Atch 4 - DeltaDust SOW.pdf

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

PRAIRIE DOG COLONY DUSTING

WALL RANGER DISTRICT

WALL, SOUTH DAKOTA

Table of Contents

C.1 Introduction and Background C.2 Scope of Work C.3 Definitions C.4 Government Furnished Property/Services/Materials/Items C.5 Contractor Obligations/Requirements C.6 Results/Specific Tasks C.7 Performance Requirements C.8 Payment

PWS – Prairie Dog Dusting

Nebraska National Forest, Wall Ranger District 2

C.1 Introduction and Background

C.1.1 The contractor shall apply DeltaDust to burrows in designated prairie dog colonies on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland and Badlands National Park for sylvatic plague abatement. For each fiscal year, dusting can start when conditions allow and in coordination with the COR, but all designated colonies must be completed by 30 September of the same fiscal year.

C.1.2 Sylvatic plague was discovered on the Wall Ranger District in May 2008. A large-scale dusting effort resulted between four different agencies in an attempt to protect habitat for the endangered black-footed ferret. A total of 11,239 acres consisting of 543,560 burrows were dusted in 2008 over a period of three-and-half months. In 2009, a combination of federal agencies and a private contractor dusted basically the same acres. From 2010-2019, all dusting was completed by private contractor. For 2019, a total of 383,841 burrows in 8,491 acres were dusted on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland. Plague is still active in the area and dusting operations are planned to continue into the near future.

C.2 Scope of Work

C.2.1 The contractor shall dust all burrows in designated prairie dog colonies. Designation of colonies and subsequent acres to be dusted will vary on a yearly basis depending on funding and plague movement in the area. A minimum of 4,000 acres will be designated in 2020 but could be adjusted as high as 20,000 acres depending on funding. Subsequent years could be as high as 20,000 acres or as low as zero. Most, if not all work will be conducted on the Wall Ranger District and select colonies in Badlands National Park (Exhibit 1).

C.2.2 The Contractor shall be licensed, registered and certified by the State of South Dakota, to provide pest control services in all the categories specified in this contract. All Contractor employees who apply pesticides in any form shall be certified by the South Dakota Department of Agriculture in the appropriate category of service (Category G and 9).

C.2.3 DeltaDust is applied to the inside of the burrow via a battery-powered techniduster, usually mounted to an ATV. Once the burrow has been dusted a dust mark is applied to the outside of the burrow to identify that it has been treated.

C.2.4 Application rate is 4-6 grams of DeltaDust per burrow. Normally this consists of applying dust for a 10-count at the burrow with the techniduster. Individuals will be calibrated prior to dusting via a digital scale.

C.2.5 All burrows are dusted, whether active, inactive, badger or other that are at least 2.75 inches in diameter and deep enough that the end is not visible.

C.2.6 Generally a dusting crew consists of one flagger and 4-12 dusters. The flagger is responsible for setting the lane-width based on the number of dusters – generally one duster on an ATV covers a width of 15 feet. The flagger lays-out the pin flags from one side of the colony to the other, alternating colors for each lane (i.e., one row will consist of pink flags and then the next one orange flags and so forth).

Nebraska National Forest, Wall Ranger District 3

C.2.7 Dusters will mount a “clicker” (counter) to the ATV and keep track of each burrow dusted.

At the end of the work day the dusters will fill-out the data sheet with the total number of burrows they dusted.

C.2.8 At the end of the work day the total area dusted will be GPS’d and acres determined; GPS data will be saved on the device for download at the FS Office.

C.2.9 Data sheets will be filled-out daily to include acreage dusted and total burrows dusted per individual (Exhibit 2). These will be turned-in to the FS when verifying acres dusted through GPS/GIS data and submitting invoice.

C.2.10 Contractor will cease dusting during significant rain events. Moisture can plug the technidusters. If the ground is muddy or wet and travel to and from the site will cause severe rutting, the contractor must wait for it to dry-out before dusting.

C.2.11 The contractor and their crew are allowed to drive off-road in order to conduct activities associated with the contract. Some of these activities would include gaining access to a prairie dog colony, conducting dusting activities on and adjacent to a colony, and the monitoring and evaluation of work conducted. Motorized travel should be restricted to existing roads and trails whenever possible.

C.3 Definitions.

C.3.1. Acceptable Quality Level. The allowable leeway or variance from a standard before the government will reject the specific service. An AQL does not say that the contractor may knowingly offer defective service. It implies that the government recognizes that defective performance sometimes happens unintentionally. As long as the percent of defective performance does not exceed the AQL, the service will not be rejected by the government. The contractor, however, must re-perform the defective service when possible.

C.3.2. Quality Assurance. Those actions taken by the government to check goods or services to determine that they meet the requirements of the SOW.

C.3.3. Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan. An organized written document used for quality assurance surveillance. The document contains information about how the government will assess performance, checklists, and may contain decision tables.

C.3.4. Quality Control. Those actions taken by a contractor to control the production of goods or services so that they will meet the requirements of the SOW.

C.3.5. Random Sampling. A method of looking at a few individual items in a lot to determine the quality of that lot against a standard.

C.3.6. (Acceptable) Service. A job performed to the standard and within the acceptable quality level. The contractor must do the specific job, and meet the standard, and meet the acceptable

Nebraska National Forest, Wall Ranger District 4 quality level before one can say that performance has been acceptable and that he/she should be paid.

C.3.7. Standard. An acknowledged measure of comparison.

C.4 Government Furnished Property/Services/Materials/Items

C.4.1 Items/Property

C.4.1.1 Technidusters and batteries, battery chargers and ratchet straps

C.4.1.2 DeltaDust

C.4.1.3 Clickers

C.4.1.4 Data Sheets

C.4.1.5 GPS Unit

C.4.1.6 Digital Scale

C.4.2 Services

C.4.2.1 FS will provide one day of training on dusting operations if requested.

C.4.2.2 FS will provide training on operation of GPS if requested.

C.4.2.3 FS will conduct major repairs (defined as needing replacement parts) on technidusters if contractor cannot make repairs themselves.

C.4.2.4 Ensure contractor has government items/property on first day of dusting.

C.4.2.5 FS will provide maps of each prairie dog colony to be dusted.

C.5 Contractor Requirements

C.5.1 Dust all burrows in designated colonies in safe and timely manner.

C.5.1.1 For each fiscal year, dusting must be completed by 30 September for all designated colonies.

C.5.1.2 Provide FS Rep with copies of Pesticide Licenses for each individual that applies DeltaDust.

C.5.1.3 Maintain daily records (data sheets provided) and turn-in to FS Rep when submitting invoice.

Nebraska National Forest, Wall Ranger District 5

C.5.1.4 Maintain GPS data and coordinate with FS Rep for download of data and deletion of files.

C.5.1.5 Maintain gov’t furnished equipment and perform minor repairs as needed. At completion of project turn-in equipment to FS Rep in working condition. Blow-out technidusters once a week for preventive maintenance.

C.5.1.6 Coordinate with FS Rep for major repairs on equipment, dust resupply and any other issues.

C.5.1.7 Coordinate with FS Rep on work schedule.

C.5.1.8 Provide pin flags for flagging. Ensure all flags are picked-up after dusting a colony.

C.5.1.9 Dispose of empty DeltaDust containers as is allowed by product label (Exhibits 3 and 4).

C.5.1.10 Charge techniduster batteries for daily operation.

C.5.1.11 Develop Quality Control Plan - A quality control plan is a plan developed by the contractor for its internal use to ensure that it performs and delivers high-quality service. The QCP will be incorporated into the resultant contract.

C.5.1.12 Ensure individuals that are actively engaged in dusting have required Personal Protective Equipment for DeltaDust application according to label standards (Exhibits 3 and 4).

C.6 Required Results/Specific Tasks Requirements

C.6.1 The contractor shall dust all burrows in designated prairie dog colonies. Detailed maps of each colony will be provided by FS Rep. Estimated acres for each colony are based on the most recent prairie dog inventory GPS data. Prairie dog colonies can expand and contract on a yearly basis, thus it is likely that the actual acreage covered will vary from that data.

C.6.2 It is important that the contractor dust every burrow in the colony. The colony is usually easily identified on the ground but may be confusing on the edges where burrows become less dense and vegetation taller. The contractor shall dust all burrows towards the edge of the colony until burrow density is less than 2 per acre.

C.6.3 When GPSing the area dusted, the contractor shall follow the outer boundary of dusted burrows to determine acres dusted for the day. Upon completion of a colony, the acres dusted per day will be compiled for a total acreage for the colony. Payment will be based-on the contractor’s GPS acres dusted.

C.7 Performance Requirements

Nebraska National Forest, Wall Ranger District 6

C.7.1 The contractor is expected to ensure performance to standard through the Contractor’s Quality Control Plan.

C.7.2 Standard Performance

C.7.2.1 Application rate: the contractor shall apply 4 to 6 grams of DeltaDust per burrow.

C.7.2.2 Burrow dusting: although the goal is to dust 100% of all burrows the standard is 95% per lane through the majority of the prairie dog colony and 90% on the edges where the predominant vegetative group is 18 inches or taller. The lower standard is allowed in these areas because of the difficulty in locating sparse burrows in tall, dense vegetation.

C.7.2.3 Completion date: all designated colonies 100% dusted no later than 30 September.

C.7.2.4 Daily data sheets: 100% of all entries correctly filled-out.

C.7.3 Acceptable Quality Level (AQL)

C.7.3.1 Application rate: no deviation, must apply 4-6 grams of DeltaDust per burrow. Anything other than 4-6 grams may result in a price reduction.

C.7.3.2 Burrow dusting: no deviation, less than 95% (main part of colony) or 90% (on the edge where vegetation is >18 inches) per lane may result in a price reduction.

C.7.3.3 Completion date: Payment will be made as colonies are completed. If the final colony is not completed by 30 September, then the contractor may incur a price reduction or no payment for that particular colony.

C.7.3.4 Daily data sheets: Daily sheets will be filled-out correctly prior to payment.

C.7.4. Assessment Methods (refer to QASP for details)

C.7.4.1 Application rate: The COR/Inspector will randomly select individuals and weigh with a digital scale how much dust they are applying for their respective application time.

C.7.4.2 Burrow dusting: The COR/Inspector will randomly select a location in each lane that has been dusted and start counting burrows up to 100.

C.7.4.3 Daily data sheets: The COR/Inspector will analyze the daily data sheets for completion.

C.7.5 Deductions

C.7.5.1 Application rate: Three verbal warnings will be given for not meeting the 4-6 gram requirement per prairie dog colony. If there are 4 or more incidents of not meeting the standard then a 1 dollar per acre deduction per incident will be assessed upon final payment for that particular prairie dog colony. For example, the contractor bids the job at $12.00 per acre and if

Nebraska National Forest, Wall Ranger District 7 there are three verbal warnings and a fourth check shows that an individual is not applying 4-6 grams of dust and the entire colony is 500 acres then at completion the contractor will be paid $11.00 per acre ($6,000 vs. $5,500) for a $500 dollar deduction. If there were two incidents above the three warnings then that would be a $1,000 dollar deduction and so forth.

C.7.5.2 Burrow dusting: Anything less than 95% (main) / 90% (edge) and the contractor will have the opportunity to re-do that particular lane or upon completion of the colony the average percent dusted will be used for payment. For example, on a 500-acre colony bid at $12.00 per acre if the contractor meets the AQL of greater than 95% of the burrows dusted then they will be paid 100% for the acres dusted ($6,000). In the same example, if there are one or more lanes where less than 95% of the burrows are dusted and the contractor chooses not to re-do them, leaving the final average for that colony at 93% covered, then the contractor will be paid $5,580 (0.93 x $6,000).

C.7.5.3 Completion date: If the contractor does not finish dusting all designated colonies by 30 September for that fiscal year, then the contractor will be given the opportunity to complete the left-over acres at a $0.25 dollar/acre reduction per day until complete. For example, the contractor is on the last colony, which is 500 acres in size and bid at $12.00 per acre. They complete 200 acres by 30 September but still have 300 acres to go. It takes them 8 days (- $2.00/acre) beyond 30 September to finish dusting. Thus the contractor gets paid $10.00/acre for all 500 acres; a $1000 decrease in what would have been the payment had they completed all colonies by the deadline.

If the contractor is not able to complete the dusting by 30 September because of delays caused by weather (i.e., rain and wet ground conditions) then the contractor will work with the CO/COR on a new completion date with no reduction in pay.

C.7.5.4 Daily data sheets: Upon completion of dusting a colony the contractor will submit the daily sheets as part of the payment process. Any sheets not filled-out correctly will be given back to the contractor to correct. Once all sheets are 100% correct then the contractor will be paid for that particular colony.

C.8 Payment

C.8.1 Payment will be made upon completion of each prairie dog colony or a combination of colonies and meeting or exceeding the AQL. Upon acceptance, the Government will pay the per-acre rate for the amount of acres dusted according to the sum of the daily GPS acres dusted.

Payment will be determined on the service less any deductions for any nonconforming or unacceptable performance.