Attachment B - Statement of Work.pdf

US Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Statement of Work

Contents Project

General Information

1.0 Scope of Work

2.0 Background

Contractor Requirements

3.0 Technical Requirements / Tasks

4.0 Government Furnished

5.0 Deliverables / Schedule

7.0 Contractor’s Key Personnel

Project Priority Management Area Forest Inventory

General Information

1.0 Scope of Work

Work shall consist of locating, establishing, measuring and recording data for survey plots. The Contractor shall furnish all personnel, materials, services, and facilities necessary for the project and performance of this contract. The work performed shall include common stand exam plots (hereafter CSE plots) and ground cover plots.

A total of 1,117 plots (524 CSE plots and 593 ground cover plots) may be awarded with a base amount of 156 CSE plots and 337 ground cover plots. The remaining 368 CSE plots and 256 ground cover plots may be awarded pending funding.

Performance Period: Work may be completed up to 1 year post-award date.

2.0 Background

The USDA-Forest Service Hoosier National Forest proposes to contract for technical forestry services to complete forest inventory.

Its purpose is to obtain the site and setting characteristics required to identify stand conditions and capabilities in providing the

Government information with which management determinations for natural resources will be made.

The project area contains up to five “Special Areas” on the Hoosier National Forest, which are priority areas for forest management in order to maintain forest productivity and health. Prior to any forest management actions, these areas require full site inventories to ensure proper management actions occur. CSEs have been completed within Oil Creek and parts of Potts Creek, thus only ground cover plots are needed. Both CSE and ground cover plots are needed within Hemlock Cliffs, Buzzards Roost, and Browning Hill.

Contractor Requirements

3.0 Technical Requirements / Tasks

General Information

• The Contractor shall provide all expertise, labor, supervision, services, materials, equipment, tools, supplies, transportation, worker personal protective equipment (PPE), and incidentals necessary to perform the required work, for which the desired outcome is in strict accordance with the standards in the contract.

• The Contractor shall perform and accomplish the work in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and ordinances.

• Where appropriate, vehicle or ATV/UTV/OHV is permissible down access routes and inside designated openings.

• The project area shall be accessed by State, County or Forest roads. The Forest Service assumes no obligation to do special maintenance to keep roads open. Stands are accessible by some combination of 2- or 4-wheel drive vehicle and foot travel.

• The Contractor shall progressively accomplish the work at a rate that will result in completion of the work within the time specified as determined by the final accepted work schedule for the awarded contract.

• Before implementation, the project leader will meet the contractor on site.

• Contractor shall notify COR no less than 48 hours prior to start of contract work.

• In cases where stands are behind locked gates, authorization for limited motorized use may be granted. All requests for motorized travel of closed roads must be submitted in writing to the COR for specific roads and specific periods of time. The

Contractor will be responsible to ensure that gates remain closed and locked at all times and will be subject to all other restrictions of administrative use. The Contractor shall be permitted to drive from the locked gate to the stand with only the minimum number of vehicles necessary for efficient transport of the crew. No access to Contractors or employees will be allowed behind locked gates after periods of work. Any misuse of this authorization may result in revocation of the permission

Plot Locations and Establishment

• The government will furnish the contractor a list of stands to be examined, the size and type of each stand, the number of plots needed for each stand, and project maps showing the present boundaries of the stands.

• The government will furnish the ground cover plot locations at Oil Creek and part of Potts Creek to ensure they are co-located with the previously completed CSE plots at these areas.

• The number of plots within stands varies with stand size:

o <10 acres = 1 plot o 10-29.9 acres = 2 plots o 30-59.9 acres = 4 plots o 60-89.9 acres = 6 plots o 90-119.9 acres = 8 plots o 120-149.9 acres = 10 plots o 150-179.9 acres = 12 plots o 180-209.9 acres = 14 plots o 210-239.9 acres = 16 plots

• The location of plots within stands depends on both the number of plots and the number of physiographic sites (i.e., ridges, bottoms, upper south or west facing slopes, lower south or west facing slopes, upper north or east facing slopes, and lower north or east facing slopes) within the stands. Depending upon the number of plots and physiographic sites within a stand, plots should be located in a manner that either 1) only samples the dominant physiographic site(s), 2) samples all physiographic sites equally, or 3) samples all physiographic sites, but samples dominant sites more intensely.

o If the number of plots to be sampled is less than the number of physiographic sites, place 1 plot in as many physiographic sites as possible, from the most to least dominant sites.

o If the number of plots to be sampled is equal to the number of physiographic sites, sample 1 plot in each site.

o If the number of plots to be sampled is more than the number of physiographic sites, sample at least 1 plot in each site, and place the remaining plots within sites depending on how dominant each site is within the stand.

• Within a stand, plots should be at least 200’ from each other.

• A GPS point should be recorded where the plot is established, and plot center should be marked with a red pin flag with a streamer of red flagging above plot center (or as close to it as possible).

Common Stand Exams

• Three types of stands will be examined: hardwood stands, pine stands, and mixed stands. Hardwood stands should be examined using a 10 basal area factor (BAF) prism during CSE plots, whereas pine stands should be examined using a 20

BAF prism. Some hardwood stands may include some inclusion of pine (and vice-versa), but plot locations should be placed in areas dominated by hardwood or pine, when appropriate. Mixed stands should be completed using a 20 BAF prism, and should have an equal number of plot locations in areas dominated by pine and hardwoods. The regeneration sampling (see below) within CSEs and ground cover plots are the same between stand types. The government will provide maps and tables showing stand types for each stand.

• CSE will follow the “Region 9 Common Stand Exam Field Guide” (current version can be found here: NRM Field Sampled

Vegetation (FSVeg) (usda.gov)), with the following exceptions:

o Site tree data should only include age not height.

o All data are to be recorded using paper datasheets, which will be provided by the Government, or via the use of tablets with a o Both shrub and tree species are to be included.

• CSEs will include collecting data on the overstory (woody stems ≥2” DBH), saplings (woody stems >4.5’ tall and <2” DBH), and seedlings (woody stems <4.5’ tall).

• Before starting overstory plots record the site name, stand and plot number, and the aspect, in degrees, of the plot location. If there is no aspect (e.g., in a bottomland) record the aspect as “flat”. Overstory plots will be completed with a 10 or 20 BAF prism, depending on stand type. Trees will be recorded individually and in order starting with the tree to the right of 0˚ azimuth, moving clockwise. Record the species and DBH (in inches) and of each living woody stems ≥2” DBH within the plot. For dead stems, record the decay class (1-5) and estimated height (in feet) to the nearest 5’.

• One tree per stand should be used as s site tree. Flag the tree used for a site tree with red flagging. Core the tree at 4.5’ off the ground. Either tie the core to the tree or leave it noticeably at the base of the tree. Determine tree age by taking the cored age and adding one of the following values, depending upon site tree species:

o 2 – Green Ash, Cottonwood, Sweetgum o 3 –Oaks, Tulip Poplar, Silver Maple, Eastern White Pine o 4 –Elm, Basswood, Black Cherry, White Ash, Beech, Sugar Maple, Red Maple o 5 – Shortleaf o 6 – Hickories

• Record site tree age on the overstory datasheet. If the site tree is not part of the overstory plot, record the distance and bearing from plot center to the site tree and record it in the comments section.

• Saplings and seedlings are measured together in a 1/700 acre (4.45 foot radius) fixed area regeneration plot, used to tally all live woody stems ≥6” tall and <2” DBH. Plot center should be the same used for the overstroy prism plots. Tally all stems by https://www.fs.usda.gov/nrm/fsveg/index.shtml https://www.fs.usda.gov/nrm/fsveg/index.shtml species and height class (e.g., 1’ height class for stems 0.5-1.5’ tall stems, 2’ height class for 1.5-2.5’ tall stems). For stems

>4.5’ tall, record DBH and tally stems by species, height class, and DBH.

Ground cover plots

• Ground cover plots will be completed within the fixed area regeneration plot and can be completed at the same time as common stand exams or plots can be re-visited if different personnel are needed to complete them.

• Within the plot, record the ground cover (percentage) of each species present under 3’ tall. Additionally, record the ground cover of “fine fuels” (litter and downed woody debris [DWD] <2” in diameter), “course fuels” (DWD 2”- 5” in diameter) and

“large fuels” (DWD >5” in diameter).

o Diameter of fuels should be measured at the largest point within the plot.

• Throughout stands, general notes and locations of non-native invasive species should be recorded in the notes section for nearby plots. Examples include o “High cover of Japanese stilt grass along stream beds” o “Large infestation of multiflora rose near ridge”

Inspections

• Inspection of the plot data (both CSE and ground cover) will occur on a minimum of 5% of the plots within the block.

Inspections of 5% will be the norm unless problems are discovered. Additional plot inspections (no more than 10% of total plots) will be checked to determine if work is acceptable or not.

• All submitted data will be inspected.

Invoicing

Invoicing is tied to successful inspection of completed work. The Contractor may only invoice after the COR has inspected the line item(s) work and the work is determined to have met the AQL. This applies to both interim and final payments.

4.0 Government Furnished

The Government shall provide the Contractor the following listed materials, supplies, property or services, for use in the performance of this contract, hereinafter referred to as Government Furnished Property. This property shall be used and maintained by the

Contractor in accordance with the provisions of the “Government Furnished Property.” FAR clause, (Reference Clause 52.245-1).

ITEM DESCRIPTION WHERE, WHEN, HOW

Project Area Map. Map depicting all area boundaries for this project.

Provided with task order

Stand Summary Chart. Table showing individual stand information and number of plots required.

Provided with task order

Priority Management

Areas Maps.

Individual maps with stand boundary delineations.

Provided with task order

Contractor keys

Some stands are behind Forest road closures (locked gated) and will require keys to access.

Pre-work meeting

Data Collection and

Instruction Forms

Data Collection and Instruction Forms provide to collect data on and serve as a guide in the field.

Provided with task order

Ground Cover Plot

Locations for Oil

Creek and Potts

Creek

Location for ground cover plots to ensure co-location with previously completely CSE plots.

Pre-work meeting

5.0 Deliverables / Schedule

Deliverables:

• Completion of all CSE and ground cover plots awarded.

• Data should be submitted electronically (i.e., scanned and send via email) or in-person.

• GPS location of plots should be submitted electronically and either tabularly (i.e., latitude and longitude within a spreadsheet) or spatially (i.e., a .shp file).

• Upon award, the Contractor shall prepare a work plan and schedule that demonstrates work will be completed within the performance period described in individual orders. The Contractor shall provide a general plan with the technical proposal.

A supplementary plan and schedules will be provided after issuance of an award, but before start of work.

o The Contractor shall advise the Contracting Officer or COR of any periods that the Contractor will not be working that is not specified in the accepted Work Plan.

o The Contractor may update the work plan when work is in progress for the Contracting Officer’s approval.

Schedule:

• The Contractor shall progressively accomplish the work at a rate that will result in completion of the work within the time specified as determined by the final accepted work schedule for the awarded contract.

• Work must be done during the summer months when all species can be accurately identified.

• Ground cover plots should be completed between mid-June and mid-September.

Performance period: Work may be completed up to 1 year post-award date.

Contract Line-

Item No. –

Work

Requirement

Task / Critical Sub-tasks Inspection requirements *Acceptable Quality Level

(AQL)

Monitoring

Method

Non-line item:

Plot creation

Plot created within correct area

Plot identifiable to inspector by a combination of GPS point and the placed red flag and red streamer

COR/inspector will inspect a minimum of 5% of plots and a maximum of 10% of plots

All inspected plots must be identifiable and within the correct area

Visual and with use of GPS unit

Line Item: CSE plots

Completion of CSE plots as defined above

Submittal of data as defined above

COR/inspector will inspect a maximum of 10% of plots

No less than an average of

90% of species must be correctly identified within

Visual

Line Item:

ground cover

Completion of ground cover plots as defined above

Submittal of data as defined above

COR/inspector will inspect a maximum of 10% of plots

No less than an average of

90% of species must be correctly identified within

Visual

*Meeting the AQL for Line Items: Contractor(s) must re-compete plots at their expense upon failure to meet AQL values at the final inspection for each contract line item where the work performed failed to reach the minimum acceptable target ratio.

7.0 Contractor’s Key Personnel

AGAR 452.237-74 Key Personnel (FEB 1988)

(a) The Contractor shall assign to this contract the following key personnel: Project Manager(s)/On-Site Foremen/Lead.

(b) The Contractor shall make no substitutions of key personnel unless the substitution is necessitated by illness, death, or termination of employment. The Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer within 15 calendar days after the occurrence of any of these events and provide the information required by paragraph (c) below.

(c) The Contractor shall provide a detailed explanation of the circumstances necessitating the proposed substitutions, complete resumes for the proposed substitutes, and any additional information requested by the Contracting Officer. Proposed substitutes should have comparable qualifications to those of the persons being replaced. The Contracting Officer will notify the Contractor within 15 calendar days after receipt of all required information of the decision on substitutions. The contract will be modified to reflect any approved changes of key personnel.

In addition to the Experience Questionnaire and providing Line-Item pricing, the Offeror shall also provide the following:

1) PERSONNEL: Provide the list of employees who will work on the project.

A. SUBCONTRACTORS: The same information is required of all proposed subcontractors.

B. **FAILURE TO SUBMIT EMPLOYEE(S) AND SUBCONTRACTOR EMPLOYEE(S) Questionnaire WILL RESULT

IN THE PROPOSAL BEING DEEMED AS NONRESPONSIVE.OFFEROR AND SUBCONTRACTOR(S) SHOULD

SUBMIT A COPY OF EACH EMPLOYEE CERTIFICATE**.

2) WORK PLAN and SCHEDULE: The offeror will provide a description of methods to be used to reach the desired specifications. This plan should include equipment to be used (both motorized and non-motorized), the progress rates, and number of personal. The Plan should also provide a list of the equipment to be used.

A. SUBCONTRACTORS: The same information is required of all proposed subcontractors.

3) SUBCONTRACTOR(s): Provide the name and address of any subcontractor(s) (or partner/joint-venture entity) that will be used on this project. Also include the type of work that the subcontractor will accomplish. If the intent is to allow the subcontractor to work without direct oversight by the offeror, then the subcontractor shall also furnish a safety plan and quality control plan.

PAST PERFORMANCE NOTE: If an offeror has limited or no relevant project information, this should be addressed in the technical proposal.

The Forest Service recognizes that an offeror may have minimal experience. In this instance, it is advised that the offeror address how they intend on insuring successful completion of the work, for example: subcontracting certain aspects of the project

If Experience Questionnaire is not filled out or answered offer WILL RESULT IN THE PROPOSAL BEING DEEMED AS NONRESPONSIVE and not be considered for review/award.

Definitions:

1. Contracting Officer (CO): A Forest Service employee with the authority to: enter into, administer, and terminate contracts, as well as issue determinations regarding such matters as claims.

2. Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR): A Forest Service employee that is appointed and officially designated by the

Contracting Officer to assist the Contracting Officer with the technical matters related to contract administration. The COR will assist the Contracting Officer with surveillance of contractor performance.

3. Forest Service Inspector: A Forest Service employee designated by the Contracting Officer or COR to perform surveillance of contractor performance.

4. Acceptable Quality Level (AQL): A suitable level of conformance based on an established percentage of defects.

5. Quality Assurance: Those actions taken by the Forest Service to assure services meet specified requirements.

Contract Line-

Item No. –

Work

Requirement

Task / Critical Sub-tasks Inspection requirements *Acceptable Quality Level

(AQL)

Monitoring

Method

Non-line item:

Schedule

Timely Completion of the contract work.

Per the Work Schedule, the

Contractor will complete all work prior to the contract end date.

AQL determinations are made by the COR upon inspection of the work.

All work must be complete by the end date of the contract and meet the AQL.

Visual and with use of GPS unit.

6. Quality Control: Those actions taken by a Contractor to control the performance of services so that they meet the specified requirements.

7. Performance-Based Service Contract (PBSC): A contract which incorporates a results-oriented statement of work, describing the overall work to be accomplished (outcome/result), rather than explicitly describing how the tasks should be performed, to accomplish the work.