Attach1_SOW_final_kf.pdf

Project: Elm Creek Hay Feeding

Solicitation Number: L15PS0274

Issuing Office: BLM Nevada State Office

Location: Elm Creek Wild Horse and Burro Center (Nebraska)

STATEMENT OF WORK

WILD HORSE AND BURRO CENTER AT ELM CREEK, NEBRASKA

FEEDING CONTRACT

C.1 BACKGROUND

a. Wild horses and burros on public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management

(BLM) and 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 Wild Horse and Burro Center at Elm Creek (EC) is the primary holding facility for wild horses and burros making there way to private homes across the United States through the

Adopt-A- Horse program. Routinely, EC receives animals from western facilities and conversely ships them to adoption locations around the mid-west, southern, and eastern United States. The facility maintains throughout the year 400-500 animals on a daily basis. In addition, EC receives wild horses to rest overnight from western facilities going to Long-term holding pastures in the mid-west.

C.2 OBJECTIVE

The objective of this contract is to procure services for the feeding of these animals as they arrive from the western facilities and await transport to adoption locations around the country or long-term holding pastures. EC is a permanent year-round holding facility requiring daily feeding of the animals residing on the facility.

C.3 GENERAL SERVICES

a. The Contractor shall provide sufficient personnel and equipment to assure the daily feeding on average of 400-500 animals 365 days a year, to include all unloading of large round bale hay shipments that arrive at EC from the hay contractor, which is expected to be several loads a month. Hay deliveries may occur more than once a month, depending on the number of animals being maintained at the facility, animal and weather conditions and hay contractor delivery needs. Approximately, 200 tons of hay will be shipped per month, and shipments will include large round bales and small square bales.

(1) Contractor Furnished Equipment Required:

(a) As a minimum, the contractor will provide a tractor or loader with a round-bale grapple loader capable of transporting round bales to the necessary feeders on the facility. The tractor will be required to have front assist capability because of the steep grades and slippery conditions during wet times. Conditions at the facility can become very slippery and this requirement is necessary for the safety of the contract employees, as well as, the facility fences and ability to get hay to the animals.

(b) The contractor provided tractor will remain on the facility 7 days a week to ensure that in the case of bad weather the tractor will be available to the facility to feed horses and not need to be transported to the facility in poor weather conditions. On occasion, with the approval of the Contracting

Officer’s Representative (COR), the tractor may leave the premises for maintenance or fueling.

(2) Optional Contractor Furnished Equipment:

(a) A pickup truck to deliver small square bales to the required feeders is optional but recommended due to the ease of driving next to the feeders and delivering the small square bales to the feeders.

b. The facility consists of 9 large outside pens and 21 smaller pens. The outside pens are used to house the majority of the animals and can house 50-80 animals per pen. The outside pens have movable, large round-bale feeders. The smaller inside pens consist of 10 pens used for animals being ready for shipment or adoption events. Five of the smaller pens are used for BLM saddle horses or animals requiring special attention. The smaller pens have hanging feeders requiring the use of small square bales and several have round-bale feeders which can be used. There are also 6 isolation pens used to house sick or injured animals and have permanent feeders requiring the feeding of small square bales.

c. It is anticipated that the feeding services for the wild horses and burros will require at least two contract personnel, one to operate the front-end loader tractor and one to operate the pickup on a daily basis, and a second person to open and close gates. The contract personnel will be required to unload all shipments of the large round bales of hay that arrive at the facility, and to haul the large round-bales using the contractor-provided tractor/loader to the large outside pens from a central holding area. In addition, the contractors will need to haul small square bales from a central storage area to the small pens using the contractor provided pickup truck or tractor/loader.

It is anticipated that one contractor employee would drive the vehicles and the other would open gates and off-load the small square bales into the feeders. As for the unloading of the shipments of the round bales of hay delivered by the hay contractor, it is anticipated that the contractor will need to provide a tractor operator for the contractor provided tractor. The feeding contractor, the hay contractor, and the BLM COR shall coordinate all delivery times to ensure that hay is delivered and unloaded in a timely and efficient manner.

d. The safety and well-being of the Contractor's personnel performing these feeding services shall be the sole responsibility of the Contractor. The behavior/conduct of the Contractor's personnel shall be the full responsibility 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 Project Inspector (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 to include but not be limited to fluid levels, operation of safety equipment, etc.

C.4 SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

a. The Contractor shall feed the animals the quantity of hay and supplemental feed necessary to satisfy the animal's nutritional needs. The hay requirement for adult horses is 25 pounds of hay daily. The requirements for supplemental feed are a grain mixture for foals and weanlings at the rate of approximately 2 pounds daily per weanling and 1 pound per nursing foal. The feeding requirement for an adult burro is 12 pounds of hay 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 9 large outside pens, this will be 15 adult horses per large round bale and 20 weanlings per large round bale. The smaller pen feeders will be fed at the direction of the PI or

COR.

d. Any feed supplements that are required by the COR will be fed in the troughs provided. The supplemental feed bunks will be moved and fed by the contractor in a well spaced pattern to allow animal access to the supplemental feed.

e. In the event that the Contractor notices any animals in distress (i.e., sick; 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.

f. 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 within the hours of 8 a.m. to 12 noon p.m. All duties are performed out-of-doors and subject to a wide variety of climatic conditions from below 0 degrees in the winter to over 100 degrees in the summer.

C.5 RESPONSIBILITIES OF BLM

a. The BLM will provide the large round bales, small square bales of hay, and the supplemental feed necessary to feed the animals on the facility.

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) Amount of supplemental feed to go to each pen.

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

c. If necessary (e.g., when unexpected loads of animals arrive, when horses are sorted into different pens than where designated that morning, when animals consume 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.