B08_Attachment_1_PWS_Juniper_Maintenance_REV_7_24_23.docx

PROJECT TITLE: AGFO Juniper Maintenance Contract Phase 2

Contents

PWS 1.0 Background on the Government’s Requirement

The Applegate FO Juniper Treatment Maintenance project would implement maintenance work on existing juniper reduction projects that were completed between 1997 and 2015 within public lands managed by the Applegate Field Office. Treatments would focus on hand treating newly emerging juniper trees within previously treated sage-steppe restoration projects in northeastern California and northwestern Nevada. Handheld equipment such as chainsaws, loppers, and clippers would be used to perform maintenance work. The project areas are located within the Applegate Field Office Sage-Steppe Habitat Restoration Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA; DOI-BLM-CA-N020-2015-EA-0004) area and Vya PMU Habitat Restoration and Fuels Reduction Project (DOI-BLM-CA-N070-2013-0016-EA) which includes the Devils Garden, Likely Tablelands, Massacre, and Vya Greater sage-grouse (GRSG) Population Management Units (PMUs).

PWS 2.0 General Scope of Work

Services include cutting young juniper trees with handheld equipment such as chainsaws, loppers, and clippers within previously treated sage-steppe restoration projects (Figure 1). The Contractor shall accomplish hand severing and lop-and-scatter of all young juniper trees within the designated treatment areas (Appendix 2). Additionally, the contractor shall remove all live limbs from stumps that were previously cut using heavy equipment such as feller bunchers or skid steers (Figure 2). Severed trees and limbs shall be left to decompose naturally. No piling of cut material is necessary.

Figure 1: The photo on the left is the Mitchell Hill project located off Clarks Valley Road just east of Madeline, California. The photo on the right is the South Ash Valley project which is located off Ash Valley Road west of Madeline, California. Note: these photos are representative of current conditions in previously treated areas. The goal of this contract is to remove newly emerging juniper trees from previously treated areas in order to maintain the effectiveness of the treatments.

Figure 2: The photo on the left and right were taken from the Modoc Gulch project which is located southeast of Dorris, California. Note: these photos show areas that were previously treated using heavy equipment such as feller bunchers that have stumps with large branches still attached.

Place of Performance:

The services under this contract will be performed at previously treated sage-steppe restoration projects at various locations throughout the BLM Applegate Field Office (Table 1).

Table 1: This table shows the project name, acreage, legal description, and general location of the project area in relation to the nearest town or city within the boundaries of the Applegate FO.

Accessibility:

The roads within the project areas are not maintained and are rocky and, in some instances, have been severely damaged by weather. Most roads are accessible via truck and crew van. It is recommended that crews utilize UTVs as much as possible to transport crew members, equipment, and supplies within the project areas. Use caution when traveling on the roads within the project areas.

Period of Performance:

The period of performance shall be for sixty (60) months. The Period of Performance reads as follows:

Period of Performance: September 15 (or contract award date), 2023 to September 30, 2028

PWS 3.0 Overall Objective(s) The objective is to provide wildlife habitat improvement work through the removal of newly emerging juniper trees within previously treated sage-steppe restoration projects in northeastern California and northwestern Nevada within public lands managed by the Applegate Field Office.

For the specified services to be performed under the contract, the following stipulations apply:

· The Contractor will be responsible for ensuring his or her crew can identify old growth juniper to ensure it is not accidentally cut or damaged. If old growth juniper are found to be cut by mistake or willfully cut by the Contractor, the Contractor will be subject to liquidated damages. The Contractor shall pay a rate of $250.00 per tree for inadvertent cutting or willfully damaging of old growth juniper.

· No driving off existing roads or two tracks is allowed except for emergencies.

· The project area roads shall not be degraded or rutted by the Contractor’s activities. All project area roads shall be kept free of slash.

· Contractor shall adhere to the specified wildlife restrictions (Wildlife Seasonal Restrictions).

PWS 4.0 Specific Tasks

The Contractor will provide the following services:

Treatment method common to all tasks includes lop-and-scattering all young juniper trees (i.e., less than eight (8) feet in height). In addition, limbs attached to previously cut stumps within the project boundaries shall be completely severed from the stump(s) and no live limbs shall be left on the stump. Furthermore, all juniper (i.e., newly emerging seedlings) and not meeting old growth requirements must be cut. Material will be left on the ground to decompose naturally.

Task 1:

Susila treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 558 acres.

Task 2:

Willow Creek treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 971 acres.

Optional Task 3:

North Stateline treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 235 acres.

Optional Task 4:

South Stateline treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 110 acres.

Optional Task 5:

Cowhead treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 84 acres.

Optional Task 6:

Summit Spring treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 1,081 acres.

Optional Task 7:

Express Canyon treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 562 acres.

Optional Task 8:

Dodge Bitterbrush treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 544 acres.

Optional Task 9:

Cottonwood treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 1,038 acres.

Optional Task 10:

Starvation treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 145 acres.

Optional Task 11:

Upper Tuledad treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 932 acres.

Optional Task 12:

Cold Springs treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 1,568 acres.

Optional Task 13:

Blue Door treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 301 acres.

Optional Task 14:

Ryegrass Swale treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 1,884 acres.

Optional Task 15:

Williams Ranch treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 409 acres.

Optional Task 16:

Daisy Dean 1 treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 249 acres.

Optional Task 17:

Westside treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 4,836 acres.

Optional Task 18:

Silva Flat 1 treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 101 acres.

Optional Task 19:

Silva Flat 2 treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 40 acres.

Optional Task 20:

Bryant Mountain treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 832 acres.

Optional Task 21:

Hays Canyon treatment unit and the total acreage to be treated is 838 acres.

Note: Optional tasks may be added to the contract as funding becomes available. The contractor will be notified at least sixty (60) to ninety (90) days in advance if additional tasks will be awarded. In addition, individual maps of the projects the are georeferenced will be submitted to the contractor prior to work beginning. These maps will contain access, ownership, and project boundary information.

PWS 5.0 Delivery / Performance Schedule

The Contractor shall accomplish cutting, lopping, and scattering of young western juniper of low density (<10% canopy cover) on approximately 17,173 acres over the life of the contract. Currently, funding is only procured for approximately 1,529 acres. Optional tasks will be awarded as funding becomes available. The prospective bidder will be notified within 60 to 90 days. Work will be performed between September 15 (or contract award date), 2023 to September 30, 2028. The work to be performed under this contract is in Lassen and Modoc Counties in California and Washoe County, Nevada on public lands managed by the Applegate Field Office. There is no documentation or permits that need to be acquired by the contractor. Access to the project areas is private and public. For access across private roads, the contractor is responsible for securing access. Contact information will be given upon request. The contractor will adhere to the seasonal timing restrictions for wildlife as in accordance with Table 2.24-3 in the 2008 Alturas Resource Management Plan (RMP).

PWS 6.0 Government-Furnished Property, Materials, Services

General:

The Contractor shall furnish all personnel, materials, equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, tools, materials, supervision, and other items and non-personal services necessary to perform the work tasks defined in this Performance Work Statement, except for those items specified as government furnished property and services.

Materials:

The Contractor shall furnish all materials necessary to meet the requirement of this contract except for those items specified as government-furnished property and services.

Equipment:

The Contractor shall furnish equipment necessary to meet the requirement of this contract except for those items specified as government-furnished property and services.

Services: N/A.

Facilities: N/A.

Utilities: N/A.

Applicable Publications (Current Editions): N/A PWS 7.0 Security and Administrative Matters

Safety:

The Contractor shall not require, or allow any employee, engaged in the performance of this Contract to work under conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to his/her health or safety, as determined under safety and health standards promulgated by the Secretary of Labor under Section 107 of the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act (40 U.S.C. 327 et seq.) as amended and other Federal, State and applicable local government safety standards.

Department of Labor Code of Federal Regulations Title 29 and other Federal, State and local government safety standards will apply in its entirety to the Contractor.

Examples of applicable safety standards are OSHA 29 CFR 1910, OSHA 29 CFR 1926, California Title 19, "Public Safety", California Title 8, "General Industry Safety Orders", and 41 CFR, Subpart B, "Public Contracts, General Safety and Health Standards."

The contractor shall also use the “BLM SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS” (The Yellow Book) for reference.

Should the contractor fail to comply with any of these standards and regulations, the contractor shall be found to have defaulted on the terms of the contract.

Contingency Plan:

Sudden or unusual events could result in a negative impact to the delivery / performance of these requirements.

As an aid to properly plan for such events, the Contractor shall prepare and submit for approval a Contingency Plan for each Place of Performance for these requirements.

The Contractor will outline in detail the method(s) that the Contractor shall use in meeting Contract requirements in the following circumstances:

· a natural disaster occurs which impacts upon the Contractor's ability to perform

· a labor strike occurs which impacts upon the Contractor's ability to perform.

· a hazardous materials spill which impacts the Contractor’s ability to perform or which may affects public safety

· an incident which causes major damage which impacts the Contractor's ability to perform

· other unforeseen circumstances

In all cases, the Contractor will assume that government cannot provide supplemental forces and continues to need the same or additional performance under the Contract, which the Contractor must meet.

This Contingency Plan shall be submitted as a part of the Contractor proposal.

Emergency Response:

Response to emergency service calls outside of the normal business hours shall not exceed four (4) hours regardless of the time during the day or night, weekends or holidays.

Response to emergency service during normal business hours shall not exceed two (2) hours.

Response is defined as having all personnel and equipment required to correct an emergency at the site of the emergency or at a pre-approved staging area, ready, willing, and able to perform the emergency work. The Contractor will provide a draft emergency response plan prior to Contract start date.

Emergency Services:

On occasion, services may be required to support an activation or exercise of contingency plans outside the normal business hours described above. The Contractor's responsibilities for emergency support will be in accordance with the contingency plan.

Hazardous Materials and Hazardous Response:

The Contractor will conform to all Reclamation, Federal, State, and local regulations in the use and disposal of hazardous materials and hazardous waste. The Contractor will provide the appropriate response to any emergency involving hazardous materials at any of the facilities covered by this Contract. The Contractor will provide proof/certification of it's personnel qualified to work with hazardous materials and wastes to Reclamation. The Contractor will notify Reclamation immediately upon discovering a release of hazardous waste into the environment.

Public contact:

Contractor personnel may encounter adjacent landowners or members of the public during the performance of their work. Contractor personnel will present a professional appearance and be able to provide appropriate identification, including display of proper identification by each employee.

All Contractor and subcontractor personnel shall comply with all Federal and State laws relative to citizenship. Contractor personnel shall inform any trespassers along the right of way of hazards and, as necessary and appropriate, ask trespassers to leave fenced off or restricted areas.

If Contractor personnel may encounter emergency personnel, policemen, or firemen along the right of way, the Contractor personnel shall notify the On-Site Foreman. If Contractor personnel encounter the news media, they should refer all questions to the On-Site Foreman, who shall keep the COR informed of all news media contacts.

Government Observations:

Government personnel other than COR may from time to time observe, photograph, or otherwise record Contract operations.

However, these personnel will not interfere with Contractor performance.

Regular Work Hours:

The performance period established for this contract is based upon all work being conducted during regular working hours between 8:00am and 4:30pm, Monday through Friday, excluding government holidays.

If the Contractor desires to carry on work outside regular hours, including Saturdays, Sundays, and government holidays, a request must be submitted to the COR in sufficient time to allow satisfactory arrangements to be made for access to the work site.

Communications:

“Time” for communications received after 3:00pm, after 12:00 pm locally on Fridays, or after 12:00 pm locally prior to a holiday will not start until the next business day. All times are local Pacific Standard Time.

Federal Holidays:

The following Federal Legal Holidays are observed:

Christmas Day

Fire Danger Season:

If the Contracting Officer Representative (COR) allows the Contractor to continue work during periods of declared fire danger or season, the Contractor shall comply with all applicable state laws relating to fire prevention and with all special conditions of work as directed by the COR.

Preservation of Historical and Archeological Data:

The Historic and Archeological Data Preservation Act of 1974, provides for the preservation of historical and archeological data that might otherwise be lost as the result of alterations to the terrain caused by a federal or federally licensed activity or program.

If, in connection with operations under this contract, the Contractor, subcontractors, or the employees of any of them, discovers, encounters or becomes aware of any possible historical or archeological data, objects or sites of cultural value on the project area, such as historical ruins, graves or grave markers, fossils, or artifacts, the Contractor shall immediately suspend all operations in the vicinity of the cultural value and shall notify the Contracting Officer in writing, giving the location and nature of the findings. No objects of cultural resource value may be removed.

Where appropriate by reason of discovery, the Contracting Officer may order delays in the time of performance and/or changes in the work. If such delays and/or changes are ordered, the time of performance and contract price shall be adjusted in accordance with the Changes clause.

The Contractor will be responsible for protecting the cultural resources within the affected area from damage. In addition, the contractor will be liable for all damage to the identified cultural resources caused by their actions or the actions of their agents or representatives. The Contractor shall immediately notify the Contracting Officer or his representative if any damage occurs to any cultural resource and immediately suspend work in the area in which damage has occurred until authorized to proceed.

Contractor shall avoid operating in areas containing sensitive cultural resources within the project area. Avoidance areas within the project boundaries have been identified and these locations will be made known to the Contractor. These areas were previously marked by flagging (red and black striped) hanging on vegetation surrounding the avoidance area perimeter, but flagging has deteriorated over time and may not be visible during project implementation. In the absence of visible flagging, the Contractor is to reference mapped avoidance areas provided via PDF (Avenza) Map. These areas, including the trees and/or vegetation that defines the avoidance area boundary, are to be excluded from project work and pedestrian access. In addition to the designated cultural resource avoidance areas, vegetation immediately outside or adjacent to the avoidance areas that is at risk of falling into the footprint of the avoidance area if cut will either be avoided (not cut) or directionally felled so as to prevent the disturbance of cultural resources. Directional felling and/or additional avoidance measures outside designated avoidance areas are to occur at the discretion of the personnel responsible for conducting vegetation removal.

Wildlife Resources The contractor shall comply with seasonal restrictions in accordance with Table 2.24-3 Seasonal Restrictions and Distance Buffers for Wildlife in the 2008 Alturas Resource Management Plan (RMP). No treatments will be permitted from March 1st until June 30th.

Sensitive resource areas will be flagged and identified on maps provided at the pre-work meeting. Treatments are not permitted in these areas from March 1st until August 31st. However, if this protection measure proves inadequate, if other such areas are discovered, or if new concerns are identified the BLM may either cancel or unilaterally modify this contract to provide additional protection regardless of when such facts become known. Discovery of such areas by either party shall be promptly reported to the other party and operations will be suspended at that location until the significance or potential significance of the area is determined.

Dead trees, or snags, are to be maintained within treatment areas.

Any active raptor nest found will be reported to the Wildlife Biologist and project activities ceased within a 0.5-mile buffer until surveys indicate that project activities would not disturb nesting/breeding activities.

Sanitation and Servicing The Contractor shall take all reasonable precautions to prevent pollution of air, soil, and water by Contractor’s operations. If facilities for employees are established within the project area, they shall be operated in a sanitary manner. Contractor shall not service tractors, trucks or other equipment on BLM lands where servicing is likely to result in pollution to soil or water. Contractor shall remove from BLM lands all refuse resulting from use, servicing, repair, or abandonment of equipment. If the contractor’s operations or servicing of equipment result in pollution to soil or water, Contractor shall conduct cleanup to restore the polluted site to the satisfaction of the BLM.

Improvements The Contractor shall comply with the rules and regulations governing the operation of premises which are occupied and shall perform the contract in a manner that will not interrupt or interfere with the conduct of BLM business.

Before any camp, quarry, borrow pit, storage or service area other than shown on drawings is opened or operated on National Forest land or lands administered by the BLM, written permission shall be obtained through The BLM or Forest Service. A camp is interpreted to include the campsite or trailer parking area of any employee working on the project for Contractor. Such permission, if granted, shall be without charge to Contractor. Contractor must remove and dispose of all said improvements when no longer needed.

Protection of Improvements The Contractor shall protect roads and other improvements (such as fences, roads, trails, telephone lines, and ditches) whether designated on the project area map or not.

Protection of Improvements Not Owned by the BLM The Contractor will notify all utility companies, or other parties affected, and plans for all necessary adjustments of the public utility fixtures, pipelines, and other appurtenances affected by Contractor’s operations.

When Contractor’s operations are adjacent to properties of railway, telegraph, telephone, or power companies, or other property, work shall not begin until all necessary arrangements to prevent damage have been made by the Contractor.

The Contractor will cooperate with all owners of above-mentioned property. In the event of interruption because of accidental breakage, the Contractor shall promptly notify the proper authority, and cooperate with that authority in the restoration of service.

Protection of Land Survey Monuments The Contractor shall protect all known survey monuments, witness corners, reference monuments and bearing trees against any damage during Contractor’s operations.

PWS 8.0 Technical Exhibits and Definitions

Standard Definitions:

Physical Condition: The Physical appearance of Federal equipment or facilities that considers cracks, chips, dents, abrasions, rust, corrosion, general cleanliness, vibration, operating temperature, and discoloration and other items as identified by the COR. Physical condition may be determined by visual as well as diagnostic means.

Contracting Officer (CO): The Secretary of the Interior or designated authorized representative who is the only agent capable of signing a federal award or obligating funds.

Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR): The Contracting Officer’s designated representative as indicated in a delegation of authority letter.

Quality Assurance (QA): Surveillance of Contractor performance to determine performance requirements are met.

Performance Requirements Summary (PRS) (see Technical Exhibit below): The PRS identifies the key performance indicators of the Contract that will be evaluated by the Government to assure Contract performance standards are met by the Contractor.

Quality Control: Those actions taken by the Contractor to control the production of goods or services so that they meet the requirements of the performance work statement.

Technical Definitions:

Accessible: Definition of road access to a unit. Unit will be considered accessible when road access is within one mile of the unit.

Canopy Cover: The proportion or percentage of the forest floor or ground covered by the vertical projection of the tree crowns. See Percent Canopy Cover.

Cover, Percent: The area covered by material, tree crowns, rocks etc. as viewed vertically from above.

Crew Member: The individual responsible for performing field work aspects of the services within the contract which usually involves the use of handheld equipment (i.e., chainsaws).

Crew Supervisor: An English-speaking crew member who provides direction and supervision to fellow crew members during habitat improvement project implementation. The supervisor is responsible for work accomplishment and safely performing in accordance with the requirements of the contract.

Lek: An area where male sage-grouse display during the breeding season to attract females (also referred to as strutting ground).

Old-growth Juniper: old-growth trees as being 150 years or older. The tree may also develop a combination of the following characteristics: broad non-symmetric tops, deeply furrowed bark, twisted trunks or branches, dead branches and spike tops, large lower limbs, trunks containing narrow strips of cambium (strip-bark), hollow trunks, large trunk diameters relative to tree height, and branches covered with bright yellow green lichen (Miller et al. 2005).

Project Area: The area for treatment in this contract.

Snag: A dead tree retained to benefit wildlife.

Technical Exhibits:

EX 1: Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) Performance Work Statement (PWS)

EX 2: Maps SOW Page 5

EXHIBIT 1: QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLAN (QASP)

Task(s): Lop-and-scatter of juniper trees within identified treatment areas.

All trees designated for cutting less than eight (8) feet tall and not meeting old growth requirements must be severed. Limbs shall be looped-and-scattered and left to decompose naturally within the treatment unit.

Designated trees within the project boundaries shall be completely severed from the stump(s). No live limbs shall be left on the stump of cut trees.

The COR and/or Project Inspector (PI) will conduct government inspections. The Contractor (or designated representative) is encouraged to be present to observe inspections. Summary results will be made available on request. Government inspections will consist of:

a. Compliance Inspections Visual compliance inspections of juniper treatment work tasks will be made on a periodic basis across the project area. Such inspections are not final and do not constitute acceptance by the Government.

b. Final Inspections Final inspections for payment will be made on the completed project unit unless otherwise agreed upon in writing. Contractor shall request a final inspection. Inspection requests shall be verbal and documented within the diary or in writing and pursuant to FAR 52.246-4, shall include results of Contractor’s quality inspections. Inspections will be completed within ten (10) calendar days after the notice is received for each item. If a formal request for an item inspection is within the ten (10) working days since the previous request, the time will not start until the time for the previous inspection expires.

The Contractor will be responsible for ensuring his or her crew can identify old growth juniper to ensure it is not accidentally cut or damaged. If old growth juniper is found to be cut by mistake or willfully cut by the Contractor, the Contractor will be subject to liquidated damages. The Contractor shall pay a rate of $250.00 per tree for inadvertent cutting or willfully damaging of old growth juniper.

The contractor will be made aware of the deficiencies and documented in the COR’s diary. Deficiencies will need to be corrected within 48 hours unless the BLM representative states otherwise.

Incentives/Disincentives

a. Contractor will be required to rework the area at no additional cost to the Government

b. The Government will charge to the Contractor any additional cost of subsequent inspection of reworked area

c. Positive or negative Performance rating at the end of the contract (this will have definitive impacts on the contractor receiving additional contracts with the BLM in the future).

Disputed Inspection When formal inspection by the Government is accomplished through visual inspection, the Contractor may request re-inspection without rework if the results are unacceptable. Re-inspection must be requested in writing within 48 hours after receiving written notice of the inspection results. Re-inspection will be accomplished within ten days after receipt of the contractor's written request. The same inspection procedures will be used. The inspection pattern will be shifted so that new samples will not overlap previously inspected samples.

If re-inspection results are still unacceptable without re-work, the Contractor shall pay the actual costs incurred by the Government for the re-inspection. Actual costs will be determined using detailed logs indicating time spent, transportation utilized, etc.

Performance Work Statement (PWS)

PWS Page 5

EXHIBIT 2: MAPS

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