FTW434 Repair of Hangar 7 and 8, Building 2077 RFP Development

Under a task order on an IDIQ, this project included the preparation of a Design-Build (DB) Request for Proposal (RFP) solicitation for the design and repair of Building 2077 (Hangars 7 and 8) at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. The team provided civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, and fire protection engineering, and developed preliminary design narratives after a kick-off presentation, building walk through, and scoping verifications meeting. These items were based upon available published data, government furnished materials, and Subject Matter Expert (SME) input.

The design team leader managed the team in organizing what elements of the project scope could be addressed within the base items to meet the project mission without exceeding the authorized funds and considering which items could be optional, to be awarded based upon submitted pricing and remaining available funds. This took considerable collaboration with the USACE PM, DPW representatives, facility users, and communication with the design team. The facility priorities for the base bid included a new fire suppression system, one overhead bridge crane, new telecommunications rooms, addition of lightning protection, and the complete replacement of the electrical power system.

Project Highlights: This task order was awarded in the spring of 2020, shortly after the onset of the pandemic. The design team collaborated virtually as needed, but the nature of the work required in-person, onsite meetings, which were safely executed following various COVID protocols. The project scope grew in discussion with the users, which challenged the programmed construction budget. This was mitigated with a creative, well-defined bid schedule that included several optional Contract Line Items Numbers (CLINs). The design team had the opportunity to collaborate with USACE civil engineering to design utility upgrades for the building, rather than perform a contract modification to add civil design to the A/E team’s scope of work.

The existing roof structure had been reinforced, through a separate project, to increase its snow load capacity. Due to the majority of the structure being nonstandard, built-up steel shapes, it required a unique evaluation of the roof structure for the proposed crane loads. In addition, Hangars 7 & 8 were shared by Army and National Guard users; telecommunications could not be shared between the user groups. The design team coordinated with DPW’s comm representative and the users to provide separate TERs and racks in the RFP’s concept plan to provide secure communications for the differing functions.