09-02-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

NOTICE OF INTENT_FINAL 2015 09 02.DOCX 3 Notice of Intent Introduction The communities of Fargo, ND and Moorhead, MN, along with Cass County, ND, Clay County, MN, the Cass County Joint Water Resource District, and the Buffalo-Red River Watershed District, have signed a joint powers agreement that forms the Flood Diversion Board of Authority (Diversion Authority). The Diversion Authority, representing the local communities as the non-Federal Sponsors (NFS), and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), representing the Department of the Army, have, as a team, completed significant work in readying the Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan Area Flood Risk Management Project (the Project) for implementation. Construction of the Project was authorized by the US Congress as part of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014, Public Law 113-121. The Diversion Authority and the USACE recognize that advancing the completion of the Project as soon as practicable is critical to reducing flood risk for the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area. The estimated $1.8 billion Project, which is comprised of multiple project features, has been selected by USACE as a demonstration project that will be implemented using a Split Delivery model. Under the Split Delivery model, the multiple Project features will be split into those implemented by the Diversion Authority and those implemented by the USACE. The majority of the Diversion Authority’s features will be delivered through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project, whereas the USACE intends to use traditional Design-Bid-Build (DBB) and Design-Build (DB) methods. The portions of the Project that the Diversion Authority will implement through a PPP are collectively referred to as the Diversion Channel and Associated Infrastructure Work Package (DCAI WP). The DCAI WP generally consists of 30 miles of channel, 2 aqueducts, 2 river inlets, various local drainage inlets, the channel outfall, 4 railroad bridges, 4 interstate highway bridges, and 10 county road bridges, as well as associated environmental mitigation and recreational features. Further detail is provided in Attachment A: Diversion Channel and Associated Infrastructure Work Package Scope. The portions of the Project that the USACE will implement through traditional DBB and DB methods are collectively referred to as the Southern Embankment and Associated Infrastructure (SEAI). The SEAI may include multiple and separate construction packages that are yet to be defined by the USACE in cooperation with the Diversion Authority. In addition, the Diversion Authority and the USACE are currently designing and constructing Mitigation and Associated Infrastructure Work Packages (MAI WP) that will not be part of the PPP and will be delivered through traditional DBB or DB methods. The Diversion Authority intends to seek competitive PPP proposals through a fair and transparent procurement process, and enter into a single PPP Agreement with a PPP Developer for the design, build, finance, operation, and maintenance (DBFOM) of the DCAI WP as generally described herein. The USACE will not be signatory to the PPP Agreement, and the PPP procurement and DCAI WP implementation will be exclusively within the control of the Diversion Authority. The purpose of this Notice of Intent (NOI) is to increase market interest in, and competition for, the DCAI WP, as well as provide initial information about the intended PPP procurement process. NOTE: This is only a Notice of Intent, not a commitment, by the Diversion Authority. The Diversion Authority is anticipating satisfactory resolution of certain enabling outcomes, as identified in the “Current Project Status” section, to occur prior to the procurement process advancing beyond this NOI. The Diversion Authority may modify or cancel this NOI at any time.