Pre-Bid_Minutes_1282AT18R0008_01122018.pdf

United States Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

Rocky Mountain Acquisition Management

2150 Centre Ave., Bldg. E Fort Collins, CO 80526

Pre-Proposal Meeting Minutes 1282AT18R0008 | ARP Roads Maintenance IDIQ | Page 1 of 4

File Code: 6320 January 12, 2018

MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD

SUBJECT: Pre-Proposal Meeting Minutes – Solicitation No. 1282AT18R0008, ARP Roads Maintenance IDIQ

1. Venue: Teleconference No. 1-888-844-9904, Access Code 401-9069#

2. Date, Day: 9 January 2018, Tuesday

3. Time: 0930-1200 HRS, MT. The actual meeting began at 0935 HRS.

4. The following were present from the USDA Forest Service:

a. Contracts Specialist, Klenise Wallace

b. COR/Engineer, Steve Wood

c. Engineer, Michele White

5. Representatives of the following companies attended the Pre-Bid Conference in person or via telephone:

Gary Shironaka – Growling Bear Co.

Mike Murphey – JE Hurley Construction Tom Lif – Pine Bluffs Gravel & Excavation Jim Eurich – Hydro Construction Logan Cope – LC Construction Kent Cope – Cope Construction Chad Dare – Dare Contracting Crystyn Lasley – Rocky Mountain Sand & Gravel, LLC.

Bill Anthony – Any Road Builders Michael Frick – RM2, LLC.

Tonya Anthony – Any Road Builders Rebecca Watt – Milton R. Watt, Inc.

EC Cateland – Cate Land Industries, Inc.

6. The table below reflects the queries raised during the pre-bid meeting held on 9 January 2018 and any questions asked by potential bidders outside of the meeting up to the date posted on FBO.

Sr. Query Raised Reply/Clarification

1. When are proposals due? 19 January 2018 by 1300 HRS MT

2. Under Section L.1.3.3, what is the difference between the technical proposal and the experience questionnaire/past performance? They seem repetitive.

The Government is looking for the contractor to demonstrate an understanding of work required in the performance of the contract by discussing their skillset and qualifications in response to the Technical Proposal. The contractor should address the subfactors, Plan of Work/Identification of Resources and Key Personnel/Resumes for the under the technical proposal is for. To make this a little clearer, the Government has provided 2 possible scenarios, added to Section J as an amendment to the solicitation for the contractor to respond to and Section L for documentation purposes. The number of pages for the Plan of Work subfactor has been amended to ensure the contractor has more space.

Under Experience and Past Performance, the Government is asking the contractor to provide examples of executed contracts that show the experience as well as references for verification. Extensive detail is not required for the experience and past performance section.

Pre-Proposal Meeting Minutes 1282AT18R0008 | ARP Roads Maintenance IDIQ | Page 2 of 4

3. Work appears to cover a large geographical area.

How will varying types of soil/subsurface conditions be handled? For example how should offerors approach road obliteration in terms of pricing if the conditions vary per project area?

Bidders should base their bids on average subsurface conditions considering that some sites will be mostly topsoil while other sites will be extremely rocky. If there is a site where the conditions are considered unusual and it is agreed that the bid price is not sufficient to cover the cost of obliteration than the price may be adjusted by modifying the task order.

4. What does typical road reconditioning entail? Road conditioning is the repairing and cleaning of existing road drainage features such as ditches and rolling dips and the smoothing of the road surface as specified in Supplemental Specification 303.

5. Is the use of 6” ripping required for road reconditioning?

No. Ripping is not typically required for road reconditioning unless there is material in the roadbed that requires removal as specified in Section 303.05.

6. Are we required to use Biobased fuels and have all products Biobased?

The Government requires and expects contractors to use Biobased products to the maximum extent practicable and possible. For those products that the contractor cannot provide to meet the criteria, it is expected that an eco-friendly alternative be offered and that a justification supporting the use of the non-designated products be provided. The Biobased/Sustainable Products Statement must be completed and submitted with the proposal. Should any product be required throughout the duration of this contract, the Contractor will provide the Government an updated form listing the products used that are in compliance with the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 and the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Issues that arise should be communicated with the CO to be handled on a case by case basis.

7. Will the road surface be disturbed under road reconditioning?

No. It is preferable that the surface of the road is left undisturbed to avoid de-compaction of the road. The top few inches may be disturbed during blading operations.

8. Can the specification for the U Designation for aggregate in Table 703-3 be modified if the material is not readily available?

Yes. Any of the specifications can be modified if it is determined that the substitute material is acceptable and approved by the Contracting Officer.

9. What does Mobilization include? Mobilization covers the movement of personnel, equipment, fuel, support vehicles, supplies, and incidentals to the project area and additional movements within the project area. Mobilization also covers project management costs. Requirements and provisions shall follow Section151 in the FP-03 specifications.

10. Is the intent to negotiate and award per task order? Yes

11. Section B – UOM for Items 622(01) – 622(10) is

Day. Please define “Day.”

Day will be considered 24 hours (calendar day)

12. Is the culvert pipes insulation furnish and installation?

Yes all culvert installations including end sections will include labor and materials.

13. Section B Item (251). Is rip rap by cubic yard or size?

Pay Item 251 Placed Rip Rap. Class “4” shall be installed according to FP-03 Section 251 per cubic yard. Pay item shall include furnishing, hauling, and placing the specified material. Bid prices should assume a haul distance not to exceed 60 miles one-way from the nearest acceptable commercial source to the project site. Distances exceeding this amount shall be negotiated separately, as needed. The hauling vehicle shall be a 10 yard dump truck.

14. Is this a multiple award IDIQ contract? Yes.

15. What is the anticipated number of awardees? A maximum of three (3).

16. Section F. FAR 52.211-10 states that the contractor shall be required to commence work under this contract within 3 calendar days following the effective date of thee notice to proceed of each individual task order. Will the contractor be penalized if they cannot respond right away and miss the 3 day start?

Each task order NTP is discussed with the contractor before it is issued. The CO and COR will make every effort to ensure all schedules align before a final version is issued.

Pre-Proposal Meeting Minutes 1282AT18R0008 | ARP Roads Maintenance IDIQ | Page 3 of 4

17. In document J.1._2018_IDIQ_FSSS.pdf, page 45 of

69, roadway obliteration Method 1 indicates full recontouring, Method 3 indicates scarifying 12" deep. The J.2._Schedule_B_1282AT18R0008_Fill- In.xlsx item 211 (01) (row 22) description is Roadway Obliteration, Method 1 Light, and item 211

(03) (row 24) Roadway Obliteration, Method 3 Heavy. The excel spreadsheet seems to indicate that Method 1 is a lighter method than Method 3. Should we just ignore the "Light" and "Heavy" descriptions in the excel spreadsheet and work off of the descriptions for roadway obliteration in J.1._2018_IDIQ_FSSS.pdf?

The Supplemental Specifications are incorrect (2018_IDIQ_FSSS).

Method 1 and Method 3 are reversed. The Schedule of Items and the Description of Pay Items Documents are correct. This will be corrected in an amendment after the pre-bid meeting.

18. Has a contractor performed similar work to this for the government in the past?

If available, please provide the incumbent contract number.

If you are unable to provide a contract number, is it safe to assume this is a new requirement for the government?

This is a new requirement for the Government on this Forest. In the past, the Roads Maintenance IDIQs were limited by district. In the past, the Roads Maintenance IDIQs were limited by district. Often the work was also classified differently so although some of the line items may be familiar to other projects, this is a unique requirement for this Forest. There is no incumbent. We have adjusted many of the requirements and conditions resulting from lessons learned to produce a manageable contract for both the Government and the awarded contractors.

19. If you could please let us know if there are any mandatory pre-bid meetings or requirements we should be aware of for this project we would appreciate it.

Original Response: We have a pre-bid meeting set for 9 January 2018 but it is not mandatory.

Additional Information: You have the option to appear in person or call in. Also, participation is not required for receipt of proposal.

20. On the 1st page of the SF1442 it states a bid guarantee is required.

Is a bid bond requested or just a bonding letter?

Only the Bonding letter is required. This will be corrected via amendment to the solicitation.

21. On page 47 it states bonding letter “For solicitation purposes, a copy of the bid bond may be emailed along with the other required proposal elements but the original all required signatures and stamps must be mailed to the contracting specialist using the following address: USDA Forest Service, Attn:

Klenise Wallace, 2150 Centre Ave., Bldg. E, Fort Collins, CO.

So is it only a bonding letter required? If so you will need an original bonding letter sent in?

Yes, only the bonding letter is required. To meet the deadline and fulfill the requirements of the solicitation, please email a copy of the bond letter with the proposal package. As we are required to have the original as well, that can be mailed any time but must be received before we can award the contract to the party in question if selected.

Because we get a lot of mail, it is critical that a copy of the letter be included with the emailed proposal package.

22. On FBO 20.ii it states ”Bonding is not required for this contract. Offeror shall provide a bid bond for the subsequent task orders, as required.

Is a Bid bond required for this IDIQ solicitation, or is it just the bonding letter requested? If requesting bid bond or bonding letter will scanned bid bond be suffice or do you want original’s?

Just the bonding letter. We will correct the language on FBO as well when the amendment is posted.

23. Were these services performed by HYDRO CONSTRUCTION COMPANY INC. (Contract #:

AG82ATC130035) and has expired on 07/31/2016?

Are there any other vendors currently performing these services? If so, may I ask for the contract details?

The functions performed under Contract number AG-82AT-C-13-0035 were different although there are similarities. There are no other vendors currently performing these services for a Forest Wide IDIQ.

We have a district only IDIQ that is still active. The award information is posted on FBO under solicitation AG-82X9-S-16-0010 in the archives.

Pre-Proposal Meeting Minutes 1282AT18R0008 | ARP Roads Maintenance IDIQ | Page 4 of 4

24 How should 230 Roadside Brushing be bid due to the possible variation in vegetation size and density?

Because the roadside vegetation densities and size can vary light to heavy, an average bid should be figured. For example on any given road some areas will require a high amount of clearing and some areas will require no clearing, so the work should average out. If there are circumstances where the amount of work is not consistent with the bid price an adjustment may be made with a modification to the task order with approval from the Contracting Officer.

7. The meeting ended with the opportunity for contractors to ask any additional questions. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1025 HRS MT.

8. Minutes of the pre-bid conference and any applicable amendments of the solicitation shall be published on the website, FedBizOps (https://www.fbo.gov/). Offerors should regularly visit the FedBizOps website for updates.

9. The cutoff for questions pertaining to the subject solicitation is Friday, 24 January 2018 NLT

1300 MT. All inquiries must include the solicitation number in the subject of the email.

10. Proposal are due by Friday, 26 January 2018 NLT 1300 MT. Tips for Submittal:

a. Read the solicitation carefully and ensure that proposals include all documents specified in Section XI, Instruction to Offerors.

b. All sections are required to have title pages. An example has been provided for offeror reference.

c. Proposal submissions must include the solicitation number in the subject of the email(s) and contractor name. (e.g. Proposal Response: AG-82AT-S-17-0006, ABC Company)

Should there be any further information/clarification required, email(s) should be sent to klenisewallace@fs.fed.us and sjwood@fs.fed.us.

Sincerely, Klenise S. Wallace Contracts Specialist cc:

FS Contracting Officer Representative, Steve Wood FS Contracting Officer, Christina Cook