Notice of Intent to Sole Source-Linking Forest Begetation and Wildfire Simulation Models

The USDA Forest Service Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center (WWETAC) intends to negotiate on a single source basis under the authority 6.302-1 - only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements with Cedar Creek Consulting, Plains, MT for linking forest vegetation and wildfire simulation models to evaluate spaciotemporal tradeoffs under alternative fuel management and suppression policies. Contract requires extensive knowledge of source code and program workflows for the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) and wildfire spread models, as well as interactions among all the model components. Contract also requires proficiency in fire science, fuel model succession logic, and silvicultural prescription logic. Testing, calibration, and application of a state-of-the-art spatiotemporal landscape simulation system that combines a special fire simulation system with temporal growth and fire effects models. The proposed contractor was a key developer in the earlier project at WWETAC and the Rocky Mountain Research Station that incorporated landscape fuel treatment modeling into FVS. This work is the foundation for the new project. The contractor studied and calibrated model results for the same case study landscapes to be used in the present study, and was directly involved in the technical development of the Wildland Fire Decision Support System and is thus well suited to manage issues of interoperability among component fire science and economic models. This notice is not a request for competitive proposals, however, all responses from responsible sources will be considered. All responses must be submitted in writing within 15 calendar days of publication of this notice.