ATT 1 Revised Statement of Work.pdf

STATEMENT OF WORK

PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND LOCATION

a. Description of Work: This project’s purpose is to update the USDA Forest Service’s black-tailed prairie dog colony maps on the Dakota Prairie Grasslands (DPG), specifically the Little Missouri National Grassland and Grand River National Grassland. The data collected will be used by the Forest Service for future management and planning decisions.

The successful Contractor will map the prairie dog colonies during fall 2025 and spring/summer 2026. Other black-tailed prairie dog associated species will be recorded as incidentally observed (bald eagle, badger, bobcat, ferruginous hawk, golden eagle, prairie rattlesnake, swift fox, and western burrowing owl).

The successful Contractor shall furnish all labor, equipment (fully operated), supervision, transportation, operating supplies, and incidentals necessary to complete the work. All work shall conform to the terms and conditions and specifications outlined in the solicitation and any resultant contract. Most colonies are accessible by pickup from existing two track roads. Some colonies may need to be accessed by off road travel with a 4WD pickup or UTV with an off road permit. Permission for access across private lands will need to be obtained with FS assistance.

Project work includes the following items:

• Task 1: Work Plan

• Task 2: Prairie Dog Mapping Field Work

• Task 3: Final Report/GIS Deliverable

Information applicable to the ITEM:

Work Plan: The Contractor will be provided maps and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) layers of known prairie dog colonies within the project area. This will be helpful in developing the work plan.

Prairie Dog Mapping Field Work: The Contractor shall submit biweekly progress reports during contract performance. A description of where, how, and when surveys were conducted, a preliminary acreage of prairie dogs surveyed, and a description of any problems encountered will be presented.

b. Project Location: Prairie Dog Mapping on The Dakota Prairie Grasslands; Dakota Prairie Grasslands (Grand River

National Grassland, Little Missouri National Grassland), Grand River Ranger District, Medora Ranger District, McKenzie Ranger District, McKenzie, Billings, Slope, and Golden Valley Counties, North Dakota. Perkins and Corson Counties, South Dakota.

*Prairie Dog Acreages and Number of GIS Polygons

Allotment Legal Description Base Item Grand River National

Grasslands-Grand River Ranger District

Approximately 72 GIS polygons covering approximately 2600 acres in Perkins & Corson counties, SD

Little Missouri National Grassland-Medora Ranger District

Approximately 182 GIS polygons covering approximately 3400 acres in Slope, Golden Valley, & Billings counties, ND

Little Missouri National Grassland-McKenzie Ranger District

Approximately 134 polygons covering approximately 3400 acres in McKenzie county, ND

*Most of the estimate is based off of the 2021/2022 prairie dog mapping efforts; The acreages could have changed due to treatment effects or other environmental conditions.

c. Pre-Bid Tour: No pre-bid tour will be conducted. Interested parties are urged to inspect the site where the work will be performed.

Interested parties shall take reasonable steps to ascertain the nature and location of the project area and the work to be completed, as well as the general and local site conditions which can affect the work and cost of performance. Failure to take the actions described in this paragraph will not relieve the Contractor from the responsibility of properly estimating the difficulty and cost to successfully perform the work, or from successful completion of the work without additional expense to the Government.

d. Pre-Bid Conference: A pre-bid conference will not be held.

e. Start Work: It is estimated that the work will begin in mid October; field work is expected to begin by mid October before ground is snow covered.

f. Period of Performance: All work shall be completed, including clean-up and final inspection, no later than October 31, 2026 The Contractor shall maintain progress at a rate that will assure completion of the work within the time specified herein.

WORK TASK REQUIREMENTS

a. Task 1 – Work Plan: The Work Plan shall be submitted by the Contractor and sent to the Contracting Officer (CO) and the DPG in an electronic format (e.g., Microsoft Word or Adobe .pdf). The plan will outline the Contractor’s methods for efficiently mapping prairie dog colonies on the ground. Following a Government review of the Work Plan, Dakota Prairie Grassland (DPG) personnel will furnish the Contractor with a comment matrix illustrating deficiencies, if any, in the submitted plan.

The Contractor will have a one week period (seven days) to complete the comment matrix and to submit a revised Work Plan, including edits based on Government provided comments.

The Work Plan shall include at a minimum:

1) A Table of Contents;

2) Page numbers;

3) Survey methods;

4) The format for the GIS deliverables (e.g., the data dictionary that will be used in the field in table format);

5) Estimated field work schedules with surveyor(s); and,

6) General area maps where the Contractor will map prairie dog colonies.

TASK 1 – Work Plan: Approximate Schedule

WORK PLAN DELIVERY DATE

Draft Version: Approximately 30 October 2025 Final Version: Approximately 15 November 2025

b. Task 2 – Prairie Dog Mapping Field Work: Dakota Prairie Grasslands has historic GIS layer files (shapefiles) of prairie dog colonies which will be shared with the contractor along with the 2022 prairie dog mapping report and USFS land ownership layer.

• The contractor shall map the perimeter of all known prairie dog colonies using GPS technology accurate to within

1-5 meters. Use of motorized vehicles (pickups or UTVs) are allowed to complete the mapping and are encouraged for mapping efficiency. If new colonies are found near existing colonies, these new colonies should be recorded. The perimeter is defined as a line connecting the outer-most active burrows, not the vegetative clip line. Large interior gaps of abandoned or uncolonized portions of a colony should be mapped and excluded from the final polygon and areal estimates. All GPS information will be collected in 3D mode, with a DPOP value of no greater than 6. The surveyor should log each prairie dog colony as a polygon feature using logging intervals no greater than 10 feet. The surveyor should make sure to stop on all corners to collect at least one point where the polygon turns. When a line curves, the surveyor should slow down to ensure that points are collected along the curve. The surveyor should create a data dictionary that allows the surveyor to enter pertinent information including the date and time each colony is recorded. A shapefile from the previous survey will be provided by the Forest Service to serve as a template when setting up the attribute table. The same data dictionary should be used for the whole project (i.e. all prairie dog colonies). The surveyor should create 1 file for each prairie dog colony. A drone may be used to determine the layout of the colony, but it cannot be used to record the perimeter.

• The surveyor should correct the raw GPS files (.ssf) to create a (.cor) file if using Trimble related equipment and Terrasync data capturing software. The surveyor should clean up those corrected files that have more than one point at the beginning or at the end of the polygon or file or any other point along the line feature where you may have stopped and paused the GPS systems. If a colony is un-colonized and does not warrant GPSing the perimeter, GPS a point within the abandoned colony indicating that it is not currently populated, thus indicating that the colony was checked. Only USFS Lands should be mapped; a US Forest Service land ownership GIS shapefile will be provided. Field work/mapping can occur starting mid-October and continue until December 1 or until the ground is snow covered.

Field work/mapping can resume after snowmelt, approximately April 15, until July 31. GIS files should be submitted in WGS-84 datum or if using another datum, please identify so the files can be converted.

If observed, incidental observations of bald eagle, badger, bobcat, ferruginous hawk, golden eagle, prairie rattlesnake, swift fox, and western burrowing owl should be noted in GPS for each prairie dog colony and included in survey results (GIS).

Contractor requirements for submittal of biweekly Progress Reports are presented in Section C.3 – General Specifications.

Contractor requirements for submittal of Habitat Survey information and results are presented in Section C.2, Task

TASK 2 – Prairie Dog Mapping Field Work Approximate Dates

Task Begins Work Completed Field work begins approximately mid-October 2025; dates may vary because of weather conditions

Field work ends approximately July 31, 2026;

dates may vary because of weather conditions

Task 3– Final Report/GIS Deliverable. Task 3 includes completion and presentation of a Draft Report/GIS Deliverable and a Final Report/GIS Deliverable. The Draft Report/GIS Deliverable is due August 31, 2026; the Final Report is due October 31, 2026.

c. Task 3 – Final Report/GIS Deliverable:

At a minimum, the Draft and Final reports for Task 2 shall contain:

• An introduction summarizing the purpose of this project;

• A description of the survey methods used;

• A results section giving prairie dog colony locations and sizes;

• Processed (i.e. corrected) GPS files leading to a GIS file of prairie dog colony locations and sizes, compatible with Trimble brand software. If files are collected using Terrasync software and Trimble GPS equipment, uncorrected .ssf files will be provided as an appendix. The processed GPS files can be represented as a GIS layer shapefile.

• The Government may reject the report and a revised/corrected report must be submitted. Data consistency must exist between reports and GIS deliverables.

• ADDITIONALLY, THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WILL BE PRESENTED BY SITE:

o The date of each field mapping event;

o Incidental species observed associated with corresponding Prairie Dog Colony GIS data;

o Geographic data (electronic GIS files and maps), including --

Location of survey area (access directions, legal description, GPS coordinates, site name [which will usually be associated with the allotment name]) with corresponding maps;

Outline of site boundaries (polygon files with associated information must be provided to the

USFS); and, GIS files should be submitted in WGS-84 datum or if using another datum, please identify so the files can be converted.

o Field Notes

TASK3 – Final Report/GIS Deliverable

Biweekly Progress Reports (every other week):

During Field work (field season is approximately mid October to December 1 and April 15 to July 31)

Report/GIS Deliverable, Draft Version: August 31, 2026

Report/GIS Deliverable, Final Version: October 31, 2026

GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS

a. Task 1 – Work Plan

The Work Plan shall be revised by the Contractor based on Government comments if deficiencies are seen by the Government. If a report has more than 10 errors (e.g., in formatting, spelling, grammar, facts, mapping, etc.), the Government may reject the report and a revised/corrected report must be submitted. Data consistency must exist between reports and GIS deliverables.

b. Task 2 – Prairie Dog Mapping Field Work

• Once field work begins, the Contractor shall provide biweekly (e.g., every two weeks) Progress Reports which will be submitted electronically by e-mail, addressed to the CO, the Contracting Officer Representative (COR), and the District Representatives. At a minimum, the reports should include a description of where, how, and when surveys were conducted, a preliminary acreage of prairie dogs surveyed, and a description of any problems (including land access problems) encountered will be presented. All mapping of prairie dog colonies should be on US Forest Service land. Field work/mapping can occur starting mid-October and continue until December 1 or until the ground is snow covered. Field work/mapping can resume after snowmelt, approximately April 15, until July 31.

• Progress Reports will be furnished starting at the beginning of the field work and forwarded to points of contact on the districts. This date may vary due to weather conditions impacting field work. Interim payments may be requested with furnished progress reports.

c. Task 3 – Final Report/GIS Deliverable

The Contractor shall submit Draft Reports in electronic format (e.g., Microsoft Word or searchable Adobe .pdf files) through e-mail. Final Reports must be furnished in both hard copy and electronic format (Microsoft Word or searchable Adobe .pdf files).

Deliverable Items:

1. Four (4) flash drives containing electronic files of the Draft Report/GIS Deliverable

2. Four (4) hard copies of the Draft Report/GIS Deliverable

3. Eight (8) sets of the Final Report/GIS Deliverable package (hard copies and flash drives)

TASK3 – Final Report/GIS Deliverable

Report/GIS Deliverable, Draft Version: August 31, 2026

Report/GIS Deliverable, Final Version: October 31, 2026