Eastside Hiawatha NF Common Stand Exam (CSE) Services

The Lakes States Acquisition Team announces an opportunity for Common Stand Exam (CSE) services. These services will be performed on the Eastside of the Hiawatha National Forest in the counties of Mackinac and Chippewa in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Work shall consist of locating, establishing, measuring and recording data for sample plots. The work performed and the data collected shall be in compliance with the terms, specifications, conditions and provisions of this solicitation, and the Hiawatha N.F. Common Stand Exam Field Guide. The Contractor shall furnish all personnel, materials, equipment, tools, supplies, transportation, supervision and incidentals to perform data collection work, except as otherwise provided by the Government, and in the timeframe specified in this solicitation.

Offerors are urged to inspect the Bid Items and work areas prior to submission of an offer.

It is the Government's intent to award one contract resulting from this solicitation. Accordingly, offeror's shall SUBMIT PRICING FOR ALL LINE ITEMS. However, if upon evaluation, it is determined that multiple awards are in the best interest of the Government, multiple awards may be made. It is the Government's intent to award a fixed priced contract resulting from this solicitation.

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial services prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, and supplemented with additional information included in, and attached to, this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation: proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued.

This solicitation is issued as a Request for Quote (RFQ) and the documents incorporate provisions and clauses in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-97, including but not limited to commercial provisions 52.212-1, 52.212-2, 52.212-3 and commercial clauses 52.212-4, and 52.212-5. Provisions and clauses incorporated by references have the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. The full text of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and Agriculture Acquisition Regulations (AGAR) can be accessed at http://www.acquisition.gov/far/ and http://www.usda.gov/procurement/policy/agar/html

This procurement is a total small-business set aside. The NAICS code is 115310 and the Small Business Size Standard is $7.5M.

Contractors are required to be actively registered with the System for Award Management (SAM) at www.sam.gov in order to be considered for award. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this synopsis, the solicitation or any follow up information requests.

All invoices are to be submitted via the electronic Invoice Processing Platform. This is a mandatory requirement initiated by the U.S. Department of Treasury and you can find more information at this website https://www.ipp.gov/index.htm. Please make sure that your company has registered at https://www.ipp.gov/vendors/enrollment-vendors.htm to establish your account. The "Submit Invoice-to" address for USDA orders is the Department of Treasury's Invoice Processing Platform (IPP). The contractor must follow the instructions on how to register and submit invoices via IPP.

The solicitation has been posted to FedBizOpps (FBO) and no hard copies of the solicitation, supporting documents and applicable amendments, if any, will be provided. To receive the entire solicitation package and any applicable amendments, prospective offerors must download them from the FBO website.

Schedule of items consists of 1,759 plots with the potential of awarding up to an additional 3,743 plots.

See 12569R18Q0018 Solicitation Document - Schedule of Items for further detail.

The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers:

(a) Qualifications (as listed in section C.3.1.1) and Technical Excellence
(b) Price/Cost
(c) Project Management
(d) Past Performance
(e) Safety Plan & Bio-based products utilized (if applicable)
(f) Availability

Award will be made to the offeror(s) (1) whose Proposal is technically acceptable and (2) whose technical/cost relationship is most advantageous to the Government. Cost (b) is equal to qualifications and technical (a) and will factor in the award decision.
All Offerors must submit the following:
- A completed SF-1449, Schedule of Items, and certifications (pages 1-4 of this document)
- A completed Representations and Certifications (Attachment 11) or must be registered in SAM (sam.gov)
- A technical proposal and/or a completed Experience Questionnaire in response to FAR 52.212-2
All offers must be received by 2:00 pm EST on May 23, 2018.

Please submit one complete copy of the above information to:

USDA Forest Service - 12569R18Q0018
Tamie Thompson, LSAT Contracting Officer
412 Red Apple Road
Manistee, MI 49660

Offers may be submitted electronically to trthompson@fs.fed.us, SUBJ: 12569R18Q0018.

If submitting via email please note file size limitations, formatting or other problems may hamper receipt so please verify that the contracting officer has received your quote.

No facsimile offers will be considered per (c)(1) of FAR clause 52.215-1 Instructions to Offerors -- Competitive Acquisition. (Jan 2004). Incomplete offers will not be accepted.

Contact Tamie Thompson at trthompson@fs.fed.us or (231) 723-2211 with administrative questions concerning this solicitation.

Contact Sam Barnes @ 906-643-9600 x128 for more information or technical questions concerning this solicitation.