A04_RFQ_SOW_Seney_NWR_Herbicide_Application_and_Vegetation_Removal.pdf

Statement of Work

Seney NWR Vegetation Removal

A. Introduction

This vegetation removal project is located at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge in Schoolcraft

County, MI. Vegetation removal will include the cutting or pulling and removal of herbaceous plants, woody shrubs, and some trees. Herbicide treatments will be applied via foliar or cut-stump backpack application. Seney NWR is flat and easy to traverse in summer and fall. Winter and spring operations can be more difficult due to snow pack and saturated soils.

It is recommended, but not required, that all Contractor’s examine the site for operability limitations and for verifying the acreages listed in this quote. Bidders should be fully informed of the conditions and materials to be encountered (i.e. location of the site, quality and quantity of work to be performed, materials to be furnished, the nature of the ground and surface, location of buried utilities, any conditions surrounding and affecting the work, obstructions, the nature of any existing construction, and all other physical characteristics of the job).

B. Description of Services

The contractor may use wheeled or tracked machinery such as a masticator or brontosaurus chipper, a crew with hand tools, or a combination to achieve the contract requirements. Wheeled and tracked equipment will only be permitted to operate when suitable ground conditions allow and if there is space to operate without damaging residual trees. Suitable ground conditions and damage risk are at the discretion of the COR.

B.1 Specific Tasks

B.1.1 North and South Show Pools (17 Acres) – Contractor will cut and remove all woody and herbaceous vegetation including trees, along the dike and within 20 feet of either side. Units are predominantly comprised of woody shrubs, with occasional trees. Contractor will apply herbicide to cut stumps of target vegetation immediately after cutting to ensure adequate control.

B.1.2 Lower Goose Pen (9 Acres) - Contractor will cut and remove all woody and herbaceous vegetation including trees, along the dike and within 20 feet of either side of the road that follows the dike. Units are predominantly comprised of woody shrubs, with occasional trees. Contractor will apply herbicide to cut stumps of target vegetation immediately after cutting to ensure adequate control.

B.1.3 Marshland Wildlife Drive (30 Acres) - Contractor will cut and remove shrubby noxious vegetation within 15 feet of either side of the road and will apply herbicide to cut stumps. Herbaceous noxious weeds shall be manually removed when possible, or manually cut and removed with cut-stump herbicide application immediately after cutting to ensure adequate control where full manual removal is not possible. Target species include glossy buckthorn and spotted knapweed.

B.1.4 Wild Parsnip (10 Acres) – Contractor will treat Wild Parsnip with backpack-applied foliar herbicide.

B.1.5 Undetermined Location within Seney NWR – 50 acres of low-to-moderate complexity clearing of herbaceous plants, woody plants, and occasional small trees.

B.1.6 Undetermined Location within Seney NWR – 30 acres of backpack herbicide application.

B.1.7 Herbicide Selection and Usage – herbicide selection much be approved by the

Government for each target species prior to application. Application must be done by a licensed applicator and must comply with all labelling requirements.

Cut stump applications must immediately follow cutting to ensure adequate control.

B.1.8 The acreage listed was determined by aerial photo mapping using ArcPro; for the purposes of this contract, this is considered actual acreage and not an estimate. If any designated areas are not able to be treated by the contractor, the areas will be

GPS’ed, and the acreage will be reduced from the total by a contract modification. The contractor shall provide a GPS track log to verify the acres.

C. Period of Performance

C.1 The period of performance shall be 1 October 2026 – 30 September 2027.

C.2 Hunting Season – Work may be restricted during hunting seasons for safety reasons. An allowance has been included in the contract time and additional time will not be awarded for hunting season restrictions.

D. Location of Services

D.1 Unit Boundaries - The government will supply the contractor with georeferenced maps of the treatment units. The contractor will be responsible for onsite delineation of the treatment units.

D.2 Unit Access

Most units are accessible with 2-wheel drive or 4-wheel drive vehicles. Many roads are native surface and of variable maintenance conditions. If hand crews are used, foot travel up to 0.25 miles may be required to reach the nearest unit boundary as designated on individual project unit maps.

D.2.1 North and South Show Pools – the eastern and southern portions of the Show

Pool Units are near well-maintained roads and should be accessible by heavy equipment. The western portion of the units may or may not be accessible by heavy equipment. While the government believes it may be possible to traverse the dry bed of the Show Pools to access this piece, no guarantee can be made that this is so. Government must approve access plans prior to moving equipment.

Hand crews and equipment may be necessary to perform work on these acres.

D.2.2 Lower Goose Pen – All units accessible by 2- or 4- wheel drive vehicles.

D.2.3 Marshland Wildlife Drive – All units accessible by 2- or 4- wheel drive vehicles.

This route is regularly used by members of the public. Public access will not he halted for vegetation removal work and work should not impede public access.

D.2.4 Wild Parsnip – Approximately 10 acres total along state highway77 and state highway 28 around the perimeter of Seney NWR. All units accessible by 2- or 4-wheel drive vehicles.

D.2.5 All-terrain vehicles used by the Contractor will be approved by the Government prior to use.

D.2.6 Undetermined Locations -

D.2.7 Locked gates restricting access will be noted on the unit maps. Contractor will be provided keys at the Seney NWR Office by the COR after signing Receipt of

Property forms. Keys will be returned no longer than five (5) calendar days after completion of work. Keys that are not returned will be subject to a $250 fine to be paid by the Contractor to Seney NWR within 14 days of receipt.

E. General Tasks

E.1 Security of Materials - The Contractor may leave equipment at the work site. However, the Contractor is responsible for the equipment if it should be lost, stolen, or damaged.

The Government is not responsible nor liable for the security of any equipment, materials, or other items left onsite.

F. Quality Control - All work included in the contract specifications will be subject to inspections by the Government at periodic intervals during the performance of this contract. Government inspection of the work performed does not release the Contractor of the responsibility of providing quality control measures to assure that the work complies with the contract requirements.

G. Special Contract Requirements

G.1 Work Hours - Unless otherwise specified in Section C, Specifications, work hours under this contract shall be limited to the time between one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset each day. No work will be done on Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holidays unless authorized by the COR.

G.2 Supervision - The Contractor shall furnish all labor, lodging, materials, equipment, transportation, supplies, and supervision necessary to cut the trees within the project area.

The Contractor shall provide a competent foreman or supervisor on the project area at all times when work is being conducted under the contract, with full authority to implement daily work activities. The foreman or supervisor must be conversant in English, particularly with respect to scientific terms associated with forest management. The foreman must have experience using a handheld digital device to navigate to locations on the ground. The foreman will be expected to follow a digitally produced, spatially explicit map outlining treatment areas as small as a quarter acre (see attached example treatment unit map). The COR will also make visits to the site to ensure all conditions of the project are being carried out.

G.3 A pre-entry conference with the Refuge Official, contractor, and crew will be held prior to any work being done.

G.4 Human Sanitation: The contractor shall be responsible for providing their own mobile/portable sanitation or latrine facilities, including (but not limited to) honey buckets, sanican, portable wash stations, potable drinking water facilities etc. The contractor shall ensure that all human waste is safely and properly disposed of and not dumped on any Government facilities or Government property or on any private property.

G.5 Interruption of Work

G.5.1 Environmental - The Government may direct the Contractor to shut down any work that may cause damage to government property due to damage due to weather conditions, fire danger, or because it is impracticable to work during the wet season. An allowance has been included in the contract time for all environmental delays. The count of contract time will therefore continue during all periods of suspension due to normal weather conditions, including fire danger.

The Contractor will not be entitled to additional contract time for any suspensions except to the extent that they are due to unusually severe weather conditions. The Contractor will not be entitled to additional monetary compensation for such suspensions regardless of duration.

G.5.2 Endangered Species - The Government may direct the Contractor to discontinue all operations in the event that listed or proposed threatened or endangered plants or animals protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, or

Federal candidate (Category 1 and 2), sensitive or state listed species, identified under USFWS Manual 6840, are discovered to be present in or adjacent to the project area.

G.5.3 Refuge Management - The contractor shall acknowledge that this project is on a

NWR and shall agree to move their personnel, equipment, and their operations at their expense at the direction of the Government if there is a potential conflict with other requirements for Government use. In the event of interference due to other requirements, the Government shall grant additional time to complete the contract work requirements, based on a day for day basis. A revised work schedule from the contractor will be required.

G.6 Preservation of Historical and Archaeological Data - Public Law 93-291, May 24, 1974, provides for the preservation of scientific, prehistorical, and archeological data (including relics and specimens) which might otherwise be lost due to alteration of the terrain as a result of any Federal construction project.

The Contractor agrees that should any contractor employee, in the performance of this contract, discover evidence of possible scientific, prehistorical, historical, or archeological data the contractor will notify the Contracting Officer immediately in writing giving the location and nature of the findings.

Where appropriate by reason of discovery, the Contracting Officer may order delays in the time of performance and/or changes in the work. If such delays and/or changes are ordered, the time of performance and contract price shall be adjusted in accordance with the applicable clauses in the Contract Clauses Section of this contract.

The Contractor agrees to insert this requirement in all subcontracts which involve the performance of work on the terrain of the site.

G.7 Environmental Impact

G.7.1 All waste materials generated by any work under the contract performed on a

Government installation shall at all times be handled, transported, stored, and disposed of by the contractor and by his subcontractors in accordance with all applicable Federal, state, and local laws, ordinances, regulations, court orders, and other types of rulings having the effect of the law, including, but not limited to Executive Order 12088, 13 October 1978, Federal Compliance with Pollution

Control Standards; the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (33

U.S.C. 1251 ET SEQ); the Clean Air Act as amended (42 U.S.C. Sec 7401 ET

SEQ); the Endangered Species Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. Sec 1531, ET SEQ);

the Toxic Substances Control Act, as amended (15 U.S.C. Sec 2601, ET SEQ);

the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. Sec 470, ET

SEQ); the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 6901 ET SEQ); and the Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. Sec

469, ET SEQ). Should the United States Government be held liable for any neglect or improper actions by the contractor or any subcontractor regarding removal or disposal of any hazardous waste, the contractor shall reimburse the

Government for all such liability.

G.7.2 Contractor shall not discard or otherwise dispose of litter on the property of the

Refuge or any private property, into bodies of water or on ice of such waters, or upon any adjacent public way, and shall be responsible for off-site disposal of garbage and refuse generated by forest operations in a lawful manner. For purposes of this paragraph, litter means all waste materials, including bottles, cans, machine parts and equipment, junk, paper, garbage and similar refuse, but shall not include the wastes of the primary processes of tree felling, such as sawdust and slash.

G.7.3 Debris, rubbish, and unusable material resulting from the work under this agreement shall be disposed of daily by the Contractor at the Contractor’s expense.

G.7.4 OAK WILT, HETEROBASIDION, AND OTHER FOREST PATHOGENS - The

Contractor shall follow all seasonal restrictions and other requirements set forth by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for oak wilt, heterobasidion root disease, and other pathogens during the performance of this contract.

Equipment must be steam cleaned prior to arrival on-site to reduce the risk of pathogen or invasive species spread. The Contractor will keep records of equipment sanitization.

G.8 Fire Safety

G.8.1 Fire tools and fire extinguishers shall be present on-site and shall be readily available for usage. Fire tools should be one per employee and be suitable for cutting and scraping, such as a shovel or pulaski. Fire extinguishers should be one per 3 employees and, for the purpose of this section, rated for Class A fire only.

G.8.2 Portable water spraying packs suitable for wildland fire suppression can be used in lieu of Class A only fire extinguisher.

G.8.3 All fire starts shall be reported to the Government and shall be suppressed immediately. Any fire that cannot be suppressed immediately shall be reported to

911. At this time, evacuation of employees is the priority. The contractor shall make an initial effort to suppress any fire starts, but it is the responsibility of the

Government to suppress any wildland fires.

G.8.4 At times of very high and extreme wildland fire conditions, it may be necessary for the contractor to stop work for extended periods of time. The Government shall inform the contractor of these situations are likely to occur and will work in the interest of both parties to minimize the impact of any delays.

G.9 If the COR allows the Contractor to continue work during periods of declared fire danger or season, the Contractor shall comply with all applicable state laws relating to fire prevention and with all special conditions of work as directed by the COR. The

Contractor shall both independently and in cooperation with the Government take all reasonable and practical action to prevent and suppress fires resulting from the

Contractor’s operations and to suppress forest fires on the project area. Operations could be halted in the case of high or extreme fire danger determined by the COR. Operations must follow all closure ordered from state, local, or Refuge authorities.

G.10 Restoration Of Resources

G.10.1 Cleanup - The Contractor is responsible for cleaning up all camp and worksites before leaving the area. Final payment or other alternative deemed feasible may be withheld until the Contractor has complied with this requirement.

G.10.2 Site and Access Roads – Site and public or private access roads negligently damaged by the Contractor shall be restored to the same condition they were in at the commencement of work, at the expense of the Contractor.

G.10.3 Damage of Government Property: In the event of damage, including damage by contamination, to any Government property by the Contractor, its officers, agents, servants, employees, subtenants, licensees or invitees, the Contractor, at the election of the Government, shall promptly repair, replace, clean-up, or provide monetary compensation for the repair, replacement, or clean-up of such property to the satisfaction of the Government. Some examples of structures and features constituting Government Property are culverts, bridges, water control structures, gates, signs, gravel roads, canals, ditches, and wetlands. This list is not intended to be exhaustive and damage to other Government property located within the project area but not listed herein is covered by this provision.

Intentional damage to residual trees will result in monetary compensation of no less than two times the current stumpage rate. Damage to residual trees should not exceed 10% of the residual stems; determination of damage will be assessed by the COR. The Service realizes that some damage will occur during normal operations.

H. Indemnification And Insurance

H.1 The Contractor will indemnify, defend, and save harmless the Refuge and their authorized agent from any and all claims and actions covering loss costs, expenses

(including attorney and legal fees), and damages of every kind and description which may be brought or made against the Refuge or their agent on account of or in manner arising out of the work being done under this agreement, sustained by any person, firm or the Contractor’s agent, employee(s), contractor(s), or subcontractor(s).

The Contractor shall carry Workers’ compensation and Public Liability Insurance in a company and in an amount satisfactory to the Refuge conditioned to protect the

Contractor(s) or their agent(s), employee(s), contractor(s) from any loss, cost, damages or expenses in any way arising out of the work being done by the Contractor(s) or their agent(s), employee(s), contractor(s) or subcontractor(s) hereunder.

H.2 The Contractor will be required to carry Public Liability and Workers’ Compensation

Insurance and provide a copy of certificate of this coverage. At a minimum, the

Contractor shall maintain liability coverage valued at no less than $1,000,000, and

Workers’ compensation coverage as required by federal and state worker’s compensation and occupational disease statutes. This insurance must be maintained during the entire performance period. The Contractor will provide the Refuge with proof of the operator’s liability and Workers’ compensation coverage.

I. Other Terms Of This Agreement

I.1 The Contractor will notify the agent for the Refuge five days before starting on any portion of this project. Should operations cease for more than five (5) days during the period of this agreement, the Contractor will notify the COR five days before returning to operate any portion of this contract.

I.2 Any access to the project area by persons not directly associated with operations (visitors, media, family members, etc.) shall be by approval of the Refuge.

I.3 The Contractor agrees to observe all restrictions and provisions of this agreement and to conform to the directions and instructions given by the COR or their agent. The Refuge and their agent reserve the right to stop the project if the conditions of this agreement are not being observed.

I.4 The Contractor agrees not to assign this agreement in whole or in part without the written consent of the Refuge or their agent.

I.5 The Contractor assumes all liability for damages and suppression expenses if a forest fire occurs as a result of the tree cutting operations or because of carelessness of those involved in the harvesting.

I.6 All operations in connection with project hereunder shall be subject to such fire, safety, security, and other rules and regulations necessary for the protection of Government personnel and property as the COR may from time to time prescribe. The Contractor’s tree cutting operations shall conform to OSHA’s logging safety standards as prescribed in

29 CFR part 1910.266 Logging Operations, and hazardous communication standards in

29 CFR part 1910.1200. Copies of these safety standards may be obtained from the

OSHA website at www.osha.gov.

I.7 Any material suspected of being hazardous that is encountered during performance of a project shall immediately be brought to the attention of the Contracting Officer, at which time a determination will be made as to whether hazardous material testing shall be performed. If the Contracting Officer directs the contractor to perform tests, and/or the material is found to be of a hazardous nature requiring additional protective measures, a contract modification may be required, subject to equitable adjustment under the terms of the contract.

J. Maps

J.1 Vicinity Map http://www.osha.gov/

J.2 North and South Show Pools (17 Acres)

J.3 Lower Goose Pen

J.4 Marshland Wildlife Drive