Cadastral Surveying Services, Cherokee National Forest   8

USDA Forest Service, Cherokee National Forest has a requirement for Professional Land Survey services. These services are to be provided for lands within the administrative boundaries of the Cherokee National Forest, North Zone (Watauga and Unaka Ranger Districts) and South Zone (Tellico and Ocoee Ranger Districts) in the following east Tennessee counties: Polk, Monroe, McMinn, Cocke, Greene, Sullivan, Washington, Unicoi, Johnson, and Carter.

This acquisition is 100% set aside for Small Business.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 541370, Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical), with a size standard of $4.5 million dollars average annual receipts for the preceding three fiscal years.

The Forest Service anticipates award of multiple Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity contracts with a base period and an option to extend the contract for four additional one-year periods. Individual task orders will be issued against a contract as program needs arise. Time of performance will vary by task order. The government guarantees to purchase a minimum of $2,500 in services over the life of the contract. For each awarded contract, estimated total amount for base period and four option years is $150,000. Estimated contract award date is May 2016.

Only firms with Registered Professional Surveyor(s) licensed in Tennessee will be considered. A Tennessee Registered Professional Surveyor must perform the field work associated with each task order for corner establishment and measurements.

Task orders issued against awarded contract(s) will include a specific statement of work and will be negotiated as individual projects using Brooks Act procedures. The Government makes no representation as to the number of task orders or the actual amount of work to be ordered. Contractors are not guaranteed work in excess of the minimum guarantee.

Award of contract(s) will not restrict the Government from having cadastral surveying services performed by Government employees or others during the contract period.

If contracts are awarded to more than one firm, in addition to technical evaluation criteria, the Forest Service may administratively elect to consider the volume of work previously awarded to an A&E firm when determining which firm should be awarded a new task order.

Work will include, but is not limited to:
Locating, measuring, and marking Forest Service property boundary lines.
Rehabilitation of previously marked Forest Service property boundary lines.
Identification and verification, restoration, location and monumentation of property corners.
Survey of lines to connect, prove, or establish property corners.
Rights-of-way and easement surveys.
Preparation of surveyor's reports, control diagrams, and survey plats.
Preparation of Form 7100-52, Corner Record, for each Forest Service property corner.
Preparation of tract descriptions.
Other miscellaneous work incidental to the survey profession.

Professional Land Survey firms which meet the requirements described in this announcement are invited to submit:

1. SF-330 Part II, General Qualifications,
2. SF-330 Part I, Contract Specific Qualifications, and
3. All requested supplemental data listed in items 1-5, below.

Selection of firms for negotiation shall be made through an order of preference using Brooks Act procedures, based on demonstrated competence and qualifications for the work, that include the following evaluation criteria in descending order of importance:
1. Location: Proximity to the project area and demonstrated knowledge of local practices, records, and research; and your firm's approach to problem resolution on previous surveys resulting from conflicting title or physical evidence. If your firm's office is not located within a 10 mile radius of the administrative boundaries of the Cherokee National Forest, indicate how you plan to provide services in a cost-effective manner. Include the amount and type of experience the firm has in each of the east Tennessee counties listed above. Submit a sample surveyor's report accompanied by a plat (suitable for filing in the public record) showing work performed on steep and/or forested mountain land, or other rural land.

2. Specialized Experience with Boundary Projects: State your firm's experience with and technical competence in surveying in steep forested terrain, emphasizing any Forest Service or Federal land surveying. Include the amount of forested, steep mountain land experience of key personnel that will be assigned to this project. Include an outline of field and office procedures. State how you would approach boundary line establishment and retracement.

3. Past performance: On contracts for Federal, State, City/County and private work, with respect to customer satisfaction, quality of work and timely compliance with performance schedules. Provide three references for projects that are similar in scope to forested, steep mountain land boundary survey and property line marking.
4. Capacity: To accomplish the work in the required time. Include an equipment list, personnel available, and procedures used to ensure deadlines are met for your firm and/or proposed subcontractors. If using subcontractors for any part of the project work, specify what duties they would perform.

5. Professional qualifications: For satisfactory performance of required services. Include registered professional surveyors' experience in forested/steep mountain land surveys and anticipated level of involvement of each RPS on this project. The completed SF-330 form will suffice. State what degree of involvement your firm's registered professional surveyor will have with task orders issued for:
a. Retracement of boundary lines,
b. Establishment of boundary lines, and
c. Refurbishment/rehabilitation of previously marked boundary lines.

Firms responding to this announcement before the closing date will be considered for selection, subject to any limitations indicated with respect to size, geographic location of firm, specialized technical expertise, or other requirements listed.

Mid-Term Changes: During the 5-year term of the contract, the Contracting Officer may determine a need to reduce or augment the original pool of awarded contracts.

Exiting Contracts: Contractors who repeatedly fail to accept an offer of a task order due to lack of capacity, or who repeatedly fail to complete task orders within the allotted contract time, may not have the next option year renewed.

Entering Contracts: Following completion of the first option year, the Government reserves the right to solicit for a limited number of additional contractors to be included in this multiple-award contract. The solicitation, terms and conditions, and source selection procedures will be the same as under this original solicitation. The period of performance for the new awardees will not exceed the overall maximum term of the original IDIQ contract, including options.

A pre-proposal meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 2 at 10:00 a.m. local time at the Cherokee National Forest Supervisor's Office, 2800 North Ocoee Street, Cleveland TN 37312. Call Nina Barrow at 423-476-9706 to register your attendance.
Please submit two (2) complete copies of the above information to: USDA Forest Service, 2800 North Ocoee Street, Cleveland, TN 37312, Attention: Nina Barrow, Contracting Officer, by 4:00 p.m. local time on March 24, 2016. Electronic (email, facsimile, etc) submissions are not authorized.