Sources Sought Notice – Port Dam Safety Modeling Tool to Web

Notice Type: Sources Sought Notice

Posted Date: 28-JUL-15

Office Address: Department of Homeland Security; Federal Emergency Management Agency; Mitigation Branch; 500 C Street SWPatriots Plaza -- 5th Floor Washington DC 20472

Subject: Port Dam Safety Modeling Tool to Web

Classification Code: D - Information technology services, including telecommunications services

Solicitation Number: HSFE60-15-I-0026

Contact: Nathan J. Wolf, Phone 2026464082, Email nathanj.wolf@fema.dhs.gov

Setaside: N/AN/A

Place of Performance Country: US

Description: Department of Homeland Security

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Mitigation Branch

CAPABILITIES SOUGHT This Sources Sought Notice is to find possible contractors, by demonstrating capabilities and experience, able to perform the objectives listed below.

BACKGROUND

Federal Mitigation and Insurance Administration, Risk Analysis Division of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is an Agency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

As part of its responsibility under the National Dam Safety Program (NDSP), and in accordance with the National Dam Safety Program Act (PL 104-303) as amended, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responsible for advancing the objectives of the NDSP: (1) ensure that new and existing dams are safe through the development of technologically and economically feasible programs and procedures for national dam safety hazard reduction; (2) encourage acceptable engineering policies and procedures to be used for dam site investigation, design, construction, operation and maintenance, and emergency preparedness; (3) encourage the establishment and implementation of effective dam safety programs in each state based on state standards; (4) develop and implement a comprehensive dam safety hazard education and public awareness initiative to assist the public in preparing for, mitigating, responding to, and recovering from dam incidents; (5) develop technical materials for Federal and state dam safety programs; (6) develop mechanisms with which to provide Federal technical assistance for dam safety to the non-Federal sector; and (7) develop technical assistance materials, seminars, and guidelines to improve security for dams in the United States.

The University of Mississippi National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering (UM-NCCHE) has developed and maintains the Decision Support System for Water Infrastructural Security (DSS-WISE). This tool is an integrated software package that simulates dam breach floods, fluvial floods, storm/tidal surges, and landslide waves. Through a joint effort between UM-NCCHE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Infrastructure Protection, a special version of the DSS-WISE software package was created to provide automated dam-break flood simulation capability called DSS-WISE Lite.

In February of 2012, State dam safety offices could access DSS-WISE Lite through the DHS Dam Sector Analysis Tools (DSAT). As of November 14, 2014, DSS-WISE Lite had received a total of 3,020 dam break simulations from 41 States. The average number of simulations performed per month was approximately 154. These dam break simulations have proven beneficial to State dam safety offices increasing the amount of emergency action plan (EAP) compliance for high hazard potential dams, which is a priority and performance metric for FEMA's National Dam Safety Program.

In FY 2014, the ownership of the DSAT platform was transitioned to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The USACE is making system changes to the DSAT platform in order to adapt it to its mission requirements and authorities. As a result of these changes, USACE will no longer provide access to the DSS-WISE Lite for State dam safety officials or FEMA. USACE has determined that providing this capability to the States is not critical to their own federal mission.

Providing the DSS-WISE Lite capability to State dam safety offices aligns with the DHS Quadrennial Homeland Security Review Mission 5: Strengthen National Preparedness and Resilience, FEMA Strategic Priority 4: Enable Disaster Risk Reduction Nationally, and Objective 4.1: Provide credible and actionable data and tools to support risk-informed decision making. In addition, providing this DSS-WISE Lite capability also enables FEMA to meet NDSP objective number 5 to develop technical materials for Federal and state dam safety programs.

Providing the DSS-WISE Lite capability to FEMA Headquarters and Regional Offices will enable the agency to run rapid dam break inundation analyses when existing data is not available. The DSS-WISE capability can be leveraged by multiple components within FEMA. Dam inundation maps can be used to support flood zone mapping Risk MAP activities, response and recovery planning, and emergency preparedness activities such as planning and designing exercise scenarios. The only method of acquiring this critical capability is through securing a Firm Fixed Price contract with the National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering, University of Mississippi, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, 100 Barr Hall, University, MS 38677-1848.

Absent a showing of other contractors capable of performing these services, FEMA is considering to award a Firm Fixed Price contract to UM-NCCHE under a Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition (JOFOC).

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

This project would support NDSP efforts to acquire the DSS-WISE Lite modelling capability for training and technical assistance to State dam safety offices and FEMA staff. The contract objectives, while utilizing commercial standards and procedures to the maximum extent possible, include the following:

* Develop a web based geospatial interface preprocessor and Graphical User Interface (GUI) for problem setup and input data preparation for FEMA staff and state stakeholders. * Develop 2D numerical modeling capability that will be used by state dam safety offices and FEMA to conduct analytics for dam/levee breach floods, fluvial floods, storm/tidal surges, landslide waves, and their consequences * Develop and deliver training and materials for users on how the acquire and utilize services provided. * Provide a technical support hotline for DSS-WISE Lite users. * Monitor and provide metrics and results regarding use of the DSS-WISE Lite.

All facts have been documented in other sections. DSS-WISE Lite is a unique system. There is no other example of a web-based automated dam-break flood simulation and mapping system that operates without human intervention. The system has been developed by the UM-NCCHE and has several unique characteristics: * The entire system relies on a code derived from a proprietary, state-of-the-art numerical model, called Decision Support System for Water Infrastructural Security (DSS-WISE) software, which is an integrated software for dam/levee break/breach flood simulation, mapping and GIS-based consequence analysis. DSS-WISE was developed by the UM-NCCHE within the framework of SERRI (South East Region Research Initiative) Program, funded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and monitored by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The University of Mississippi holds the copyrights and the development team at UM-NCCHE holds the intellectual property rights. The DSS-WISE Lite is not available from any other source. * The numerical model is unique and not commercially available from any other source. It uses a finite volume discretization to solve conservative form of shallow water equations on complex natural topography using a shock capturing scheme that is based on the HLLC (Harten, Lax, and van Leer - contact) approximate Riemann solver to compute intercell fluxes. Because of this approach, the DSS-WISE Lite solve can handle mixed flow regimes and wetting and drying in a robust manner. Since it uses a regular Cartesian computational mesh, which can be directly a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), it does not require mesh generation and is particularly suited for automated processing.

RESPONSE

If your firm is capable of meeting the stated objectives and has demonstrable capability supported by experience, please describe the capabilities and relevant experience. Given vendors, other than UM-NCCHE capable of meeting the objectives, a competitive acquisition will be considered. The closing date for response is by August 12, 2015 by 4 PM Eastern Time. Email response in the form of a document to nathanj.wolf@fema.dhs.gov and john.norway@fema.dhs.gov.

Link/URL: https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DHS/FEMA/FFMD/HSFE60-15-I-0026/listing.html