Pisgah North Ranger District Ditch Culvert Replacements and Road Reconditioning

The Department of Agriculture Forest Service seeks ditch culvert replacements and road reconditioning at Pisgah North Ranger District in North Carolina, with proposals due September 16, 2026. The procurement is set aside exclusively for small business under NAICS 237310 (Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction), with a $27.7 million size standard and an estimated contract magnitude between $1 million and $5 million. The contracting office is USDA-FS CSA EAST 12 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Place of performance is the Pisgah Ranger District, 1600 Pisgah Highway, Pisgah Forest, NC 28768, spanning Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, and Transylvania counties on 27 forest service roads totaling 57.45 miles. A mandatory site visit is scheduled for August 4, 2026, at 10:00 AM EST; questions are due August 12, 2026, at 1:00 PM EST.

The scope requires removal of 285 ditch relief culverts and installation of 9,873 linear feet of 24-inch aluminized corrugated steel pipe culverts, plus 75 headwall and 22 drop inlet constructions. Additional deliverables include 57.45 miles of roadside brushing and mowing, 8,776 cubic yards of roadway excavation and embankment, 1,425 tons of Class B riprap placement, 8,550 tons of aggregate surface course, 107.34 miles of roadway rehabilitation (two cycles per road), 123.70 cubic yards of asphalt patching, 28.5 acres of turf establishment, temporary traffic control, and GIS culvert asset data collection. The project is part of Hurricane Helene recovery efforts. Performance period is 730 calendar days (2 years), with work restricted to 6:00 AM–6:00 PM Eastern Time, Monday–Friday, excluding federal holidays. Contractor must commence work within 5 calendar days of notice to proceed.

Work must comply with Federal Project Standard Specifications (FP-24), Forest Service Supplemental Specifications, Clean Water Act Section 404 permit requirements, and OSHA standards. Contractor must maintain proficiency with ArcGIS Field Maps and ArcGIS Online; GIS field data syncs to enterprise server every 24 hours and must be completed before payment is processed. Project schedule is due within 5 business days of award; weekly status reports are due Mondays by 3:00 PM EDT. Material documentation (tickets and receipts for culverts, stone, asphalt, drop inlets, headwalls) is due within 5 business days of purchase and placement. Environmental conservation measures include botanist review for listed plant habitat, fisheries protections including sediment and erosion control within 25 feet of streams, wildlife protections for Carolina northern flying squirrel and spruce fir moss spider (tree felling restrictions in designated forests), Virginia big-eared bat protections (rock outcrop avoidances and pre-replacement occupancy surveys for culverts ≥3 feet diameter), and seasonal work restrictions coordinated with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Evaluation criteria: technical approach (60 percent, including understanding of scope, construction sequences, contingency planning, ArcGIS expertise) and price (40 percent). Award will be made to the highest technically rated offeror with fair and reasonable pricing and acceptable or neutral past performance; no tradeoffs will be conducted. Offerors must submit three similar projects demonstrating stormwater conveyance and roadway rehabilitation experience, each with minimum $2 million contract value completed within the past eight years, plus CPARS evaluations or past performance questionnaires. Technical proposals are limited to 15 pages plus 2 pages for GANTT chart construction schedules. Bid guarantee required: 20 percent of bid price or $3 million, whichever is less. Performance and payment bonds required. Pricing submitted on Schedule of Items spreadsheet (unit prices for all 15 line items). Contract is firm fixed price purchase order under full and open competition, 41 U.S.C. § 3304(a). Prevailing wage determination issued by U.S. Department of Labor for eight North Carolina counties (Alexander, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Haywood, Henderson, Madison) effective May 18, 2026, applies to labor classifications. Amendment 0002 (effective August 31, 2026) extended due date from September 11 to September 16, 2026, and added Attachment 11 (Appendix A environmental conservation measures revision). Contractor acknowledgment of amendments required prior to bid deadline.