The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), also known as Plant Protection and Quarantine, awarded a $6.1 million firm fixed-price definitive contract to The Davey Tree Expert Company for the ALB Survey in Worcester, Massachusetts. The contract, awarded on September 9, 2013, with a completion date of July 31, 2016, represents a continuation of APHIS's efforts to address invasive pest management and forest health threats. This award was not designated as a set-aside contract. The Davey Tree Expert Company, a large, employee-owned environmental services firm headquartered in Kent, Ohio, brought over 130 years of arboriculture and vegetation management expertise to support APHIS's Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) survey and control initiatives.
The contract specifically supports survey operations related to Asian longhorned beetle detection and management in the Worcester area, consistent with APHIS's broader regulatory mission to prevent the spread of this destructive invasive pest. The Davey Tree Expert Company has demonstrated significant experience executing similar work for APHIS, including a $16 million single-award IDIQ contract for ALB tree removal in South Carolina. The Worcester survey work represents a critical component of the federal government's coordinated response to the Asian longhorned beetle threat, which poses severe risks to North American hardwood forests and urban tree canopies across multiple states.