Blue Mile G-Z IRSC - Schedule of Items and Project Description.pdf

Blue Mile G-Z IRSC Fremont-Winema National Forest Request for Information Chiloquin Ranger District

This Request for Information is for information purposes only. No Price Proposals are being requested at this time.

SCHEDULE OF ITEMS

MANDATORY WORK ACTIVITIES:

ITEM

NO.

DESCRIPTION OF

MANDATORY WORK ACTIVITIES

UNIT

ESTIMATED

QUANTITY

UNIT

PRICE

TOTAL

Recon Project Area - Design

Implementation Plan and Preliminary

Contract Area Map

Acre 30,000 $ $

Total All Mandatory Service Items $

OPTIONAL WORK ACTIVITIES:

ITEM

NO.

DESCRIPTION OF

OPTIONAL WORK ACTIVITIES

UNIT

ESTIMATED

QUANTITY

UNIT

PRICE

TOTAL

2 Treatment Area 1

2A Design Detailed Logging Plan, Road

Analysis Plan, Service Treatment Plan, and

Treatment Area 1 Contract Area Maps

Lump

Sum

2B Layout Timber Removal Unit Perimeters Feet 0-5,280* $ $

2C Layout Timber Removal Unit Perimeters Feet 5,281-26,400* $ $

2D Layout of Retention areas - 15% of the total

Timber Removal Unit acres

Acres 0-500

2E Layout of Retention areas - 15% of the total

Timber Removal Unit acres

Acres 501-2,000

2F Clump Designation for Total Timber

Removal Acres

Acres 0-5,000

2G Clump Designation for Total Timber

Removal Acres

Acres 5,001-15,000

2H Layout Service Only Unit Perimeters Feet 0-5,280 $ $

2I Layout Service Only Unit Perimeters Feet 5,281-26,400 $ $

2J Cruise Design/Plan

Lump

Sum

2K Cruise with Final Volume Estimate

Lump

Sum

2L Cut and Remove Included Timber Acre TBD N/A N/A

2M Cut, Skid and Deck Non-Saw Timber Acre 0-5,000 $ $

2N Cut, Skid and Deck Non-Saw Timber Acre 5,001-15,000 $ $

2O Mastication Acre 0-5,000 $ $

2P Mastication Acre 5,001-15,000 $ $

2Q Road Reconstruction TBD TBD $ $

2R Road Maintenance TBD TBD $ $

2S Burning Machine/Hand Piles Acre 0-5,000 $ $

2T Burning Machine/Hand Piles Acre 5,001-15,000 $ $

2U Prescribed Burning Acre 0-5,000 $ $

2V Prescribed Burning Acre 5,001-15,000 $ $

2W Burning Landing Piles Landing 0-100 $ $

2 Treatment Area 1 - Total Cost $

3 Treatment Area 2 Sub-Items 3A-3W same as above

4 Treatment Area 3 Sub-Items 4A-4W same as above

5 Treatment Area 4 Sub-Items 5A-5W same as above

6 Treatment Area 5 Sub-Items 6A-6W same as above

7 Transport of Surplus/Excess Products Ton $ $

Total All Optional Service Items $

TIMBER/PRODUCT REMOVAL PRICE SCHEDULE TREATMENT AREA 1:

SPECIES PRODUCT QUANTITY

UNIT OF

MEASURE

MINIMUM

ACCEPTABLE

OFFER

Bid

Premium

TOTAL

OFFER

CS Saw TBD Tons TBD from

Appraisal

$ $TBD

CS Non-saw TBD Tons TBD from

Appraisal

$ $TBD

Total – All Products Treatment Area 1 $

The following write-up is not all inclusive of contract requirements. This document is intended as a summary of the overall project objectives to better inform interested contractors.

It is anticipated that this contract will be solicited in Fall of 2022 with award in spring of 2023.

Item 1 is desired to be completed by October 31, 2023. All sub-Items A-K for each Treatment

Area are expected to be completed annually with a due date of July 31 (Treatment Area 1 completed July 31, 2024) to ensure award of Timber Removal Sub-Item L by end of 4th Quarter.

It is desired that this contract be completed in its entirety ASAP to increase the pace and scale of forest restoration treatment and prevention of catastrophic wildfire.

*The use of “Stepladder Pricing” enables the Government to establish Firm-Fixed Pricing for

Optional Items where quantities are unknown. When Item 1 and Item 2a are completed and accepted by FS, the unknown quantities of other Sub-Items will be updated via contract modification based on the fixed prices established (i.e., if perimeter feet of timber unit layout is

3,000 feet, Item 2b established price will be set for 3,000 feet, if it is 6,000 feet, Item 2c price will be used). Use of only two stepladder Sub-Items in this draft Schedule of Items (SOI) is just to show the concept. Additional step Sub-Items may be included in the final SOI for better pricing.

General description of work:

The objective of this project is for the contractor to complete the end-results from NEPA handoff through final completion of the project area. Contractors shall identify what work activities are needed across all project acres to meet the desired end-result objectives that shall be presented in maps and a detailed Implementation plan prior to commencing layout. After the initial

Implementation Plan has been accepted and approved, contractors will then: layout treatment timber removal units including retention areas and clump marking or other clump retention designation; layout of non-commercial treatment units; creating a detailed logging plan with maps; completion of timber cruises for each identified Treatment Area; and complete all on the ground timber removal and service work activities.

Item 1 - Recon Project Area, Design Implementation Plan, and Preliminary Contract Area

Map:

Recon project area: Initial recon of the project area shall identify and distinguish Treatment

Areas following the objectives of the Blue Mile Decision Memo, East Hills EIS, and a supplemental instruction document detailing the project specific design criteria that will be provided at time of contract solicitation. Within the identified Treatment Areas, treatment types shall be classified as the following:

• Timber Removal treatments – xeric ponderosa pine, dry ponderosa pine, dry mixed conifer, dry lodgepole pine, moist lodgepole pine, plantation, fuel break, aspen, meadow, and areas that do not fit any of the provided prescriptions.

• Non-Commercial treatments (cut, skid, decking and other service only treatments) – within natural stands, plantation, fuel break, aspen, meadow, and areas that do not fit any of the provided prescriptions.

Implementation Plan: Create a preliminary Contract Area Map or treatment map delineating multiple Treatment Areas. Within the Treatment Areas, differentiate treatment units based on treatment and stand type. Clearly identify where Timber Removal and Non-commercial treatments overlap.

The contractor is to perform Item 1 on the entire project area (~33,000 acres). The resulting

Implementation Plan shall be divided into multiple Treatment Areas (between 3 to 4 Treatment

Areas is desired) that range from approximately 8-12 MMBF.

Sub-Items A - Design Detailed Logging Plan, Service Treatment Plan, Road Analysis Plan, and Treatment Area Contract Area Maps:

Logging Plan and Service Treatment Plan: Create detailed maps identifying each Treatment Area boundary and individual treatment units within the Treatment Area boundary. For each Timber

Removal treatment unit, the logging plan shall follow the example in Attachment 2 identifying items such as but not limited to: haul routes to nearest appraisal point, temporary road locations

(i.e., length and average grade for temporary roads, new and existing temporary road locations), landings, general skid trail patterns, average slope to landings, estimated number of landings, average skid distance including adverse, and favorable skidding, and identify any forest resources of concern to be protected. Service treatment plan and maps shall identify type of treatment, unit boundaries, and areas of resource concern.

Contract Area Maps shall show treatment unit acres and linear measurement of hard-line perimeter layout. Virtual, discernable, or hard-line boundaries must be differentiated.

Upon completion and acceptance of sub-Item A for each Treatment Area, the UOM for sub-

Items B-I will be populated via contract modification. Prior to populating Sub-Items D and E, contractor and Forest Service will determine the proposed treatment units needing retention areas.

Silviculture Prescription and Timber Designation: It is intended that DxP will be utilized for designating timber. See attachment 5 - silviculture prescriptions for treatment unit designation.

Road Analysis Plan: Create a detailed map identifying the road maintenance plan per the Forest

Commercial Road Rules and Road Maintenance Specifications that will be provided at time of contract solicitation. Plan will identify where road reconstruction is needed such as culvert replacement and ditch re-establishment.

Sub-Items B through I - Layout units:

Layout of Timber Removal and Non-commercial treatment units following the Forest Product

Accountability Plan (Attachment 1). This attachment has specific information on which boundaries require flagged/tagged/painted/GPS vs. virtual boundaries. Contractor is to maximize use of virtual boundaries relative to the direction in this attachment.

Delineate treatment units based on treatment types, prescription requirements and work activities following specific NEPA design criteria. There are no restrictions on size of treatment units.

Layout Retention Areas: Delineate boundaries of retention areas within Timber Removal treatment units. Boundaries will be flagged/tagged for heritage sites following the standards in

Attachment 1. (A heritage map will be available to contractors during the solicitation period and provided to the selected contractor for avoidance and inclusion into the layout). All other retention areas will be virtual following the standards in Attachment 1.

Retention areas are described as: un-thinned forest covering 15-20% of each treatment area scattered across the area in patches ranging from ½ to 5 acres in size with an average size of 2.5 acres (1/4 to 2 acres in size in lodgepole stands). Ideally, retention patches will be comprised of dense patches of young, healthy, well-growing trees with full crowns. When possible, mature, and old-growth trees (particularly pine) should be excluded from retention areas. Skidding in retention areas would be avoided to the extent possible during implementation.

Heritage sites meet the requirements for retention areas if they are well distributed across the treatment unit and meet the retention area size requirement. For example, if a 100-acre treatment area had a 20-acre heritage site, utilizing all 20 acres to meet this requirement would not meet the intent of the retention patches. Retention areas are not required in the following treatment types:

fuel breaks and meadows.

Sub-Item G and F Clump Designation:

Following guidelines in Attachment 1, mark or otherwise designate medium and large tree clumps as described in Attachment 3 within xeric ponderosa pine, dry ponderosa pine, dry mixed conifer, and plantation treatment areas. Create map of location and size of clumps as part of the contractor quality control and FS inspection.

Sub-Items J and K Cruise:

Cruise Design/Plan: Design and plan a cruise for each Treatment Area for Timber Removal treatment units meeting minimum Forest Service Handbook and Manual direction and standards that will be provided at time of contract solicitation. All cruise plans will be designed as

SCALED sales and will be required to meet a sampling error for sawtimber product of ≤ 30%.

All sample error calculations will be at a confidence level of 95% (t-value equal to (=) 2). The maximum sampling error for any one stratum is ≤ 50%.

Cruise: Meet the designated sale-as-a-whole for each Treatment Area and strata sampling errors as stated in the cruise plan. Refer to WO and regional procedures and methods for product volume estimates. If these errors are not met and additional samples can be obtained in an unbiased manner, supplement the cruise to correct deficiency. Major sample groups should have a minimum of 20 measure trees.

Determination of Advertised Rates:

When the volume estimate from the completed and accepted cruise (meeting minimum Forest

Service Handbook and Manual direction) for each Treatment Area is finalized, the Forest Service shall conduct an appraisal to establish the advertised rate. Advertised rates will not be established until after contract award. Appraisal entries such as skidding distances and hauling distances shall be obtained from the detailed logging plan and maps produced by contractor. Advertised

Rates shall be determined by FS using standard Handbook and Manual guidelines, will be final and non-negotiable. Contractors will be allowed to add bid premiums to their price proposals that will be evaluated as part of the best value determination for award.

If contractor does not agree with the advertised rates established by FS, that Treatment Area

Option Item for Cut and Removal of Included Timber and all associated Optional service work

Items will not be awarded. This work will then be solicited in a new contract open for competition.

Once Forest Service has conducted the appraisal to establish Advertised Rates for included products and Sub-Item L for Cut and Remove Included Timber is awarded via contract modification, timber removal shall be completed within two years.

Each Treatment Area will be added via future modifications as “new” award of timber with advertised rates specific to the Treatment Area. Tracking and accountability of forest products for each Treatment Area shall be kept separate.

Service Work Sub-Items M through W:

All service work Sub-Items will be awarded with the Included Timber of each Treatment Area.

All burning activities will be completed under the burn plan written and approved by FS and will be overseen by a qualified FS burn boss.

Option Item 7 - Transport of Surplus Products:

Contractors may propose for a subsidy to transport products via rail or truck when considered surplus or excess to the local markets. Timing of products entering the market may be considered as a factor.

Surplus/excess products are defined as: timber products that local industries and/or markets either cannot process prior to deterioration, are limited in capacity, and/or markets do not exist.

The main objectives of this are to:

1. Remove hazardous fuels from NFS lands that are otherwise difficult and costly to dispose of and to meet the desired end-results of fuels treatment projects.

2. Establish and/or modernize the existing infrastructure for transporting surplus forest products via rail.

3. Subsidize the removal of surplus products to new, emerging, under-utilized, and/or suppressed markets and industries.

Specifications of transport:

1. All timber products may be available for subsidized removal.

2. Products may be delivered by truck or rail.

3. 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 in attachment titled “Insect and Disease Risk Potential”.

4. All logs being transferred outside of ecological bug/pest zones shall be debarked. Any number of visually separate and clearly distinct small pieces of bark may remain if they are:

a. less than 3 cm in width (regardless of the length) or

b. greater than 3 cm in width with the total surface area of an individual piece of bark less than 50 square cm and

c. no more than 2 percent of the surface of all logs per rail car load may retain bark, with no single log retaining bark on more than 5 percent of its surface.

5. Products shall be scaled prior to debarking and being loaded on rail cars.

6. Title Transfer of products will occur at time of scaling.