Bitterroot Front Long-Term Contract RFI Letter.pdf

Caring for the Land and Serving People Printed on Recycled Paper

United States Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

Procurement & Property Services, National Procurement Operations, Stewardship Contracting Branch

1400 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20250

Date: 6/9/2025

Subject: Request for Information

To: All Interested Parties and/or Offerors

The U.S. Forest Service is issuing this formal Request for Information (RFI) in connection with the Bitterroot National Forest 10-Year Integrated Resource Stewardship Contract-Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IRSC/IDIQ) for projects in the Bitterroot Front Landscape Planning Area and potentially other areas across the forest. The objectives of this initiative are to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire by accelerating and expanding forest restoration treatments and to bolster the region’s wood utilization capacity by providing a consistent supply of wood products.

Project Overview and Scope:

• Approximately 13,000 acres is planned for treatment across the Bitterroot Front Planning Area over a 10‑year period, with the potential to add more acres adjacent to the planning area. Four project areas may be offered at contract award for immediate implementation. Additional project areas are planned to be offered on an annual basis subject to funding. Two project areas may be offered for timber sale layout at the start of this project.

• A minimum of 90,000 CCF (approximately 45 million board feet) of commercial timber is anticipated to be offered over the contract life; volumes may fluctuate annually.

• Types of Service Work contemplated include:

o Road maintenance, reconditioning, construction, and decommissioning. Reconstruction plans and design are not contemplated to be activities.

o Timber removal including logging and transportation.

o Timber sale preparation activities which include harvest unit layout, GPS traversing, unit boundary marking, interior marking and cruising.

o Biomass removal including thinning non-merchantable material, slashing, chipping, staging, transportation and other related activities.

Anticipated Terms:

• Minimum timber value estimates will be based on base rates and/or appraised rates if appropriate as determined from the Forest Service’s Timber appraisal system. Offerors will have the opportunity to provide competitive pricing on offered forest products at the task order level as projects are issued.

• Payment terms for service work items are anticipated to be by the acre or linear foot for most treatments. Road maintenance and reconstruction activities may be priced by the mile or contract quantity. If transportation of forest products is a service item, delivered tons or CCF are anticipated to be used. Offerors will have the opportunity to provide competitive prices at the task order level as projects are solicited.

• The projects may include both mandatory and optional service items; product value at awarded rates will be used to offset the cost-of-service work items.

• Davis-Bacon wages and certified payrolls will be required for all Road Construction requirements.

Service Contract Act wages will apply towards all non-construction service work requirements.

• Road construction requirements will be subject to bonding at applicable regulatory thresholds.

• Depending on the scale of scope in task orders, 3-5 year periods of performance are contemplated.

Project Questionnaire: We request responses to the following eleven questions to assist the project management team in refining the project’s scope. All responses must be submitted in writing to the contacts listed below and information will be used for project planning only and will remain confidential.

1. Is your company interested in completing this work and submitting a proposal?

2. What is your company’s current operating capacity, and what are your plans for future capacity?

3. For wood utilization facilities, please provide details on your facility’s product types, species handled, expected annual processing capacity, and the approximate percentage of your processing volume that is derived from National Forests. If your company is not a wood utilization facility, please provide details on the facilities that may receive product.

4. Is the timeline and period of performance dates, as outlined in this RFI, feasible for your company?

5. Are the project areas, as described, accessible to your facility?

6. What potential challenges or obstacles do you foresee in executing this project, and how might they impact your operations?

7. Considering the potential for unpredictable changes, what degree of flexibility would be required by your facility, supporting services, or in coordination with agencies and landowners?

8. What benefits do you anticipate from this opportunity? If applicable, please indicate timing for these benefits and include a business plan or supporting documentation for any planned investments.

9. How would you propose pricing your offer?

10. What is your preference for timber designated on the ground? What is your experience with

Designation by Prescription or Description without individual tree marking (basal area, spacing, species, etc.)?

11. Is there anything you would like to add that could improve the project plan prior to the solicitation of proposals? We welcome any comments or suggestions that might enhance project design and execution.

Important Meeting Information

We invite Interested parties to attend a virtual or in-person informational meeting and attend a site visit to prospective project areas. Meeting details are below. RSVP with Ryan Hughes via email if you plan to attend at ryan.hughes@usda.gov to obtain a MS Teams link to the virtual option and to help ensure we have an appropriately sized meeting area. Please respond by July 8, 2025, at 5:00 P.M Mountain.

• In-Person Meeting Information: July 10, 2025, at 09:00 A.M. The meeting will be held at the Bitterroot N.F. Forest Supervisor’s Office, 1801 N. First St., Hamilton, MT, 59840. Meeting will be held virtually also for those unable to attend in person.

• In person site visit will be held on: July 10, 2025, at 11:00 A.M. We will meet at the Stevensville Ranger Station, 88 Main Street, Stevensville, MT, 59870.

mailto:ryan.hughes@usda.gov

How to Respond to the RFI

• By July 24, 2025 at 5:00 P.M. Mountain, interested parties must submit written responses to questions 1-11 via email to Ezekiel.Langum@usda.gov and matthew.daigle@usda.gov.

• Please note: Responding to this RFI is voluntary and solely for project planning purposes. Your response will not affect your eligibility for any subsequent Request for Proposals (RFP).

Sincerely, Zeke Langum Bitterroot NF Project Manager

Matthew Daigle Acquisition Program Support Officer

Attachment 1: Project Overview Attachment 2: Project Timeline and Anticipated Orders Attachment 3: Project Maps mailto:Ezekiel.Langum@usda.gov mailto:matthew.daigle@usda.gov

Attachment 1: Project Overview

In the past 40 years, much of the Bitterroot National Forest has experienced high-intensity, stand-replacing wildfire events threatening the resilience of the forest and communities in the Bitterroot Valley.

Furthermore, the Bitterroot National Forest is overgrown due to fire suppression and other factors. This has resulted in a strong need to reduce the dense tree stocking and high fuel loading to lessen the intensity of wildfire behavior and facilitate safe wildland fire operations in the project area. An example of a recent high-intensity wildfire event is the Sharrott Creek Fire started in the project area on August 23, 2024, near Stevensville, Montana, in the northern portion of the Bitterroot Front project area. The fire had burned more than 3,000 acres by September 7, 2024, and then slowed considerably due to a rain event. A daily average of 382 personnel were assigned to the incident from August 23rd through September 19th, and the estimated fire suppression costs for the fire had exceeded $20 million as of October 2024. Other costs that are not quantified financially include human health impacts from increased smoke and particulate matter, and reduced provision of ecosystem services such timber and recreation. This project is designed to address the clear urgency for action by reducing the dense tree stocking and high fuel loadings, and thereby reducing the risk for high intensity, stand-replacing wildfires and resulting impacts to habitat, property, infrastructure, and public and firefighter safety, while also resulting in a healthier, more resilient forest.

A reliable and steady supply of wood, including both biomass and saw logs, has been recognized as a critical issue that has negatively impacted local industry’s ability to perform commercial timber removal which limits the Bitterroots National Forests mission of appropriately managing the publics forestland. There are limited sawmills and biomass facilities that serve the Bitterroot National Forests landscape. Transportation distances to haul logs and biomass materials to mills or biomass facilities are often too great to be economically viable without subsidies. Additionally, purchasers often cannot find a reliable outlet for some species and timber products, which results in slower project timelines and leaving hazardous fuels in the Forest.

This long-term IRSC/IDIQ will bring together the Bitterroot National Forest and private sector operators with federal support to offer a 10-year integrated resource service contract that can bolster the economic viability of facilities that serve the local region. We anticipate this effort will be an effective tool to reduce wildfire risk across the Bitterroot landscape while offering a guaranteed minimum volume of forest products to local timber industry.

Attachment 2: Project Timeline and Anticipated Orders

Project Timeline:- Subject to change

• June 2025: Request for Information

• Summer/Fall 2025: Request for Proposals posted

• Fall 2025: Project site visits

• Fall/Winter 2025-2026: Awardees selection, round 1 task orders awarded

• Summer 2026-winter 2031: Round 1 task orders completed

• Spring 2026: Round 2 projects identified

• Summer/Fall 2026: Round 2 task orders offered and awarded

• Summer 2027-winter 2032: Round 2 task orders completed

Table 1: The table shows expected projects for years 1-5 of this contract. The table notates the estimated timber volumes (CCF) on each project. We expect the awardee to complete all aspects of a given project, including associated roads and service work. Additional details will be in each task order and final volume estimates may be in located in Appendix B of individual task orders. These projects are subject to change.

Project Implementation Area Acres

Timber Volume

(CCF)

Description

Sharrott Salvage McCalla-Sharrott 311 5,000 Commercial: Cut and Remove

2 Fred Burr Fred Burr 50 550 Commercial: Cut and Remove

3 Spoon McCoy Trapper Bunkhouse - Spoon McCoy 1437 16,000 Commercial: Cut and Remove

4 Square Tin Trapper Bunkhouse - Spoon McCoy 320 2,609 Commercial: Cut and Remove

5 Cow Creek Cow Creek 175 1,750

Commercial: Timber Sale Prep, Cut and Remove Non-commercial: TBD

6 Gash Creek Gash 799 7,500

Commercial: Timber Sale Prep, Cut and Remove Non-commercial: TBD

7 Brooks Creek Brooks 155 1,550

Commercial: Timber Sale Prep, Cut and Remove Non-commercial: TBD

McCalla- Larson McCalla-Sharrott 1298 12,500

Commercial: Timber Sale Prep, Cut and Remove Non-commercial: TBD

9 Smith Creek Smith 640 6,500

Commercial: Timber Sale Prep, Cut and Remove Non-commercial: TBD

10 Rebel Horse Lost Horse 999 9,000

Commercial: Timber Sale Prep, Cut and Remove Non-commercial: TBD

11 Hart-Trap Trapper Bunkhouse - Spoon McCoy 3630 35,000

Commercial: Timber Sale Prep, Cut and Remove Non-commercial: TBD

Tamarack Creek Tamarack 130 1,300

Commercial: Timber Sale Prep, Cut and Remove Non-commercial: TBD

13 Rock Lick Como East 546 5,500

Commercial: Timber Sale Prep, Cut and Remove Non-commercial: TBD

Bass Creek Sweeney 862 8,000

Commercial: Timber Sale Prep, Cut and Remove Non-commercial: TBD

Moose Hayes

Roaring Lion-Camas- Hayes 1868 15,500

Commercial: Timber Sale Prep, Cut and Remove Non-commercial: TBD

Sweeney Creek Sweeney 298 2,750

Commercial: Timber Sale Prep, Non-commercial: TBD

Totals 13,518 131,009

Potential Additional Acreage

Project Implementation Area Acres

Timber Volume

(CCF)

Description

18 Deadhead Gold Butterfly 1,423 22,740 Commercial: Cut and Remove

19 BearTrap Gold Butterfly 594 6,183 Commercial: Cut and Remove

20 Flat-Basin Mud Creek 1,194 17,817 Commercial: Cut and Remove

21 Muddy-Blue Mud Creek 1000 11,500

Commercial: Timber Sale Prep, Bitterroot Front Additional

Bitterroot Front Planning Area 14,000 *

Commercial: Timber Sale Prep, Cut and Remove *Undetermined volume estimates

Totals 18,211 58,240

Attachment 3: Project Maps

Figure 1: Map below shows the complete project area where task orders may be offered on the Bitterroot National Forest over the 10-year contract period. These projects are subject to change.

Figure 2: The map below shows more detailed locations of potential northern Bitterroot Front projects offered in years 1-5 of this contract. These projects are subject to change.

Figure 3: The map below shows more detailed locations of southern Bitterroot Front potential projects offered in years 1-5 of this contract. These projects are subject to change.