B09_-_Solicitation_Amendment_-_RFP_Vendor_Questions_and_Government_Responses_0001.pdf

FWS – Custom Native Seed Mix Requirement

Solicitation (RFP) Questions and Responses:

1. Will you be requiring / accepting tests for seed varieties prior to award?

We will not be requiring tests prior to award. Tests would only be required of the successful vendor prior to mixing and delivery of the seed as part of an awarded contract. We would accept tests with a bid as long as those tests are for the seed proposed to be delivered as part of any awarded contract and the tested seed is from harvest year 2023.

2. Will there be any non “source‐ identified” seed exceptions? Would I be able to bid with non source ID seed?

No. All offered seed must be “source‐identified.” However, commercial cultivars and similar are allowed as “source identification” as long as the original source for the cultivar (or similar) is identified in the potential vendor’s bid and the origin is commonly known or otherwise publicly reported. For example, the “Schwendimar” cultivar of thickspike wheatgrass is commonly known/publicly reported to have come from windblown sands along the Columbia River near The Dalles, Oregon, and the “Harney” biotype of Sandberg’s bluegrass is commonly known/publicly reported to have originated in Harney County near Burns, Oregon.

3. Are you open to bids using seed that was not harvested in 2023 as long as it has a current viability test within 120 days?

For this solicitation, no. The offered seed must be from harvest year 2023. Our intended use timeline for the seed is this winter (2023/2024), to hand apply the seed into ash piles and burn scars associated with prescribed burn of woody material from removal of encroaching juniper.

However, these efforts are still in process and are entirely dependent on weather conditions. As such, it is realistically likely that we won’t be able to complete our removal and burning efforts in our intended timeline and may in fact take two or more years to complete. The Service will be storing any unused seed in our seed cooler. While this cooler is climate controlled for both temperature and humidity, it is not designed for long term storage (>3 years) without loss of germ (i.e., we have an unenumerated but not insignificant amount of loss of viability for each year of storage). Restricting this solicitation to only seed from harvest year 2023 is necessary to improve the odds of continued overall seed viability and project success in out years.

4. Some of the species have varieties that are certified, not Source ID, will those be acceptable?

Example: Pryor Slender Wheatgrass

Commercial cultivars and similar are allowed as “source identification” as long as the original source for the cultivar (or similar) is identified in the potential vendor’s bid and the origin is commonly known or otherwise publicly reported. For example, the “Schwendimar” cultivar of thickspike wheatgrass is commonly known/publicly reported to have come from windblown sands along the Columbia River near The Dalles, Oregon; the “Harney” biotype of Sandberg’s bluegrass is commonly known/publicly reported to have originated in Harney County near Burns, Oregon; and the ’Pryor’ release of slender wheatgrass originates from an intermittent drainage in a saline, upland range site in Carbon County, Montana. All offered mix seed species and their sources (to include cultivars, releases, biotypes, and similar) will be evaluated by the Service for relative appropriateness for use in the habitats on Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, to include

FWS – Custom Native Seed Mix Requirement

(but not necessarily limited to) geographic location, elevation, and climatic conditions. As an example, while “Pryor’ slender wheatgrass may meet minimum technical acceptance (i.e., not inappropriate), other offered sources may evaluate higher based on these metrics.

5. Are you willing to accept uncertified/not Source ID/VNS/common seed for any of the species?

No. All offered seed must be “source‐identified.” However, commercial cultivars and similar are allowed as “source identification” as long as the original source for the cultivar (or similar) is identified in the potential vendor’s bid and the origin is commonly known or otherwise publicly reported. For example, the “Schwendimar” cultivar of thickspike wheatgrass is commonly known/publicly reported to have come from windblown sands along the Columbia River near The Dalles, Oregon, and the “Harney” biotype of Sandberg’s bluegrass is commonly known/publicly reported to have originated in Harney County near Burns, Oregon.