C04 Attachment_ 2 Herbicide Broadcast SOW.pdf

STATEMENT OF WORK

Broadcast Herbicide for Allegheny National Forest

DIVISION 100 – GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS

110 – Scope of Contract

The Contractor shall provide all labor, equipment, materials, transportation, and supervision necessary to apply approved herbicides to designated understory vegetation areas within the Allegheny National Forest during July, August, and September. All work shall be performed by licensed Pennsylvania pesticide applicators certified in Category 05 (Forest Pest Control), using a contractor-supplied, ground-based high-volume sprayer, and completed in full compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and performance requirements.

120 – Description and Location

121 – The areas to be sprayed are located on the Bradford and Marienville Ranger Districts of the Allegheny National Forest in Warren, Forest, Elk, McKean counties.

122 – The areas are usually less than 100 acres and greater than 3 acres in size, although some units may be smaller or larger than this. Most areas have been recently harvested and have logging slash and treetops on the ground.

123 – The general location of and access to each area will be shown on a project area map of each area. These maps will be provided at the pre-work conference and with subsequent task orders. There is usually road access to the units, although sometimes the roads may be blocked with dirt mounds. If these mounds are damaged or removed, by the contractor accessing the unit, the contractor shall repair or replace them.

124 – Interfering understory vegetation includes fern, grass, beech, birch, and striped maple. Each unit will have one or more of these target species identified for treatment, as well as the prescribed herbicide (glyphosate only, sulfometuron methyl only, or glyphosate and sulfometuron methyl mixed) to be applied to treat these target species.

130 – Contractor Furnished Property, Services, Responsibilities and Obligations

The contractor shall furnish all equipment (except for that listed as Government Furnished Property), labor, materials, herbicide, transportation, supervision, and incidentals necessary to apply herbicide in accordance with this contract.

131 – Contractor Supplied Sprayer – As specified in contractor’s proposal.

132 – Project Supervisor – The Contractor shall designate in writing one person on the job to act as the Project Supervisor, representing the company in all contractual matters that require prompt attention. This person should be familiar with all equipment being used and shall attend any pre-work meetings.

Before starting each day’s operations, this person should coordinate all activities between the Government and the Contractor including, but not limited to, logistics, equipment use, and daily plans and schedules. The project supervisor shall notify the USFS district lead inspector early in the day (by 8 AM) where they plan to work that day, or when they do not plan to work. Should weather conditions (e.g., rain or wind) preclude herbicide application, the decision to spray or not shall be decided by the designated Forest Service inspector or COR.

133 – The contractor may choose to utilize more than one herbicide spray machine at once, with concurrence from the COR at least 24 hours in advance.

134 – Certification – The contractor shall have both a current business pesticide applicator license (category A, forest pest control) and have a representative on the site to supervise the mixing, loading, and application of herbicide who holds a current pesticide use applicator license (category 05, forest pest control) in the State of Pennsylvania. Copies of business and individual pesticide applicator licenses in appropriate category must be provided to the Forest Service by June 1 annually.

135 – All work under this contract shall be performed in a skillful and professional manner.

The Contracting Officer may require, in writing, that the Contractor remove from the work any employee the Contracting Officer deems unprofessional.

136 – Flagging – The contractor shall use only biodegradable or photodegradable flagging.

140 – Government Furnished Property

141 – Radios – The government will supply if requested, King portable radios, batteries, and chargers for the contractor to use for communication between the sprayer operator, crewmembers, and Forest Service personnel while spraying.

142 – Spray block maps

142 – Spray block shapefiles

DIVISION 200 – TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

210 – Equipment Requirements

To avoid contamination of areas not scheduled for treatment, Contractor must ensure that the spray system has no leaks and does not have excessive dripping from the nozzles.

220 – Herbicide

221 – The contractor shall furnish the required quantities of glyphosate (approved for aquatic use and labeled for forestry site preparation) (example trade names Glypro®, Rodeo®, Accord Concentrate®, or Foresters®) and sulfometuron methyl herbicide (labeled for forestry site preparation) (example trade names Oust® and OustXP®) and a non-ionic surfactant using nonylphenol ethoxylates plus isopropanol and free fatty acids in a 90% active formulation. Example surfactants approved for use on the

ANF include Timberland 90®, Chemsurf 90®, Alenza 90®, Red River 90®, Red River Adherent 90®.

222 – The herbicide carrier will be water obtained from approved domestic water systems or other approved fresh water sources. The designated Forest Service inspector or Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) may approve, on occasion, water drafting zones to supplement domestic water trucked to treatment areas, if it is convenient to application operations and the designated inspector or COR approves the drafting site prior to drafting. The Allegheny National Forest reserves the right to reject any water drafting zones it regards as unsuitable. Any water supply must be approved by the Forest Service, have no visible suspended sediments.

223 – Additives other than a non-ionic surfactant may not be used.

224 – Due to changes in herbicide labeling and product manufacturing, the contractor shall notify the Forest Service by June 1 annually of the herbicide and surfactant trade names that they intend to use. The Forest Service will approve use of these products in advance of application.

230 – Application Rate

231 – Glyphosate shall be applied at the rate of 1-pound active ingredient per acre (for example if the Accord® formulation is applied, 0.8 quarts [26 ounces] of Accord® product per acre), and Sulfometuron Methyl shall be applied at the rate of 1.5 ounces active ingredient per acre (for example if the Oust XP® formulation is applied, 2 ounces of Oust XP® product per acre). Surfactant will be applied with glyphosate at the rate of 1 pint (16 ounces) per acre.

The application rate shall not exceed 120% of this rate on average of all units treated.

On individual units where the vegetation is very thick or tall, the application rate shall not exceed 150% of the above stated rate.

232 – Sometimes portions of the treatment area will not be able to be traversed by a ground-based sprayer because of steep slopes, pipelines, or large rocks. If these inaccessible areas are less than 1 acre in size they are considered inclusions and may be left untreated (determined by the designated Forest Service inspector or COR).

233 -- Herbicide solution (water plus herbicide specified at rates listed in specification

231) will be applied at the rate of 25 gallons per acre, within limits of ± 20% on average of all units, or -25% to +50% on any one unit.

240 – Performance Requirements

241 -- Equipment Calibration and Spray Characterization. The Contractor shall be required to calibrate to the specified application rate and characterize the spray system. Forest Service personnel will observe this activity, which will occur at a mutually agreed upon location, date, and time before work begins on this project, and during the project if required by the Forest Service. Water shall be used for this exercise.

242 -- Mixing – Mixing shall occur on site or within 6 hours of treatment, whenever feasible. Sites selected for mixing, loading, and cleaning of equipment shall be located to prevent contaminating streams, ponds, or spring seeps. The Forest Service will approve all such locations.

243 -- Prior to herbicide application on the ANF, the contractor shall ensure all tanks and application equipment are clean of residual herbicide or material from other applications. When changing from application of a blend of Glyphosate and Oust (Sulfometuron Methyl) to only Oust, the contractor will ensure all residual herbicide is removed from machine or used prior to applying Oust only.

244 -- Prior to starting application on ANF lands, all herbicide application equipment will be visually inspected to ensure it is free of soil, seeds, vegetative matter, or other debris that could contain or hold seeds. The contractor shall not move herbicide application equipment which last operated in an area that is infested with one or more invasive species of concern (identified prior to operations by the Forest Service) into a treatment block without using whatever cleaning measures are necessary to ensure the equipment is free of noxious weeds. Disassembly of equipment components or specialized inspection tools are not required.

The contractor must advise a Forest Service representative what measures were taken to clean the equipment following use on non-ANF lands or an area infested with an invasive species and arrange for Forest Service inspection prior to use of equipment. Equipment shall be considered free of soils, seeds, or other such debris when a visual inspection does not disclose such material. If the contractor desires to clean the equipment on National Forest land, the contractor and Forest Service shall agree on locations for the cleaning and control of off-site impacts, if any.

245-- Capacity – Contractor must be able to treat up to 50 acres per day, or up to 1,000 acres in a 3-week time frame, weather permitting.

250 Application

Forest Service personnel have marked spray area boundaries with flagging or paint. In accordance with the ANF Land and Resource Management Plan Standards and Guidelines, the following procedures are required:

251 Before beginning treatment in an area, the COR or designated inspector and the

Contractor’s representative will discuss resource features requiring protection, buffers, mitigation measures, and spray patterns. In some cases, the COR or designated inspector and the Contractor’s representative may walk through the area to review special conditions or areas to avoid during spraying.

252 A government inspector will be on site during application.

253 Seeded roads, landings, or gravel pits will not be treated with herbicides.

254 When spraying within 75 feet of outer boundaries of units or buffer strips, equipment shall travel adjacent to the perimeter, with spray directed away from boundary whenever possible.

255 Buffer areas or places where spraying is not permitted will be identified by the COR or inspector prior to beginning a unit and communicated with the contractor on site. The boundaries of these buffer areas may or may not have been painted or flagged. Minimum required buffer distances for water quality are as follows:

A - 25 feet (glyphosate) or 50 feet (sulfometuron methyl) on each side of perennial streams, impoundments, flowing intermittent streams, seeps, springs, wet areas with no defined outlet (standing water), vernal pools, or intermittent streams with flowing water the day of spraying.

B - 10 feet wide along each side of dry intermittent streams, dry springs, and dry seeps.

C - 100 feet for equipment travel; 25-foot buffer for spraying around vernal pools.

256 Contractor shall avoid damaging saw timber and pole timber crop trees, or snags, with the spray equipment.

257 Application of spray material shall be confined to the designated spray area.

258 Some units may be treated on weekdays only because of safety concerns caused by access to these units on ATV trails, proximity to private camps, recreation use or other reasons.

259 Sequence of areas to be sprayed: The government reserves the right to determine the sequence of blocks to be treated.

260 – Climatic Limitations

Spraying operations should not occur when any of the following conditions exist, and as determined by the Forest Service designated inspector and/or COR:

261 The wind exceeds 10 mph in the open or 4 mph under the canopy, or

262 Rain, fog, or morning dew causes moisture to drip from the foliage, or

263 Air turbulence (thermal updrafts, etc.) is so great at the spray area as to seriously affect the normal spray pattern, or

264 Significant rainfall is anticipated during spray operations, as determined by the COR, or designated Forest Service inspector on site.

265 Respray for Unexpected Rain – Contractor may be required to respray any area or portion of an area treated where rain falls within 4 hours of the time of treatment.

Compensation will be made to the contractor for this respray at the calculated per acre rate for the area within which the respray occurs, using the unit bid price and the acreage specified in the Schedule of Items section of this contact.

266 The government reserves the right to suspend or cancel spray operations due to unfavorable climatic conditions at any time.

270 Records

The Contractor shall maintain an accurate record of the amount of herbicide and solution used on each area. After completing each unit, the Contractor’s Project Supervisor will compare their records with the information on the Stand Data Sheet (maintained by the Government) and then sign this form if the information is correct.

280 Safety

281 The Contractor or their Project Supervisor shall report all accidents or incidents associated with this contract to the Contracting Officer within 24 hours. This report shall contain description, cause, and future actions contemplated to avoid future occurrences.

282 The Contractor shall comply with all Federal and State regulations for spraying herbicide.

283 All persons who may encounter the spray solution shall wear protective clothing, consistent with that specified on the herbicide label.

284 The contractor will provide soap and water for personnel to wash with on-the-job site.

290 Accidents, Incidents and Spills

291 Accidents, as used throughout this contract shall mean destruction or substantial damage to the motorized spray equipment, the spray vehicle, or the service truck, and minor, serious, or fatal injury to personnel.

292 Incidents, as used throughout this contract shall mean any mishap, malfunction, or situation involving equipment or personnel, which results in a deviation from standard procedures or has the potential of resulting in an accident or injury.

293 Herbicide Spills. The Contractor must have a spill prevention and clean-up plan approved by the Contracting Officer’s Representative by July 1 annually. Herbicide lost through spills greater than 5 gallons of diluted product, or 1 quart of undiluted product must be reported to the Contracting Officer’s Representative and the appropriate state and federal agencies.

294 Security – The Contractor shall be responsible for the security of all herbicides, equipment, and materials furnished for this project.

295 Herbicide and Container Disposal. Contractor shall dispose of any excess herbicide and used herbicide containers in accordance with the label and Pennsylvania programs such as Chemsweep. Recycling herbicide containers is strongly encouraged.

DIVISION 300 – MEASUREMENT AND PAYMENT

310 – Measurement

Acreage is determined by a survey using a computer traverse program or GPS satellite mapping. This measurement shall be utilized for payment purposes, unless the actual acreage on the ground for a given area varies by more than 15% from the estimated acreage for that unit, as described below in Specification 320.

320 – Suspected errors in measurements

If the contractor requests a remeasurement of any area and the results of the re-measurement show that the acreage is more than 15% different from original measurement, the government will pay at the unit price for the number of acres shown on the re-measurement and the cost of the remeasurement itself. If, however, the re-measurement shows the acreage to be within the 15% allowable variation, payment will be for the original acreage for that unit, and the contractor will pay for the cost of the remeasurement.

The Forest Service will determine the method of remeasurement. The Forest Service will perform all remeasurements.

330 – Inclusions

The acreages shown in the Schedule of Items have not been reduced to account for inclusions of 1 acre or less which are unsuitable for spraying due to topography, soil conditions, standing water, or buffer strips. Though some of these inclusions exist within the project areas, no reduction will be made in the contract payment to account for them.

Generally, all areas within units will be treated except for inclusions mapped as no spray areas.

340 – Payment

Payment will be made at the contract unit price for: 1) each acre (bid items 0001 - 0003) acceptably sprayed with herbicide, with no accidents or herbicide spills that require reporting to the Contracting Officer; and 2) each gallon/pound (bid items 0004 – 0006) of chemical applied. Payments will be processed at least monthly.

SECTION E—INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

52.246-4 Inspection of Services – Fixed-Price (AUG 1996)

SECTION F—DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

The first ordering period will run from 13 July 2026 through 31 December 2026. All subsequent ordering periods will run from 1 January through 31 December each year, weather permitting.

The contractor shall be prepared to begin spraying at the beginning of August. This earlier start date allows time for equipment setup, calibration, and, when applicable, the initiation of treatments scheduled for July. Failure to begin work on the scheduled start date may result in immediate termination for default, without the issuance of a cure notice. This right to terminate shall take precedence over any other clause in this contract.

ORDER OF WORK

Contractor is required to spray in the following order:

The contractor may treat units identified as “pre-emergent.” Herbicide applications will target grasses and ferns. Treatments should occur when soil temperatures exceed 50 degrees, weather conditions are favorable, and before green-up.

The contractor may treat units identified as having only fern, grass, and beech as the target species.

In the month of August, the contractor will begin treating units identified as “August” units. These units may be treated through the end of August. Treatments may include applications of glyphosate alone or tank mixes of glyphosate and sulfometuron methyl.

Finally, the contractor will treat units that may not be treated until September 1 or after Labor Day weekend. These include, but are not limited to:

Areas where seedlings are present Areas where sulfometuron methyl (Oust®) alone is sufficient to control competing vegetation Areas with high levels of summer public use Units requiring treatment after Labor Day due to prescribed mitigation measures

After commencement of operations, the contractor shall continue working until all units are completed within the time frames specified above. Units available for treatment in July are typically limited, and any quantities are generally small. There may be a break between the completion of August units and the start of September units.

The Forest Service reserves the right to discontinue operations at any time due to weather, climatic conditions, resource concerns, recreation conflicts, or if the optimal treatment window has passed.

SECTION G—CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION DATA

A post award conference with the successful offeror is optional. It may be scheduled within 20 days after the date of contract award. The conference will be held virtually.

DESIGNATION OF CONTRACTING OFFICER'S REPRESENTATIVE

The Contracting Officer will designate a Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) at the time of award.

The COR is responsible for administering the performance of work under this contract. In no event, however, will any understanding, agreement, modification, change order, or other matter deviating from the terms of this contract be effective or binding upon the Government unless formalized by proper contractual documents executed by the Contracting Officer prior to completion of the contract.

On all matters that pertain to the contract terms the contractor must communicate with the Contracting Officer. Whenever, in the opinion of the Contractor, the COR requests effort outside the scope of the contract, the Contractor should so advise the COR. If the COR persists and there still exists a disagreement as to proper contractual coverage, the contracting officer should be notified immediately, preferably in writing if time permits. Proceeding with work without proper contractual coverage could result in nonpayment or necessitate submittal of a contract claim.

INVOICING

All invoices must be submitted through the Department of Treasury’s Invoice Processing Platform (IPP).

Additional information is available at https://www.ipp.gov. Vendors are required to register at https://www.ipp.gov/vendors/enrollment in order to submit invoices for this project.

The “Submit Invoice-to” address for all USDA orders is the Department of Treasury’s Invoice Processing Platform (IPP). All invoices shall be submitted online via the electronic IPP system. Use of IPP for invoice submission is a mandatory requirement established by the U.S. Department of Treasury.

SECTION H—SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

(a) The Contractor shall assign the following key personnel to this contract: Project Supervisor and Licensed Pennsylvania Commercial Pesticide Applicator.

(b) During the first ninety (90) days of performance, 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 fifteen (15) calendar days of any such event and provide the information required under paragraph (c) below. After the initial 90-day period, the Contractor shall submit the information required under paragraph (c) to the Contracting Officer at least fifteen (15) days prior to making any permanent substitutions.

(c) For all proposed substitutions, the Contractor shall provide: • A detailed explanation of the circumstances necessitating the substitution

A complete résumé for each proposed substitute shall be no more than 1–2 pages in length and shall exclude unnecessary detail.

Any additional information requested by the Contracting Officer

Proposed substitutes shall possess qualifications comparable to those of the individual being replaced. The Contracting Officer will notify the Contractor within fifteen (15) calendar days after receipt of all required information regarding the decision on the proposed substitution. The contract will be modified to reflect any approved changes to key personnel.