Medicine Bow/Routt/White River (MBR/WR) Long Term Stewardship Contract

SYNOPSIS: The USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, Contracting Office located at 740 Simms Street, Golden, CO 80401 intends to award one or two multi-year contract(s) for stewardship services under the authority of 16 USC 2104. The resulting contract(s) will be for a performance period not to exceed 10 years, totaling approximately 20,000 acres within the two National Forests. The Government reserves the right to award each contract for a National Forest separately or to award both contracts for each National Forest to one Contractor based on what the Government believes to be in its best interest. This acquisition is available for competition to both large and small businesses. The Forest Service intends to offer one, or two, long-term stewardship contract(s) with a minimum annual treatment of 1,000 acres per National Forest. This solicitation emphasizes biomass removal to the greatest extent possible and incorporates design changes with the intent of attracting bids at reduced per acre costs. The Forest Service anticipates soliciting the contract on May 20, 2012, with an anticipated proposal due date of July 20, 2012. The contract(s) will use task orders issued annually that will be the contractual mechanism implementing work requirements, funding, and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) decisions. Each task order will average at least 15 green tons of forest products per acre. NEPA decisions have already been completed for those treatment units which will be provided on the initial set(s) of task orders that will be issued after award of the contract(s). Environmental analyses and resource clearances will be completed for the remaining areas of the contract(s) prior to issuance of task orders. In recent years, the Medicine Bow-Routt and White River National Forests have seen a dramatic increase in mountain pine beetle-caused, tree mortality. Approximately 90% of the mature lodgepole pine trees on both forests are now infested. In association with extensive tree mortality, there is a growing incidence of falling trees that pose a safety hazard to the public and/or threaten to damage private and public properties. In addition, the rate of heavy fuels accumulation associated with dead and falling trees represents the potential for increased fire hazard and severity in the event a wildfire occurs. Heavy fuels pose a significant safety hazard to many Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) communities throughout northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. Unfortunately, we see the same emerging issues in all forested cover types. 85-90% of National Forest system lands in the Rocky Mountain Region support mature stands with less than 5% of the total area represented in young forest. The area covered under this contract includes lodgepole pine, subalpine fir and Douglas-fir, Engelmann spruce, aspen, limber pine, ponderosa pine, pinion pine and juniper tree species - all of which occur primarily in mature stands that are highly susceptible to insect and disease infestations. The intent of this contract is to support traditional timber industry, to support emerging biomass industries and: 1. Continue mitigation of undesirable effects of a multi-million acre, mountain pine beetle infestation and to augment establishment of the future forest; 2. Mitigate unacceptable fuel loading fire hazard associated with the bark beetle infestation within the Wildland-Urban Interface; 3. Treat safety hazards associated with falling dead trees along public travel corridors and around public infrastructure; and 4. Begin rehabilitating subalpine and mountain forest types to a condition more resistant to insects, disease, and other disturbance mechanisms. The overall objective for these treatments is to increase age class and species diversity , promote forest resilience to disturbance, watershed health, and improved habitat for a variety of wildlife species. A variety of methods will be used to designate trees to be cut and removed. Designation methods commonly include Designation by Species and Diameter, Designation by Damage Class and Individual Tree Marking. Designation methods will be specified in individual Task Orders. Project planning and design will, to the extent possible, minimize unnecessary operational costs associated with hauling restrictions and road construction, reconstruction, and maintenance. Request For Proposal (Anticipated): May 20, 2012 Proposal Due Date (Anticipated): July 20, 2012