Banta Ridge Mastication, 628 acres
Amendment 0001 is issued to answer questions received about the RFQ.
Q1. Has the project area been treated before? If yes, when?
A1. The project site has not been mechanically treated before.
Q2. Are current pictures for the landscape available?
A2. No
Q3. Is there a preferred location for a "base camp"?
A3. As long as a camp is based on BLM lands and no new roads/two tracks are established to/from the camping site, there is no preferred camp site.
Q4. Will rubber tracked, low ground pressure mulching machines be acceptable?
A4. Tracked equipment is not allowed for fuels treatments within this field office. The dry upland sites are susceptible to invasion from cheatgrass once the ground has been disturbed. Rubber tired equipment is much less likely to cause ground disturbance than tracked equipment. Soil compaction is not considered an issue in this field office.
Q5. Can we temporarily place bulk fuel on-site?
A5. As long as the bulk fuel tank is not leaking, temporary bulk fuel tanks are allowed on site.
Q6. Are there any restrictions on working hours?
A6. During summer months when fire restrictions may be in place is the only time when there are restrictions on working hours.
Q7. We are getting ready to put in a bid on the above listed job and I have a question on the specifications. (Mastication specifications require rubber-tired mulching machines in good running conditions that are equipped with a hydro-axe/fecon cutting heads capable of working slopes up to 30 percent and mulching trees or logs up to 16 inches in DBH.) Would rubber tracks on a compact skid loader be technically acceptable? I think it would be a safer option on those slopes and would apply approximately 4.2 pounds per square inch on the ground. That would be less per square inch than the rubber tires..?
A7. Tracked equipment is not allowed for fuels treatments within this field office. The dry upland sites are susceptible to invasion from cheatgrass once the ground has been disturbed. Rubber tired equipment is much less likely to cause ground disturbance than tracked equipment. Soil compaction is not considered an issue in this field office.
Q8. Would a tracked mulching machine be an acceptable equivalent in place of the rubber-tired mulching machine?
A8. Tracked equipment is not allowed for fuels treatments within this field office. The dry upland sites are susceptible to invasion from cheatgrass once the ground has been disturbed. Rubber tired equipment is much less likely to cause ground disturbance than tracked equipment. Soil compaction is not considered an issue in this field office.
Q9. I wanted to reach out and see if I can get some clarification on the 84 Mesa Mastication project and the Banta Ridge Mastication. Looking at the maps provided there doesn't seem to be a lot of trees per acre. I see that there is a minimum of 2 wheeled machines needed for these projects and was curious about the reason behind this requirement. To me there is not enough work for two machines. There is plenty of time in the allotted window to finish both of these projects with a single machine. We have 4 rubber-tired machines so that is not a problem for us to bring two, just want to make sure I'm not missing an important detail in the scope of work . Are the areas of concern really as sparse as it looks on google earth? All juniper trees 18" at DBH or less will be masticated on site. We are trying to keep our bids as competitive as possible in order to win both jobs.
A9. The SOW states that vendors must HAVE ACCESS to two rubber tired machines that meet the minimum horse power specs... we don't require that the vendor has to have more than one on site. This requirement is meant to minimize 'down time' in the case of a catastrophic failure of the primary machine. Depending on the polygon, there is a low to moderate density of trees that are at or under the 18" DBH requirement.
Q10. Is a kmz file available?
A10. Yes but the format is not compatible with sam.gov. Request the file by emailing lstjohn@blm.gov.
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