Questions and Answers.docx

Solicitation 1269522Q0241 Questions and Answers

Question 1.

Regarding the observation post are you requiring a covered deck to be installed at least 10’ above the ground with stairway and railings to be available on site or would the use of a scissor lift that does not have a cover be acceptable?

The purpose is to look inside the backs / beds of trucks that have dumped and should be deregulated and empty of material. Any process that would allow for that to happen could be acceptable, however, a person would be working in all conditions (snow, rain, debris from the grinder potentially shooting up and landing there), and OSHA requirements apply. The employee of the Contractor most likely needs a cover of some type (hard hats, tin roof, etc.) or the enclosed cab of a loader or other heavy equipment 10 feet high at the seat (or higher). A scissor lift could perform that function as long as the occupant is safely protected from harm, such as a hammer or tooth from a grinder being thrown their way.

Question 2.

Will USDA provide the forms for recording material entering and leaving the yard of operation or is the contractor responsible? If contractor is responsible, will you provide the format that is acceptable to be provided?

The Contractor should provide the forms for both, tickets for regulated material arriving and receipts for deregulated material removed, following the specifications laid out under 3.6. The contractor is free to design the format and layout as they see fit so long as it has all the elements specified in the solicitation. Here they are again:

The Contractor shall provide paper tickets, with carbonless copy forms, for recording the amounts of material received, and one original will go to the USDA COR, and one copy to the Contractor. The amount will be agreed upon, and a paper ticket is considered valid for payment once the monitor has signed the form. These tickets shall include serialized numbers, and include space for the following information:

1. Date and Time

1. License number of the conveyance hauling woody material

1. Capacity of the truck, trailer or conveyance

1. Quantity of material

1. Carrier / Hauler information (name of company, driver moving material)

1. Notes

1. Signature of Monitor

1. Signature of Contractor’s Representative

Question 3.

If government is receiving material outside normal operations, do we need to have our personnel present as well?

The Contractor does not have to be present for the Government to receive material anytime outside of normal operating hours (Mon-Fri, 8:00am – 4:30pm), under Section 3.2 Hours of Operation.

Question 4.

You specify that we may be accepting stumps stone and rock into the yard or concrete and metal will that material that cannot go through a chipper or grinder without damaging the machinery be allowed to be disposed of independently and outside of regulated specifications?

Not outside of regulated specifications, meaning, mixed material dangerous or harmful to the equipment can be deregulated in a variety of ways separately or independently of the other materials. For example, a chainsaw could separate a small section containing metal fencing from a stump and that could be incinerated or split apart, the metal removed, and then ground through a grinder to less than 1 inch in two dimensions. Please note that historically less that ten percent of material brought into the yard has had foreign objects contained within it.

Question 5.

If we are to get a significant amount of root balls or other items that may not fit in a chipper, can we stockpile till there is enough material to justify bringing in a Tub grinder or horizontal grinder?

Yes, there are two different requirements depending on the time of year. During Flight Season, which is when is the time of the year when beetles emerge from host material and can spread, all the material must be ground or chipped within 48 hours of receipt at the yard. In other words, some material can sit for the rest of a day until a grinder is on site the following day. Flight Season is from May to November (the dates may vary within the months; for 2022, it begins May 21st). Outside of Flight Season, the material can be stockpiled until a grinder is available, so long as the stockpiled material is not allowed to encroach into other areas of the Yard, becoming a safety hazard, or a threat of commingling the regulated and deregulated material.

Question 6.

Your specs are for a chipper or grinder to accept 30” capacity but the (2) chipper you list as acceptable will only accept 12” or smaller material. That seems to not fit the bid specifications as there is not a chipper on the market that will accept 30” logs. The biggest is the Morbark 50/49 which will only accept 28” logs so please clarify as the Chippers you specify will not work.

The sample chippers listed are meant to only be an example of the type of equipment that may be used in some cases to reduce the biological risk posed by Asian longhorned beetle within the 48 hour processing window during flight season. While these chippers may not reduce the material down to the deregulated size of less than one inch in 2 dimensions, we have found that they do reduce the biological risk posed by live beetles within the material. We are not excluding the possibility of a chipper that will work in the future, nor do we prohibit chipping prior to grinding a second time with a grinder that accepts 30” logs. In other words, 30 inches are for either a chipper or a grinder, meaning you can have a smaller chipper to chip some material, but all the material should eventually pass through either a chipper or a grinder capable of reducing the material to a deregulated size. Regardless of whether or not it is chipped initially, all material ground to a size of no larger than one inch in any 2 dimensions (called deregulated at this point). Refer to Section 3.5.1, Grinding and Disposal of Material, for specifics.