20210324 Questions and Answers.docx

1240BJ21Q0015: Forest Service, Northwest Zone Trail Construction and Maintenance BPA 3/24/2021 Questions and Answers

1. Can the contractor pay the employees their fringe benefits in cash instead of furnishing the required fringe benefits?

A. Yes. Fringe benefit obligations may be discharged by paying to the employee on his regular payday, in addition to the monetary wage required, a cash amount per hour in lieu of the specified fringe benefits, provided such amount is equivalent to the cost of the fringe benefits required. Records are kept separately showing the amounts to be paid for fringe benefits.

2. There is a specific wage rate for trail maintenance workers, but not a trail laborer category for trail construction. There are multiple laborer rates most of which obviously don't apply. Should I use the labor rate for chain saw operators or the wage rate for laborers common or general?

A. Use the General Laborer classification in Group A for these pricing purposes. The chainsaw operator wage rate would be inapplicable to Wilderness trail work, which is included in the Scope of this BPA solicitation.

Further information derived from questions posed during the 3/23/2021 pre-quote teleconference:

For fair and reasonable price determinations under FAR 13.106-3(a), we will be using a prior-to-competition formula-derived amount based upon wage rate and fringes. BPAs cannot be established with contractors whose prices in the schedule are lower than the wage rate itself, as doing so would violate statutory requirements. While we are not requiring contractors to provide fully-loaded rates, they may do so if paying employees cash in lieu of furnishing the required fringe benefits and not be unfairly rejected.