Medicine Bow/Routt/White River (MBR/WR) Long Term Stewardship Contract

The purpose of this amendment is to include questions and answers from the pre-bid meeting and add attachments to the solicitation.

Please note that proposal due dates have been extended to 4:00 pm Mountain time on July 30, 2012

All interested parties who are planning to attend the Pre-Bid Meetings and/or Site Visits are requested to RSVP by June 18, 2012.

STATEMENT OF WORK: The Contractor shall furnish the necessary personnel, materials, equipment, services, and facilities (except as otherwise stated) to perform the Statement of Work/Specifications referenced in Section C and Appendix A.

LOCATION: Work shall be performed in the Medicine Bow-Routt and White River National Forests.

RESPONSE DATE AND LOCATION: July 20, 2012

USDA Forest Service
740 Simms Street
Golden, CO 80401
Attn: Martin Martinez
(303) 275-5785

SYNOPSIS:


The USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, Contracting Office located at 740 Simms Street, Golden, CO 80401 intends to award one or two multi-year contract(s) for stewardship services under the authority of 16 USC 2104. The resulting contract(s) will be for a performance period not to exceed 10 years, totaling approximately 20,000 acres within the two National Forests. The Government reserves the right to award each contract for a National Forest separately or to award both contracts for each National Forest to one Contractor based on what the Government believes to be in its best interest. This acquisition is available for competition to both large and small businesses.

The Forest Service intends to offer one, or two, long-term stewardship contract(s) with a minimum annual treatment of 1,000 acres per National Forest. This solicitation emphasizes biomass removal to the greatest extent possible and incorporates design changes with the intent of attracting bids at reduced per acre costs. The Forest Service anticipates soliciting the contract on May 20, 2012, with an anticipated proposal due date of July 20, 2012.

The contract(s) will use task orders issued annually that will be the contractual mechanism implementing work requirements, funding, and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) decisions. Each task order will average at least 15 green tons of forest products per acre. NEPA decisions have already been completed for those treatment units which will be provided on the initial set(s) of task orders that will be issued after award of the contract(s). Environmental analyses and resource clearances will be completed for the remaining areas of the contract(s) prior to issuance of task orders.

In recent years, the Medicine Bow-Routt and White River National Forests have seen a dramatic increase in mountain pine beetle-caused, tree mortality. Approximately 90% of the mature lodgepole pine trees on both forests are now infested. In association with extensive tree mortality, there is a growing incidence of falling trees that pose a safety hazard to the public and/or threaten to damage private and public properties. In addition, the rate of heavy fuels accumulation associated with dead and falling trees represents the potential for increased fire hazard and severity in the event a wildfire occurs. Heavy fuels pose a significant safety hazard to many Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) communities throughout northern Colorado and southern Wyoming.

Unfortunately, we see the same emerging issues in all forested cover types. 85-90% of National Forest system lands in the Rocky Mountain Region support mature stands with less than 5% of the total area represented in young forest. The area covered under this contract includes lodgepole pine, subalpine fir and Douglas-fir, Engelmann spruce, aspen, limber pine, ponderosa pine, pinion pine and juniper tree species - all of which occur primarily in mature stands that are highly susceptible to insect and disease infestations.

The intent of this contract is to support traditional timber industry, to support emerging biomass industries and:

1. Continue mitigation of undesirable effects of a multi-million acre, mountain pine beetle infestation and to augment establishment of the future forest;

2. Mitigate unacceptable fuel loading fire hazard associated with the bark beetle infestation within the Wildland-Urban Interface;

3. Treat safety hazards associated with falling dead trees along public travel corridors and around public infrastructure; and

4. Begin rehabilitating subalpine and mountain forest types to a condition more resistant to insects, disease, and other disturbance mechanisms. The overall objective for these treatments is to increase age class and species diversity , promote forest resilience to disturbance, watershed health, and improved habitat for a variety of wildlife species.

A variety of methods will be used to designate trees to be cut and removed. Designation methods commonly include Designation by Species and Diameter, Designation by Damage Class and Individual Tree Marking. Designation methods will be specified in individual Task Orders. Project planning and design will, to the extent possible, minimize unnecessary operational costs associated with hauling restrictions and road construction, reconstruction, and maintenance.

Request For Proposal (Anticipated): May 20, 2012
Proposal Due Date (Anticipated): July 20, 2012

SYNOPSIS:

The USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, Contracting Office located at 740 Simms Street, Golden, CO 80465 intends to award one or two multi-year contract(s) for stewardship services under the authority of 16 USC 2104. The resulting contract(s) will be for a performance period not to exceed 10 years encompassing two National Forests totaling approximately 20,000 acres. The Government reserves the right to award each contract for a National Forest separately or to award both contracts for each National Forests to one Contractor based on what the Government believes to be in its best interest. This acquisition is available for competition to both large and small businesses.

A variety of methods will be used to designate trees to be cut and removed. Designation methods commonly include Designation by Species and Diameter, Designation by Damage Class and Individual Tree Marking. Designation methods will be specified in individual Task Orders. Conditions we wish to achieve are addressed below under "intent of this contract" and in "Desired Conditions", Section C. Project planning and design will, to the extent possible, minimize unnecessary operational costs associated with hauling restrictions and road construction, reconstruction, and maintenance.

Although this solicitation emphasizes biomass removal to the greatest extent possible, it is not a requirement. This solicitation has incorporated many design changes, which are considered critical and with the intent of attracting bids that contributes to the Forest Service's goal of significantly reduced per acre costs.

The Medicine Bow-Routt/White River (MBR/WR) Long Term Stewardship Contract is a landscape level project that aspires to treat approximately 20,000 acres of subalpine and mountain forests on portions of the Medicine Bow-Routt and White River National Forests in southern Wyoming and northern Colorado over the next 10 years. Our vision is that we will offer one, or two, long-term stewardship contract(s) with a minimum annual treatment of 1,000 acres per forest. Each task order will average at least 15 green tons of forest products per acre.

The contract(s) resulting from this solicitation are/is intended to be the first step toward implementing this goal and is expected to include fuels reduction, forest health, and rehabilitation treatments on at least 20,000 acres over a maximum period of ten years. The contract(s) will use task orders issued periodically that will be the contractual mechanism implementing work requirements, funding, and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) decisions. NEPA decisions have already been completed for those treatment units which will be provided on the initial set(s) of task orders that will be issued after award of the contract(s). Environmental analyses and resource clearances will be completed for the remaining areas of the contract(s) prior to issuance of task orders.

The contract may be awarded to one Contractor for both Forests or be split among a maximum of 2 Contractors (one on each Forest). Award of resulting contract(s) will be made on basis of best value to the Government.

The intent of this contract is to support traditional timber industry and emerging biomass industries and:

1. Continue mitigation of undesirable effects of a multi-million acre, mountain pine beetle infestation and to augment establishment of the future forest;

2. Mitigate unacceptable fuel loading fire hazard associated with the bark beetle infestation within the Wildland-Urban Interface;

3. Treat safety hazards associated with falling dead trees along public travel corridors and around public infrastructure; and

4. Begin rehabilitating subalpine and mountain forest types to a condition more resistant to insects, disease, and other disturbance mechanisms. The overall objective for these treatments is to increase age class and species diversity , promote forest resilience to disturbance, watershed health, and improved habitat for a variety of wildlife species.

In recent years, the Medicine Bow-Routt and White River National Forests have seen a dramatic increase in mountain pine beetle-caused, tree mortality. In fact, approximately 90% of the mature lodgepole pine trees on both forests are now infested. In association with extensive tree mortality, there is a growing incidence of falling trees that pose a safety hazard to the public and/or threaten to damage private and public properties. In addition, the rate of heavy fuels accumulation associated with dead and falling trees represents the potential for increased fire hazard and severity in the event a wildfire occurs. Heavy fuels pose a significant safety hazard to many Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) communities throughout northern Colorado and southern Wyoming.

Unfortunately, we see the same emerging issues in all forested cover types. 85-90% of National Forest system lands in the Rocky Mountain Region support mature stands with less than 5% of the total area represented in young forest. The area covered under this contract includes lodgepole pine, subalpine fir and Douglas-fir, Engelmann spruce, aspen, limber pine, ponderosa pine, pinion pine and juniper tree species - all of which occur primarily in mature stands that are highly susceptible to insect and disease infestations.