RFO for Sale of Recovered Timber at Niagara Park

Marion County Public Works initiated a Request for Offers (RFO) for the sale of recovered timber at Niagara County Park, located in Gates, Oregon. The procurement stems from the Beachie Creek Wildfire in September 2020, which rendered park trees hazardous and subsequently cut, stacked, and decked on-site. The county solicited offers from third-party firms to purchase, load, and haul approximately 733 thousand board feet (MBF) of timber, with an estimated 95% sawlog quality and 5% pulp quality. Offerors were required to bid a price per MBF for each timber quality category, inclusive of loading and hauling costs. An optional pre-offer conference was held on November 1, 2021, with final offers due by 1:00 PM on November 19, 2021. The evaluation criteria primarily focused on the highest monetary offer, with the successful offeror required to remove all timber within three months of contract execution. Offerors were also mandated to provide automobile liability insurance prior to timber transportation.

The RFO did not specify any set-aside designations or restrictions on responding organizations, nor did it indicate preferences for disadvantaged enterprises. Five offerors submitted proposals, with total proposed prices ranging from $105,646.00 to $285,503.38. Sawlog pricing varied from $151.00 to $407.75 per MBF, while pulp pricing ranged from $1.00 to $20.00 per MBF. The Notice of Intent to Award document revealed that Morrell Logging, LLC was the intended recipient of the contract, with a 7-calendar-day protest period for other bidders. No specific information was provided about existing infrastructure or technology integration requirements. The documents confirmed no known utility infrastructure would impede timber removal, and the successful bidder would be responsible for complete timber extraction from the park site.