting, in-water concrete placement and cofferdam construction.

USACE will provide Conceptual Plans at approximately a 35% level of design as part of the Request for Proposal (RFP), for the Design-Build contract. Data such as survey and geotechnical investigation have been conducted and will also be provided as part of the RFP.

In accordance with /DFARS Part 236, the estimated construction price range for this project is: Between $25,000,000 and $100,000,000. Estimated duration of the project is 1,460 calendar days from issuance of the Notice to Proceed. The North American Industry Classification System code for this procurement is, 237990 Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction, which has a small business size standard of $39.5 million.