United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response
9355.5-05
PB94-963243
EPA-540-F-94-015
AEPA Procedure for Use of USAGE
Preplaced Contracts to Expedite
Super-fund Cleanup Tasks
Office of Emergency and Remedial Response
Hazardous Site Control Division 5203G
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
r April 1994
INTRODUCTION
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USAGE) has procured preplaced indefinite delivery contracts to provide the EPA
with streamlined, flexible access to engineering, removal, and remedial services at selected Superfund sites. This
document describes each contract in terms of scope, applicability, criteria for use, response time, and procedures for
accessing the contract.
Some Superfund sites require a quick response and lack a well defined scope. Traditional site-specific, firm fixed price
contracts do not always meet the needs of these sites because the contracts require a definitive scope of work to facilitate
competitive bidding.
To provide more flexible and responsive contracting capabilities, the USAGE has procured preplaced indefinite quantity
contracts to provide engineering, removal, and remedial services as individual delivery orders under a single contract.
Table 1 provides summary descriptions of the contracts and their applications. The delivery orders can be issued on
a firm fixed price or cost reimbursement basis depending on the site specific conditions, time available for response,
and available site information.
Use of these contracts can shorten the response time for a given task by two to six months. However, they have total
contract dollar capacity limits and may have dollar limits for the individual delivery orders; thus, they should be applied
only where circumstances warrant.
Type of Preplaced Contract
Architect/Engineer Services (AE)
Remedial Action (RA)
Rapid/Immediate Response (RR/IR)
Total Environmental Restoration
Contract (TERC)
Applicable Use
Preliminary Assessment/Site
Investigation (PA/SI), Remedial
Investigation/Feasibility Study
(RI/FS), Remedial Design
Remedial Action, non-time critical removals
Time-Critical Response Actions (usually removals)
All Project Phases-PA/SI to O&M for large complicated sites,
typically with several areas to be remediated
Table 1 - USAGE Contract Types
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF
PREPLACED, INDEFINITE DELIVERY
CONTRACTS
1. Architect/Engineer (AE) Services:
These contracts provide access to AE firms experienced
in investigating and remediating Hazardous, Toxic, and
Radioactive Waste (HTRW) sites. They can provide PA/
SI, RI/FS, and remedial design services, and can assist in
the development of Records of Decision (RODs). Deliv-
ery orders can be issued on a firm fixed price or cost
reimbursement basis. The contract ceiling limits range
from $3 million to $20 million per contract with limits of
$0.5 to $2 million on individual delivery orders. Aside
from these dollar limits, there are no restrictions to ac-
cessing these contracts.
2. Preplaced Remedial Action (PRA)
Contracts:
These contracts access full scale remedial action services
for a wide range of source control and groundwater
remedies. Well defined remedies with detailed design
documents can be remediated under a firm fixed price
delivery order while remedies which cannot be clearly
defined may require a cost reimbursement delivery
order. The ceiling limits on these contracts range from
$2 million to $100 million per contract with typically no
dollar limits on individual delivery orders. The expe-
dited nature of these contracts makes it desirable to have
the USAGE perform the design work in-house or, as a
minimum, provide technical oversight of design work
performed by others.
The USAGE has developed criteria for approving candi-
date delivery orders for the use of PRA contracts. These
include sites where delaying the remedial action results
in possible detrimental effects on human health and/or
the environment. The decision to use the PRA contracts
can be reached in two ways:
• EPA Regions can review the applicable
criteria and request the USAGE to use the con-
tracting vehicles if they believe the situation
warrants expedited action; or
• The USAGE, during their evaluation of
contracting and scheduling alternatives, can
determine that use of the PRA contracts is
the most effective approach to the remedial
action, and advise the Region of their
findings.
Both the AE Services and PRA contracts in are in place
at many of the USAGE Districts. Table 2 provides the
appropriate USAGE point of contact for each EPA
Region. The EPA Region should consult with the appro-
priate point of contact when considering the use of these
contracts for a given project.
3. Rapid/Immediate Response (RR/IR)
Services:
RR contracts are used for time-critical removal actions,
point source contamination control, and small scale re-
medial actions. The US ACE currently has two $50 million
RR contracts in place at their Omaha District, with no
ceiling for individual delivery orders other than the con-
tract ceiling. Delivery orders are issued on a
cost-plus-award-fee basis. The typical contractor re-
sponse time is 30-60 days.
RR contracts also provide access to immediate response
(IR) services, which apply at silcs where a release or a
threat of arelease of a hazardous substance hasor is likely
to occur. The minimum contractor response time is 72
hours.
For assistance in accessing RR/IR services. Regions
should contact Mr. Rick Wilson at the Omaha
District at (402) 221-7773.
Because of the expedited nature of the RR/IR contracts
program, management and oversight costs are slightly
higher than for PRA contracts. The RR/IR contract costs
include a 1.5 percent user fee to cover USAGE "stand-
by" costs.
4. Total Environmental Restoration
Contracts (TERC):
The USAGE has also initiated a new contracting strategy
which can provide cradlc-to-grave services at HTRW
clean-up sites through a Total Environmental Restora-
tion Contract (TERC). A TERC is an environmental
response contract that permits a single contractor to pro-
vide full clean-up services (preliminary assessment
through remedial action and O&M ) at certain large, high
priority sites or in a geographic region where it has been
determined to be in the best interests of the government.
A TERC has the capability to be used throughout actual
remediation, and it can be initiated at any investigation
or engineering stage; however, it is never used solely for
remedial actions. A potential EPA use of TERCS con-
tracts would be an integrated design and construction
project, such as a non-time critical removal or a remedial
action with special requirements. The contracts are long-
term (up to 10 years), indefinite delivery, with cost
reimbursement delivery orders. The total ceiling limits
on these contracts will typically be the range of $50
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million to $200 million with no limits on individual
delivery orders. For more information on the availabil-
ity and use of these contracts, call the appropriate US ACE
point of contact listed in Table 2.
General Initiation Procedures and
Corresponding Time Frames for Delivery
Orders under the Preplaced Contracts
The general procedures for initiating a delivery order
under a preplaced contract follow:
1. EPA contacts their USAGE District point of contact
about a prospective assignment and discusses
applicable contract mechanisms and prepares a project
scope.
2. EPA prepares an Interagency Agreement (LAG).
3. USAGE prepares a contractor Statement of Work
(SOW) and Government Estimate.
4. EPA reviews the contractor SOW.
5. USAGE sends a Request for Proposal (RFP) to one of
the contractors..
6. The Contractor reviews the RFP and submits a
proposal.
7. The final scope, cost, and schedule of the proposal is
negotiated between the USAGE and the contractor.
8. Upon completion of the negotiations, the USAGE,
after coordinating with EPA, issues a Notice to Pro-
ceed to the contractor and the work commences.
Typical response times for processing and initiating de-
livery orders under the preplaced contracts are shown in
Table 3.
FUNDING FOR ALL CONTRACTS
The funding process is the same as the existing process
for assigning work to the USAGE. An IAG for the work
must be executed. The request and supporting documen-
tation to use a preplaced contract should accompany the
IAG and clearly delineate any requirements for faster
response and completion schedules. For further infor-
mation, contact the office that handles lAGs within your
Region.
COST
Delivery Order Costs:
Preplaced contract delivery orders for the PRA.
RR/IR, and TERC contracts are negotiated for cost,
schedule, and technical requirements for each assign-
ment. When the Government negotiates with these
contractors, it must conclude that the agreed upon costs
are appropriate, fair, and reasonable. If negotiations are
unsuccessful with a contract because of cost or other
factors, the Government may choose to negotiate with
another preplaced contractor.
Region
Served
l
2,4,6,7
3
5,8
9
10
Corps
Contact
Ira Nadleman
Frank Bader
Glen Earhart
Miguel Cintron
Ahsan Sayed
Mike Bowlus
Office Symbol
New England Div.
CENED-PD-L
Kansas City Dist.
CEMRK-MD-H
Baltimore Dist
CENAB-EN-HM
Omaha District
CEMRO-MD-HS
South Pacific Div
CESPD-CO-CM
Seattle District
CENPS-EN-GTHW
Div/Dist Ph Number
(617) 647-8894
(816)426-2323
(410) 962-3369
(402) 221-7705
(415) 705-1515
(206) 764-3704
Table 2: USAGE Contacts for AE Services. PRA Contracts, and TERC
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Contract Type
Architect Engineer Services
Preplaced Remedial Action (PRA)
Rapid Response
Immediate Response
Total Environmental Restoration Contract
Typical Time Period from Receipt of IAG to
Issuance of Contractor Notice to Proceed
30-60 days
75-90 days
30-60 days
72 hours
30-90 days
depending on nature of delivery order
Table 3: Typical Durations for Initiating Delivery Orders
Management and Oversight Costs:
When delivery orders are issued on a cost reimburse-
ment basis, the Government management and oversight
costs will be greater than for firm-fixed price contracts
or delivery orders. These additional costs are due to a
required increase in Government oversight and direction
of contractor activities under cost reimbursement con-
tracts. Management and oversight costs for firm-fixed
price delivery orders are similar to those encountered
under site-specific firm-fixed price contracts.
CONCLUSIONS
These contract strategies provide additional tools to EPA
personnel for expediting the initiation of engineering,
removal, and remedial activities. They can be used when
site activities must begin quickly in order to preclude
possible detrimental effects to human health and/or the
environment or if it is in the best interest of the govern-
ment because of other factors. For more information,
the EPA and USAGE headquarters points-of-contact are
JohnBlanchard(703-603-9031),andCalCurington(202-
272-1064) respectively.
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Washington, DC 20460
Official Use
Penalty for Private Use
$300
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