Scratchgravel hills cultural resource in

The Bureau of Land Management seeks a Class III cultural resource inventory and report covering 2,305.6 acres of public lands near Helena, Montana, with quotes due June 23 and questions due June 16. The procurement is a small business set-aside under NAICS 541720 with a $28.0 million size standard.

Place of performance is Lewis and Clark County, Montana, 7.5 miles northwest of Helena, supporting the Scratchgravel Hills Recreation Area Management Plan. The contractor shall conduct a comprehensive intensive field inventory with 100% coverage using systematic foot surveys with transects spaced no more than 25 meters apart, perform a State Historic Preservation Office site file and literature search, and may conduct limited hand auger or shovel testing with prior Contracting Officer Representative approval. Collections are limited to Paleoindian through Early Archaic projectile points and prehistoric pottery. All cultural sites must be recorded using Montana SHPO site forms, and the contractor shall obtain Smithsonian site numbers and provide GIS data for inventoried areas and identified sites. Native American consultation is the responsibility of the BLM, not the contractor.

Period of performance runs July 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027, with a draft report due July 30, 2027. Final deliverables include a professional-quality Class III inventory report, hard copies and digital copies of final site forms, photographs, field notes, and GIS shapefiles on two digital thumb drives. Payment is structured in five installments tied to milestones: 10% for pre-field meeting and file search completion, 15% for fieldwork, 15% for site list, 35% for BLM approval of draft report, and 25% for final report acceptance. Labor costs are subject to Montana Service Contract Act prevailing wage rates. Evaluation will weight past performance more heavily than price. Quoters must submit SF 1449, past performance questionnaire, staff resumes, and detailed pricing in separate electronic volumes and must be registered in SAM.