Barking Dog Timber Harvest: Tree and Harvest Unit Boundary Marking - Phase 2

The State of Montana's Forestry Division/GNA Bureau is conducting a pre-solicitation Invitation for Bid (IFB) for the Barking Dog Timber Harvest: Tree and Harvest Unit Boundary Marking - Phase 2 project, located on the Helena-Lewis & Clark National Forest. The procurement involves forest-related services for preparing timber sale harvest units, specifically marking approximately 549 acres of harvest unit boundaries and identifying leave trees across multiple silvicultural prescriptions including two-aged seed tree, shelterwood, and improvement harvest methods. Contractors will be required to determine leave trees based on specific marking guides, work in remote, high-elevation mountainous terrain, and complete approximately 22 miles of boundary marking. The project contract term runs from July 17, 2023, to September 15, 2023, with an optional pre-bid telephone conference call scheduled for July 12, 2023. Contractor qualifications include the ability to identify tree species, measure basal area, recognize forest health indicators, and supply their own tools and personnel. The solicitation (Number DNRC-LimtSol-2023-1066) was opened on 4/17/2023 at 8:00 AM MDT and will close on 5/5/2023 at 5:00 PM MDT, with the contract to be awarded on an all-or-none basis with fixed pricing.

The project involves federal funding and is subject to Montana prevailing wage requirements, including a 50% Montana resident worker requirement for construction projects over $25,000. While no specific set-aside designations for disadvantaged enterprises were explicitly mentioned, contractors must be capable of working in challenging forest environments and meet technical specifications for tree marking and boundary identification. The State will provide orange and black tracer paint for marking, and payment will be made upon satisfactory completion of individual harvest units, with invoices required to cover at least three completed harvest units. The primary contract contact is Gwenette Ungerman (ungermang@mt.gov, 406-444-6724), and while specific budget ranges were not detailed, the comprehensive nature of the marking and harvesting preparation suggests a significant project scope. The solicitation emphasizes that current acreage estimates are preliminary and will be revised in the final solicitation following field layout of harvest unit boundaries. Potential bidders are currently instructed not to submit bids, as this is a pre-solicitation notice with final details to be forthcoming.