Sulphur Ranger District Green Ridge Water Augmentation

The Department of Agriculture Forest Service seeks technical expertise to complete water augmentation analyses and Colorado Water Court filings for the Sulphur Ranger District Green Ridge Water System, with proposals due September 2, 2026; Amendment A0001, published August 21, requires complete resubmission with a signed copy of the amendment.

This is a Total Small Business Set-Aside (NAICS 541620, Environmental Consulting Services; size standard $19.0 million). Place of performance is Granby, Colorado. The contract is structured as a purchase order with a 360-calendar-day period of performance, with one award anticipated.

Scope spans five primary tasks: research and summarize depletions and potential water operations for two well systems converting from monitoring/observation permits to production wells; review downstream water rights and diversion records to identify potentially injured parties; determine augmentation water sources and associated costs and terms; prepare an engineering report documenting operations, depletions, proposed water operations, and augmentation plans sufficient for Water Court applications; and draft the court application and respond to questions from the Department of Justice, Office of General Counsel, and USFS. Tasks 1–3 must complete within 60 days of award; Task 4 within 30 days thereafter; the court application must file by December 1, 2027. Contractors must originate consumptive-use analysis from raw data records, as the Forest Service provides no existing StateCU/StateMod modeling or diversion-record datasets. Task 5 is budgeted at an estimated 20 hours on an hourly rate basis; additional hours require contract modification. The scope excludes SWSP renewals and water accounting report preparation beyond initial filing.

Evaluation criteria are Technical Capability, Price (fair and reasonable for all Schedule of Items line items), and Past Performance (up to three relevant projects), weighted for best-value award. Questions must reach jessica.rasmussen@usda.gov no later than 5 days before the September 2 close. Service Contract Act prevailing wage rates apply in Grand, Jackson, and Summit counties, Colorado.