Presolicitation
P210 Electric Power Plant and Electrical Distribution System at Chabelley Airfield, Djibouti
Department of Defense · Department of the Navy
AI summaryThis is a presolicitation (an early notice, not yet the request for proposals) from the Navy's Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Atlantic to build a power plant and electrical distribution system at Chabelley Airfield, Djibouti, Africa, and it will be open to all businesses with no small business set-aside. The Navy expects to post the request for proposals (RFP) on SAM.gov on or about November 5, 2026. The work is firm-fixed-price (one set price) design-bid-build construction (the Government supplies the design, you build), with a magnitude of $25,000,000 to $100,000,000, about 1045 calendar days after notice to proceed, and performance bonding. More in the summary
Advance notice of a coming solicitation, not a bid yet. If it asks for capability statements, sending one is free and puts you on Department of the Navy's list before the solicitation is posted. See the contact
AI summary Beta
The notice looks incomplete: The request for proposals, with its proposal instructions, evaluation weights and site requirements, is not posted yet; the notice says it will be on SAM.gov on or about November 5, 2026. Check the attachments on SAM.gov.
This is a presolicitation (an early notice, not yet the request for proposals) from the Navy's Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Atlantic to build a power plant and electrical distribution system at Chabelley Airfield, Djibouti, Africa, and it will be open to all businesses with no small business set-aside. The Navy expects to post the request for proposals (RFP) on SAM.gov on or about November 5, 2026. The work is firm-fixed-price (one set price) design-bid-build construction (the Government supplies the design, you build), with a magnitude of $25,000,000 to $100,000,000, about 1045 calendar days after notice to proceed, and performance bonding.
Who can bid (4)
- Open to all businesses: unrestricted, full and open competition, with no small business or other set-aside
- Active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) when you submit your proposal and when the contract is awarded
- Ability to meet performance bonding requirements
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- Compliance with Djiboutian contracting law and classification requirements
How to submit: Not yet issued; the RFP will be posted at https://www.sam.gov. What to include is under Full summary below. Check the solicitation's instructions on SAM.gov.
Things to watch (6)
From the version posted Oct 21, 2026.
- Serious: Large overseas job with performance bonding. The magnitude is $25,000,000 to $100,000,000 and performance bonding applies, so a small business needs bonding capacity at that scale.
- Worth checking: No small business set-aside. The Navy plans full and open competition, so small businesses compete against firms of any size.
- Worth checking: Djiboutian law, licensing and local requirements. The notice puts compliance with Djiboutian contracting law and classification requirements on the bidder but does not spell them out, so a U.S. firm should confirm what a local office, licenses, currency and taxes require.
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- Worth checking: Site visit on December 9, 2026 needs base access paperwork. The organized visit is at Chabelley Airfield; the notice does not say attendance is required, each contractor is limited to two people, and non-U.S., non-Djiboutian staff may not be approved in time.
- Minor: Photos may not be allowed at the site visit. If photos are prohibited, the Government may take photos and share them with all bidders by amendment.
- Minor: Long build schedule. The work runs approximately 1045 calendar days after notice to proceed, which ties up crews and bonding for nearly three years.
Read from the notice and 2 attachments. Show which files.
- P210 Presolicitation.pdf (read)
- Attachment_A_Base Access Memo.pdf (read)
Full summary
What they want
- Build a power plant with six diesel generators, each rated at 830 electrical kilowatts (eKW), 1,038 kilovolt-amperes (KVA) and 4,160 volts (V)
- Meet the Overseas Environmental Baseline Guidance Document using ultra-low sulfur diesel, with an operational bypass for regular diesel
- Add two fuel storage tanks, a fuel polishing system, fuel offloading and distribution, and diesel exhaust fluid offloading with conditioned storage and distribution
- Build a steel-framed metal canopy over a concrete slab for fuel offloading, with concrete containment and an adjacent prefabricated control facility
- Design the generator control system as automated, with an optional manual override
- Build the primary electrical distribution: underground infrastructure, substation switchgear in a separate prefabricated facility in the southeast corner of the site, and a paralleling programmable logic controller system that starts and stops the generators
- Install underground polyvinyl chloride conduit in concrete-encased duct banks tied into existing weather-enclosed secondary distribution centers, with one medium-voltage pad-mounted switchgear and a pad-mounted transformer
- Finish in approximately 1045 calendar days after notice to proceed
- Contract type
- Firm-fixed-price design-bid-build construction, awarded through a negotiated request for proposals (the Government may hold discussions or limit the competitive range)
- Period of performance
- Approximately 1045 calendar days after notice to proceed
- Place of performance
- Chabelley Airfield, Djibouti, Africa
- Estimated value
- Magnitude of construction between $25,000,000 and $100,000,000 (the Government's range)
- How they'll choose
- Best value negotiated procurement under Revised FAR Overhaul 15.102 (the 2026 rewrite of the Federal Acquisition Regulation): proposals are judged on price competition, technical merit and other factors, with discussions if necessary.
- Offers due
- November 16, 2026, 2:00 PM Eastern
- How to submit
- Not yet issued; the RFP will be posted at https://www.sam.gov
What they'll judge offers on
- Experience
- Technical Solution
- Safety
- Past Performance
- Price, weighed with the non-price factors above (order of importance not yet stated)
What to include when you submit
- Proposal instructions are not yet available; they will be in the RFP expected on or about November 5, 2026
- To attend the site visit, complete Attachment A (Base Access Memo), save it as P210 Site Visit_[name of company], sign it, and email the signed PDF with ID or passport copies to Andrew.T.Smith36.mil@us.navy.mil, copying patrick.b.mcquaide.mil@us.navy.mil and Samia.A.Aden.ctr@us.navy.mil, no later than November 16, 2026
Not in the notice text
- The request for proposals, with its proposal instructions, evaluation weights and site requirements, is not posted yet; the notice says it will be on SAM.gov on or about November 5, 2026.
- Whether site visit attendance is required is not stated; detailed information is to come in the solicitation.
- The notice does not say whether a local office, host-country licenses or registration, the currency of offers, or Djiboutian taxes apply; the solicitation is the place to check.
- The RFP response due date and time are not given in the notice text; SAM.gov lists November 16, 2026, 2:00 PM Eastern.
- The relative importance of the evaluation factors is not stated.
Eligibility and how to respond
- No set-aside: any business, large or small, can bid unless the notice says otherwise.
- How to submit, from the AI summary: Not yet issued; the RFP will be posted at https://www.sam.gov. Check it in the notice before you send anything.
- Construction contracts over $2,000 pay at least the local Davis-Bacon wage rates, from the wage determination in the solicitation. Price your labor from it: How to price a government contract, and how Davis-Bacon differs from the Service Contract Act.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 21, 2026
- Notice type
- Presolicitation
- Office
- Navfacsyscom Atlantic, Norfolk, VA
- Product/service code
- Y1MF · Construction of EPG Facilities – Petroleum
- Business type
- Energy, fuel & utilities (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 237130)
- 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
Terms on this notice: Solicitation
Full notice text from SAM.gov
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