Amphibious Water Scooper Aircraft

Added: Aug 20, 2015 12:59 pm The intent of this solicitation and any resultant contract is to secure a Firm-Fixed Price contract for up to two (2) Contractor operated and maintained Turbine powered, Multi-engine, Amphibious, Fixed-Wing, Water Scooping Aircraft services meeting the specifications contained in the Solicitation. It is the intent of this solicitation to secure a Firm Fixed Price Multi-Year contract(s) not to exceed 5 years. The aircraft shall have full or interim Interagency Airtanker Board (IAB) approval as a multi-engine water scooper. The primary use of Water scooping aircraft under this contract will be for Initial Attack (IA) of wildland fires. Water will be scooped from water sources such as lakes and rivers or loaded at ground locations. Chemical fire retardant including foam shall NOT be loaded in the Contractor's aircraft. The Water scooping aircraft is expected to carry 1,600 gallons of water to fires in the beginning stages following initiation. These immediate response actions occur in the first burning periods and are intended to support personnel either on scene or enroute to the incident in containing the fire when it is least costly to do so.

The Water Scooping Aircraft will be assigned an Administrative Base annually (Boise, Idaho) for contract management oversight only and will be dispatched nationwide including in Alaska, as directed by the Government. During the Mandatory Availability Period (MAP), the designated base will be the Contractor's base of operations. The Contractor may propose one or more additional alternate maintenance base(s) to be used during the performance of this contract. The water scooping aircraft shall be available for service 7 days per week during the MAP and shall be at the exclusive use and control of the government 24 hours per day, 7 days per week during periods of ordered service.

The number of flight hours is dependent upon the amount of wildland fire and other related activities each year, which makes estimating the total overall contract quantity of flight hours difficult to predict. Many variables determine the severity and the length of fire seasons, including weather and local or regional long-term climate trends such as droughts or unusually wet periods. Two hundred and fifty (250) flight hours are estimated annually. However, this estimate IS NOT A REPRESENTATION OR A GUARANTEE to an offeror or Contractor that the estimated flight hour quantities will be incurred, or those conditions affecting requirements will be stable or normal. Flight hours will be ordered on an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity basis and are not guaranteed.