Solicitation
Injection Well Failure Mode Evaluation
Department of the Interior
AI summaryThe Interior Department's Reclamation Contracting Activity, for the Bureau of Reclamation's Paradox Valley Unit, wants an engineering study of why and how its deep brine injection well in western Colorado could fail. It is a single firm-fixed-price (FFP: one set price, whatever the work costs) purchase order set aside for small businesses, awarded to the lowest-priced acceptable quote. The work period is January 20, 2027 to April 30, 2027, and the response due date is November 10, 2026, 1:00 PM Mountain. More in the summary
AI summary Beta
The Interior Department's Reclamation Contracting Activity, for the Bureau of Reclamation's Paradox Valley Unit, wants an engineering study of why and how its deep brine injection well in western Colorado could fail. It is a single firm-fixed-price (FFP: one set price, whatever the work costs) purchase order set aside for small businesses, awarded to the lowest-priced acceptable quote. The work period is January 20, 2027 to April 30, 2027, and the response due date is November 10, 2026, 1:00 PM Mountain.
Who can bid
- Be a small business: the buy is a total small business set-aside under NAICS 541690 (size standard $19.0M)
- Work supervised by a registered professional engineer, who signs and stamps the final report
- Project Manager and key technical staff with at least ten years of relevant experience in deep brine disposal wells, covering petroleum engineering, structural/petroleum geology and geomechanics, and reservoir and injection well analysis
How to submit: Email to both Nayda Gonzalez (nayda_gonzalezsalgado@ios.doi.gov) and Tyler Spencer (tyler_spencer@ios.doi.gov). What to include is under Full summary below. Check the solicitation's instructions on SAM.gov.
Things to watch (8)
From the version posted Oct 13, 2026.
- Serious: Set aside for small businesses only. Only small businesses under NAICS 541690 (size standard $19.0M) can bid.
- Serious: Specialized staff with ten years of experience. Quotes with staff who miss the minimum qualifications are technically not acceptable, so a small firm needs matching well-injection engineers and geologists on the team.
- Serious: Registered professional engineer must supervise and stamp the final report. Every delivered copy of the final report must carry the supervising engineer's original signature and stamp.
Show all 8Show fewer
- Worth checking: Two different solicitation numbers. The cover page of the solicitation shows 140R4026Q0115, while SAM.gov and the form show 140RR027Q0004; ask the contracting officer which to use on the cover sheet.
- Worth checking: Questions were due Oct 27, 2026. Check the amendments for the agency's answers.
- Worth checking: Tight page limit and all-or-nothing price schedule. The technical proposal is capped at 10 pages, and a quote on only part of the price schedule will not be considered.
- Worth checking: Short schedule counted from award. The draft report is due 60 calendar days after award and the final report 100 calendar days after award; the award date is not stated.
- Minor: Security and sensitive-information rules. Reclamation security clause 1452.237-80 covers ID cards, protecting controlled unclassified information (CUI), and removal of unsuitable staff.
Read from the notice and 4 attachments. Show which files.
- Sol_140RR027Q0004.pdf (read)
- Attachment_1_-_Statement_of_Work.pdf (read)
- Attachment_3_-_Price_Schedule.pdf (read)
- Attachment_3_-_Wage_Determination.pdf (read)
Full summary
What they want
- Identify and evaluate failure modes of the injection well's surface, subsurface and reservoir systems, including single-point, multiple-point, cascading and catastrophic failures
- Review all project documentation Reclamation provides electronically (injection data, wireline, seismic and modeling results)
- Identify warning signs of failure, plus monitoring, testing and diagnostic methods to detect them early
- Recommend data to collect, key performance indicators (KPIs) and best available technologies, and propose metrics to rate risk (likelihood and consequences)
- Deliver a kick-off call within 7 days after award, a schedule within 10 days, a draft report within 60 days and a final report within 100 calendar days after award
- Join teleconference progress meetings at least twice a month, one about 75 days and one about 90 days after award
- Have a registered professional engineer supervise all work; each delivered copy of the final report must bear the engineer's original signature and stamp
- Contract type
- Single firm-fixed-price purchase order, request for quote (RFQ)
- Period of performance
- January 20, 2027 through April 30, 2027; the statement of work says all work must be completed within 100 calendar days from date of award
- Place of performance
- Paradox Valley Unit (PVU) located in western Colorado, approximately 60 miles southwest of Grand Junction (Paradox Valley Field Office, Bedrock, CO)
- Estimated value
- Not stated
- How they'll choose
- Lowest price, technically acceptable (LPTA): the two lowest-priced quotes are checked, and the lowest-priced one that is technically acceptable wins
- Offers due
- November 10, 2026, 1:00 PM Mountain
- How to submit
- Email to both Nayda Gonzalez (nayda_gonzalezsalgado@ios.doi.gov) and Tyler Spencer (tyler_spencer@ios.doi.gov)
- Page limits
- Technical proposal: 10 pages maximum, single sided, 12-point Times New Roman
What they'll judge offers on
- Technical (rated Acceptable/Not Acceptable): (a) appropriateness and effectiveness of methods, (b) understanding of scope and complexity, (c) work schedule, (d) labor mix and equipment
- Quality Control Plan: adequacy and effectiveness in managing performance standards
- Personnel Qualifications: technical skills, training and certifications; staff who miss the statement of work's minimums make the quote technically not acceptable
- Past Performance (rated Acceptable/Not Acceptable): similar magnitude of effort; no past performance history is rated acceptable
- Price: reviewed for reasonableness and unbalanced pricing
What to include when you submit
- Cover sheet with the solicitation number, business name, address and point of contact, business size and type, acknowledgement of amendments, period of acceptance of quotes, and any other terms and conditions
- Technical proposal (one electronic copy) with a technical approach, a quality control plan (QCP) and personnel qualifications
- Provide resumes for the Project Manager and all key technical personnel showing education, qualifications and at least ten years of relevant experience in their role
- Past performance (one electronic copy): up to 3 examples of past projects with similar scope, size and complexity completed within the last 5 years; do not send more than 3
- For each past project give name and location, description of work, dollar value, actual dates and duration, and name, phone and email of at least one reference
- Price quote on the Price Schedule (Attachment 2) covering all labor, materials, overhead, delivery fees and other costs; no quote is considered for only part of the schedule
- Questions go by email to both contracting contacts; phone calls or mail are not accepted
After award, you must have
- Staff with access to the work site must be U.S. citizens or foreign individuals legally residing in or admitted to the U.S., and need a Government-issued ID card From Sol_140RR027Q0004.pdf:
…shall be U.S. citizens or foreign individuals legally residing in, or legally admitted to, the U.S.
Current contractor
No incumbent is named, and no sources sought or market research summary is given. The statement of work says Reclamation previously determined the well may be approaching the end of its operational life.
Not in the notice text
- The award date is not stated; the 100-day schedule runs from award.
- The Government's estimate or budget for the study is not given.
- Whether resumes count toward the 10-page technical proposal limit is not stated.
- A Service Contract Act wage determination (2015-5435) is attached and clause 52.222-41 is included; the notice does not say which tasks it covers.
- The unit of measure for the single line item is shown as AU, with quantity 1; the notice does not explain it.
Eligibility and how to respond
- Set aside for small businesses: only a business that counts as small under this notice's NAICS code can bid as the prime contractor. More open small business set-asides under NAICS 541690
- How to submit, from the AI summary: Email to both Nayda Gonzalez (nayda_gonzalezsalgado@ios.doi.gov) and Tyler Spencer (tyler_spencer@ios.doi.gov). Check it in the notice before you send anything.
- SAM.gov has no description for this notice beyond its title. The work is described in its attachments, listed under Notice details.
- Service contracts usually set minimum pay rates (the Service Contract Act). Price the labor with the SCA price calculator.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 13, 2026
- Notice type
- Solicitation
- Office
- Reclamation Contracting Activity, Denver, CO
- Product/service code
- B599 · Special Studies/Analysis – Other
- Business type
- Consulting & professional services (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 541690)
- Attachments
Past awards and competition
Who has won work like this before, the likely incumbent, and what similar contracts paid, from USAspending.gov.
Before you respond
- How to respond to a solicitation (8 steps)
- How to read a government solicitation
- How to price a government contract
- Set-aside contracts explained
Terms on this notice: Solicitation, Set-aside
Full notice text from SAM.gov
INJECTION WELL FAILURE MODE EVALUATION