SOURCES SOUGHT
Z -- Rock Creek Park Meridian Hill Park Fountain Repairs Site Visit: Dec. 19, 2006 @ 10:00 am EST
- Notice Date
- 12/5/2006
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- DSC-CS Contracting Services Division National Park Service P.O. Box 25287 Denver CO 80225
- ZIP Code
- 80225
- Solicitation Number
- N3059070902
- Response Due
- 1/8/2007
- Archive Date
- 12/5/2007
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- General: The National Park Service (NPS) of the Department of Interior, is requesting information from fountain specialists having the capability to perform the work described below. This Request For Information (RFI) includes supplemental information available on the NPS ftp site at ftp://63.220.43.40 (Instructions below). Please refer to this site for pictures to support the following description. A guided site visit will be provided for all interested respondents and is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2006 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. If you plan to participate in the site visit, please notify the Contracting Officer Brenda Wishart via e-mail at Brenda_Wishart@nps.gov or by phone at (303) 987-6747. It is requested that you submit a company resume via e-mail prior to the site visit. Following the site visit, the government requests submission of information to further interpret the existing problems and how to fix those problems. Additionally, any examples of work done by your company to correct/repair similar fountain systems should be submitted with your "information proposal." Complete responses to this RFI should be submitted no later than January 8, 2007. If you need additional information please contact the above mentioned contracting officer, Brenda Wishart. Meridian Hill Park is located in Washington, D.C. approximately one and one-half miles north of the White House. It is one of Washington's most important and historic parks in the tradition of the monumental, federal parks of the Mall. Bounded by 16th Street on the west, Euclid Street on the north, 15th Street on the east and "W" Street on the south, Meridian Hill Park is located within a diverse and changing neighborhood. Originally envisioned as "a classical villa landscape at the center of a vibrant and interesting residential neighborhood", the park continues to play an important role in the physical as well as social landscape of the neighborhood. Meridian Hill Park was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994, as "an outstanding accomplishment of early 20th-century Neoclassicist park design in the United States". A current construction project involving the repair and restoration of deteriorated exposed aggregate retaining walls, paving, steps, decorative fountains and pump replacement is nearing completion. A second construction project involving the repair of the storm drainage system and restoration of park plantings, the Lodgehouse and site lighting is ongoing. Despite being the object of several years of repair and restoration, the mechanical systems servicing the site's extensive decorative fountains system remain only partially operable. The NPS seeks input from the fountain industry on how to bring the fountain system to a fully-functioning state. NPS inspections to-date have revealed several remaining issues with the fountain, including pump cavitation (and corresponding lack of pump capacity), debris clogging the fountain system, and leakage from several of the fountain pools. The fountain covers a large area (approximately one quarter) of the park and consists of the following components: 1. Two Great Terrace fountains at the upper end of the fountain above the Great Wall (large retaining wall separating the north end of the park from the south end) fed by pressurized water from the system pump. 2. Two Niche fountains in the Great Wall fed by gravity water from the Great Terrace Fountains. 3. A Niche fountain facing 16th Street. This fountain is non-functional due to drainage issues - the valve feeding pressurized water from the system pump to this fountain has been closed indefinitely. 4. Three Great Wall Pool Niche fountains fed by pressurized water from the system pump. These fountains drain immediately into the Upper Receiving Pool at the base of the Great Wall. 5. Thirteen Cascade Basins fed by gravity water from the Upper Receiving Pool. Each cascade basin spills into the next lower cascade basin with the last cascade basin spilling into the Lower Receiving Pool. 6. Four Reflecting Pool fountains fed by pressurized water from the system pump. The Reflecting Pool and the Lower Receiving Pool are connected with two 6" equalizer lines so that they maintain the same water level. 7. A pump reservoir that is fed with an eight-inch return water (gravity water) line from the upper fountain features, a 12" return water line from the Lower Receiving Pool, and an eight-inch return water line from the Reflecting Pool. A box-type strainer has been provided on the return water from the Lower Receiving Pool and the Reflecting Pool but no strainer has been provided on the eight-inch return water line from the upper fountain features. The water level in the reservoir is maintained by a probe-type level control system that operates a solenoid valve to introduce city water for make-up. The level control system also has a function that shuts the system pump down on low water level in the reservoir. The pump reservoir has an overflow weir that discharges to the city sewer and it also has a sump pump to completely drain the reservoir and fountain. Picture No. 01 (See FTP site) Picture No. 02 (See FTP site) Picture No. 03 (See FTP site) 8. A variable frequency drive (VFD) for the system pump. The VFD can be operated manually or can be controlled by water pressure downstream of the system pump (although the automatic control function of the VFD has not yet been successfully demonstrated). The pump is also equipped with a pressure switch downstream of the pump that will shut the pump down if the discharge pressure gets too low. Picture No. 04 (See FTP site) 9. A system pump. The pump characteristics are as follows: Aurora Model 411, 5x6x17, 100 HP, 1750 RPM, 1600 GPM @ 180' (78 psi) total dynamic head, 225' (97.4 psi) shut off head, 17.3' (7.5 psia) net positive suction head required (NPSHR). Further information on the system pump can be found at: http://www.aurorapump.com/pdf/410/Curves_410.pdf (pump curves) http://www.aurorapump.com/pdf/410/411_Dim_Eng.pdf (dimensions and engineering data). Picture No. 05 (See FTP site) The centerline of the pump is above the pump reservoir high water level (approximately 18 inches - this is not an accurate measurement, but only an estimate), so the pump does not have a flooded suction condition. The pump prime is held by an 8-inch check valve in the pump reservoir - the suction line is eight-inch ductile iron, with an original portion that runs under the floor of the pump room, elbows up above the floor and then elbows over toward the pump suction. An eight-inch inline basket strainer has been installed in the suction line, with an eight-inch OS&Y gate valve. As you can see from the photo above, the pump suction line turns 90 degrees through a short radius elbow and then connects to the pump suction flange with a concentric reducer - this is not an ideal configuration. Experimentation with pump speed by the contractor indicates that when the pump is run at 50 Hz (approximately 1,460 RPM), the discharge pressure is approximately 59 psig and there is no cavitation. However, this does not provide enough pressure (or flow) to properly operate the fountain. Running the system at 60 Hz makes the pump cavitate - the discharge pressure fluctuates rapidly around 60 psig and the cavitation noise in the pump room is quite loud. Using a Hazen Williams C value of 80 (conservative for the old underfloor section of suction line), an eight-inch suction line, and a clean inline basket strainer, calculations indicate that the net positive suction head required (NPSHR) exceeds the net positive suction head available (NPSHA) by about 0.3 psi at full pump speed. This indicates that the pump should cavitate, which is what appears to be happening. Performing the same calculation at 50 Hz, the NPSHA exceeds the NPSHR by about 2.6 psi, which indicates that the pump should not be cavitating, and this also accords with experience. All of the above is assuming a clean strainer. However, experience has shown that the inline basket strainer quickly clogs with debris, exacerbating the cavitation problem. This leads into the second major issue - debris clogging. There are strainers located at the drains in all of the fountain pools and basins and there is also the box strainer in the pump reservoir. As mentioned above, there is no strainer located where the eight-inch return line from the upper fountain features enters the pump reservoir. Even with all of the strainers located at drains, a large amount of sizeable debris, such as leaves, seeds, and grass clippings (and linear debris, such as sticks and twigs) ends up in the pump reservoir, where it gets pulled into the pump suction line. The inline basket strainer has 1/16-inch holes in it, which appears to be sufficient to protect the pump, but the strainer clogs frequently, causing the pump to shut down on low discharge pressure. At one time, the contractor ran the pump with the strainer basket removed - the pump impeller became clogged with debris and caused considerable damage to the pump. Picture No. 06 (See FTP site) Several of the fountain pools (Upper Receiving Pool, Lower Receiving Pool, and Reflecting Pool being the major ones) leak out onto the walkways around the pools, causing a slipping hazard for visitors to the park. The leakage also impacts the aesthetics of the fountain. It appears that the floor-to-wall joints are leaking, but this issue needs further investigation to determine where the main leaks are occurring. As a consequence of information gained from responses to this Request for Information, the government may develop a scope of work for a future five-year IDIQ contract for repair and long-term maintenance of the fountain system. This Design/Build Repair/Maintenance contract is anticipated to be solicited in the Spring of 2007. If pursued, the solicitation will be issued electronically, on the Department of Interior's National Business Center (NBC) web site, at http://ideasec.nbc.gov. Paper copies of this solicitation will not be made available. Prospective offerors desiring to conduct business with DOI are requested to register at the National Business Center. Any available informational resources, such as historic drawings, historic photographs, reports, as-constructed drawings, specifications, shop drawings, etc. will be made available by the NPS upon request. Please contact Brenda Wishart (303) 987-6747 with those requests. All available requested information will then be posted upon the NPS FTP site as directed below. Instructions for Access to the NPS FTP site for Additional Supporting Information: Download package from the following website: ftp://63.220.43.40 Username: npsftpwin Password: FTP04npswin (case-sensitive, note this is a zero not an 'O') Located in ROCK/Fountains/RFI Helpful Hints " Be sure computer settings allow for viewing ftp folders. In Internet Explorer, go to the tools menu, select "Internet Options", and then select the "Advanced tab. Be sure the "Enable Folder view for FTP sites" is checked. " Download files prior to opening them. Do not open from ftp site.
- Web Link
-
Please click here to view more details.
(http://ideasec.nbc.gov/j2ee/announcementdetail.jsp?serverId=NP144302&objId=2382203)
- Place of Performance
- Address: DC County Washington, DC
- Zip Code: 200081207
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 200081207
- Record
- SN01191124-W 20061207/061205220918 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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