R--Technical Support for Drinking Water Optimization Program

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is performing a market search to determine potential capable sources in preparation for a future procurement. Information submitted in response to this notice is for internal market research purposes and no feedback will be offered to the interested parties that submit capability statements. For background, the subject acquisition is anticipated to provide support services for the Technical Support for the Drinking Water Optimization Program.

The drinking water optimization program began in the late 1980s with a focus on enhancement and implementation of the Drinking Water Composite Correction Program (CCP). Implementation of the CCP resulted in documented improvements on individual surface water treatment plant performance. The documented success of the CCP, its value for drinking water primacy programs and the desire to apply CCP principles more broadly resulted in the creation of an Area-wide Optimization Program (AWOP).

Broad-scale public water system performance improvements and the resulting drinking water quality improvements have been achieved via AWOP implementation. Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) programs implement their AWOPs to enhance public health protection and to benefit from the resulting proactive assistance with regulatory compliance. The AWOP was established with a focus on turbidity removal, resulting in greater protection against the risk of microbial pathogens passing through treatment plant processes.

The program continues the focus on turbidity removal while expanding its technical scope to include optimization of both treatment plant and distribution system operations to minimize the formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs) and maintaining adequate disinfectant residual. The technical scope of the program also includes optimization of process control for ground water treatment and conveyance, and many unconventional (alternate) treatment processes. The program's documented impact on enhancing public health protection has also been called upon to address other public health challenges such as treatment for cyanobacteria associated with harmful algal blooms and arsenic removal.

The National AWOP has been structured to address additional public health challenges, depending on the commitment of resources to the program. For more information, please see the attached Sources Sought Notification and Draft Performance Work Statement.