Hazardous Tree Removal and Pruning — Richmond National Battlefield Park — National Park Service
RFQ 140P4226Q0049 · Total Small Business set-aside · NAICS 561730
Quotes due: September 16, 2026, 12:00 p.m. ET, by email
Questions due: September 9, 2026 · Site visit: August 24, 10:00 a.m. ET
Firm fixed price · Period of performance 9/21/2026 – 2/26/2027
Base CLIN + 2 option activities · LPTA · 2-file submission
A UCF-format solicitation (Sections A–M): the requirements live in Section C, the submission rules in Section L, and the award logic in Section M — lowest price technically acceptable, with every required document a pass/fail gate. Each line below cites the section that makes it. The defining feature: a missing document can end the evaluation regardless of price (L.1.2, M.2).
Submission mechanics — Section L and cover
| Ref | Requirement | Flag | Answer in | Drafting note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L.1.2 | Quotes due no later than 12:00 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, by email to the Contracting Officer, solicitation number in the subject line ("140P4226Q0049 RICH Hazardous Tree Removal" per L.1.2; the cover page words it "…RICH Hazardous Trees"). | Mandatory | Transmittal email | Noon, not close of business. Multiple emails are allowed for file size, but all must land before the deadline; late means not accepted. |
| L.1.1 | Email only: mailed, shipped, faxed, or hand-delivered quotes are not accepted. The Government is not responsible for transmission failures. | Mandatory | Transmittal | Send early enough to confirm receipt — the transmission-risk clause puts every failure mode on the offeror. |
| L.1.2 | Technical questions in writing to the Contracting Officer by September 9, 2026 (cover page states 12:00 p.m. ET). Questions after the date will not be addressed by amendment. | Mandatory | — (conduct) | The two stated times differ (noon vs. close of business); treating noon as the deadline is the safe reading. |
| Cover | Site visit planned for 10:00 a.m. ET, August 24, 2026 — meet at 1990 Maintenance Way, Richmond, VA 23231. Reservation not required. | Optional | — (conduct) | Not mandatory, but the trees are marked in the field and mapped in Attachment 1 — seeing the access routes is what makes the pricing real. |
| L.1.5 | Two separate electronic files: File 1 — Factor 1 (Technical Capability) and Factor 2 (Contractor Compliance); File 2 — Factor 3 (Price), as an MS Excel workbook. File 1 must contain no pricing data. | Format | Whole submission | Price data in the technical file gets deleted by the CO before evaluation — don't make your compliance narrative depend on it. |
| Cover | Active SAM registration required at time of award. | Mandatory | SAM.gov record | Factor 2 additionally checks the registration lists NAICS 561730 as small — see below. |
Required documents — Section L.2 (each one a gate)
| Ref | Requirement | Flag | Answer in | Drafting note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L.2 F1-A | Technical approach document: capability against ALL work in Section C and attachments — understanding of constraints, risks, and challenges; site-specific approaches; materials and equipment. May use Attachment 3 (Quote Submission Package). | Mandatory | File 1 | "Simple statements of compliance ('understood'; 'will comply')" are called out as insufficient in L.1.3 — describe the how, per site. |
| L.2 F1-B | Relevant experience: three prior projects similar to ALL the work described, within the past five years (Relevant Experience Questionnaire, Attachment 3, or equivalent). Past performance checked in CPARS; "Satisfactory" or above is acceptable. | Mandatory | File 1 | Similar to all the work — removal and pruning both. Non-federal projects count if the work is similar. |
| L.2 F1-C | Copies of required licenses and certifications per Section C — the work must be under the direction and general supervision of an ISA-certified arborist (C.10.A), and at minimum the crew supervisor should be an ISA-certified arborist (C.9); arborist resume with education, experience, certifications required. | Mandatory | File 1 | The ISA certificate and resume are the concrete evidence this sub-factor wants; crew composition minimums are in C.10. |
| L.2 F1-D | Biobased certification: identify biobased products to be used per Section C, with percentage of biobased content — and state utilization or non-utilization explicitly. No response at all is technically unacceptable. | Mandatory | File 1 | Even "no biobased products will be used" must be written down — silence fails the sub-factor by rule (M, Sub-Factor D). |
| L.2 F2-A | Contractor compliance: current UEI provided; SAM registration listing NAICS 561730 as a small business. | Mandatory | File 1 (Attachment 3) | Check the SAM record's size metrics before submitting — the evaluation reads the registration, not the assertion. |
| L.2 F2-B | Three completed provisions submitted separately (not the SAM reps & certs printout): 52.209-7 Information Regarding Responsibility Matters; 52.209-13 Violation of Arms Control Treaties—Certification; 52.229-11 Tax on Certain Foreign Procurements. | Mandatory | File 1 | The solicitation warns these may not be in SAM's reps & certs — complete the versions included in the solicitation itself. |
| L.2 F3 | File 2 — Price: SF 1449 signed by an official authorized to bind the company; all solicitation amendments acknowledged (SF 30 Block 11 methods); Section B price schedule completed for each line item — base CLIN 00010 (removal) and option CLINs 00020/00030 (pruning along roads / along trails). | Mandatory | File 2 (Excel) | Price every line item including options; both options carry an anticipated exercise date of 9/21/2026 (Schedule), and unpriced lines read as incomplete. |
Performance requirements to price in — Section C
| Ref | Requirement | Flag | Answer in | Drafting note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C.9 | OSHA 29 CFR 1910 adherence; adequate liability insurance and proper license to perform all work; contractor responsible for all permits and their expense. | Mandatory | Technical approach + price | Proof of insurance and business licenses is presented at award — but the coverage cost belongs in the price now. |
| C.10.D–F | Crew list with positions, affiliation, training, and experience, submitted for NPS approval; each crew at minimum an ISA-certified supervisor, experienced climbers, experienced pruners; copies of all licenses/certificates within 10 calendar days after award. | Mandatory | Technical approach | Name the crew in the quote where possible — an approvable roster beats a staffing promise. |
| C.11 | Equipment must meet OSHA/state/local safety requirements, be properly licensed, and be made available for inspection with certification documentation (e.g., annual ANSI/OSHA aerial-lift inspections, DOT trailer inspections) before use. | Mandatory | Technical approach | The equipment table with inspection dates is cheap to include and directly answers the sub-factor A "materials and equipment" test. |
| C.12 | Safety: contractor responsible for safe conduct per 29 CFR 1910.266, subject to NPS Safety Officer inspection; site-specific safety plan prepared and submitted before work commences; own traffic control per MUTCD where operating along roads, with vested flaggers and two-way radios. | Mandatory | Technical approach + price | Traffic control is contractor-furnished — a real cost on the road-pruning option line. |
| Att. 2 | Service Contract Act wage determination WD 15-4313 Rev 34 applies (Attachment 2, 7 pages). | Mandatory | Price | Labor priced at or above the WD rates with fringe — the arithmetic evaluators can check. |
| Block 8 | Period of performance 9/21/2026 – 2/26/2027; firm fixed price. | Mandatory | Price + schedule | A winter window with weather-day language in Section C — lost rain time is credited to the schedule, not the price. |
Evaluation — Section M (lowest price technically acceptable)
| Ref | Criterion | Flag | Answer in | Drafting note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M.1 | Basis of award: LPTA under RFO FAR 12.203(c)(3) / FAR 15.101-2. Primary consideration is technical acceptability; required documentation not provided may be rated not technically acceptable regardless of price. | Pass/fail | Whole submission | There is no partial credit and no ranking — every gate above is binary, and price only matters after all gates pass. |
| M.3 F1 | Factor 1 (Technical Capability): Sub-Factors A–D each rated Technically Acceptable/Unacceptable; ALL sub-factors must be acceptable or Factor 1 is unacceptable. | Pass/fail | File 1 | Build File 1 as a checklist against L.2 in order — the evaluation table mirrors it exactly. |
| M.2 | If more than one offeror omits documents, the Government MAY request missing items — by email, on its own timeline, with no responsibility for mail landing in spam. | Process | — | A discretionary safety net that only exists if several offerors fail together. Do not plan around it. |
Annotated outline — the quote the matrix implies
File 1Technical capability and compliance
- Technical approach per site (F1-A) · three-project experience sheet (F1-B) · ISA certificate + arborist resume + crew roster (F1-C) · biobased statement (F1-D) · UEI/SAM small-business note (F2-A) · three completed provisions (F2-B)
Six tabs, one per gate, no pricing anywhere. Attachment 3 (Quote Submission Package, 10 pages) is the government's own form for most of it — use it rather than reinventing the format.
File 2Price
- Signed SF 1449 · amendment acknowledgments · Section B schedule: CLIN 00010 base removal, 00020 road pruning option, 00030 trail pruning option — as an Excel workbook
WD 15-4313 labor rates, MUTCD traffic control on the road option, equipment mobilization for a battlefield park's dispersed sites — the price defends itself only if these are visibly inside it.
Source and scope. Every line above is drawn from the published solicitation 140P4226Q0049 (66 pages) and its attachment list, cited by section. This page is BidStroke's independent decomposition of a public document; it contains no bidder's facts and is not guidance from, or endorsed by, the National Park Service. Always work from the official posting and any amendments: SAM.gov — 140P4226Q0049.