Prebid_meeting_information_and_Questions.docx

Pre-Bid Conference At Mt. Hood National Forest Headquarters 10:00am, December 8, 2014 Solicitation AG-046W-S-15-0001 Project: Road Maintenance Services to be awarded under Blanket Purchase Agreements for the Mt Hood National Forest and Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.

In attendance were the following -

Forest Service personnel:

Roxanne Anderson – Contract Specialist Paul Podesta – Supervisory Engineer Josh Marxen – Road Engineer

Contractors:

The meeting opened with general information given by the Contracting Officer about this solicitation:

1. Location of work to be performed – Mt Hood National Forest and Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.

2. Explained the difference between and IDIQ vs. Blanket Purchase Agreement

3. Encouraging contractors to consider accepting payment by government credit card for micro purchases (under $2,500), but emphasizing this will not affect whether they are awarded a contract or not.

4. Reminding all bidders to make sure their System for Awards Management (SAM) is current and up-to-date.

5. When submitting your bid packet make sure you sign the first page of the solicitation and also return a signed copy of any amendments that have been done to the solicitation.

6. The current Road Maintenance IDIQ expires January 15, 2015; these new awards will be put in place before the end of January.

7. All Bids are due no later than 12pm on December 23, 2014

Questions submitted by interested parties:

1. How many copies of their bid should they submit?

Answer: On page 47 of the solicitation under General instructions 4.A. Please submit 2 full copies of your Cost proposal and your Technical Proposal. One copy of each will go to the Evaluation Team and one of each will be retained by the Contracting Officer.

2. Do you want the bid packets (Cost and Technical) separated?

Answer: Yes, that would be the preferred method. This will assist in the evaluation process.

3. The terrain differs in some of the zone areas; how do I factor that cost on the Schedule of Items?

Answer: The Forest Service understands this and is asking for a general/averaged pricing on the Schedule. These prices are to drive the ability to evaluate all bids, determining a fair and reasonable price. When individual Orders are placed it is understood differing site conditions will be a factor in your quotes.

4. How many contractors will receive awards?

Answer: At this time there is no firm number. The old IDIQ had 8 active contractors on it, and it is to be assumed there will be no less than that number. Depending on the bids received and their areas of expertise, I could anticipate awarding more than 8 Blanket Purchase Agreements.