Huron-Manistee N.F. Mio Snag Topping

The Lake States Acquisition Team announces an opportunity on the Huron-Manistee National Forests' Mio Ranger District to top 672 live red pine, or jack pine and 411 aspen and/or other hardwoods. This project is being carried out to provide snags for wildlife habitat. The work will require climbing and removing tops of marked trees at a minimum height of 30 feet above ground level for both the red pine as well as the aspen and other hardwoods. Tops are to be left at the site, lying flat on the ground, and scattered. They may not be suspended from, or supported by, any tree in any way. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotes are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This solicitation is issued as a Request for Quote (RFQ) and the documents incorporate provisions and clauses in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-72. This procurement is a total small-business set aside. The NAICS code is 115310 and the Small Business Size Standard is $7.0M. Vendors must be registered in Systems for Award Management (SAM) prior to receiving a government contract (formerly Central Contractors Registration or CCR). See www.sam.gov for details - this may take up to 2 weeks and requires a DUNS number, so it is highly recommended that interested parties register immediately in order to avoid any delays in award. All invoices are to be submitted via the electronic Invoice Processing Platform. This is a mandatory requirement initiated by the U.S. Department of Treasury and you can find more information at this website https://www.ipp.gov/index.htm. Please make sure that your company has registered at https://www.ipp.gov/vendors/enrollment-vendors.htm to establish your account. The "Submit Invoice-to" address for USDA orders is the Department of Treasury's Invoice Processing Platform (IPP). The contractor must follow the instructions on how to register and submit invoices via IPP. Further provisions, clauses, and addenda including, but not limited to, commercial provisions 52.212-1, 52.212-2, 52.212-3 and commercial clauses 52212-4, 52.212-5 are incorporated in the attached solicitation. Those that are incorporated by reference can be viewed in full text at https://www.acquisition.gov/far. Schedule of Items - Quoters shall enter an amount for each item below: 1) Aspen - 411 trees 2) Red Pine - 672 The Contract Implementation period is the time period for the completion of all bid items. Item #1, topping aspen/hardwood trees by climbing will start July 28, 2014 and end August 29, 2014. This gives the contractor 25 weekdays to accomplish this item. Item #2, topping red pine trees by climbing will start September 1, 2014 and October 10, 2014. This gives the contractor 29 weekdays to accomplish this item. See Solicitation and Statement of Work for further information. The Government may issue an order to other than the lowest offeror, waive minor informalities or irregularities in offers received, or elect not to award at all. If necessary, the Government may conduct discussions with any or all offerors. It is in the offeror's best interest to fully respond to the Experience Questionnaire since an order may be issued on the basis of information received, without further discussion. Award will be made on a Best Value basis and offers shall at a minimum, contain the items described in this section. Each offer shall contain sufficient information to enable a thorough evaluation. All offers must submit the following: (1) Experience and Capabilities Questionnaire to define non-price evaluation factors and elements described under FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation- commercial Items (use additional pages if necessary); (2) Biobased Questionnaire to define utilization of Biobased Products; (3) Offerors shall include representation and certifications in AGAR 452.209-70; and (4) Completed Schedule of Items, with pricing, contact information and SAM certification. If annual representations and certifications are not active Offerors shall include a completed copy of the provision at 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications -- Commercial Items, with its offer. An offeror shall complete only paragraphs (b) of this provision if the offeror has completed the annual representations and certificates electronically via the System for Award Management (SAM) online at www.sam.gov. If an offeror has not completed the annual representations and certifications electronically at the online, the offeror shall complete only paragraphs (c) through (o) of this provision. (SAM replaces ORCA, CCR and Acquistion.gov). All offers must be received by 4:00 EST on May 5, 2014 Please submit one complete copy of the above information to: USDA Forest Service - AG-569R-S-14-0018 Erin Garcia, LSAT Contracting Officer 412 Red Apple Road Manistee, MI 49660 Offers may be submitted electronically to contact@example.gov, SUBJ: AG-569R-S-14-0018. If submitting via email please note file size limitations, formatting or other problems may hamper receipt so please verify that the contracting officer has received your quote. No facsimile offers will be considered per (c)(1) of FAR clause 52.215-1 Instructions to Offerors -- Competitive Acquisition. (Jan 2004). Incomplete offers will not be accepted. Contact Erin Garcia at contact@example.gov or +1 (555) 000-0000 with general questions concerning this solicitation. Contact Eric O'Neil at contact@example.gov or +1 (555) 000-0000 for more information on technical questions concerning this solicitation.