Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Data Collection Services, Missouri Urban Plots

The USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station intends to initiate a Request for Proposal (RFP) procurement action and award a negotiated, Firm-Fixed Price incentive contract for forest inventory data collection in urban areas of Kansas City, St. Louis, and Springfield, Missouri. The Contractor shall provide inventory data to the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Unit. This data will be collected from predetermined urban forest inventory plots randomly located across the urban areas of Kansas City, St. Louis, and Springfield, Missouri. The protocols for this effort, including the inventory plot design, are outlined and described in the "Forest Inventory and Analysis National Urban FIA Plot Field Guide; Volume 1: Field Data Collection Procedures for Urban FIA Plots, Version 7.0" (commonly referred to as the "NRS Urban FIA Plots Field Guide"). The current version of the "NRS Urban FIA Field Guide" serves as a reference document or instruction manual for the life of the contract and is subject to change in the option periods.

The acquisition will be solicited using the procurement process prescribed in Part 12, Commercial Items, of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), in conjunction with the policies and procedures for solicitation, evaluation and award prescribed in Part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures; and Part 15, Contracting by Negotiation. A Firm-Fixed-Price contract will be awarded to the offeror whose offer, conforming to the solicitation, is the best value to the government.

The period of performance shall be for approximately a six-month Base Period (from approximately April 4, 2016 to September 30, 2016); and four (4) five-month Option Periods from approximately:

OPTION PERIOD 1: May 1, 2017 to September 30, 2017
OPTION PERIOD 2: May 1, 2018 to September 30, 2018
OPTION PERIOD 3: May 1, 2019 to September 30, 2019
OPTION PERIOD 4: May 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020

The government will award the contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose proposal, conforming to the RFP will be the best value to the government (best value trade-off). The award may be made to a superior offeror which is not the lowest offered price, but which is significantly more technically advantageous than the lowest offer so as to justify the payment of a higher price. The evaluation factors listed in descending order of importance are: Factor 1 - Experience and Qualifications of Contractor and Key Personnel; Factor 2 - Past Performance; Factor 3 - Capability to Perform; and Factor 4 - Cost. Factors 1 and 2 are of equal weighting; Factors 1, 2, and 3 are significantly more important than price; however price will contribute substantially to the selection decision. Award of the contract will be made as a whole to the offeror whose proposal conforms to all requirements of the specifications and is the "greatest value" to the Government, cost and other factors considered.

A Pre-Proposal Teleconference will be held on Tuesday, March 8, 2016 at 10:00 AM EASTERN TIME (9:00 AM CENTRAL TIME). The Dial-In Number is 888-844-9904 (Access Code: 7260702). Please e-mail Glenda Hefty at ghefty@fs.fed.us if you will be in attendance.

Solicitation documents, plans and specifications will only be available via the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) homepage located at https://www.fbo.gov/ An electronic copy of Solicitation Number AG-3604-S-16-0008 will be posted on this site on or about February 19, 2016. No hard copies will be issued and no written or fax requests will be accepted. Proposals are due on or about March 18, 2016 by 11:00 am EASTERN TIME. Proposals may be e-mailed to Maria T. Evans at the following e-mail address: mtevans@fs.fed.us Proposals may also be sent by mail to the USDA Forest Service - Northern Research Station, 11 Campus Blvd., Suite 200, Newtown Square, PA 19073, ATTN: Maria T. Evans. No bound/spiral proposals; and no fax submission proposals will be accepted.

The NAICS Code for this project is 115310 with a size standard of $7.5 million. It is the contractor's responsibility to monitor FBO for any amendments. All contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) website at https://www.sam.gov/index.html/ as required by FAR 4.1102. Also, contractors who receive a federal contract of $25,000.00 or more are required by legislation to submit an annual VETS-100 Report on your employment of targeted veterans. Information on submitting your report may be obtained by calling 703-461-2460 or by accessing the following Internet web site: http://vets.dol.gov/vets100/.

Service Contract Act Wage Rates will be applicable. Award will be made as a whole to one offeror. This procurement is set aside 100% for small business concerns.