A14_Sources_Sought_Notice_1.docx

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

Synopsis:

The National Park Service (NPS) C & O Canal National Historical Park (CHOH) is conducting a market survey/sources sought to help determine the availability and technical capability of qualified sources, particularly small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned small businesses, veteran-owned small businesses, service disabled veteran-owned small businesses and Historically Underutilized Business Zone small businesses capable of providing the requirement below. This announcement is not a request for proposals, and the Government is not committed to issue a solicitation or award a contract pursuant to this announcement or based on responses to this announcement. Information received from this market research is only for planning purposes and will assist the Government in its acquisition strategy. As such, the Government will not entertain questions concerning this synopsis, and will not pay any costs incurred in the preparation of information for responding to this market survey or the Government’s use of the information. Proprietary information must be clearly identified as proprietary information. The Government will not provide a debrief on the results of the survey. All information submitted will be held in a confidential manner and will only be used for the purpose intended.

CHOH has a requirement for a contractor to provide a grapple saw truck. The delivery and training location will be in Williamsport, MD. The draft North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 333924 and the size standard is 750.

Interested firms with the capability of providing the requirement, shall submit capability statements that demonstrate their expertise in the above-described areas in sufficient detail, including any other specific and relevant information, so the Government can determine the firm’s experience and capability to provide the requirements. Failure to demonstrate the capability of providing the requirement in response to this market survey may affect the Government’s review of the industry’s ability to perform or provide these requirements.

In addition to capability statements, firms must include this information in their responses:

(1) Organization name, address, email address of a point of contact who can verify the demonstrated capabilities, website address, and telephone number.

(2) Size and type of ownership/or company structure and socioeconomic designation for the organization [i.e. small business, small disadvantaged business, 8(a), etc.].

(3) Vendor’s business experience.

(4) NAICS code you operate under for this type of product. State if/if not registered in System for Award Management (SAM).

(5) Lead time required after award to deliver the product.

Vendors must send written responses by 06/3/2021 to Craig Madison, Contract Specialist at craig_madison@nps.gov. NO TELEPHONE CALLS PLEASE.

INTRODUCTION

The C&O Canal National Historical Park (CHOH) occupies the Maryland bank of the Potomac River from Cumberland, MD to Washington, DC. The park spans over 184 linear miles and contains the historical infrastructure of the C&O Canal. The primary feature of the park is the towpath, an earthen path used by mules in the 19th and early 20th century to draw boats up and down the entire length of the canal. Today the towpath exists as a recreational and commuter thoroughfare for pedestrian and cyclist traffic with intermittent improved and unimproved camp sites and historical landscape features such as locks, culverts, waste weirs, and lockhouses. Because the towpath transits areas dominated by lowland riparian forests containing an estimated 6.5 million trees, the necessity for robust and continual hazard tree management is necessary in order to maintain public safety in accordance with NPS REF MAN 77 while ensuring sustained trafficability. This presents challenges for National Park Service staff given the vastness of the park, the constricted access and trafficability of the towpath, dangerous working environment, and the high throughput rates of cyclists, pedestrians, and campers. Furthermore, the park contains over 1,400 classified structures, most of a historical nature, that have statutory preservation requirements. The use of legacy tree management equipment predominantly designed for residential and commercial arboriculture in common domestic use is not optimized for safe and efficient execution of the hazard tree mission. Under assessment several capability gaps with the current arboricultural equipment array fielded in the park are apparent:

OBJECTIVE

CHOH wishes to address critical capability gaps in the physical execution of tree management mission in order to improve overall staff and visitor safety while increasing production:

Capability Gap 1: The park’s current legacy aerial lift extends 55 feet at full extension. This severely limits the ability of the operator to reach into canal prism areas to mitigate tree hazards. Furthermore, the operator is often forced to work within dangerous forest environments where hazard tree situations are far more challenging to manage than trees in managed landscapes due to the presence of vines, snags, and adjacent tree populations. These conditions become more complicated during windfall events involving multiple specimens.

Capability Gap 2: Due to the high volume of towpath pedestrian and cyclist traffic, coupled with conditions of limited visibility, the need for absolute control of the work zone is an essential safety requirement. In legacy scenarios, once woody debris is set in motion via cutting it cannot be halted if a person enters the potential strike zone.

Capability Gap 3: Linear production-based tree management creates a large woody debris load along the towpath and the historic canal prism. In legacy operations, there are limited options for debris processing due to limited access and constrained operating spaces.

The C&O Canal National Historical Park requires a material solution for the resolution of the capability gaps.

SCOPE & REQUIREMENT

The contractor shall provide all facilities, labor, resources, and material necessary to design, modify, assemble, and deliver the end-item(s) described in the statement of work.

Government Requirement (end-item): A modern knuckle boom crane and hydraulic grapple saw combination on an all-terrain mobile platform, customized and tailored to the park’s unique operating environment, in order to optimize safety and efficiency, while achieving forest management and public safety goals.

THRESHOLD PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS

Performance thresholds are requirements that shall be met by any proposal. The offeror shall address each threshold requirement in the proposal. Proposed deliverables that do not meet the threshold performance requirements below shall be disqualified from consideration. The deliverable, sub-components, and all parts, shall be new; no reconditioned or used components are authorized.

DELIVERY SCHEDULE

All deliverable(s), to include delivery of training shall be completed no later than 15 June 2022. A period of no more than 30 calendar days shall elapse between delivery of the major end-item (grapple saw knuckle boom crane on mobile platform) and the first day of the training requirement. Training shall be performed on successive business days until completion once begun. Training schedule shall align with trainee(s) / government end-user(s) work schedules.