RCW Raking BPA Solictation 12363N21Q4001.docx

USDA, Forest Service, Stewardship Branch RCW Raking on The Francis Marion National Forest Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) 12363N21Q4001

The objective of this Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) is to set up multiple agreements for Red Cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) Raking of cavity trees on the Francis Marion NF, South Carolina. These agreements will be good for a period of 5 years (date of award = 5 years).

The USDA Forest Service intends to award no more than three (3) Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) from this combined synopsis/solicitation.

As needed, raking will be acquired by placing calls against a BPA. The contractor is responsible for following the SOW attached to this solicitation. Each order becomes a binding contract at acceptance of the order by telephone or email or failure to reject the order within two (2) working days after notice.

In order for a BPA to be awarded to a Contractor, the Contractor shall be current in the System of Award Management (SAM system) https://www.sam.gov. If you do not have a DUNs number or are not current in SAM, PTAC within your state can help you with registering and/or updating your account. PTAC website https://www.aptac-us.org/find-a-ptac/

PLACING ORDERS AGAINST THE BPA:

Phone (less than $2,500) or email (over $2,500) orders will be placed against this agreement. Authorized users will place orders and provide information needed to identify work area and requirements to the specific call to the appropriate vendor. U.S. Forest Service authorized personnel and the contractor are required to maintain a log of services.

For orders over $2500, Payment will be made at BPA call completion by Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) after vendor submits invoice in the Invoice Platform Process system (IPP) www.ipp.gov.

For orders less than $2500, the vendor can be paid by EFT through IPP or by Third-party payment (Credit card). *EFT takes about 20 days after invoice submitted/approved.

The TOTAL ordering capacity for ALL BPAs issued is not limited. However, each BPA shall be valid for up to a period of five years. Each call off the BPA cannot exceed $45,000.

Offeror’s submitting prices should refer to the Attached Schedule of Items, Specifications, and Requirements. Prices submitted shall remain in effect for one full year from date of award. After the initial year and subsequent years after, offer’s new price quote must be sent to the Contracting Officer prior to the year ending of the agreement or the prior year’s price will remain in effect (due to CO by day of award each year).

The NAICS code assigned to this project is 115310 (Support activities for Forestry) Size standard $8.0 million. The PSC code is F099.

EXTENT OF OBLIGATION - The Government is obligated only to the extent of authorized purchases actually made under this BPA by authorized individuals. Funds are obligated when an authorized BPA Order is placed pursuant to this BPA. Each authorized purchaser is obligated only to the extent of the obligation of the issued BPA order that is actually placed under this BPA.

PURCHASE LIMITATIONS - Individual orders under this BPA shall not exceed $45,000.

ORDER OFFICIALS – All individuals designated as authorized Ordering Officials will be provided to the BPA holders at time of award.

52.212-2 Commercial Item Evaluation Factors Non-cost Factor 1 – Meet Minimum Requirements Factor 2 – Past Performance, to include Prior Experience in raking RCW Trees.

Cost or Price Factors Factor 3 – Price Evaluation: (Best Value)

Company Information:

RFQ 12363N21Q4001

Name of Company (please print):

DUN’s Number:

Printed Name of Company Agent:

Signature of Company Agent:

Date:

Phone Number:

Email Address:

Schedule of Items

This is for a five-year Blanket Purchase Agreement. Typical projects range from 400 to 600 trees per call. Unit price will be for each tree. This amount will be multiplied by number of required trees on the call.

Year Description Quantity Unit Price

RETURN TO:

E-mail: theresa.peterson@usda.gov Phone: (406) 329-3428

STATEMENT OF WORK

Section 1 – General

The purpose of this contract is to protect the Threatened and Endangered Red Cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) during prescribed burn operations. The RCW inhabits live longleaf and loblolly pine trees. The bird protects its home from predators by pecking the trees to produce sap. The sap is very volatile, in order to protect the tree from prescribed fire, the individual trees need to be raked clean of underbrush and vegetation within a ten (10’) foot radius circle and vegetation dispersed outside of the circle. The proposed contract is located on the Francis Marion National Forest, which is located 30 miles North of Charleston, South Carolina. The Francis Marion National Forest comprises of 260,000 acres. The project area will be within the proclamation area of the National Forest and includes Berkeley and Charleston counties. The forest is divided into compartments and there are over 200 compartments within the forest boundaries. Descriptive compartment maps will be provided to the contractor along with a Forest map. The RCW trees are generally identified by two white painted bands on the trunk of the tree. There is the possibility that some RCW trees are new and may not have the white bands on the trees. The trees needing to be raked of vegetation will be identified by bright pink flagging and a GPS coordinate on a data sheet. Access to the RCW trees will also be flagged in bright pink flagging for ease of entry and exit. Forest vegetation and underbrush can range from one foot in height to four feet in height this is dependent upon the frequency of prescribed burns within the compartment.

The contract will be a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) contract with a base year plus four option years. Typical calls will consist of raking 400-600 RCW trees within 60 calendar days after the notice to proceed has been awarded and may vary from call to call. The statement of work specifications consists of cutting, raking and removing all brush, small trees, herbaceous vegetation and pine needles within a ten (10’) foot radius away from the RCW cavity tree (see Section 2 Specifications). The contractor will be required to use hand tools or power equipment to achieve the statement of work specifications. No wheeled equipment will be allowed near an RCW tree or colony. The contractor may use ATV’s or UTV’s on gated woods roads to access RCW trees. Recreational vehicles must stay on designated road systems.

The Contractor shall provide all labor, equipment, materials, supplies and services to rake and clear around the RCW Cavity trees. The contractor shall develop a plan of operation to accomplish the statement of work and organize and direct equipment and personnel needed to fully accomplish the contract.

The contractor shall provide a hand held GPS unit to locate cavity trees. The GPS unit needs to be accurate within 50 feet.

Section 2-Specifications

Raking and Clearing Specifications

1. Cut, rake and remove all brush, small trees, herbaceous vegetation and pine needles within a ten (10’) foot radius away from the RCW cavity tree.

2. Cut brush and small trees at ground level.

3. Remove all debris within the ten (10’) foot radius circle by raking or blowing. Scatter debris outside the cleared circle.

4. Rake a one (1’) foot wide band, down to mineral soil, around the base of the RCW tree. This is critical for the RCW tree that has sap to the ground.

5. Avoid root damage of the RCW Cavity Tree by not digging into the soil and root zone.

6. Scatter cuttings and pine straw to prevent piles of debris around the edge of the cleared zone.

7. No large equipment will be parked in the colony site.

8. Any tree that is cut will be felled away from the cavity tree to avoid damage to the cavity tree.

Section 3 - Government Furnished Property.

Section 4 - Contractor Furnished Unique Services, Items and Property.

GPS unit accurate within 50 feet

Section 5 – QA Plan

Task/ Subtask Quality Standard Acceptable Quality Level Means of Measurement Incentive/Deduction

CONTRACTOR QUALITY CONTROL

The Contractor, not the Government, is responsible for management and quality control actions to meet the terms of this contract. The role of the Government is quality assurance to ensure contract standards are met.

Records of quality inspections shall be kept and made available to the Government throughout the performance period and for the period after contract completion until final payment is made under this contract.

GOVERNMENT QUALITY ASSURANCE

Quality assurance will be performed by the Government during the contract at regular intervals. Methods may include visual survey, review of customer complaints, and review of contractor quality control documents. Deduction for work may include rework at no cost to the Government.

Terms and Conditions The full text of FAR provisions or clauses may be accessed electronically at https://www.acquisition.gov/ The following contract clauses apply to this acquisition:

FAR 52.212-4, “Contract Terms and Conditions–Commercial Items”.

FAR 52.212-5, “Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders”

The following subparagraphs of FAR 52.212-5 are applicable:

· 52.204-25, Prohibition on Contracting for Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment.

· 52.219-6 Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside.

· 52.219-28 Post-Award Small Business Program Representation.

· 52.222-3 Convict Labor.

· 52.222-19 Child Labor---Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies.

· 52.222-21 Prohibition of Segregated Facilities.

· 52.222-26 Equal Opportunity.

· 52.222-36 Equal Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities.

· 52.222-41 Service Contract Labor Standards.

· 52.222-42 Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires.

This Statement is for Information Only:

· 52.222-50 Combating Trafficking in Persons.

· 52.223-15 Energy Efficiency in Energy-Consuming Products.

· 52.223-18 Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging While Driving

· 52.225-1 Buy American -- Supplies.

The offeror certifies that the following end products are qualifying country end products:

· 52.225-13 Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases.

· 52.232-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer—System for Award Management.

· 52.232-36 Payment by Third Party

· 52.204-10 Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards.

· 52.209-6, Protecting the Government's Interests When Subcontracting with Contractors Debarred, Suspended or Proposed.

· 52.225-3 Buy American -- Free Trade Agreements -- Israeli Trade Act.

· 52.219-14 Limitations on Subcontracting.

· 52.222-35 Equal Opportunity Veterans.

· 52.222-37 Employment Reports on Veterans Service.

· 52.222-43, Fair Labor Standards Act and Service Contract Labor Standards --Price Adjustment (Multiple Year and Option Contracts).

· 52.222-55 Minimum Wages Under Executive Order 13658.

· 52.222-62 Paid Sick Leave Under Executive Order 13706.

· 52.224-3 Privacy Training.

ADDENDUM TO FAR CLAUSE 52.212-4, CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS—COMMERCIAL ITEMS (INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE ON STANDARD FORM 1449)

· 52.204-18 Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance.

· 52.223-2 Affirmative Procurement of Biobased Products Under Service and Construction Contracts.

· 52.232-40 Providing Accelerated Payments to Small Business Subcontractors.

· 52.204-13 SAM

· 52.237-2 Protection of Government Buildings, Equipment, and Vegetation

FAR 52.252-2 Clauses Incorporated by Reference (Feb 1998) This contract incorporates one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. Also, the full text of a clause may be accessed electronically at this/these address(es): https://www.acquisition.gov (End of clause)

The following Solicitation Provisions apply to this acquisition:

52.212-1, “Instructions to Offerors–Commercial Items” 52.212-2, “Evaluation – Commercial Items” using Best Value 52.212-3, “Offerors Representations and Certifications–Commercial Items”

ADDENDUM TO FAR CLAUSE 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items (INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE ON STANDARD FORM 1449)

· 52.204-16 Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting.

· 52.204-22 Alternative Line Item Proposal.

· 52.204-24 Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment.

· 52.204-26 Covered Telecommunications Equipment or Services-Representation.