A04_SOW.rtf

US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Fire Line Maintenance Project TX Mid-Coast Refuges Complex Eagle Nest Lake Units PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

General/ Background:

The Texas Mid-Coast Complex requires a contractor to do fire line maintenance on seven former rice fields. The old rice fields are called management units. This project is for the fire line maintenance in these seven management units on the Eagle Nest Lake on the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. The fire line maintenance project is required to protect private landowners who are adjacent to these management units from wildfires and prescribe burn escapes.

This is a non-personal services contract to provide fire line maintenance for the US Fish & Wildlife Service. The government will not exercise any supervision or control over the contract service providers performing the services herein. Such contract service providers shall be accountable solely to the Contractor who, in tum are responsible to the Government.

Description of Services/Introduction:

The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, tools, materials, supervision and other items and non-personal services necessary to perform disking and mowing within the units specified below.

Contractor must have experience in this type of work.

There are no physical addresses for the units; the location of the seven units are as follows: (maps of these locations can be found below at Attachment 2).

There will be a site visit option at 9 am central daylight time on January 4, 2024 at the intersection of Co Rd 23 and Co Rd 456. Vendors interested in submitting a proposal are highly encouraged to attend a pre-bid site visit with the FWS Project Team where services are to be performed to satisfy themselves regarding all general and local conditions that may affect the cost of contract performance, to the extent that the information is reasonably obtainable. In no event, shall failure to inspect the site constitute grounds for a claim after contract award. The government will not pay for any costs associated with attending a site visit. Vendors interested in attending the site visit shall contact David Chisolm at 979-964-4011 x 33/979-799-8286 (c)/ david_chisolm@fws.gov .

Objectives:

The objective of this project is to mow and disc the fire lines in each unit as specified in period of performance section of this contract.

debris/trash that is found on the land units that is not part of the fire line maintenance operation.

Contractor shall never operate any equipment in the performance of the fire line maintenance operation over 2.0 miles per hour. This reason for this is that there will be times that the Eastern Black Rail bird will lose its ability to fly, and we do not want to endanger this bird species.

Period of Performance: 1 May - 31 Dec 2024

Scope:

The Contractor shall access the fire lines only when it's dry; if units are wet, work shall not be performed on the fire lines as to minimize damage. Contractor shall schedule and plan accordingly.

General Information:

Units Vegetative Composition:

All management unit fire lines consist of an estimated 99% grasses and forbs, and 1% mulching debris. There may be small brush and grasses such as Big blue stem, Bushy bluestem, Gulf cordgrass and Eastern Gamma grass.

Unit Fire Line Acreages:

Unit Name Acreage Unit 1 7.2 Unit 2 15.2 Unit3 13.0 Unit 4 7.8 Unit 5 4.8 Unit 6 4.6 Unit 7 12.0

Hours of Operation:

The contractor shall conduct business, between the hours of sunrise to sunset Sunday thru Saturday except Federal holidays, at the Contractor's option. The Contractor shall always maintain an adequate workforce for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks defined within this PWS when the Government facility is not closed for the above reasons. When hiring personnel, the Contractor shall keep in mind that the stability and continuity of the workforce are essential.

Place of Performance

The work to be performed under this contract shall be performed at the Eagle Nest Units. Please see the attached map and/or coordinates provided within this work statement.

Gate Locks

The government will provide combination lock for the gates if needed.

Post Award Conference/Periodic Progress Meetings

The Contractor shall attend any post award conference or progress meetings as deemed necessary by the Contracting Officers Representative (COR). The COR or other Government personnel, as appropriate, may meet periodically with the contractor to review the contractor's performance.

At these meetings, the COR will apprise the contractor of how the government views the contractor's performance and the contractor will apprise the Government of problems, if any, being experienced. Appropriate action shall be taken to resolve outstanding issues.

Contracting Officer Representative (COR)

The COR monitors all technical aspects of the contract and assists in contract administration. The COR is authorized to perform the following functions: assure that the Contractor performs the technical requirements of the contract, perform inspections necessary in connection with contract performance, maintain written and oral communications with the Contractor concerning technical aspects of the contract, issue written interpretations of technical requirements, monitor Contractor's performance and notifies both the Contracting Officer and Contractor of any deficiencies and provide site entry of Contractor personnel if required. The COR is not authorized to change any of the terms or conditions of the contract.

Contractor Key Personnel

The following personnel are considered contractor key personnel by the government: Contract Manager and Site Project Leader. The contractor shall provide a contract manager who shall be responsible for the performance of the work. The name of this person and an alternate who shall act for the contractor when the manager is absent shall be designated in writing to the Contracting Officer Representative. The contract manager or alternate shall have full authority to act for the contractor on all contract matters relating to daily operation of this contract. The contract manager or alternate shall be available to discuss any issues between 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday thru Friday except Federal holidays or when the government facility is closed for administrative reasons.

Contractor Travel

Contractor shall be responsible for all travel cost and scheduling of travel. Contractor is responsible for the cost to transfer between units as required for the contract.

2.0 GOVERNMENT FURNISHED ITEMS AND SERVICES:

2.1 General:

The government will not provide any services, facilities, utilities, equipment, or materials for this contract.

3.0 CONTRACTOR FURNISHED ITEMS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

3. 1 General:

The Contractor shall furnish all supplies, facilities and services required to perform work under this contract.

3. 2 Equipment:

The Contractor shall furnish all equipment to adequately preform the requested job.

4.0 SPECIFIC TASKS:

4.1 Basic Services:

The contractor shall provide services for fire line maintenance on Eagle Nest Lake tracts. Inside each management unit the contractor shall be required to disk l 0-feet from the boundary down to mineral soil, there shall be no vegetation left in the disked line.

Adjacent to the disked line the contractor shall mow a 15-foot-wide line. Vegetation is this line shall be no taller than 1-inch. The contractor shall work in the units monthly from May 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024. The units consist of the following composition: (example picture of vegetation can be found below at Attachment 3).

ATTACHMENTS/TECHNICAL EXHIBIT LIST:

Attachment 1/Technical Exhibit: Performance Requirements Summary

Attachment 2/ Map of the Project Area

Attachment 3/ Fire Line Example Picture

TECHNICAL EXHIBIT

Modified Performance Requirements Summary (PRS)

The contractor service requirements are summarized into performance objectives that relate directly to mission essential items. The performance threshold briefly describes the minimum acceptable levels of service required for each requirement. These thresholds are critical to mission success.

Performance Objective Monthly Standard Performance Threshold (This is the maximum error rate. It could possibly be "Zero deviation from standard'') Method of Surveillance PRS#l

Unit l: The contractor shall mow and disk approximately 7.2 acres of outlined land on the map.

GPS: 29° 13' 13.17"N

095° 37' 53.69"W

possible.

95% or greater of deviation from standard 100% Inspection. COR will inspect work on a daily basis.

PRS # 2

The contractor shall mow 100% of all vegetation in the 15ft mowed fire line.

95% or greater of deviation from l 00% Inspection. COR will inspect work on a daily basis.

Unit 2: The standard contractor shall mow and disk approximately

15.2 acres of outlined land on the map.

GPS: 29° 13'

44.84''N 095° 37'

37.47"W

PRS#3

Unit 3: The contractor shall mow and disk approximately 13.0 acres of outlined land on the map

GPS: 29° 14' 05.72''N

095° 37' 40.12"W

no vegetation in the line.

Shall consult COR before going into wet area on the tract.

95% or greater of deviation from standard 100% Inspection. COR will inspect work on a daily basis.

PRS#4

Unit 4: The contractor shall mow and disk approximately 7.8 acres of outlined land on the map.

GPS: 29° 13' 43.54''N

095° 38' 54.52"W

no vegetation in the line.

Shall consult COR before going into wet area on the tract.

95% or greater of deviation from standard 100% Inspection. COR will inspect work on a daily basis.

PRS#5

Unit 5: The contractor shall mow and disk approximately 4.8 acres of outlined land on the map.

GPS: 29° 13' 29.70''N

095° 38' 45.77"W

no vegetation in the line.

Shall consult COR before going into wet area on the tract.

95% or greater of deviation from standard 100% Inspection. COR will inspect work on a daily basis.

PRS#6

Unit 6: The contractor shall mow and disk

95% or greater of deviation from standard approximately 4.6 acres of outlined land on the map.

GPS: 29° 13' 3l .05''N

095° 38' 30.97"W

PRS#7

Unit 7: The contractor shall mow and disk

is no vegetation in the line.

Shall consult COR before going into wet area on the tract.

95% or greater of deviation from standard approximately 12.0 acres of outlined land on the map.

GPS: 29° 13' 09.12''N

095° 38'30.97"W file_0.jpg file_1.wmf

ATTACHMENT 2. MAP OF PROJECT AREA

Eagle Nest Fire Line Map Eagle Nest Units Fire Line 2023

Unit 1: Orange Border, Acres: 7.2 Unit 2: Purple Border, Acres: 15.2 Unit 3: Green Border, Acres:13.0 Unit 4:Baby Blue Border, Acres: 7.8 Unit 5: Yellow Border, Acres: 4.8 Unit 6:Red Border, Acres: 4.6 Unit 7: Olive Border, Acres: 12.0

ATTACHMENT 3: FIRE LINE EXAMPLE PICTURES (See additional photos attached separately) file_2.jpg file_3.wmf