Attachment 6A-C S-12-0012.pdf

ATTACHMENT 6A

Mid Story Removal—Shoal Creek Ranger District

TASK ORDER INFORMATION

Brief Description of the Requirement:

Non-personal services for midstory removal in patchy stands on the Talladega National Forest of the Shoal Creek Ranger District at the locations listed. The Contractor shall furnish all labor, equipment, transportation, supervision, supplies (except those designated as Government-furnished), incidentals, and perform mid story removal on the Shoal Creek Ranger District. Work is to be performed in accordance with the specifications, Attachment 6.

The contract pre-work conference will include a discussion of the proposed project work schedule, a work order, and plan work and inspection activities. No work can begin until the pre-work is held.

Government Furnished:

“Those resources to be provided by the Government are identified in the specifications

Quote per unit acre rate for providing the midstory removal treatment services described herein. Theses stands have a sparse, very patchy, midstory component and have recently been burned (past 2 years) or timber harvested.

Table 1 Locations of the midstory removal on the Shoal Creek Ranger District

Project Area

Location Legal Description Acres Completion Date

Unit 1 Comp 21 Stand 18, 19, 20, 32

T14SR10Esec.17, 20 132 9/30/2012

Unit 2* Comp 34 Stand 2, 3 T14SR10Esec.24 57 9/30/2012 Unit 3 Comp 23 Stand

4,5 T14SR10Esec.16, 21 22 9/30/2012

Unit 4 Comp 23 Stand 20,21

T14SR10Esec.15,16, 21, 22 21 9/30/2012

Unit 5KV Comp 93 Stand 4 T18R8sec12 55 9/30/2012

287 Acres

CONTRACTOR NEEDS TO INSERT PRICE FOR THIS PROJECT ON SCHEDULE OF ITEMS—ITEM

NUMBER 002

*Areas under contract for timber harvest in FY 2012 and have NEPA completed for timber harvest operations. Pending timber removal this tract or a more recently adjacent tract maybe treated.

Place(s) and Period(s) of Performance: The Contractor shall be required to (a) commence work under this contract within _5_ calendar days after the pre-work is held. (b) prosecute the work diligently, and (c) complete the entire work ready for use not later than 9/30/2012. The time stated for completion shall include any final cleanup

ATTACHMENT 6B- SPECIFICATIONS

Midstory Removal- Habitat Remediation In Stand w/ Patchy Areas of Treatment

DIVISION 100-GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS

110-Scope.

The project is described in detail in the “Specifications” section. The purpose of this project is to reduce and remove development of a hardwood midstory, reduce dominance of woody species and increase habitat suitability for red-cockaded woodpecker and other associated species. This contract will remove hardwood midstory competition from units which will allow the development of the fire dependent herbaceous layer common to the longleaf ecosystem. This project will improve the fuel condition class and further enhance habitat for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. The contractor will furnish all labor, supplies, tools, equipment, transportation and supervision to perform all work necessary to treat all woody stems specified in Division 211-Trees to be treated. All specified stems will be cut, severed, or otherwise put on the ground with a chainsaw as specified in Division 213-Fuels Treatment Procedures.

111-Description and Location.

112-Description of Treatment Area(s).

The treatment area(s) include suitable habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker. Vegetation in these areas consists of pine with interspersed hardwood and pine mid-story of various ages and sizes. Typical densities of treatment necessary in these stands are similar to the conditions found after recent timber sales where only remedial work is needed to reduce midstory stem densities to desired levels. Per acres densities for stems to be treated in these units typically range from 50 trees per acre (TPA) to less than 200 TPA

All treatment areas are accessible with existing roads.

113-Boundaries.

Boundaries of areas to be worked will be designated by flagging orange or pink flagging or blazes on trees and often fallow the transition from pine to hardwood dominated community. In some areas, Forest Service roads may be used as boundaries.

114-Contractor Furnished Items.

The contractor will furnish all materials and equipment needed to complete the contract.

115-Pre-work Conference

Prior to commencement of work on any of the treatment areas, a meeting, requested by the Contracting Officer, will be attended by the Contractor, Contractor’s Representatives, and delegated Forest Service representatives.

The meeting will be held at a time and place mutually agreeable to the Contractor and Forest Service for the purpose of discussing work schedules, quality control, and review of the specifications for the mandatory and optional Quote Items. At this meeting the Contractor will provide written delegations of authority for his/her Contract Representative and Field Representatives. Contractor will provide, for Contracting Officer’s approval, a schedule of work for completing all Quote Items and a quality control plan. Schedule of work will present a practicable work progress schedule showing the order in which work on each treatment unit will be started and completed. The schedule will show a self inspection plan, daily planned acreage accomplishments, number of workers, equipment and/or tools that will be used, and planned completion dates. The Quality Control Plan will identify who and how Contractor’s work will be self inspected and what documentation will be provided during and at the conclusion of work.

116-Performance and Acceptance

The Contractor shall provide the Contracting Officer or his/her representative written notification within 10 days of planned commencement of work.

At completion of work in a treatment area, the Contractor will notify the Contracting Officer's Representative that the required work has been completed to standards and is ready for final inspection. Upon final inspection by the COR, the Contractor will be given written notice of acceptance.

Payment will be based upon written acceptance of all required work in a Quote Item by the Contracting Officer.

When there is more than one Treatment area in a Quote Item, partial payments for completed and accepted work in one or more units can be made at the written request of the Contractor and with the written approval of the Contracting Officer.

117-Method of Measurement Acres of treatment were determined by a Global Positioning System (GPS) and are considered to be actual acreages. Boundaries are identifiable on the ground by natural or man-made features such as roads, meadows, timber edge, fire lines, painted unit boundaries, flagged boundary line, or marked with three orange slashes painted on trees.

118-Safety

The Contractor and the Contractor’s employees shall operate within the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) standards for safety and safety equipment.

The Contractor and Contractor’s employees shall adhere to all safety regulations and guidelines applicable to this type of work. It is the contractor’s responsibility to know what safety regulations and guidelines are applicable to this type of work.

The Contractor shall provide a written, job-specific safety plan for the inherently hazardous conditions that exist during operations. Contractor’s safety plan shall identify and describe any inherently hazardous conditions and specific actions to reduce these hazards. This plan shall be provided to the Contracting Officer (CO) at the post award conference. Work shall not commence on this project if the Contractor fails to provide the CO with a safety plan.

When Contractor’s operations are in progress adjacent to roads open to public travel, the Contractor shall furnish, install and maintain temporary traffic controls signs which will provide adequate warning of hazardous or potentially hazardous conditions associated with Contractor’s operations.

119-Work Unit Trash Disposal Contractor shall ensure that all Contractor generated trash, paper, cans, food, etc., is picked up by the Contractor or the Contractor’s crew(s). No trash shall be left at work units, along forest roads, or other forested areas.

DIVISION 200-TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

210-Time of Treatment.

All areas with this treatment shall be completed during the leaf-on period unless changed by the COR.

See Exhibits: Project Area Maps

210a- Order of Treatment The COR may reserve the right to determine the order in which units will be treated.

211-Trees to be Treated.

Hardwoods between 1.0 inches and 10 inches DBH. All Virginia Pines less than 8 inches DBH.

212-Trees or other Vegetation NOT to be Treated.

1. Dogwood trees greater than 4 inches DBH.

2. Any other trees marked with paint or horseshoes (i.e., green/white diagonal paint-superior tree, red-property line, light blue-Pinhoti trail, blue-resource protection area, orange-SPB reserve tree, white or blue banded-RCW cavity trees, green-SMZ, horseshoe-horse trail.).

3. Recognizable den trees (i.e., those with cavities or crevices).

4. Naturally occurring snags (i.e., dead trees).

5. Other trees, species, or size classes designated by the COR/INSPECTOR as work progresses.

213-Fuels Treatment Procedures.

1. All trees and shrubs designated for treatment will be completely severed from the stump. No trees will be removed from the treatment areas.

2. The contractor shall avoid any damage to improvements such as, but not limited to, roads, gates, signs, culverts, bridges, fences, utility poles, and survey markers. All debris felled in these areas will be pulled back from trails or roads so ingress/egress will not be impeded. Within 50’ of roads slash will be lopped to within 2’ of the ground. Contractor will not fell on or obscure trails roads or any other walking paths or horse trails. In areas that intersect the Pinhoti trail, all slash / debris will be pulled at least 50’ from the trail and all slash between 50’ and 100’ from the trail will be loped to a height of no more than 12”.

The contractor will be required to repair or pay fair market value to replace any damaged improvements.

3. Trees to be retained and designated reserve trees will not be damaged by the Contractor’s operations.

Accidental nicking (scuffing of bark exposing the cambium layer or inter wood) of reserve or retention trees shall be immediately repaired with nursery tree heal paint.

DIVISION 300 – GENERAL INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE SPECIFIC TO ALL BID ITEMS.

300-Inspection of Services Definition. “Services” as used in this clause, includes services performed, workmanship, and materials furnished or utilized in the performance of services.

The Contracting Officer or the Contracting Officer’s duly authorized representative will inspect and accept the services to be provided under this contract.

The Contracting Officer's Representative or a designated Inspector will make periodic inspections as work progresses at such intervals as is necessary to ensure compliance with the contract specifications and provisions.

The Contractor may observe the inspection while it is being made.

The Contractor shall provide and maintain an inspection system that is acceptable to the Government that covers the Services under this contract.

The Government has the right to inspect and test all Services called for by the contract, to the extent practicable at all times and places during the term of the contract. The Government will perform inspections and tests in a manner that will not unduly delay the work.

If any of the Services do not meet contract requirements, the Government may require the Contractor to perform the Services again in accordance with contract requirements, without increase in the amount of the Quote Item.

When defects in Services cannot be corrected by re-performance, the Government may: (1) require the Contractor to take necessary action to ensure that future performance meets contract requirements; and (2) reduce the Quote Item value to reflect the reduced value of the Services performed.

If the Contractor fails to perform the Service again or to take the necessary action to ensure future performance meets contract requirements, the Government may, (1) by contract or otherwise, perform the Service and charge the Contractor costs incurred by the Government that are directly related to the performance of such Service or

(2) initiate breach of contract actions.

Government will randomly review the manner in which the Contractor is conducting the Quality Control Program by both reviewing Contractor records and observing actual performance. Government may inspect any area within treatment units and compare records and/or do all of the above. If Government inspection shows a difference in results as compared to the Contractor’s inspection, then the Government may elect to inspect the unit at the Contractors expense, not limited to, but including time and mileage.

Upon completion of work, the Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer or Contracting Officer's Representative that work has been completed.

The Contracting Officer's Representative or Inspector will then make an overall inspection of the work completed.

310-Acceptance of Work Work will be accepted when the work is completed according to the contract specifications. If the work completed is accepted, the Contractor shall proceed according to the Work Progress Schedule. If the work is not accepted, the Contractor shall not receive payment until completing any remedial work required for acceptance. If the area cannot be brought up to specifications, credits or payments will be reduced or not be awarded.

Non-conformance with any of the specifications will classify the work as unsatisfactory and rework may be required to bring the work up to standard.

At least 95% of the area must be properly treated according to contract specs to be satisfactory.

No more than 5 reserve trees may be damaged for the quality of work to remain acceptable and satisfactory.

A quality of work less than 95% will result in an equal rate of pay. (Ex. 80% quality will equal 80% of full payment being made.

Acceptance of units worked will be reserved until a final inspection is held. If said Contractor moves to another unit and describes the unit left as being completed and upon inspection, the Contracting Officer's Representative or Inspector determines the work unacceptable, said Contractor shall be required to return and complete all unacceptable work at no additional cost to the Government.

GOVERNMENT QUALITY ASSURANCE PLAN

–Unit Inspection Procedure - The Government will make periodic visits to the work site while work is in progress, to assure that the Contractor is familiar with contract specifications and that work is progressing satisfactorily.

Upon completion of a unit, and at the Contractor’s request, the COR or an Inspector will inspect the unit for compliance with specifications.

1) Each unit, as designated on the attached maps and in the unit summaries, will be inspected as a separate unit and will not be averaged with any other unit for acceptance or payment.

2) The inspection will be made on a series of 1/50 the acre plots (16.7ft. radius) on all units. Sufficient plots will be taken for a minimum one-half (1/2) percent sample of the total area of the unit being inspected. This is equivalent to one plot per four acres. To insure that adequate sampling of the contractor’s work is taken, a minimum of 10 plots will be taken in each unit. Table A, below, details the number of plots required for inspection based on acres in the unit:

Table A

# of Inspection Plots Required

Based on Acres

# Acres # Plots #Acres # Plots 1-40 10 61-64 16 41-44 11 65-68 17 45-48 12 69-72 18 49-52 13 73-76 19 53-56 14 77-80 20 57-60 15 81-84 21

3) Inspections to determine percent acceptable thinning will be taken only after the Contractor has completed all of the work in an area, and has notified the Forest Service that work on the unit is completed.

4) At each 1/50th acre plot the inspector will evaluate the plot area and record how the plot meets the specifications of this contract.

5) The inspection consists of three parts:

a) Tree Selection.

b) Slash treatment (Only applicable in areas of high visual concern ie adjacent to major roads and trails).

c) Slash pullback (Only applicable in areas of high visual concern ie adjacent to major roads and trails).

The Inspection procedure is explained below.

- Tree Selection Inspections

1) The total number of trees that should have been cut will be tallied on each plot. Shown as “N” in the calculation below.

2) The total number of trees that were properly cut will then be tallied. (b in equation)

3) The number of trees that were improperly cut will then be tallied, ie improper species, diameter too larger. This will be known as “i” in the equation.

The percent of acceptable quality will be determined by subtracting the number of improperly cut trees from the total number of correctly cut trees. This will then be divided by the total number of trees that should have been cut on the plot.

The formula used for calculating work quality is as follows:

% QUALITY = [ b - i ] X 100 [ N ]

EXAMPLE: A thirty (30) acre unit is inspected with the following results:

From Table A, a thirty acre unit requires that 10 plots are taken for inspection.

Plot # # Trees to cut # Trees properly cut # Trees improperly cut 1 10 10 0 2 10 10 0 3 9 9 0 4 11 11 0 5 13 11 2 6 7 7 0 7 8 8 0 8 10 10 0 9 8 7 0 10 10 10 0

Total correct number of trees to cut = 96 trees Total number of correctly cut trees = 93 trees Total number of trees improperly cut = 2 trees

% QUALITY = [93-2] X 100 = 94.7 % rounded up to 95% [ 96 ]

95 % work quality equals full payment on the Contractor’s bid price per acre.

– Slash Treatment Inspection- NOTE: Slash treatment and Pullback inspections are only applicable within slash treatment zones as identified in Section 213.

Slash treatment will be inspected according to the following specifications (Refer to sec. C207 Cut Tree Standards and C209 Slash Treatment). Each inspection plot on a unit will be worth 10 points and is broken down in the following manner:

1) Slash Depth = 4 points

2) Hang Ups = 2 points

3) High stumps = 2 points

4) Correct sever = 2 points

The formula used to calculate percent slash quality is as follows:

% Slash Quality = [ # points earned / # points possible ] X 100

Where the number of points possible for slash work equals the number of plots taken on a unit multiplied by one-hundred.

This part of the inspection is pass/fail and the following standards must be met:

1) If % slash treatment quality for the unit is 85% or higher than the unit passes for slash treatment.

2) If % slash treatment quality is less than 85% than the unit fails for slash treatment and must be reworked to meet acceptable standards. No payment will be made for the unit until the slash treatment is reworked and brought up to acceptable standards.

– Slash Pullback- NOTE: Slash treatment and Pullback inspections are only applicable within slash treatment zones as identified in Section 213.

All slash pullback areas will be inspected to insure that they are in compliance with Slash Pullback. If the inspection on this portion of the work fails, no payment will be made for the unit until the work is brought up to contract specifications.

– Unsatisfactory Performance

1) Repeated failure to perform work at or above minimum acceptable standards will be considered reason for contract termination and default action.

2) If the results of a first inspection are unsatisfactory to a Contractor, the unit may be either reworked to increase the percent acceptable rating, or the Contractor can accept the rating and the corresponding payment. If the Contractor intends to rework a unit, the contractor must notify the COR within five (5) days of receipt of inspection results for the unit. Contractor will be responsible for reasonable cost of re-inspection, including labor and vehicle mileage. Payment will be based on the results of the second inspection. The re-inspection of the reworked unit will not overlap inspections plots used for the initial inspection. All rework will be at the Contractor’s expense. Re-inspection will be at the Governments convenience. The Contractor will not be allowed to rework a unit more than one time.