A06_Fall_Buy_Sol_spec_and_clauses_final_070122_Amend_001_final_0001.docx

Bureau of Land Management—National Interagency Fire Center—Boise, Idaho

22-2 Fall Seed Buy

SOLICITATION # 140L3722R0020

Diane Barker, Contracting Officer Date revision 06/2022

Table of Contents

Sections

SECTION A – INFORMATION TO PROSPECTIVE OFFERORS

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING CLARIFICATIONS, CHANGES AND REMINDERS FROM PREVIOUS BUYS IT IS STILL THE VENDOR’S RESPONSIBILITY TO READ THE ENTIRE SOLICITATION AND NOT RELY SOLELY ON THIS LIST.

***The Master Bidsheet (Attachment 1) Award Document is the governing document and has precedence over the line item information in the contract.*** IMPORTANT: A pre-bid meeting has been scheduled for:

Pre-Bid Conference Call is scheduled for:

July 11, 2022 at 10:00 AM MT Phone # 1 866 581-1353 Passcode # 5201433#

We will be reviewing Section A, Attachment 1 Bidsheet, and required submission documents.

Bid closing date: July 25, 2022 at 1000 MT time Paperwork due at bid closing: Attachment 1 Bid Offer, filled out and signed Solicitation form and Amendments if required, PreQualified tests and Incentive documentation, Past Performance references not associated with the Consolidated Seed Buy, and Seed Dealers Licenses are required prior to delivery, can be provided with bid submission.

Awards released by 8/10/2022 Delivery Schedule for Round 1: 8/15/2022 - 9/2/2022. New Harvest Sage Brush and Forage Kochia delivery schedule is 11/01/22 – 12/16/22 1.) All seed offered must meet all requirements of the Federal Seed Act (7 U.S.C. §. 15511610 incl.) and the seed laws of the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, as applicable.

Section D J 4 Germination test requirements. Seed varieties that are listed in the Federal Seed Act are required to have a germination test listed on the Analysis Tag for interstate shipments. The Germ test results shall be provided to the BLM. For previous harvest seed, the test shall be supplied with the Attachment 3 prior to delivery. For new harvest seed, the USDA has agreed to allow the germ test to be started prior to shipping and provided to the BLM when complete. Acceptance of seed will not occur until germ results are received, exceptions to this may occur depending on specific circumstances. The germ test results will be utilized to calculate the tested PLS percentage for seed acceptance. The purity, weed seed, and noxious weed seed analysis reports will be reviewed to determine if discrepancies that may need further testing. See Section E Seed quality, final acceptance, and Determining PLS for more information on the germination testing.

2.) See Section C 9: Incentive Program for Annual Brome Free and 100% Weed Free seed.

If you have weed free (100%WF) seed or Annual Brome Free (100%ABF) seed to offer, identify the seed category in the Program column of the Attachment 1 - Bid Offer. With your bid submission, you shall supply current Field Inspection documents along with any documentation addressing contaminants found and how they will be dealt with or for seed purchased from another grower that you do not have access to the field Inspection reports, then 2 or more test results from different approved labs showing no contaminants were found will suffice For SI wildland collected seed that doesn’t require a site inspection, provide two or more test results from different labs (listed as Approved Labs in this solicitation) that shows the seed has no contaminants present. The paperwork shall be scanned together in one document and tab 3 on the Attachment 1 shall be filled out. After the paperwork has been reviewed and approved and the Master Bidsheet has been sorted by PLS price, the offered price will be increased to include the publicized incentive bonus. If the seed is selected, the awarded price will be the incentivized price. New in 22-2 Buy: After award, fill out the Attachment 3 paperwork and ship the incentive seed without samples being pulled, the BLM will pull samples per the AOSA rules and regulation when received at the warehouses, will update the Attachment 3 paperwork, and send samples to the vendor’s first and second choice labs identified on the bidsheet. The vendor will be responsible for payment of both lab tests.

For 100%WF seed the incentive bonus is 15%. If one seed of a contaminant is found in the lab test results, the 15% incentive will be removed without negotiations. If contaminant(s) of 2 or more seeds are found in the testing, a 20% price reduction will be applied to the awarded price, without negotiations.

For 100%ABF seed the incentive bonus is 10%. The seed shall be free of any Annual Brome species per the definition in Section C, can only have common weeds found at a low rate of no more than 4 seeds per sample, no noxious weeds found including restricted noxious weeds within the allowable tolerance, and no Amaranthus found that would require DNA testing. If one seed (above the allowable) of a contaminant is found in the lab test results, the 10% incentive will be removed without negotiations. If contaminant(s) of 2 or more seeds (above the allowable) are found in the testing, a 15% price reduction will be applied to the awarded price, without negotiations.

On new harvest crops bid/offered before harvest with a late delivery date for Round 1 and a note in the additional information column identifying the seed is pre-harvest and should be weed free, the incentive category can be added/removed BUT only during the first Bid Revision process that the seed is available. The Government prefers the seed be identified upfront as Incentive Seed, then removed if the pre-testing shows if does not meet the program requirements.

Seed offered under these programs shall be well tested seed that no contaminants have been detected.

Preference will be given to these programs during the source selection process. If vendors are repeat offenders of seed not meeting the requirements for this program, the performance will be documented in CPARS.

3.) Bid revision specification added in Section C-10. (used on multi-round Buys only)

The bid revision process is in place for use in multi-round buys with an extended timeframe required to hold the offered price firm, refer to Section F.1. The bid revision process helps to mitigate some of the risk associated with the extended timeframe regarding the number of pounds offered, not the pricing. The pounds can be reduced due to the crop not performing as expected, quality issues found, or selling the seed outside of the Consolidated Seed Buy; or you can add additional pounds due to the crop performing better than expected. The integrity of the seed buy has to remain intact; the pricing cannot be manipulated.

All offerors will be given the opportunity, between rounds, to update their offer to show the pounds available for the next round. Instructions and examples will be provided on how to submit your bid revision. The pounds can be reduced, terminated (offer removed due to seed no longer available), or additional pounds added. The pounds cannot be shuffled from low priced lines to high priced lines or the opposite, that loses the integrity of the buy due to the pounds being shifted from different price points.

If you terminate or reduce the pounds on a seed type, you cannot add additional pounds to the same variety of seed at a different price point for the remainder of the Seed Buy. If you terminate an awarded line, then all offered lines of the same species must be removed during the bid revision process. If a seed type required a modification for any quality issue and you are offering the same lot, you shall change the price to match the modification and provide a comment on the line.

When adding additional pounds, you may add the pounds to any line that you originally offered.

On new harvest crops bid/offered before harvest with a late delivery date for Round 1 and a note in the additional information column identifying the seed is pre-harvest and should be weed free, the incentive category can be added/removed BUT only during the first Bid Revision process that the seed is available. The Government prefers the seed be identified upfront as Incentive Seed, then removed if the pre-testing shows if does not meet the program requirements.

4.) TESTED APPROVED SEED- ONLY APPLIES IN SEED BUYS WITH MULTIPLE ROUNDS

TESTED APPROVED SEED: Letter designator (TAPS) in the schedule is a seed lot that was previously submitted, sampled by a certified sampler, and tested from an approved testing facility during the current contract performance period. The seed lot needs to meet the compliance requirements and specifications in the solicitation to be approved. (This excludes: (Freezer Stored Sagebrush and Kochia) To qualify please read and understand the steps:

New requirement for 2022: For a lot to be considered as TAPS in later rounds, the entire lot must be sampled on original purchase. Example: You have 10,000 lbs offered in one seed lot, we award 500 lbs in Round 1, the Round 1 sample must be an official certified sample pulled from the 10,000 lbs. This requirement ensure that the sample tested represents the entire lot, not just the first 500 lbs.

STEP 1: The contractor must provide the same lot number of seed that was offered, sampled, and approved after lab testing, in a previous round of the procurement process. For example: if the seed lot number was sampled and tested in Round 1 and it met the BLM’s minimum PLS, the vendor’s offered PLS, and met the restricted prohibited noxious weed standards for ALL WESTERN STATES, then the remaining pounds are eligible and shall be offered as tested and approved seed (TAPS) for the Government to accept the seed lot without further sampling and testing of the lot on any rounds during the procurement award process. The line(s) must be identified as TAPS during the bid revision process if already deemed acceptable. If the seed is accepted after the bid revision is due, then after receiving the Attachment 1 awarded lines, any TAPS line must be identified in writing to the Contracting Officer. If the lot required a price reduction modification for a quality issue, the modification information must be provided with the TAPS identification and the BLM will determine if the lot is approved as a TAPS line.

STEP 2: The Government will evaluate the Seed Analysis report and will utilize the test for the same lot number of seed that is offered and awarded on any further round or rounds of procurement in the current solicitation process.

STEP 3: If the offered seed lot is found not in compliance with the contract requirements or specifications it will not be approved and will need to meet the compliance requirements for seed certification, seed sampling and seed testing procedures. Inform the Contract Officer (CO) and the Contract Officer Representative (COR) immediately of any issues.

Reminder: Pickup and delivery of replaced or reconditioned seed has the same scheduling requirements as the original delivery.

6.) Not discussed on Pre-bid conference call MINIMUM QUANTITY BID. On the Spring Buy, A question was asked concerning identifying minimum quantities that can be purchased on certain bid lines. If you want to mark a minimum quantity that you will allow to be selected on a line, you can. You need to add a comment in the comment’s column listing the minimum quantity you want marked on the line. Highlight in orange the note in the comments column AND the pounds offered column, so that we know it needs handled differently. Take note, during the evaluation process, we go through the master bidsheet from top to bottom multiple times to select the seed types and pounds we need. If you mark it as a minimum quantity requirement, the BLM can skip your bid on each cycle and proceed to the next line if our need is below your minimum pounds. We will not backtrack and select your line once we have met your minimum quantity. It will not be selected until we can fulfil your minimum quantity requirement on one cycle through the bidsheet.

7.) G0 Location see Section C 4 b PVG certification tags shall include the scientific and common species’ names: specific germplasm identification (information applicable); Eco-Region and ProvisionalSeed Transfer Zones; (latitude may be included if customer requests from certifying agency of the seed germplasm source site and whether or not it is indigenous on that site; the G0 location and generation of a seed increase field from which the seed was harvested (if applicable); and whether the tagged seed is natural –track or manipulated track in status (meaning whether or not the seed germplasm has been altered or manipulated during the original collection or during subsequent cultivated production. The G0 information- State, County, and Elevation must also be included on the Attachment 1 bidsheet.

8.) Problems encountered with Seed samples and Attachment 3 submission, be sure to review the full specifications in Section D.

A. The quantity of seed in the official sample, shall be fully representative of each lot of seed furnished, must be enough to provide the required samples: ONE sample bag to the first choice Seed Testing Lab listed in the Attachment 1 AND ONE sample bag for retesting to EACH point of delivery. The samples and attachment 3’s shall be boxed together, easily located, and shipped with the seed. Seed Samples are not required for Pre-Qualified or Incentive Seed.

B. Samplers MUST USE Seed Analysis Request Form (Attachment 3 revised) to request seed lab tests.

Seed test analysis will include purity (inert, other crop, weed seed), TZ, All States Noxious Weed Exam for Western States, and species check for Downy Brome.

J 1. Paperwork required with Attachment 3: The Seed Analysis Request Form (Attachment 3 revised form). For SI wildland collected seed, the permit/authorization shall be supplied with the Attachment 3 paperwork.

9.) Changes to SEED QUALITY from Section E 2 All seed offered must meet or exceed the following seed quality standards:

a) Visual: All seed will be inspected for cleaning requirements as stated in Section C.

b) PLS: Seed must meet offered PLS requirements as stated in the Attachment 1 Bid Sheet.

c) 0.25% or less Weed seed for all types of seed will be accepted. Changed from .50%

d) Annual Downy Brome is not to exceed 400 seeds per pound.

e) Amaranthus spp, Pigweed, waterhemp found, DNA test is required.

f) 2.00% or less Other crop for all seed except Thickspike Wheatgrass-Critana will be accepted

g) Thickspike Wheatgrass-Critana – up to 10.00% Slender Wheatgrass as other crop seed (per seed certification) will be accepted.

h) NO seed mixes will be accepted.

10.) Expectation of seed condition.

During the Fall Buy last year, we had an abundance of seed delivered that did not meet our specifications. The seed needs to come in cleaner, meeting the Government specifications. We do not have the manpower or time to deal with the number of lots that needed to be reconditioned and replaced. We have an expectation that non-new harvest seed (previous year crops), the lots will be free of noxious weeds and other issues since you have had time to test the seed and resolve any issues prior to offering and delivering the seed. Seed that is offered and found to not meet our specification, when reconditioning, we expect the seed to be processed immediately. You cannot delay the recleaning process. The seed was offered, you said it could be delivered within our timeframe, you need to process the reconditioning immediately.

11.) Issues encountered with Invoices. Review Section G 3 for full details that identifies the requirements for an invoice to be deemed proper and acceptable for payment approval.

A proper invoice has the following required information:

Vendor’s name Invoice date Invoice number Name of Office/Organization that purchased the seed (NOT seed delivery location) BLM-National Seed Program Contract Award Number (140L3722C00XX) Award Line Item Number (line # from contract award document) Spread Sheet ID number (SSID) Description (including, for example, seed species/variety, lot #, price, and quantity of goods rendered in bulk pounds).

Contact name (where practicable), title, and telephone number.

Other substantiating documentation, if required by the order.

SECTION B - SUPPLIES OR SERVICES/PRICES

B.1 BID SCHEDULE

BID SCHEDULE IS ATTACHED SEPARATELY

File name is Attachment 1 Bid Schedule

A tab has been added to the Attachment 1 document with Instructions on how to fill out the form.

A third tab has been added to the Attachment 1 document that is required to be filled out if bidding Pre-Qualified Annual Brome Free seed and Incentive programs. It provides a document for the offeror to fill out that cross references the offeror’s bid items with the required paperwork per lot number. Offeror’s must scan and email, along with all the other required bid documents, test results for all PQ-ABF line items in one document and Incentive program line items in another document. The scanned document must provide the required paperwork for each line item in bid row order and must match the order in the spreadsheet.

SECTION C - DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS

SPECIFICATION INDEX

1. SEED OFFERS

The Government reserves the right to award on any item offered in any category, or a combination of the categories, per the evaluation criteria specified in Section M of this solicitation, “Basis for Award,” if it is in the best interest of the public and the best value for the Government to do so. All awards are contingent upon price reasonableness and the availability of funds at the time of award.

Offerors may offer all available seed. The estimated quantities column on the Attachment 1 bidsheet has been removed. Due to the unpredictability of fires, the estimated amount is an unknown figure.

Substitutions: Do not offer alternate species for substitution within a stated variety. For example, an offeror cannot offer Paloma Indian Ricegrass or any other variety or species of grass under the Item No. XYZ Indian Ricegrass Rimrock. The offeror will need to offer Paloma under its specific item number, or if the variety is not listed, then it can be offered in the Additonals section at the bottom of the bidsheet. If substitutions need to be made individual warehouses will select the species and variety that they wish to substitute for.

Seed bids will be competed on a lowest Pure Live Seed (PLS) price per pound. However, award amount will be for bulk price per pound, expressed with a maximum of two decimal places calculated from PLS price. If one offeror receives award of more than one item, simultaneous performance is required.

All costs of transportation from shipping point(s) to destination shall be paid by the Contractor and included in the price offered for the item(s). The Contractor shall be responsible for any/all damage occurring in transit.

Additional Seed Offered: Vendors may offer additional seed not requested on the spreadsheet. There is no limit to the species nor quantities that are offered. Government makes no guarantee to purchase additional seed.

NOTE: Seed specifications may be included herein for items which are not specified in the seed price schedule.

2. LICENSING REQUIREMENTS

All successful offerors shall comply with the Seed Dealers Licensing requirements of the Pure Seed Law for the State in which seed is delivered (currently Idaho and Nevada). Reference the following sites for the Pure Seed Law by State:

UT - Utah Seed Act

3. FEDERAL SEED ACT, DESTINATION STATE LAWS, NOXIOUS WEEDS - STATE LAWS

All seed offered must meet all requirements of the Federal Seed Act (7 U.S.C. §. 15511610 incl.) and the seed laws of the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, as applicable.

4. SEED OFFER CATEGORIES: CERTIFIED/CERTIFIED PRE-VARIETY GERMPLASM/NON-CERTIFIED/AREA of ORIGIN CLAIMED A. CERTIFIED SEED: For a definition of the various certified classes refer to the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agency (AOSCA) website at www.aosca.org. Once you enter the site click on programs, then “seed certification”. Also, click on “Native Plant connection” to download the publication entitled “The AOSCA Native Plant Connection”. This publication explains the certified pre-variety germplasm (PVG) program specified in the next section.

i. RELEASED VARIETIES: Certified Seed of released varieties (Letter designator (A) in the schedule) is field cultivated seed of native or introduced species produced according to rules established by AOSCA and official state seed certification programs.

1. Wild collected (e.g. released varieties such as Lassen Antelope Bitterbrush or Hobble Creek Sagebrush, can be classified as certified when specific collection areas have been established).

2. Classes of certified seed are foundation (white tag), registered (purple tag), and certified (blue tag).

ii. All blue, white and purple tag certified seed shall meet the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies (AOSCA) quality standards and/or State standards, whichever is stricter, for the State in which the seed was certified or of seed origin. Visit the website at http://aosca.org.

iii. Seed varieties which have plant variety protection (PVP) shall be tagged with official tags from the company which owns the rights to the variety showing authorization for use of the plant materials.

B. PRE-VARIETY GERMPLASM (SEED LETTER DESIGNATED PVG IN THE SEED PRICE SCHEDULE): Certified Pre-Variety Germplasm (PVG) seed is either wild collected or field cultivated seed of native or naturalized species produced according to rules established by AOSCA and official state seed certification programs. PVG seed tags include verified source information of county, state and elevation of both the site or original collection and the site of field production, if applicable. Three categories of certified PVG may be accepted:

PVG certification tags shall include the scientific and common species’ names: specific germplasm identification (information applicable); Eco-Region and ProvisionalSeed Transfer Zones; (latitude may be included if customer requests from certifying agency of the seed germplasm source site and whether or not it is indigenous on that site; the G0 location and generation of a seed increase field from which the seed was harvested (if applicable); and whether the tagged seed is natural –track or manipulated track in status (meaning whether or not the seed germplasm has been altered or manipulated during the original collection or during subsequent cultivated production. The G0 information- State, County, and Elevation must also be included on the Attachment 1 bidsheet

C. NON-CERTIFIED SEED - ONLY IN OTHER OFFERED CATEGORY (Letter designator (B) on the schedule):

D. AREA OF ORIGIN CLAIMED SEED - ONLY IN OTHER OFFERED CATEGORY (Letter designator (AOC) on the schedule):

iii. Additional labs will be considered if found to be beneficial or required. Any new labs that want to be considered as an approved seed testing facility will have to apply with the following criteria required:

Offerors shall insert, in the space provided in the attachment 1 Bid Schedule, the Pure Live Seed (PLS) rate which is a calculation of the percent of purity and germination/TZ of the seed offered under each item. Failure to furnish this data for an item on which an offer is made, will result in rejection of that item. The following calculations shall be utilized to determine pure live seed percent (% PLS) and the pure live seed price ($ PLS), the following formula shall be used:

(% Purity) x (% Germination (TZ))

100 = % PLS

Offered Price $

PLS = $ PLS

The PLS rating and PLS price shall be stated to a maximum of 4 decimal places, rounding the 4th place up if the 5 decimal place is 5 and above. In case of mathematical discrepancies between purity, germination, % PLS, and $ PLS, purity and germination will govern along with bulk price.

7. PRE-QUALIFIED-ANNUAL BROME FREE SEED (PQ-ABF)

PRE-QUALIFIED-ANNUAL BROME FREE SEED: (Letter designator (PQ-ABF) in the schedule) is seed that meets the Government’s need to rapidly expedite the use of the seed within Close of Business (COB) of delivery meeting all of the requirements listed in Section E 2 and 3. There shall not be any reason the seed cannot be used directly from the actual delivery location and date. To qualify as “Pre-Qualified-Annual Brome Free” please read and understand the steps:

STEP 1: The contractor must provide a valid Analysis report which is the Official Certification Germination Test (Germination test is required) from an approved seed testing facility that meets all of the seed quality standards and is WITHOUT ANNUAL BROME SPECIES OF SEED. Annual Brome species are those which have characteristics that are non-native, invasive and weedy which include the following varieties Bromus secalinus, Bromus tectorum, Bromus rubens, and Bromus japonicas, however the list may not be all inclusive.

The Official Certification Germination Test shall be completed within 6 months of solicitation issued date and up to the date of the bid closing. If the official certification germination test is older than 6 months, then a new Purity, Noxious weed exam, and TZ update is required. The original test result shall be from the same year as the harvest or collection year of the crop.

Seed certification types that are eligible to be bid as Pre-Qualified seed is Certified blue tags (A) only, excluding certified Kochia. To be considered, the seed shall meet the minimum PLS standards, meets the noxious weed standards for ALL WESTERN STATES, meets all other quality standards as listed in Section E 2 Seed Quality, and having no annual Brome seed present. (The Government will exercise its right to perform random seed testing for compliance on pre-qualified seed.) (Section E).

The Attachment 3 shall be provided on any new test and the sample shall be pulled by a Certified Sampler (Crop Improvement Agency or State Department of Agriculture). The lab test shall state who pulled the sample and their affiliation.

The seed shall be certified only by the legally authorized AOSCA seed certifying agency in each state (i.e., State Department of Agriculture, Crop Improvement Association, etc.). Each bag of seed shall bear the official Blue tag as listed above and the certification tag attached in the approved manner under the supervision of the certifying agency.

i. All bags containing certified seed shall be marked (stenciled or marked with indelible ink) with the lot number under which the lot was originally certified.

ii. Seed purchased under this option will still be labeled with its applicable seed analysis tag.

STEP 2: All appropriate documentation (original test and updated test) must be scanned together in one document for all PQ-ABF line items bid, in numerical order by Bid Row, and submitted with the offer. In the Attachment 1 spreadsheet, there is a tab that contains a spreadsheet that cross-references bid information to test results with lot numbers. The spreadsheet needs filled out and submitted with the attachment 1 Bid sheet. A column has been added to the Attachment 1 document to require harvest year of the seed that is being offered.

STEP 3: Upon review of the initial receipt of documentation, if the test result paperwork identifies that the lot number doesn’t qualify as PQ-ABF seed, the line will be marked as “unresponsive” and may not be evaluated in Round 1. The offeror may be notified and allowed to correct the information and adjust the pricing. The line item will be considered for award in the future rounds of the seed buy. What disqualifies seed offers from PQ-ABF are the following items:

1. Preliminary tests or incomplete items of documentation.

2. Seed tests which are dated prior to 6 months from solicitation issued date and has no updated test

3. PLS rate listed on bid sheet is higher than PLS on test

4. TESTS THAT REFLECT ANY ANNUAL BROME SPECIES (see definition of Annual Brome above or in Section C 14 Definitions)

5. Or any other issues identified on the test that does not meet the Government specifications.

6. No Germ test submitted, the sample not pulled by State affiliated certified sampler, updated test doesn’t include: purity, noxious weed exam for all Western States, and TZ.

STEP 4: If after delivery of seed, the offer has been disqualified from Pre- Qualified Annual Brome Free status the GOVERNMENT MAY ELECT ONE OF THE OPTIONS:

Option 1, the Government may elect to accept the seed as non-prequalified seed with a price reduction for the specifications that was not met or was below the offered bid AND a reduction for non-prequalified status.

Option 2, elect to have the seed reconditioned or replaced with a new seed lot number that meets the offered item, if time allows. The allowable time is solely at the discretion and determination of the government. Seed testing costs shall be the responsibility of the Contractor.

Option 3, elect to reject the seed without replacement. If seed does not meet contract specifications and time does not allow replacement, the seed may be rejected, and the contract terminated for cause. The allowable time is solely at the discretion and determination of the government. Re-procurement charges may be assessed to the Contractor if the seed is still needed, otherwise, actual damages may be assessed as determined by the Contracting Officer.

8. TESTED APPROVED SEED- ONLY APPLIES IN SEED BUYS WITH MULTIPLE ROUNDS

TESTED APPROVED SEED: Letter designator (TAPS) in the schedule is a seed lot that was previously submitted, sampled by a certified sampler, and tested from an approved testing facility during the current contract performance period. The seed lot needs to meet the compliance requirements and specifications in the solicitation to be approved. (This excludes: (Freezer Stored Sagebrush and Kochia) To qualify please read and understand the steps:

New requirement for 2022: For a lot to be considered as TAPS in later rounds, the entire lot must be sampled on original purchase. Example: You have 10,000 lbs offered in one seed lot, we award 500 lbs in Round 1, the Round 1 sample must be an official certified sample pulled from the 10,000 lbs. This requirement ensure that the sample tested represents the entire lot, not just the first 500 lbs.

STEP 1: The contractor must provide the same lot number of seed that was offered, sampled, and approved after lab testing, in a previous round of the procurement process. For example: if the seed lot number was sampled and tested in Round 1 and it met the BLM’s minimum PLS, the vendor’s offered PLS, and met the restricted prohibited noxious weed standards for ALL WESTERN STATES, then the remaining pounds are eligible and shall be offered as tested and approved seed (TAPS) for the Government to accept the seed lot without further sampling and testing of the lot on any rounds during the procurement award process. The line(s) must be identified as TAPS during the bid revision process if already deemed acceptable. If the seed is accepted after the bid revision is due, then after receiving the Attachment 1 awarded lines, any TAPS line must be identified in writing to the Contracting Officer. If the lot required a price reduction modification for a quality issue, the modification information must be provided with the TAPS identification and the BLM will determine if the lot is approved as a TAPS line.

STEP 2: The Government will evaluate the Seed Analysis report and will utilize the test for the same lot number of seed that is offered and awarded on any further round or rounds of procurement in the current solicitation process.

STEP 3: If the offered seed lot is found not in compliance with the contract requirements or specifications it will not be approved and will need to meet the compliance requirements for seed certification, seed sampling and seed testing procedures. Inform the Contract Officer (CO) and the Contract Officer Representative (COR) immediately of any issues.

9. Incentive Program for Annual Brome Free and 100% Weed Free seed

If you have weed free (100%WF) seed or Annual Brome Free (100%ABF) seed to offer, identify the seed category in the Program column of the Attachment 1 - Bid Offer. With your bid submission, you shall supply current Field Inspection documents along with any documentation addressing contaminants found and how they will be dealt with or for seed purchased from another grower that you do not have access to the field Inspection reports, then 2 or more test results from different approved labs showing no contaminants were found will suffice For SI wildland collected seed that doesn’t require a site inspection, provide two or more test results from different labs (listed as Approved Labs in this solicitation) that shows the seed has no contaminants present. The paperwork shall be scanned together in one document and tab 3 on the Attachment 1 shall be filled out. After the paperwork has been reviewed and approved and the Master Bidsheet has been sorted by PLS price, the offered price will be increased to include the publicized incentive bonus. If the seed is selected, the awarded price will be the incentivized price. New in 22-2 Buy: After award, fill out the Attachment 3 paperwork and ship the incentive seed without samples being pulled, the BLM will pull samples per the AOSA rules and regulation when received at the warehouses, will update the Attachment 3 paperwork, and send samples to the vendor’s first and second choice labs identified on the bidsheet. The vendor will be responsible for payment of both lab tests.

For 100%WF seed the incentive bonus is 15%. If one seed of a contaminant is found in the lab test results, the 15% incentive will be removed without negotiations. If contaminant(s) of 2 or more seeds are found in the testing, a 20% price reduction will be applied to the awarded price, without negotiations.

For 100%ABF seed the incentive bonus is 10%. The seed shall be free of any Annual Brome species per the definition in Section C, can only have common weeds found at a low rate of no more than 4 seeds per sample, no noxious weeds found including restricted noxious weeds within the allowable tolerance, and no Amaranthus found that would require DNA testing. If one seed (above the allowable) of a contaminant is found in the lab test results, the 10% incentive will be removed without negotiations. If contaminant(s) of 2 or more seeds (above the allowable) are found in the testing, a 15% price reduction will be applied to the awarded price, without negotiations.

On new harvest crops bid/offered before harvest with a late delivery date for Round 1 and a note in the additional information column identifying the seed is pre-harvest and should be weed free, the incentive category can be added/removed BUT only during the first Bid Revision process that the seed is available. The Government prefers the seed be identified upfront as Incentive Seed, then removed if the pre-testing shows if does not meet the program requirements.

Seed offered under these programs shall be well tested seed that no contaminants have been detected.

Preference will be given to these programs during the source selection process. If vendors are repeat offenders of seed not meeting the requirements for this program, the performance will be documented in CPARS.

10. BID REVISION (used on multi-round Buys only)

The bid revision process is in place for use in multi-round buys with an extended timeframe required to hold the offered price firm, refer to Section F.1. The bid revision process helps to mitigate some of the risk associated with the extended timeframe regarding the number of pounds offered, not the pricing. The pounds can be reduced due to the crop not performing as expected, quality issues found, or selling the seed outside of the Consolidated Seed Buy; or you can add additional pounds due to the crop performing better than expected. The integrity of the seed buy has to remain intact; the pricing cannot be manipulated.

All offerors will be given the opportunity, between rounds, to update their offer to show the pounds available for the next round. Instructions and examples will be provided on how to submit your bid revision. The pounds can be reduced, terminated (offer removed due to seed no longer available), or additional pounds added. The pounds cannot be shuffled from low priced lines to high priced lines or the opposite, that loses the integrity of the buy due to the pounds being shifted from different price points.

If you terminate or reduce the pounds on a seed type, you cannot add additional pounds to the same variety of seed at a different price point for the remainder of the Seed Buy. If you terminate an awarded line, then all offered lines of the same species must be removed during the bid revision process. If a seed type required a modification for any quality issue and you are offering the same lot, you shall change the price to match the modification and provide a comment on the line.

When adding additional pounds, you may add the pounds to any line that you originally offered.

11. ORIGIN AND SOURCE REQUIREMENTS

1. For Certified seed offered under this solicitation ORIGIN (where the seed is grown in a cultivated field) shall only be from a country or state of North America (unless otherwise specified) Classes of certified seed are foundation (white tag), registered (purple tag), and certified (blue tag).

b. Non-Certified Seed (variety/cultivar)

i. ORIGIN Requirement:

1. For seed offered under this solicitation ORIGIN (where the seed is grown in a cultivated field) shall be from a country or state of North America (unless otherwise specified)

ii. SOURCE Requirements:

1. WITH A “VARIETY” NAME: Source is not restricted nor does source information have to be provided since seed is a known cultivar.

c. Source Identified and Area of Origin Claimed Seed (Certified PVG and non-certified germplasm respectively) All geographic site requirements as specified in this section must be met with the seed that is offered on the schedule. Offeror, by submission of its offer, is claiming that seed meets geographic site requirements. The requirement to provide Source Identified (or other category of PVG) Tags or Signed Species Area of Origin Claimed Statement for non-certified wildland collected seed is at time of delivery. Geographic site require the Eco-Region and Seed Transfer Zone information be provided as part of the Bid package.

12. INDIVIDUAL SPECIES

a. SANDBERG’S BLUEGRASS SEED Source Identification (SI) certification and Area of Origin Claimed Specification – All Sandberg’s bluegrass seed (Poa Secunda) delivered under this contract shall be accepted when collected from Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. However, seed will also be accepted when collected from sites in northern Nevada, Utah, or California (north of 40° North Latitude). Seed from collection sites in Nevada, Utah, or California (north of 36° North Latitude and south of 40° North Latitude) will also be accepted if collected from sites between 4,000 feet and 7,500 feet elevation. Ensure each lot number is in compliance with latitude and elevations requirements. The Area of Origin Claimed Statement shall also include verification that each lot of seed was collected from Poa Secunda plants.

b. BOTTLEBRUSH SQUIRRETAIL SEED Source Identification (SI certification), and Area of Origin Claimed Specification – All bottlebrush squirreltail seed (Elymus elymoides) delivered under this Contract shall be accepted when collected (source/origin) from collection sites in Idaho, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, or Utah (North of 34° North Latitude and south of 45° North Latitude) will also be accepted if collected from sites between 3,500- and 6,500-feet elevation. Ensure each lot number is in compliance with latitude and elevations requirements. The Area of Origin Claimed Statement shall also include verification that each lot of seed was collected from Elymus elymoides ssp elymoides or Elymus elymoides ssp. Californicus or Elymus elymoides ssp. Brevifolius plants. Debearding – seed shall be processed and cleaned so that a minimum of 90% of the individual seeds. The remaining 10% of the seeds shall have awns less than ½” in length.

c. BLUEBUNCH WHEATGRASS SEED Source Identification (SI certification), and Area of Origin Claimed Specification – All Bluebunch Wheatgrass seed (Pseudoroegneria spicata) delivered under this Contract shall be accepted when collected (source/origin) from Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Seed will also be accepted when collected North of 40° North Latitude from sites in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, or California. Seed from collection sites in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado or California (North of 34° North Latitude and south of 40° North Latitude) will also be accepted if collected from sites between 3,500- and 6,500-feet elevation. Ensure each lot number complies with latitude and elevations requirements. The Area of Origin Claimed Statement shall also include verification that each lot of seed was collected from Pseudoroegneria spicata plants.

d. NEEDLE AND THREAD GRASS Source Identification (SI certification) and Area of Origin Claimed Specification - The Area of Origin Claimed Statement shall also include verification that each lot of seed was collected from Hesperostipa comata plants.

Debearding – Needle and Thread seed shall be processed, and awns cleaned so that a minimum of 90% of the individual seeds have less than 1/8” in length of the awn remaining. The remaining 10% of the seeds shall have awns less than ¼” in length.

e. SAND DROPSEED Source Identification (SI certification) and Area of Origin Claimed Specification – All Sand Dropseed delivered under this Contract shall be accepted when collected from Idaho, and Oregon. However, seed will also be accepted when collected from sites in northern Nevada, Utah, Colorado, or California (north of 40° North Latitude). Seed from collection sites in southern Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico or California (north of 35° North Latitude and south of 40° North Latitude) will also be accepted if collected from sites between 3,500 feet and 6,500 feet elevation. Ensure each lot number is in compliance with latitude and elevations requirements. The Area of Origin Claimed Statement shall also include verification that each lot of seed was collected from Sporobolus cryptandrus plants.

f. WESTERN YARROW Source Identification (SI certification), Selected Class (S) and Area of Origin Claimed Specification - Western yarrow (Achillea millefolium var. occidentalis) has a key identifying characteristic: five or six ray flowers are white and surround 25 to 30 white to yellowish disk flowers. The source of Western Yarrow seed will be accepted when collected from naturally occurring sites in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, or Utah. The offered seed must be grown (origin) in North America if the SI seed is harvested from field production. Ensure each lot number is in compliance with latitude and elevation requirements. The Area of Origin Claimed Statement shall also include verification that each lot of seed was collected from Achillea millefolium var. occidentalis plants.

g. GLOBEMALLOW SEED Source Identification (SI certification) and Area of Origin Claimed Specification – All Munroe’s globemallow seed (Sphaeralcea munroana) and gooseberryleaf globemallow (Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia) delivered under this Contract shall be accepted when collected (source/origin) from sites in Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington or from other areas of natural occurrence in the western USA. Desert globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) seed will be accepted when collected from sites of natural occurrence North of 33° North Latitude in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and California.

Ensure each lot number is in compliance with latitude and elevations requirements. The Area of Origin Claimed Statement shall also include verification that each lot of seed was collected from Sphaeralcea munroana and S. ambigua plants.

h. PENSTEMON Source Identification (SI certification), and Area of Origin Claimed Specification – All penstemon seed (Penstemon sp.) delivered under this Contract shall be collected (source/origin) from Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, northern Nevada, Utah, Colorado, or California (north of 35° North Latitude).

Ensure each lot number is in compliance with latitude and elevations requirements.