FY25 – supply of containerized seedlings

The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, specifically the Pacific Northwest Region (Region 6), is preparing to solicit a contract for the supply of approximately 2 million containerized seedlings to be grown and delivered to the J. Herbert Stone Nursery in Central Point, Oregon. The procurement will focus on obtaining container seedlings primarily consisting of Douglas-Fir and Ponderosa Pine, with additional conifer species included in the order. Vendors must have a growing facility located within 300 miles of the nursery to facilitate direct transplanting of the seedlings into fields. The solicitation is set to be posted on December 19, 2024, with a closing date of January 7, 2025, and all potential bidders must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database prior to contract award. Interested parties should direct any questions to Eric Oldenkamp via email at eric.oldenkamp@usda.gov.

The contract opportunity is designated as a total small business set-aside, meaning only small businesses can compete for the award. The seedling procurement will be divided into two crop cycles: a spring crop of 700,000 seedlings and a summer crop of 1,000,000 seedlings. While specific award values were not disclosed in the pre-solicitation notice, the contract represents a significant agricultural procurement focused on forest regeneration and nursery stock production. The geographical constraints requiring vendors to be within 300 miles of the nursery will likely limit the competitive pool to regional nursery operators. Vendors will need to demonstrate capabilities in large-scale containerized seedling production, with a focus on coniferous tree species suitable for forest replanting efforts in the Pacific Northwest region.