VIPR I-BPA for Heavy Equipment with Water for Regions 1, 2, 4, and 9 (East Zone)

Maintenance Cycle #22-07 removes UNICODE dashes (non-ASCII characters) from section E00. (boj)

The purpose of this amendment (0002) is to remove the wording below from Section D.6.2 of the solicitation. Please note, the due date for quote submittal has changed to March, 14, 2022 at 1700 Mountain Time.

LANGUAGE REMOVED FROM SECTION D.6.2 ? RANKING OF AWARDED RESOURCES FOR DISPATCH PRIORITY:

"ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF KEY PERSONNEL CONTRACTOR'S REPRESENTATIVE

This section describes the roles and responsibilities of Government and Contractor personnel.

Program Manager (PM): The USFS Fire and Aviation Program Manager is the Contract Operations Government official who performs various programmatic functions for the overall success of the IBPA Program within their Region or assigned area of responsibility. This includes handling technical reviews and queries, quality assurance/inspections, and contract compliance.

Contracting Officer (CO): The USFS Government official with actual authority to administer and/or modify the terms of the agreement. The CO monitors the Contractor's performance in the areas of contract compliance and contract administration, and assists the Contractor, PM, and ordering Host

Agency/Incident Management Team (IMT) on matters related to the terms and conditions of the agreement.

Ordering Host Agency/Incident Management Team (IMT): Responsible for all payments under the agreement, to include invoice corrections and orders cancelled enroute. During a BPA Call, a Government Official will be assigned at incident to perform specific administrative or technical functions under the agreement. This may include, but is not limited to, a pre-use/pre-acceptance inspection, assigning work to be performed, hosting meetings for contractor attendance, verifying time, creating payment packages, and conducting performance reviews. The Ordering Host Agency/IMT has no actual, apparent, or implied authority to bind the Government. The Contractor's Representative/Operator under the agreement remains actively employed by and supervised by the Contractor and thus, the Contractor is accountable for the actions of its personnel while performing under the agreement.

Dispatch Center: Government official(s) delegated to order and release resources under the agreement within the IROC system. Dispatch Centers create the official Resource Orders (RO) required to initiate and obligate a BPA Call under the agreement. Contractors are required to coordinate their level of availability with their selected dispatch center in order to be eligible for BPA Calls/Dispatches from Incident Hosting Dispatch Centers. Dispatch centers are tasked as the ordering officials to clearly communicate the host agency?s requirements and the location of agreement performance at time of BPA Call/order. This may include workplace safety requirements or additional supplies/meals/lodging to be reimbursed by the ordering host agency. The VIPR contractor has the option to turn down or accept the BPA Call/fire assignment at time of order based on resource availability and host agency requirements.

Contractor Key Personnel: Unless otherwise designated, the operator(s) shall be considered the Contractor's Representative for this Agreement. Personnel/Operators performing work under the agreement on behalf of the Contractor are considered an employee and Contractor?s Representative of the Contractor. Operators shall meet the training/certification requirements of the agreement and be knowledgeable of the agreement terms and conditions. The Contactor/Operator shall not supervise, direct, or control the activities of Government personnel or the employee of any other Contractor under this agreement and the Government will not exercise any supervision or control over the Contractor in the performance of contractual services under this agreement. The Contractor is accountable to the Government for the actions of its personnel.?

End of Amendment

Maintenance Cycle 22-06 includes minor language corrections to the Tech Eval picture requirements in Section E for Softtrack and Skidgine to say a picture of the serial number (instead of a VIN) is required. (boj)

The Department of Agriculture (USDA), US Forest Service (USFS), Equipment and Services Branch (ESB) East Zone (Regions 1, 2, 4, and 9), anticipates soliciting quotes (RFQ) for Heavy Equipment with Water (Skidgines, Softtracks, Pumper Cats) for use during Local, Regional, and nationwide fire suppression and all-hazard incidents. Section D.2 within the solicitation will contain equipment details. The Contractor is responsible for all equipment, materials, supplies, transportation, lodging, trained/certified personnel, and supervision and management of those personnel, necessary to meet or exceed the Agreement specifications. Optional awarded agreement use by Interagency Cooperators (subject to that agency?s payment and administrative terms). The resources may be used in the protection of lands, to include but not be limited to, severity, fire suppression and all-hazard incidents. If permissible, the USFS will determine annually whether it is in the Government?s best interest to initiate an open season on-ramping process to add additional Contractors and/or resources during the annual Contracting Officer (CO) review period noted in Section C.3.1 of the solicitation.

RATES: Proposed rates should be based on up to a 16hr. Daily Shift and include all within B.2 -- PRICING AND ESTIMATED QUANTITY.

DISPATCH CENTER: Agreements will be competitively awarded within the R1, R2, R4, and R9 Regional dispatch centers. Agreement intent and Government guidance is for Quoters to select the available dispatch center closest to their resource location in order to reasonably meet the Government?s (Host Agency?s) date and time needed for emergency incident support, as well as offer best value to the Government for travel costs for each potential dispatch/BPA Call. Since wildland fire support and locations are unknown at time of award, selection of a host dispatch center/zone outside of where the resources reside may result in loss of opportunity and failure to meet Government?s critical and timely need at time of incident. Map link: https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/

SET-ASIDES: The agreement will be competitively awarded. The Government anticipates awarding multiple preseason Incident Blanket Purchase Agreements (I-BPAs) using a total Small Business set aside with further consideration per Section B.6 -- SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS ADVANTAGE APPLICABLE TO DPL RANKING.

****The solicitation will be issued using the Virtual Incident Procurement (VIPR) system****

1) Vendors must have a valid e-mail address; all VIPR communications, to include rate negotiations and award notification, are conducted via e-mail.

2) Vendors must have a valid DUNS Number. Request a free DUNS Number from https://iupdate.dnb.com/iUpdate/companylookup.htm.

3) Vendors must have active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM): https://www.sam.gov/SAM/.

4) Vendors are required to have a USDA Level 2 eAuthentication account that provides the ability to conduct official electronic business transactions. WILL NEED THIS TO CREATE A VIPR ACCOUNT.

Information: https://www.fs.fed.us/business/incident/eauth.php.

5) Vendors must submit a quote electronically using the VIPR Vendor Application: http://www.fs.fed.us/business/incident/vendorapp.php