SOW-CPF habitat recon-20240531-v01 - UPDATED.pdf

US Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Statement of Work

Contents Project

General Information

1.0 Scope of Work

2.0 Background

Contractor Requirements

3.0 Technical Requirements / Tasks

4.0 Government Furnished

5.0 Deliverables / Schedule

6.0 Travel

7.0 Contractor’s Key Personnel

8.0 Security Requirements

9.0 Data Rights

10.0 Section 508 – Electronic and Information Technology Standards

Attachment

Project

Chippewa National Forest Ketchum Project Habitat Recon Contract Project ID: AAP # 679982

General Information

1.0 Scope of Work

The contractor shall furnish all equipment, labor, materials, (except Government furnished property listed in

Section 4.0), transportation, supervision, and incidentals necessary to conduct surveys. All contractor equipment must be pre-approved by the government representative, Contracting Officer Representative (COR).

The intent of the project is to delineate and survey specified stands or portions of stands for habitat conditions on the Chippewa National Forest. Results will be used in resource management and land management planning. Technical services are needed to aid in carrying out a sound management program of the biological resources on Chippewa National Forest.

2.0 Background

Contractor shall complete recon of stands to report conditions in accordance with data fields on Stand Recon forms in a variety of habitats in areas distributed across the Chippewa National Forest. Additionally, contractor is to seek and report large stick nests. Survey areas are indicated on the accompanying map. Access to Items varies. Some stands may not have road access and may require extended off-road travel. Contractors should inspect locations before submitting a proposal; road conditions and locations may not be accurately reflected on maps. Contractors are responsible for coordinating and arranging their access to the points, including making contact with private landowners (if applicable).

Contractor Requirements

3.0 Technical Requirements / Tasks

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

Surveyors must be able to navigate to specified stands, be familiar with GPS units, have the expertise to correctly collect and interpret field conditions for each data field on the stand recon data sheet, and be able to locate large stick nests in trees. For each surveyor/employee, the contractor shall provide GPS units capable of collecting points in the NAD83 datum.

Pre-work Conference and Plan of Work: Before any contract work is started, the COR will arrange for a pre-work conference to discuss contract provisions and specifications. The Government will provide additional information, supplies, and forms to the contractor. At this time, the contractor shall present any updates to the written proposed progress schedule and quality control plan for accomplishing the work; and a listing of all surveyors/employees, including their pertinent background information (natural resources experience and training), for any employees not included in the technical proposal originally submitted. The contractor must also display field (GPS; smart phone; tablet) units for each surveyor, which are capable of collecting points in the NAD83 datum. COR approval and acceptance is required prior to commencement of fieldwork.

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS:

A. Surveyors shall walk forest stands with adequate intensity to accurately report general conditions. At the least, contractor should walk proximate to the entire outer edge of the stand and visit any habitat features of interest within the stand, as detected using aerial photography. Recon shall be completed by

November 7, 2024. Typical single-surveyor recon accomplishment rates in the past have been 60 to

225 acres for full days of work, depending on multiple factors including stand sizes and distribution, snow depths, and road access. Average accomplishment rates appear to be about 120 acres per surveyor-day.

B. In each stand, surveyors must mark GPS points assigned by USFS. All GPS points will be given using

UTM coordinates in the NAD83 datum. Surveyors shall mark each point by flagging the nearest tree that has a 4 inch DBH or greater. The flagging shall be 1 inch wide fluorescent pink flagging, with a streamer of at least 18 inches, and shall be marked in permanent marker with the point identifier, surveyor’s name, and date and time the flagging is posted.

C. Surveyor must fully complete the Stand Recon Form.

D. If a large stick nest is detected, the surveyor will go to the tree, take a GPS point, and complete a

Wildlife Form with all of the required information; do not flag suspected nest trees.

E. Data sheets must be submitted to Chippewa National Forest (Jeremy Cable, Deer River Ranger District, 1235 Division Street, Deer River, MN 56636) directly. Specific days and times for meetings must be scheduled with the COR.

INSPECTION:

A. Government will conduct spot checks of all written documentation and field verification points.

1. In the event of discrepancies between government findings and information supplied by the contractor, the contractor will be notified. Prior to acceptance of those items involved in the discrepancy, the contractor shall establish the work was performed as required, to the satisfaction of the government. If requested to do so by the COR, the contractor must relocate any verification point without additional compensation.

2. No payment will be made on work that does not meet performance requirements. No payment will be made on any items in dispute.

4.0 Government Furnished

The Government will provide the following item(s) of Government property to the Contractor for use in the performance of this contract. This property shall be used and maintained by the Contractor in accordance with the provisions of the "Government Property" FAR clause contained elsewhere in the contract.

a. ** Site maps (1 copy of each map; maps may contain more than one survey site).

b. ** Survey report forms: Recon Forms, Plant Element Occurrence Forms, Wildlife Observation forms (for miscellaneous observations).

c. Depending on compatibility and availability, GPS points may be directly uploaded to contractor’s GPS equipment from Chippewa National Forest computers. It remains the contractor’s responsibility to assure correct verification points and their coordinates are transmitted for the contract.

d. Shapefiles of survey stands and verification points may be available directly from Chippewa National Forest or from an on-line data-sharing site or using a **jump drive, if available.

** These GFP items shall be returned to the Deer River CNF office during business hours within 3 days of completion of field work.

5.0 Deliverables / Schedule

The contractor shall:

A. Provide the COR with a written work plan schedule; quality control plan, including a self-inspection plan for contractor performance; and list of employees prior to performing field surveys.

B. Report in person to the COR one day each week, at a day and time set by the COR, through the term of the bid item, to submit forms (original or scanned/copied) for all completed stands and detections. The

COR will provide feedback regarding contract performance and inspection results.

C. Establish a means of day-to-day communication with the COR such as a cell phone, telephone with answering machine, or other mechanism, to allow the COR to deliver messages regarding the work related to this contract. All government messages shall be responded to on the next business day before

9AM.

D. Report all the information requested on the Recon Form for each stand surveyed. Contractor must complete all data forms legibly and completely.

E. If contractor wishes to retain copies of datasheets for tracking or as a reference for final survey report, then making those copies is the responsibility of the contractor: government copiers will not be available for this purpose. All copies should be made before submission of datasheets.

F. All data, original forms, and materials associated with surveys must be completed and submitted to the

COR within 1 week of closure of the bid item.

6.0 Travel

None Specified

7.0 Contractor’s Key Personnel

All personnel must be identified in advance. All field surveyors should have education and experience to prepare them for conducting the contract tasks at this location. Typical backgrounds are strong local natural history knowledge AND orienteering/woods wisdom.

A local project manager must be assigned to serve as the point of contact between the contractor and COR.

8.0 Security Requirements - N/A

9.0 Data Rights

Publication and Data Sharing:

Data collected, including digital photographs and reports prepared under this contract are the property of the

U.S.D.A. Forest Service. Data publication or distribution is prohibited without prior consent of the Forest Service and the Forest Service reserves the right to edit any potential publications. The Forest Service will be acknowledged in any publications using such data. Publication includes, but is not limited to, hard copy print, sharing on social media, uploading to on-line publication services such as ResearchGate or other similar platforms. Additionally, observations may not be shared via websites or applications (e.g., iNaturalist, Bumble Bee Brigade, etc.)

10.0 Section 508 – Electronic and Information Technology Standards

None Specified

Attachments

SOW LIST OF DOCUMENTS, EXHIBITS, AND MAPS

A – Stand Recon Form - SEE ATTACHMENT A B – Area Maps of Item Locations - SEE ATTACHMENT B C – Vicinity Maps of Stands in Items - SEE ATTACHMENT(S) C1-C6 D – Item Description Summary Table - REQUEST FROM COR, BEFORE CONTRACT START E – Example of Site Map - REQUEST FROM COR IF NEEDED, BEFORE CONTRACT START F – Item Stand Lists - REQUEST FROM COR IF NEEDED, BEFORE CONTRACT START

Attachments A through F, AND associated shapefiles can be obtained from Jeremy Cable, Chippewa National

Forest (jeremy.cable@usda.gov; 218-246-3459).

mailto:jeremy.cable@usda.gov