Superior National Forest Non-Native Invasive Plant Herbicide Treatment

The USDA Forest Service is seeking a small business contractor to perform non-native invasive plant herbicide treatment across approximately 121 acres along 200 miles of roads and trails within St. Louis, Lake, and Cook Counties in Minnesota. The base period of performance runs from July 13, 2026, to October 2, 2026, with three optional one-year extensions available through 2028, each covering the same 121-acre scope. The contractor must provide all labor, equipment, herbicides, dyes, surfactants, supervision, transportation, and incidentals, excluding government-furnished property. All work must adhere to strict environmental and operational guidelines, including prohibitions on motor vehicle use in wetlands, restrictions on herbicide mixing and refueling near riparian zones, application only when wind speeds are under 10 mph, and mandatory halting of operations during heavy rain to prevent runoff. The contractor is required to submit detailed herbicide use and application records to the Forest Service by October 30, 2026, and must ensure treatment effectiveness averages 80% or higher across all sites, with individual locations below 50% effectiveness requiring re-treatment. Inspection and acceptance are overseen by the Contracting Officer’s Representative, who will monitor results two weeks or more after treatment. This procurement is designated as a Total Small Business Set-Aside under NAICS Code 115310, with only small business concerns eligible to respond, and all proposals must be submitted via Standard Form 1449. The solicitation closed on July 8, 2026, and offers were evaluated based on two pass/fail gates: price must be deemed fair and reasonable, and past performance must be rated acceptable or neutral. Award will be made to the highest technically rated offeror meeting these thresholds, without tradeoffs or automatic selection of the lowest price. The contract requires strict compliance with numerous FAR and agency-specific clauses, including certifications on tax matters, systemic award management registration, anti-discrimination and DEI compliance under AGAR 452.203-70, Buy American provisions, combating trafficking in persons, debarment status, and safeguarding of information systems. Additionally, the contractor must adhere to executive orders related to gender ideology and merit-based opportunity. Invoicing must be submitted electronically through the Department of Treasury’s Invoice Processing Platform, and all offerors must be registered in SAM. Required