Chipper for Regions 5 & 6

The USDA Forest Service is re-opening Solicitation 12569R24Q7003 to conduct an open-season Onboarding period for a Multiple Award Incident Blanket Purchase Agreement (I-BPA) that is 100% set aside for small businesses, under NAICS code 115310, to obtain chippers for wildland fire suppression and all-hazard incidents across Regions 5 and 6. Responses must be submitted via the VIPR NextGen application by May 4, 2026, at 12:00 PM PST, and the Onboarding process is not a new procurement but an amendment to the original solicitation, meaning all terms, conditions, evaluation factors, and award structures remain unchanged from the original agreement. New awardees and additional resources added through this process will be identical in scope and contract structure to existing I-BPA holders and will become eligible for dispatch once onboarded. The contract is performance-based with no guaranteed minimum orders, and work is triggered on an as-needed basis during incident response, with performance occurring at incident locations primarily within the western United States. All resources and personnel must meet stringent operational, safety, and compliance criteria, including compliance with NWCG, NFPA, and OSHA standards for equipment condition and personal protective gear, and personnel must pass an arduous work capacity test, complete RT-130 refresher training, and demonstrate English proficiency. Offerors must self-certify small business status and other socioeconomic categories via SAM, with eligible certifications providing up to a 10% price adjustment advantage during evaluation. Evaluation is based on three non-weighted, trade-off criteria: operational acceptability of the offered resource, price reasonableness, and past performance risk (rated Low, High, or Unknown). The contract incorporates a broad range of FAR clauses covering whistleblower protections, subcontractor reporting, labor standards, drug-free workplace requirements, and prohibitions on foreign-sourced equipment and services, alongside specific operational controls such as mandatory use of the IROC database for resource availability and restrictions on sharing sensitive incident data. Acceptance occurs at the incident site by the Government, and invoicing procedures are directed to the Payment Office outlined in Exhibit B. The base contract term is five years, with anticipated peak demand between March and October, and compliance with all exhibit-specific requirements—including Exhibit H’s special contract provisions—is mandatory for award consideration.