USDA Forest Service, Shawnee National Forest, 50 Highway 145 South, Harrisburg, IL 62946

F -- MACHINE AND/OR HAND PLANT TREE SEEDLINGS SOL 0908-99-002 DUE 011199 POC Contracting Officer, Barbara Ridley (618)253-7114 or Technical Contact, Tom Neal (618)658-2111 Tree Planting on the Shawnee National Forest. This project entails machine and/or hand planting of trees in lowland areas adjacent to or near the Mississippi and Big Muddy Rivers on the Murphysboro and Jonesboro Ranger Districts of the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois. The Contractor will be responsible for a) purchasing all tree seedlings (69,160 Bald Cypress, 1,575 Overcup Oak and 1,575 Pecan); b) providing cold storage facilities to keep seedlings at a temperature between 33-38 degrees Fahrenheit; and c) machine and/or hand planting all tree seedlings. The Contractor shall furnish all labor, supervision, seedlings, materials, supplies, tools, equipment, transportation, cold storage facilities, and incidentals necessary to perform the work in accordance with the specifications and requirements. Multiple contracts may be awarded if doing so would be in the best interest of the Governement. In order to be eligible for award of a contract, prospective Contractors must be located within 200 miles of Anna, Illinois. This restriction is necesssary in order to assure completion of the project within the designated timeframe. This project is very time critical and the Contractor will need to make use of every good planting day from the date of award (expected to be January 1999) until May 30, 1999. In order to utilize every day available, the Contractor will need to monitor the local ground conditions in the planting areas on a daily basis. The physical condition of the ground, particularly soil moisture levels, is a critical factor when determining when planting may take place. Local weather conditions have a significant impact on the soil conditions and will need to be monitored on a daily basis. The Contractor will need to make daily decisions and start or stop planting on very short notice and quite possiblely on a erratic basis throughout the planting period. Posted 11/23/98 (W-SN273858). (0327)

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