Attachment 1. Appendix A_ZoombugIRSC.docx

ATTACHMENT 1 - APPENDIX A

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR SERVICE WORK ITEMS

SECTION I – DESCRIPTION OF WORK:

This project consists of two project areas, Almanor and Zoombug, and will improve forest health and enhance community safety within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) in moderate to severely burned areas within the Dixie Fire Complex of 2021. These goals will be accomplished by removing hazardous fuels from the watershed and WUI.

Treatments in the Almanor project area (Almanor Deck Removal Units 20-21 and 26-27) will reduce and remove hazardous fuels from Forest Service recreation sites on the Almanor Ranger District and at the Mineral work center. Work items include:

a. Remove decked and piled material in all units

b. Fall 11 acres of timber; remove material from the Contract area

c. Chip existing slash piles at the Almanor Campground boat ramp.

In the Zoombug project area (Zoombug units 1A-1B, 2-13, 40A-40B and 41), hazardous fire-killed trees along Humbug County Road PL 307 and Forest Service Road 26N27 will be treated within the moderate to severely burned areas within the Dixie Complex Fire of 2021. This roadside hazardous fuels reduction project is vital for reducing high fuel loads, in addition to addressing public safety as these two roads are heavily used by public and private entities. Work items include:

a. Mechanically treat fire-killed and injured trees up to 150ft from PL 307 and FS Road 26N27.

b. Cut, skid, process and deck 18”+ DBH trees to designated landings

c. Cut, skid and deck <18” DBH trees to designated landings

d. Fall and Leave hazardous fuels within identified protected areas

e. Remove product per Timber Subject to Agreement if awarded.

SECTION II – WORK ITEMS

See Appendix B for product removal and performance requirements. Unit specific requirements follow.

Mandatory Item 1: Remove Included Product and Treat Slash

1. Unit 20-

a. Decked material shall be removed. Material may be chipped, and then removed from the contract area.

b. There is approximately 11 acres of Individual Tree Mark (ITM) trees to be felled, decked, and removed from the contract area. Trees will be whole tree skidded to landing for processing and removal.

c. Trees shall not be skidded across paved surfaces.

2. Unit 21-

a. Decked and piled material shall be removed from the contract area

b. Must be removed by December 31, 2022

3. Unit 26-

a. Decked and piled material shall be removed from the contract area.

4. Unit 27-

a. Decked material shall be removed. Material may be chipped, and then removed from the contract area.

b. There are approximately 20 acres of slash piles around the boat ramp in U-27. These piles will be chipped and spread onto the ground to a depth no deeper than 4”.

c. Must be removed by December 31, 2022.

Mandatory Item 2: Roadside Fuels Treatment- Cut, Skid, and Deck

Sub-Item 2a:

Whole Tree Skid

Sub-Item 2b:

Endline

**No work permitted in units 6 and 7 until after November 15, 2022, unless approved by project COR.

1. Within the contract boundary outside of protected areas, cut and whole-tree skid all marked and fire-killed trees to designated landings.

2. 18” DBH and larger trees will be felled, skidded, processed and decked at designated landings. Processed logs will be placed into decks and tops piled for later disposal.

a. Minimum piece size for 18”+ DBH trees up to an 8” Diameter inside bark (DIB) top is 16’.

3. Trees less than 18” DBH will be felled, skid and whole tree decked at designated landings.

4. No mechanical equipment shall enter nor treat within Equipment Exclusion Zone (EEZ) stream course buffers or other Control Areas identified on the ground and shown on Contract Area Map.

5. Within the Riparian Conservation Areas (RCAs) identified on the ground and shown on Contract Area Map, limit turning of equipment.

6. Within the RCAs and EEZs, all furrows produced by endlining shall be fully repaired by replacing displaced material to restore natural contour and covering 80% with slash.

7. Landings specifications:

a. Decked material shall be placed in the back or along the sides of the landings to allow for future log truck or chipping operations. All trees or logs shall be facing in the same direction with the butt ends facing the center of the landing. Butt ends of trees or logs shall be even in the decks.

b. No landings shall be placed in Riparian Conservation Areas and Control Areas.

8. Manual Fall and Leave Specifications:

In the Equipment Exclusion Zone (EEZ) or Control Areas of Units- 1A, 3, 5-13, 40A, 40B and 41

a. Trees within EEZ’s marked with white bands shall be felled and left, or equipment may reach in to remove trees.

b. White marked trees in EEZ’s near road may be felled into road and removed upon agreement.

c. Within CA-1, directionally fall marked trees away from flagged protected area. If a portion of the felled tree lands outside cultural resource site, buck the log at the point of where it is just outside of flagging. Skid the portion that is outside of the cultural resource site back to a landing to be processed and decked accordingly.

Optional Item 3: Removal of Timber Subject to Agreement Units 1A, 1B, 2-13, 40A, 40B and 41 (Acres- 546)

1. All products associated with units are available for subsidized removal.

2. Pine logs may be transported within ecological bug/pest zones with no required mitigation measures to prevent the transport and spread of forest pests. See Figure 1 below.

3. Transportation of all other species and products are subject to pest mitigation measures including, but not limited to, debarking. Chemical fumigation treatment may be required to transport specific species to specific geographic areas.

4. If additional mitigation measures are required or waived, contractor shall be notified prior to award of Option Item and price negotiated. If additional mitigation requirements are determined to be required or waived after award, modification shall be negotiated per the changes clause of FAR 52.212-4.

Figure 1: Pine Log Transport – Ecological pest zone with no required debarking mitigation of pine logs within Northern California and Oregon.

SECTION III – CONTROL OF WORK

The Contractor agrees to conduct its operations under this contract and other related business activities in compliance with Federal, State, and local statutes, standards, orders, permits and other regulations.

The Contractor shall meet all State and local environmental quality laws applicable to National Forest system lands.

Work may be done any time during the term of the contract, except under the following conditions:

1. When conditions are such that operations shall be restricted or ceased due to increased fire risk.

2. Skidding logs across pavement and metal track laying equipment are not permitted to operate on paved or chip sealed surfaces.

3. Operational requirements and schedules in Appendix B apply to service work items.

4. When soil moisture conditions create excessive risk of damage to the soil

5. When snow depth creates a situation where requirements cannot be met and/or work cannot be inspected, as determined by the COR

6. The government reserves the right to prioritize the order in which Units are treated.

7. If any cultural or archeological sites are discovered during operations of this contract, work will be suspended in the immediate vicinity of the site until a reconnaissance survey is completed by the Forest Archeologist. Areas excluded from treatment shall be deleted from the contract.

8. When seasonal limiting operating periods (LOP) for California Spotted Owl and Goshawk nests are in effect. Restrictions would apply:

a. If new nests are discovered

SECTION IV – INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

For All Work Items:

At any point during the project, the Contractor and/or Project Manager may request (documented through email, text, or hand-written request) an in the field consultation with the Forest Service to inspect work progress, review contract specifications, or clarify issues. The Forest Service shall respond to Contractor’s request within 5 working days, excluding weekends and federal holidays.

GOVERNMENT QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLAN

Government Inspection Procedures - The COR, or a designated inspector will make periodic inspections while work is in progress, usually daily at first, as needed to assure work is proceeding satisfactorily. The Contractor shall notify the COR when units are started, when problems are encountered and when contract work needs government oversight.

1. Each Unit will be inspected as a separate unit. Unit will not be averaged with other units for acceptance or payment.

2. When units are completed and ready for government inspection, Contractor’s designated Project manager shall request unit inspection in writing, prior to moving out of the general area.

3. The COR, or designated inspector, will determine compliance with contract specifications through informal visual inspections. In the event visual inspection indicates work to be in non-compliance with specifications, prompt corrective action and/or rework shall be required.

Government Inspection Procedures – Visual Inspection

1. All work items will be evaluated by visual inspection for quality assurance that the requirements and specifications of the contract are met.

2. The Contractor shall provide inspection sheets and a sketch map of the unit with landing locations and temporary road locations to the Government. Inspection sheets shall be signed and dated by the person who conducted the inspection and shall certify that the inspection records are complete and accurate.

3. Determination of acceptability of the work performed will be based on Government verification inspections and will be considered conclusive.

Government Inspection Procedures—Mandatory Items 1-2 Item 1—Removal of Included Product and Slash Treatments Units 20, 21, 26, 27 Measurable Performance Standards

1. Removal of product from all units

2. All trees felled and removed

3. Chips in Unit 27 spread to more than 4” deep Item 2—Roadside Fuels treatment- Cut, Skid and deck Units- 1A, 1B, 2-13, 40A, 40B and 41 Measurable Performance Standards

1. Amount of material left in decks meeting removal of product specifications.

2. Quality of slash piles post removal of decked material.

3. Piles meet 95% of specifications stated in CT6.7# - SLASH TREATMENT. (12/2006).

4. If visual inspection indicates acceptable work quality the Contractor will be paid 100 percent of their bid rate.

Minimum Acceptable Quality Levels (AQL) of Work

Government Inspection Procedures—Items 1-2 The COR, or a designated inspector (GTM), will make periodic inspections of loads in transit per standard utilization inspection procedures, log storage and transfer locations prior to re-loading and transporting via rail if applicable. Government reserves the right to inspect product end-delivery locations to ensure domestic processing of products transported via rail. Scale certifications of surplus products will be compared to rail transport invoiced quantities.

Unsatisfactory Performance

1. If the work quality falls below the minimum AQL, the COR will immediately notify the Contractor, in writing, and order him to improve the quality of subsequent tree cutting.

2. If after rework has been performed and reinspected, and work quality still falls below minimum AQL percent, payment will either be made at a reduced rate, or not at all, as determined in SECTION V below.

3. Repeated failure to produce work quality at or above the minimum acceptable standard will be considered reason for contract termination for cause.

Reinspection Upon Contractor Request

1. If Government inspection results are unacceptable to the Contractor, a reinspection may be requested, in writing, within 5 business days after receipt of notice of said inspection results. The same inspection procedure will be used; however, the inspection pattern will be shifted so that new inspection plots will not overlap previously inspected plots.

2. If reinspection results – rounded up to the nearest whole percent – indicate a variance of more than 5 percent from the first inspection, the results of the second inspection will be used to calculate work quality and payment, and the Government will bear the cost of reinspection.

3. If reinspection results – rounded up to the nearest whole percent – are within 5 percent of the first inspection, plots from the initial inspection and the reinspection will be combined and used to calculate work quality and payment, and the Contractor shall bear the cost of reinspection.

SECTION V – PAYMENT METHODS

Method of Measurement for Acreages Acreages were determined by using Global Positioning Systems (GPS). The acreage for each work item will be rounded to the nearest acre and is final unless:

1. The contract is modified or,

2. The Government makes a determination to remeasure or,

3. The Contractor exercises his/her option under the following Remeasurement provisions:

Remeasurement

1. The Contractor may request, in writing, remeasurement of any units under this contract if he/she feels that acreage stated on the project maps is incorrect. The remeasurement must be within the existing perimeter of the respective unit. No variance of the unit perimeters as laid out on the ground for this contract will be allowed. All requests for remeasurement must be made prior to payment for each completed unit. Remeasurement will be performed by the Government.

2. If remeasurement indicates that a variance of ten percent or less exists on units of 1 to 5 acres, five percent or less exists on units of more than five but less than 20 acres, or if three percent or less exists on units of 20 acres or larger, the Contractor shall pay for the actual costs of the remeasurement. Under this condition, payment will be made on the acreage stated on the project maps. If the remeasurement indicates the actual acreage varies by more than the above factors from that stated on the project maps, the payment will be made on the remeasured acreage and the Forest Service will pay for the cost of the remeasurement.

Acceptance and Payment—Items 1-2

1. If informal visual inspection indicates acceptable work quality, the Contractor will be paid 100 percent of their bid rate.

2. In the event that formal inspections are used, the rate of payment to the Contractor will be calculated as follows:

(a) For work quality of 90 percent or higher, the Contractor will be paid 100 percent of their bid rate.

(b) For work quality from 85 to 89 percent after rework, the Contractor will be paid the total multiplied by the bid rate.

(c) For work quality 84 percent and less after rework, no payment made to the Contractor.

Acceptance and Payment—Optional Item 6

Full payment shall be made for the actual quantity of product removed upon receipt of acceptable proof of removal/transport for quantities invoiced. The number of tons awarded represents the ceiling amount for which a contractor could be paid without modification but is not a guarantee. Funds not utilized to pay for removal shall be de-obligated at the end of the contract or utilized for other supplemental agreement(s) if it is in the best interest of the government.

SECTION VI – DEFINITIONS

ACCEPTABLE QUALITY LEVEL (AQL): Acceptance of work will be based on compliance with all specifications corresponding to the appropriate task(s). A minimum AQL is required for all service work – hand or mechanical. The minimum AQL will receive a satisfactory performance rating.

BIOMASS TREES: Any conifer material 2 feet in height to 4.9 inches DBH.

BOLE SPACING: The horizontal distance in feet from the edge of one leave tree bole to another leave tree bole, measured from the outside bark of each tree.

CROWN RATIO: The ratio of live crown length (tip of leader to base of the crown) to total tree length/height.

CUT TREES: Trees that do not possess the characteristics of desirable leave trees and are required to be cut. As described by the contract or otherwise marked to be cut.

CUTTING UNIT: See Treatment Unit definition DAMAGED TREES: Trees damaged beyond recovery. A tree that is larger than 2 feet in height, and has the top knocked out, is leaning more than 10 degrees, has less than one half of its original limbs, or has approximately 50% of bark removed from the circumference of the bole.

DBH: Diameter at breast height, measured at a point of 4.5 feet above the ground level on the uphill side of the tree.

DECKING: Stockpiling of trees in a designated area.

DEAD/DYING TREES: Trees with the crown foliage changing from green to red, yellow, or needleless. Any tree that has pitch tubes indicating Mountain Pine Beetle infestation.

DIB: Diameter inside bark.

HANG-UP TREE: Any cut tree suspended above ground level.

LEAVE TREE: Trees that possess desirable characteristics and that serve to create the basis for designated spacing requirements or are otherwise designated to be left.

PAYMENT UNIT: See Treatment Unit.

PILING: Material moved to an agreed upon location shall be piled for future treatment by Forest Service.

PROGRESSION OF WORK: Work conducted in a progressive, workmanlike and orderly manner by the Contractor.

SAWTIMBER TREE: Included timber meeting sawlog size specifications as defined in Appendix B, Division A.2.

SLASH: Woody material existing or created that has accumulated on the forest floor. Woody material includes logs, pieces of logs, tops, and branches.

UNIT: See Treatment Unit.

TEMPORARY ROADS: Non-permanent roads that are constructed by Contractor for the purpose of treatment unit access.

TREATMENT UNIT: An individual area on the ground in which activities will be performed and which may appear as a separate pay item in the Schedule of Items.

UNSATISFACTORY WORK: If work quality falls below the AQL, the COR will issue a work order or notice of noncompliance to the Contractor in writing. Untreated or unsatisfactory treated areas shall be reworked to obtain satisfactory work quality.

WHOLE TREE YARDING: Whole tree logging includes cutting tree and removing the entire tree, including tops and branches, to the landing.

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