2025-04-24_CaribouWMA_Mapping_quickcall_2024.docx

State of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

QUICK CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Native Plant Community Mapping in Caribou Wildlife Management Area Date Posted: May 5, 2025

· Responses must be received not later than 2:00PM, Central Time, May 19, 2025

· Late responses will not be considered

Minnesota’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion The State of Minnesota is committed to diversity and inclusion in its public procurement process. The goal is to ensure that those providing goods and services to the State are representative of our Minnesota communities and include businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans, and those with substantial physical disabilities. Creating broader opportunities for historically under-represented groups provides for additional options and greater competition in the marketplace, creates stronger relationships and engagement within our communities, and fosters economic development and equality.

To further this commitment, the Department of Administration operates a program for Minnesota-based small businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans, and those with substantial physical disabilities. For additional information on this program, or to determine eligibility, please call 651-296-2600 or go to the Office of Equity in Procurement home page, at https://mn.gov/admin/business/vendor-info/oep/.

SPECIAL NOTICE: This is a request for proposal. It does not obligate the State of Minnesota to award a contract or complete the proposed program, and the State reserves the right to cancel this solicitation if it is considered in its best interest.

This Solicitation requires proposals to be submitted through the SWIFT Supplier Portal. Please note the security changes below that may impact responders from submitting a timely response.

SWIFT SUPPLIER PORTAL SECURITY CHANGES

There are new security measures that the Minnesota Management and Budget implemented on October 16, 2022. It is a new multi-factor authentication (MFA) to enhance the security of the State of Minnesota Supplier Portal. MFA is an authentication method that requires bidders and suppliers provide two verification factors to log into the SWIFT Supplier Portal. The goal of MFA is to create a layered defense that makes it more difficult for unauthorized system access to occur.

For information about these changes, please refer to the SWIFT Supplier Portal Multi-Factor Authentication FAQ document.

If you have not done so already, please make sure to log into the SWIFT Supplier Portal as soon as possible to get this authentication set up early so there are no issues when submitting a response to an RFP.

You are strongly encouraged to set your MFA during business hours of 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Central Time, Monday through Friday. You may experience delay setting your MFA after hours.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Solicitation Content

SECTION 1 – INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPONDERS

Step 1: Read the solicitation documents and ask questions, if any Step 2: Write your response Step 3: Sign and submit your response

STEP 1 – READ THE SOLICITATION DOCUMENT & ASK QUESTIONS, IF ANY

How to Ask Questions

The contact person for questions is:

Felicia Barnes, Accounting Officer Principal DNR Ecological & Water Resources felicia.barnes@state.mn.us Questions should be emailed to the contact by 7 days (by 4:30pm, Central Time) prior to the Event end date.

Other personnel are not authorized to answer questions regarding this Quick Call.

STEP 2 – WRITE YOUR RESPONSE

The Quick Call starts in Section 3. Insert your response to the questions asked or provide content as requested.

By signing this response, your firm is making a legal, binding offer for a contract to provide services to the State of Minnesota.

STEP 3 –SIGN & SUBMIT YOUR RESPONSE

Where to Send Your Response

All responses to this solicitation (termed an “Event” within SWIFT) must be submitted through SWIFT using the Supplier portal (https://mn.gov/supplier). Training and documentation on how to submit your response is available through the Supplier portal link above. Fax, e-mail, and printed responses will not be accepted or considered. All costs incurred in responding to this solicitation will be borne by the responder.

Late responses will not be considered. Responses received after End Date above will not be considered, even if errors or delays were caused by issues outside of responders’ control. If you need assistance please contact the SWIFT Vendor Assistance Helpline at 651-201-8100, Option 1, and then Option 1.

Your response should include:

· Technical Proposal – fill out Section 3

· Cost Proposal – fill out Section 4

· Responder Certifications – fill out Section 5 and sign.

SECTION 2 – QUICK CALL PROJECT INFORMATION

Description of Project The Minnesota Biological Survey (MBS), a program in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), requests proposals for qualified people to survey and update the native plant community (NPC) mapping in two portions of Caribou Wildlife Management Area (Kittson County, MN). The target areas for this work are shaded pink in Figure 1. Most of the target areas (referred to as Caribou WMA 2025 NPC Southeast and Northwest) are currently mapped as ‘complexes,’ which have no differentiation between the native plant communities (Figures 2 & 3; see attached shapefile for ArcGIS). The awardee(s) will conduct on-the-ground surveys of the target areas sufficient to: 1) refine all areas of mapped ‘complexes,’ 2) confirm, updating if needed, all areas already mapped to specific NPCs, or 3) identify and map new NPCs where no current mapping of any kind exists.

Figure 1. Target Areas of Caribou WMA within Kittson County.

Figure 2. Current NPC mapping in Caribou WMA Southeast target area.

Figure 3. Current NPC mapping in Caribou WMA Northwest target area.

Sample Tasks Vegetation Surveys and Native Plant Community Mapping All vegetation surveys and native plant community mapping must meet the standards of the MBS program. Native plant communities found within the target areas must be accurately classified following the Minnesota Native Plant Community Classification ver. 2.0 as documented in the DNR’s publication: Field Guide to the Native Plant Communities of the Prairie Parkland and Aspen Parklands Provinces. The minimum mapping polygon size for this project is one acre, except for Calcareous Fen communities which, if found, should be mapped regardless of size. This resource can be provided upon request.

Field surveys are required during July or August 2025 to identify the native plant communities present on the ground and to evaluate their condition. Record field notes on composition, dominants, invasives, and landscape context. The contractor will rank the condition of each NPC using condition ranking criteria that will be provided to the contractor. The contractor will submit a GPS track log or points showing the survey route and/or locations and all applicable field notes that justify their identification and condition ranking.

After field work is completed, the contractor will create polygons in ArcGIS to accurately map and classify NPCs. The contractor will complete attribute information for the native plant community polygons as instructed with a template that will be provided to the contractor. The contractor will complete quality control steps for accurate polygon boundaries, correct attributes, and slivers. Finally, the contractor will submit completed mapped polygons to the designated MBS contact.

MBS staff will be available to the contractor at any time to provide guidance, such as setting up an ArcGIS project in ArcMap 10.8, or properly using a native plant community polygon template for recording polygon attributes and quality control.

Relevé Data Collection of WMp73 and MRp93 communities If representative examples of WMp73 and MRp93 communities are found, the contractor will collect a relevé plot to characterize that community at up to two locations each (maximum of four relevé plots in total) using the Minnesota DNR's Relevé Methods and Field Form.

Responders are encouraged to propose additional tasks or activities if they will improve the results of the project. These items should be separated from the required items on the Cost Proposal.

Deliverables For each of the target areas (Caribou WMA 2025 NPC Southeast and Caribou WMA 2025 NPC Northwest), the contractor will deliver:

· GPS track log or points showing the survey route and/or locations,

· All field notes pertaining to their identification and condition ranking of NPCs, and

· Completed, ranked and mapped NPC polygons in ArcGIS that have been approved by the designated MBS contact.

For each relevé plot collected, the contractor will deliver a completed DNR Field Form or similar report containing all the same information.

Access The target areas are publicly owned and accessible land. Should the contractor decide the best access may be obtained by crossing private land, the contractor will be responsible for obtaining permission from those private landowners. We will provide a connection with the local wildlife manager.

Equipment The contractor is expected to provide all equipment necessary to complete this work. For example, field equipment to complete data collection, computer equipment and software to complete mapping.

Timeline

Minimum Qualifications Required

· Three summer seasons/or a 12-months field experience that included collecting and identifying native plants in Minnesota’s Northern Prairie Parkland and Aspen Parklands Provinces, and

· Three summer seasons/or a 12-months field experience that included classification of Native Plant Communities of Minnesota’s Northern Prairie Parkland and Aspen Parklands Provinces.

Desired Qualifications and Skills

· Experience in mapping complex vegetation in ArcGIS (for MN’s Native Plant Communities preferred).

Response Evaluation Responses will be evaluated in accordance with the following:

The State reserves the right, based on the scores of the proposals, to create a short-listing of responders who have received the highest scores to interview or conduct demonstrations/presentations. The State reserves the right to seek best and final offers from one or more responders.

SECTION 3 – VENDOR RESPONSE

INSTRUCTIONS: Fill in the information requested below and submit this section as your Technical Proposal.

1. Vendor Contact Information Company’s Full Legal Name:

Business Address:

Contact Person’s Name:

Telephone Number:

Email Address:

Qualifications Describe the company background. Detail the experience and qualifications of all personnel proposed to work on the project. Detail how you meet the Minimum Qualifications Required and Desired Qualifications and Skills listed above.

Approach to Project Describe your overall approach to the work. How will you accomplish the sample tasks and goals of the project? Who will do the work? What are the timelines and final deliverables?

Alterations or Additions to the State’s Contract Terms & Conditions Check the appropriate box below.

I have read and am aware of the State’s contract terms and conditions in the sample contract at https://osp.admin.mn.gov/sites/osp/files/2023-07/ptsamplecontractandexhibits_0.pdf.

SECTION 4 – COST PROPOSAL

INSTRUCTIONS: Fill in the information requested below and submit this section as your Cost Proposal.

Responder must submit a cost proposal that details a list of all deliverables and a corresponding cost for the performance of each deliverable. Detail the number of hours estimated to complete each deliverable and all hourly rates utilized and calculate the total of each deliverable. The hourly rates must include all costs, including but not limited to: travel, direct and indirect costs, fees, commissions, compensation, equipment, supplies and other charges.

TOTALS

SECTION 5 – RESPONDER CERTIFICATIONS

INSTRUCTIONS: Responder must check each box to certify to the conditions required under this Quick Call. Please note that some certifications may require the submission of additional information. Sign below to finalize response. Submit this section with your Technical and Cost Proposals.

1. Required

1. If Applicable

By signing here, I warrant that the information provided in this proposal is true, correct, and reliable for purposes of evaluation for potential contract award. The submission of inaccurate or misleading information may be grounds for disqualification from contract award and may subject me/my company to suspension or debarment proceedings, as well as other remedies available to the State, by law.

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