B08_-_140L0123Q0011_Attachment_1_-_Statement_of_Work.pdf

PALOMINO VALLEY CORRAL

WILD HORSE AND BURRO

FEEDING SERVICES

STATEMENT OF WORK

SCHEDULE OF SERVICES

Contract Period

Description Quantity Unit Unit Cost Total Cost

Base Period Feeding of Wild Horses and Burros

12 Month

Option Period One

Feeding of Wild Horses and Burros

12 Month

Option Period Two

Feeding of Wild Horses and Burros

12 Month

Option Period Three

Feeding of Wild Horses and Burros

12 Month

Option Period Four

Feeding of Wild Horses and Burros

12 Month

Total Contract Value

STATEMENT OF WORK

1.0 BACKGROUND

(a) Wild horses and burros on public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and United States Forest Service are protected, managed and controlled under the provisions of the Act of December 15, 1971, as amended (16 US. 1331-1340). As resource conditions and other factors warrant, excess wild horses and burros are removed from the public lands and placed in facilities for preparation to be placed in private maintenance through the Adopt-A-Horse program.

(b) The National Wild Horse and Burro Center at Palomino Valley (PVC), located 20 miles north of Sparks, Nevada on State Route 445, receives horses and burros directly from the range after they have been gathered. The horses and burros are delivered by single deck trailers with up to 40 horses in one trailer. The horses and burros can be delivered anytime between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm seven days a week.

During the gathering season the facility will normally receive 400 to 500 animals per month, however, occasionally up to 1,000 head will arrive.

(c) The gathering season is approximately from July 1 through February 28. Therefore, the slowest times in terms of care and feeding of captured animals are from April through June. BLM does not gather horses during the foaling season (March 1 through June 30). Although the BLM does not gather horses during this time, the facility will still have horses and burros being prepared for disposition. The number of animals in the facility coincides with the gathering season. For the months of August through March, the facility averages 1,200-1,500 head per day. The remaining months average 300-700 head per day.

2.0 OBJECTIVE

As excess wild horses and burros are gathered in Nevada they are transported to PVC. The objective of this contract is to procure services for the daily feeding of wild horses and burros awaiting preparation and disposition through the adoption program. This facility is a permanent facility that holds animals temporarily, with a varying number of animals held throughout the year.

Period of performance April 1st 2023- March 31 2024 Base Year April 1st 2024- March 31 2025 Option year 1 April 1st 2025- March 31 2026 Option year 2 April 1st 2026- March 31 2027 Option year 3 April 1st 2027- March 31 2028 Option year 4

3.0 GENERAL SERVICES

(a) The Contractor shall provide sufficient personnel to assure the daily feeding of up to 2,000 animals during the peak times (August through March) and as few as 50 animals during the slack times (April through June). The total facility is capable of holding up to 2,000 animals at one time. The Contractor shall arrive between 7 and 8 A.M. daily and provide feeding of wild horses and burros 365 days per year.

On most days, work should be completed within 7 hours.

(b) The facility consists of 10 outside pens and 36 smaller inside pens. The outside pens are used to maintain the majority of the animals and can hold an average of 200 animals per pen. These pens have large movable hay mangers. The inside pens are used to segregate horses that have just been unloaded from gathers, for loads being shipped out, sick and/or injured animals as well as horses with special needs (i.e. to separate studs, mares, mares with foals and young horses). These smaller pens have permanent hay mangers. Occasionally, the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) or Project Inspector (PI) may direct the Contractor to place hay on the ground.

(c) It is anticipated that the feeding services for the wild horses and burros will require at least two contract personnel on a daily basis. Since this facility does not have an automated feeding system, one of the Contractor's employees shall drive the BLM furnished truck and tractor, and the other Contractor employee shall break up the square bales of hay and place them by hand into the hay mangers (baskets) or as directed onto feeder trays or the ground by COR or PI.

(d) Responsibility of the Contractor. The behavior/conduct of the Contractor's personnel shall be the full responsibility of the Contractor. The safety and well-being of the Contractor's personnel performing these feeding services shall be the sole of the Contractor.

(1) The Contractor shall be held accountable for any employee's misconduct, negligence, and/or failure to perform. The Contractor's personnel shall have a working knowledge of feeding large numbers of animals in a feedlot environment.

(2) In the event that any one or more contractor personnel are observed performing the required duties in an unsafe manner to the animals, themselves, Government personnel, or endangering the Government Furnished equipment/supplies, the contractor shall be so notified by the COR or PI and the contractor shall provide an immediate replacement person at the facility within two hours of being notified.

(e) In as much as the facility is open to the public, the Contractor's employees will perform their duties in a manner that will not bring discredit on the BLM or the contractor. Further, operation of equipment will take into consideration that members of the public may be in the area and utmost caution will be taken.

(f) The Contractor and personnel are responsible for any malicious damage or accidental damage of the Government furnished equipment. On a daily basis, prior to operating any item of equipment, the contractor's personnel will perform an inspection of the vehicles/equipment. Vehicle defects identified by the contractor or operator during safety inspections shall be immediately reported to the COR or PI.

Repairs for accidental or malicious damage from Contractor use shall be paid for by the contractor. The contractor shall maintain a daily log for each vehicle showing the inspection results and provide same to the COR upon request.

(g) The Contractor and personnel are also to be cautious of hitting standing feeders in outside pens.

Damage to feeders may result in bending the legs and damaging the feed truck and trailer.

4.0 SPECIFIC CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS

(a) The Contractor shall feed the animals the quantity of hay necessary to satisfy the animal's nutritional needs. The hay required for adult horses is 25 pounds daily and for adult burros is 12 pounds daily.

(b) The objective is for all animals to attain and/or maintain a good fleshy condition. Fleshy condition is described as: back level; ribs, not visually distinguishable; wither, rounded; shoulders and neck, blending smoothly into body. If this objective is not being met, a change in feeding will be directed by the PI, and/or the COR.

(c) In order to assure that all animals are able to maintain a good fleshy condition, the Contractor shall space the feed in the feeders/mangers so that all the animals are afforded equal access to the feed. In the event that the number of bales to be placed into feeders is less than the number of feeders, the contractor shall place no less than a half a bale per feeder. In the event that the number of bales to be fed are greater then the amount of feeders available the bales shall be spread evenly between all feeders. After feeding pens, watch for hay falling outside the pen, along fence line and in alleys. It is the responsibility of the contractor to pick up this hay falling outside pens, along fence lines and in alley ways, hay will be placed back into pens or will be disposed of if the hay is not feed quality. All gates shall be returned to position they were found in after traveling through the gate.

(d) In the event that the Contractor notices any animals in distress (i.e., sickly; injured; mares with foaling problems; or deceased animals; etc.), the contractor shall immediately notify a BLM representative of the problems so that appropriate action may be taken. The Contractor shall also notify a BLM representative of any water trough malfunction, contractor personnel shall not turn off any tanks due to malfunction.

(e) The Contractor shall feed all animals in accordance with the requirements set forth above, at least once per day, every day, to include Saturdays, Sundays, and all holidays. Feeding shall be conducted between the hours of 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. All duties are performed outdoors and subject to a wide variety of climatic conditions from below 0 degrees in the winter to over 100 degrees in the summer.

(f) Contractor personnel shall have experience and be qualified to drive/operate equipment such as diesel tractor with front-end loader, tractor-trailers, dump trucks, hay squeeze and forklift to perform such tasks as loading/transporting bales of hay through corral system to feed animals. The contractor shall provide the BLM a list of personnel that will be operating the equipment. Contractor personnel that will be operating the government furnished equipment shall have passed a proficiency test prior to being authorized to use such equipment. The BLM will administer the proficiency test.

(g) At the end of feeding each day, the contractor will inspect for rocks and debris that may be wedged between dual tires on trucks and trailers to prevent damage to tires.

(h) Once per week the contractor personnel shall wash mud and debris from towing vehicles’ windshields, tires and undercarriage. During periods when the corrals are extremely wet and muddy, feeding equipment shall be washed daily to avoid buildup of debris that can cause damage to the feeding equipment. PVC has a location on site for equipment cleaning.

(i) Contractor personnel will be required at times to exert extensive strenuous physical activity in an outdoor environment, such as lifting bales of hay weighing approximately 100 to 130 pounds; operating heavy equipment; standing and bending for long periods as well as walking/working in outdoor corrals.

(j) The Contractor shall furnish all contract personnel with the following equipment: hay chaps, protective clothing, gloves, pitch forks, hay hooks, pliers, wire and twine cutting devices.

5.0 RESPONSIBILITIES OF BLM

(a) The BLM will provide all the hay and supplemental feed which will be fed at the facility. The BLM will provide equipment necessary to perform these feeding services (see paragraph 7.0 for the complete Government Furnished Equipment list). The BLM will perform all maintenance and service to all vehicles and is responsible for repairing any equipment deemed defective through normal wear and tear.

Any vehicles or equipment needing repair of safety items shall be removed from service until repaired.

(b) Every morning the Contractor shall check in with the BLM PI and/or the COR for the current count of animals at the facility. BLM representatives will also provide the following information to the Contractor:

(1) Type and amount of hay (grass hay, grass/alfalfa mix, and alfalfa hay) to go to each pen.

(2) The identity of pens that contain animals that day and the number of animals in each pen. Identify pens that horses will be moved into due to sorting and gathers.

(c) If necessary (e.g. when unexpected loads of animals arrive from gathers, when horses are sorted into different pens that were designated that morning, when animals require more feed than was fed, etc.) the Government reserves the right to feed the animals at the facility. Contractor shall check with the PI or COR before leaving to see if there are any changes.

(d) The BLM will provide for the maintenance and upkeep of the equipment used by the Contractor for use in feeding the horses and burros at the facility. The Contractor shall notify the PI or COR of any observed equipment problems that need attention. The Contractor shall provide an adequate number of employees to perform the feeding services on a daily basis.

6.0 OPERATING AND SAFETY PROCEDURES FOR USING GOVERNMENT

EQUIPMENT

(a) All diesel equipment shall be started and allowed to warm up at least 10 minutes before equipment is moved. This allows fluid in the hydraulic systems and transmission/torque converters to warm up. Case Power & Equipment suggest warm up times of a least this amount of time to prevent problems.

(b) Because of the nature of the work requiring movement of heavy loads and steep grades, equipment should always be parked following safety procedures to prevent moving when unattended. When not moving, the operator shall always set the parking brake, place the vehicle in park for automatic transmissions, in gear or reverse for standard transmission, with an attempt to park on level ground whenever possible. Tires shall be blocked front and rear to prevent movement in either direction as an added precaution. Blocks are found in or with each vehicle.

(c) While loading hay onto trailers, hay bales can be loaded to only 6 bales high over the total trailer.

Bales need to be tight on the trailers to avoid falling. It is the responsibility of the operators to make sure hay is tight on the trailers. If bales should fall off the trailer or cubes of hay fall apart while loading, it is the responsibility of the contractor to restack and reload it. Also it is the contractor’s responsibility to restack the hay cubes that fall out of barns during loading.

(d) Wire or twine shall not be cut on more than two bales before pitching. Never cut bales that anyone is standing on. Cut the wire or twine for only the pen that is being fed. Avoid traveling with cut bales. All twine or wire shall be disposed of daily in garbage.

(e) No person shall be on trailers, rear of truck or pull bars of trailer while going down hills. No person shall be on the back of the truck tongue or pull bar of the tractor-trailer at any item. It is the driver's responsibility to be able to hear the persons on the trailers at all times. Speed shall be kept to a safe limit.

While traveling, no person may stand, sit or kneel on trailers.

7.0 GOVERNMENT FURNISHED EQUIPMENT LIST

(a) Case Tractor 570 MXT, to pull small hay wagon

(b) Small Hay Trailer, 8’x12’ tandem axels, with electric brakes, pulled by case tractor to feed inside pens due to its maneuverability.

(c) Case 120 A farm tractor that pulls parker trailer.

(d) Parker trailer, 8’x24’ gooseneck, tandem axels, with electric brakes, pulled by pick-up truck.

(e) Doosan hay squeeze for loading cubes of hay onto trailers.