Vegetation Management

This is a COMBINED SYNOPSIS / SOLICITATION for commercial services prepared in accordance with the format in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 12, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation issued as Request for Proposal (RFP) 127DF520R0001 FAR clauses and provisions enclosed within this RFP are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2019-04 (09/06/2019) and are available in full text through Internet access at http://www.acquisition.gov/far. The National Forests and Grasslands in Texas haverequirement to obtain vegetative management services as further detailed in the Schedule of Items and Performance Work Statement. This solicitation will result in Performance Based, Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) Multiple Award Task Order Contracts (MATOC) on the basis of technical capability, past performance, and price as best meets the needs of the Government. These contracts will have a base period, which runs through December 31, 2021, and three option years, which if exercised could extend contract performance through December 31, 2024. There is no guarantee that any options will be exercised by the Government. Individual task orders will be competed among MATOC awardees on a fair-opportunity basis as detailed in the solicitation. The USDA Forest Service encourages the participation of disadvantaged, service disabled veteran, and woman owned business enterprises. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 115310 and the small business size standard is $8 million. The proposed contract is 100% set-aside for small business concerns. All responsible, qualified small businesses may submit an offer which will be considered by the Forest Service. Proposals are due for this combined synopsis/solicitation on November 25, 2019 at 2:00 PM Central Time and shall be delivered electronically by the specified time to [email protected] or delivered to the USFS, 100 Reserve Street, Hot Springs, AR 71901. Facsimile proposals will not be accepted. Offers shall be submitted on the SF 1449 and conform to the requirements noted in the solicitation documents. All Offerors shall be registered at the System for Award Management (www.sam.gov) to be eligible for award. Questions regarding this solicitation shall be submitted electronically to the email address above. A CORRECTED COPY OF THE SOLICITATION HAS BEEN POSTED. Summary of Changes: 1) Page 7, Scope: the reference to fireline construction has been deleted. There is no related line item in the schedule. Purpose of the proposed contracts is natural resource conservation, forest health, and wildlife protection -NOT fuels management. 2) Page 14, 5.1.7: reference to fuel reduction has been deleted; purpose of mowing is control of nonnative invasive species only. RESPONSE TO QUESTION: Request for additional information regarding bird surveys. The protocol for the Neotropical Bird Point counts should be fairly consistant with The Southern National Forests Migratory and Resident Landbird Conservation Strategy (attached) as referred to in section 5.14. Additional bird surveys in general may vary according to a given project. As for Neotropical Bird Point Count Surveys, on the Angeline/Sabine in particular, there are 32 points on the Angelina side and 25 points on the Sabine side. They need to be at a minimum of 250 meters (820 feet) apartbut they are usually clustered to some degree according to habitat types. The part that may also vary is the distance between sets of actual points, which here again varies with given habitat types and is difficult to quantify in a general sense. More specific parameters will be provided on individual task orders. RESPONSE DATE EXTENDED TO 12/30/2019 Due to recent changes in the FBO web site and the pending holidays, the response due date has been extended until 2PM on December 30, 2019. Contractors who have already submitted a proposal may update it at any time before then.