Attachment B Statement of Work.pdf

Thinning Greenhouse Containers & Weeding Bareroot Seedling Beds JW Toumey Nursery, Ottawa National Forest, Watersmeet, MI

DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATION/WORK STATEMENT

Scope of Contract

The services to be performed in this contract include thinning multiple seedlings from each cell to provide one (1) single healthy growing seedling per cell as well as removing unwanted vegetation, defined as grass, weeds, and trees of wrong species from seedling beds. The contractor shall furnish all labor, equipment, supervision, transportation, quality control and incidentals other than the items specified as Government-furnished, to perform all necessary work. Thinning is typically performed the

March through June. Weeding is typically performed between the months of May through September.

This contract is for one year of services with a performance period from March 15, 2025 through

September 30, 2025.

Timelines for both thinning and weeding are estimated. Quantities in the Schedule of Items are likely the maximum that will be needed. There will likely be some overlap between the two items. Please don’t hesitate to call the Toumey Nursery if you have any questions about the intent of this solicitation.

Location

The project is located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, in the town of Watersmeet, on the Ottawa

National Forest. The specific location is JW Toumey Nursery, USDA Forest Service, E23985 Old US 2 East, Watersmeet, MI 49969.

Contractor Work Requirements

The greenhouse thinning work shall consist of thinning multiple seedlings from each cell in a Styrofoam or plastic plug tray to provide one (1) single healthy growing seedling per cell to the standards listed under the Technical Specifications.

The weeding work shall consist of removing foliage, stems, and root systems of weeds or unwanted vegetation from the bareroot fields to the standards listed under the Technical Specifications.

GOVERNMENT-FURNISHED PROPERTY

The Government shall provide to the Contractor the following listed property, supplies and services (herein referred to as “Government-Furnished Property”).

Restroom facility: The Government will provide a restroom facility for the contractor’s employees.

Dumpsters: The Government will provide one or more portable dumpsters or trailers for the placement of weeds at the ends of the weeding beds. The Government will move and dump the contents.

Weeding Tools & Containers: Tools needed to complete the task of weeding in the fields, weeding tool and bucket.

Thinning: Stools and Stands

CONTRACTOR-FURNISHED ITEMS AND SERVICES

SAFETY Contractor shall provide necessary safety equipment to maintain employee safety as well as safety sessions to review safety protocol prior to start and as necessary to maintain a safe work environment for all.

Contractor may choose to provide insect repellant or head nets, sunscreen, and rain wear.

KEY PERSONNEL AND CREWS The Contractor shall furnish at least one fluent English-speaking non-working supervisor for every 12 workers that will be used for crew supervision only. Crew supervisors shall remain with their designated crews at all times. (1-12 workers – 1 supervisor; 13-24 workers – 2 supervisors; 25-36 workers – 3 supervisors)

Crew supervisors shall be actively engaged in the supervision of their crew and ensure seedling quality at all times the crew is working in the field.

All Supervisors shall attend a pre-work training session. The date and time will be set by the government at least one day prior to the start of the contract operations. Thereafter, the Contractor shall be responsible for the proper training of crews.

CONTRACTOR REPRESENTATIVE/CREW SUPERVISOR The Contractor shall make no substitutions of key personnel without notifying the Contracting Officer Representative within a reasonable timeframe and in advance and shall submit justification (including proposed substitutions) in sufficient detail to permit evaluation of the impact on the contract. Proposed substitutes should have comparable qualifications to those of the persons being replaced. The Contractor shall make no diversion of personnel without the consent of the Contracting Officer Representative. The contract will be modified to reflect any approved changes of key personnel. The Contractor or the Contractor's designated representative shall remain on the Nursery work site while thinning and weeding is in progress.

COMMUNICATION The Contractor shall keep the Contracting Officer Representative advised as to where the Contractor or Contractor's representative may be reached by phone during periods of work suspension and periods of time without work.

REPORTS AND DOCUMENTATION Contractor shall provide a Quality Control Plan (QCP) as part of their Technical Ability Response with their quote. The general QCP must demonstrate how the Contractor will assure quality meets the requirements and specifications of the contract. It shall specify how quality will be monitored to assure the performance standards are met; the supervision of crew and work; and the personnel that will be performing the quality control.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

REMOVING MULTIPLE GERMINATES FROM CONTAINERS (THINNING) (Items 1-16)

1. The Contracting Officer Representative will determine the exact start and stop time of this item.

This determination will be based on container crop sowing dates and the rate of germination of seedlings. Once seedlings germinate, there is a tight timeframe for when thinning must be completed. Contractor must remain flexible and available to complete thinning on time.

2. Containers are growing areas for seedlings. An individual container is approximately 2 feet by 1 foot and can have 160 or 198 cells per Styrofoam block or 98 cells for plastic trays. The number of containers and the densities will vary with crops and seed lots throughout the greenhouses.

3. Contractor is required to thin multiple seedlings from each cell to provide one (1) single healthy growing seedling per cell.

4. There will be no method used that will disrupt the root or top growth of the single healthy remaining seedling.

5. There are no circumstances in which transplanting will be allowed.

6. Some of the containers can be thinned in place on greenhouse benchtops. But approximately

2/3 of the containers will need to be removed from greenhouse benchtops for thinning nearby.

After thinning is complete, the containers must then be replaced back into the same exact location on the greenhouse benchtops.

7. Due to greenhouse space limitations, it is highly recommended that a maximum of 6 contractors work on this project at one time.

8. Government can provide stools and thinning stands.

9. Any observation of insect or disease damage to seedlings is to be brought to the Government’s attention immediately.

10. Protection of Government seedlings, irrigation system and greenhouse equipment and structures are paramount.

11. Thinning must be coordinated with the routine irrigation schedule.

12. All weeds shall be manually removed from containers of growing seedlings without displacing or damaging seedlings.

13. All portions of weeds including liverwort, leaves, stems, flowers and roots shall be removed.

Contractor's employees will remove any missed multiple seedlings in cells to assure one (1) healthy growing seedling is left in each cell.

14. Labels, flagging, other identifying markers and irrigation equipment shall not be disturbed by

Contractor's employees during weeding operations.

15. Upon completion of work for the day, Contractor will remove from greenhouses any tools, buckets of weeds and other implements or debris.

16. Contractor will place thinned germinant and weeds into government-furnished buckets. Then contractor will empty buckets into nearby government-furnished hopper/dumpster at the end of each day (absolutely no trash in hopper/dumpster).

WEEDING (Items 1-14)

1. Contract work shall be performed only during the scheduled hours of 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

central time: Monday through Friday or a time mutually agreed upon. Weekends, holidays, and hours worked outside of this schedule will be permitted only by prior agreement with the

Contracting Officer Representative.

2. All weeds (leaves, flowers, stems, roots) shall be manually removed from seedling beds and placed in Government furnished trailers or designated dumpsters (absolutely no trash is to be placed in trailers or designated dumpsters). Dumpsters will be emptied by Government personnel in timely manner or as needed.

3. In the 1-0 (seedling sown spring 2025) seedling beds, they will be free and clean of weeds upon inspection.

4. In the 2-0 (seedling sown spring 2024) seedling beds, there shall not be more than one (1) weed per 100 bed (linear) feet, greater than 1 inch in height or that cover or shade 2 square inches of ground. Where the seedling canopy is closed only remove those weeds that are taller than the canopy.

5. In the 3-0 and 4-0 (seedling sown spring 2023/2022) seedling beds, weeds to be removed are any that are over the top of the canopy of the seedlings.

6. Stakes, flagging, other identifying markers and irrigation equipment shall not be disturbed by

Contractor's employees during weeding operations.

7. Upon completion of daily work, Contractor's employees will remove from field any containers, tools and other implements or debris. (trash is not to be placed in dumpsters/container for weeds)

8. Contractor and their employees shall not walk upon seedlings or seedling beds.

9. All weeds removed with clumps of soil adhering to the roots shall be shaken to loosen soil and minimize its removal from the seedling beds.

10. If tools other than those provided by the Government are proposed for use in seedling beds, they require prior approval by the Contracting Officer Representative. Care shall be taken to avoid loosening, uprooting, bruising, or scraping seedlings. Soil loosened or pulled away around seedlings shall be tamped back into place with fingers. All weeding will be from the edge of the bed, standing or kneeling in pathways. Standing or kneeling in beds will not be permitted.

Stepping on seedlings will not be permitted.

11. All weeds shall be transported to Government-furnished trailers or dumpsters, located at ends of seedling beds or designated dump sites. However, no container or other trash items, which will not biodegrade, shall be placed in the Government furnished equipment. Containers shall not be placed in seedbeds or on top of tree seedlings at any time.

12. Weeding priority will be established by COR weekly or daily if needed. Daily weeding schedule will be coordinated with contractor and nursery personnel based on irrigation needs.

13. In accordance with the Worker Protection Standard, all workers will be given training in basic pesticide safety.

14. All seedling beds are approximately 4 feet wide with 2 foot wide walking paths on either side.

INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

Government inspections are for the purpose of satisfying the Government that the services are acceptable and do not relieve the Contractor of the responsibility for maintaining quality control. The Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) or designated inspector will conduct all inspections. The Contractor (or designated representative) is encouraged to be present to observe inspections. Summary results will be made available on request.

The Contracting Officer Representative or designated inspector will make visual inspections of the work.

Greenhouse containers and seedling beds not meeting the technical specifications will be identified for the Contractor to rework at no additional expense to the government.

After contractor has completed either a lot or a seedling bed, the Government will be notified by the contractor to inspect. No transplanting of seedlings is allowed in the greenhouse, and all blocks in the greenhouse should be weed free. Areas not passing inspection requirements will be reworked by the contractor at no cost to the government. Written inspection summaries will be available to the contractor upon request.

Acceptable Quality Levels The contractor may face deductions due to quality found below acceptable levels of work, which will be calculated daily. Performance not meeting the quality standards will be assessed a disincentive charge of $150 per day (Category 2). Seedling beds and seedling containers that require re-work and re-inspection may be subject to additional disincentive if the rework fails to meet technical specifications.

Definitions:

The quality payment categories are described as follows:

Category 1 – Full payment. The daily inspection results in no more than 5 infractions for the day.

Category 2 – Reduced payment for quality deductions, disincentive charge. The daily inspections result in more than 5 infractions or reworking more than 2 seedling beds or 10 seedling containers daily.

Thinning Infractions

1. Leaving more than one seedling per cell.

2. Not removing weeds completely from containers.

3. Remaining seedlings damaged.

4. Transplanting seedlings.

Weeding Infractions:

1. Pulling the tops of weeds and breaking them off and leaving the root system in seedling bed.

2. Stepping, kneeling, and sitting on seedlings.

3. Leaving pulled weeds in seedling beds and/or not taking them to the containers or designated dump site.

4. Uprooting seedlings and not replanting them properly.

DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

The Contractor shall be required to (a) commence work under this contract within 7 calendar days after the date the Contractor receives the Notice to Proceed, and (b) prosecute the work diligently. The time stated for completion shall include final cleanup of the premises. The estimated work schedule is from March 15 to September 30, 2025 as thinning or weeding is needed. Environmental or biological conditions could affect the performance period. Quantities and timelines in schedule of items are all estimated. Actual quantities will be more solidified as time get closer to the thinning and weeding needs.

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JW Toumey Nursery

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Field Outlines

The Forest Service uses the most current and complete data available. The Forest Service reserves the right to correct, update, modify, or replace GIS products without notification.

The Forest Service will not be liable for any activity involving this information. For more information, contact: Ottawa National Forest, GIS Coordinator, E6248 US2, Ironwood, MI 49938.

(906) 932-1330 T:/../3200RuralForestryAssistance/GIS/ Contracts/WeedingContract_2014 S.Burns 12/17/2014