Advanced Life Support (ALS) and Basic Life Support (BLS) Ambulance Service for Region 13 - National

The Department of Agriculture (USDA), US Forest Service (USFS), ESB National Zone - Region 13 (includes all participating regions), anticipates soliciting quotes (RFQ) for Advanced Life Support (ALS) and Basic Life Support (BLS) Ambulance Services for use during local, regional, and nationwide fire suppression and all-hazard incidents. Section D.2 within the solicitation will contain equipment details. The Contractor is responsible for all equipment, materials, supplies, transportation, lodging, trained/certified personnel, and supervision and management of those personnel, necessary to meet or exceed the Agreement specifications. The resources may be used in the protection of lands, to include but not be limited to, severity, fire suppression, and all-hazard incidents. The USFS Equipment & Services Contracting Branch (ESB) in tandem with Regional Program Office Representatives will determine annually whether it is in the Government’s best interest to initiate an open season on-ramping process to add additional Contractors and/or resources during the annual Contracting Officer (CO) review period noted in Section C.3.1 of the solicitation. The full solicitation will be tentatively posted on or around March 7, 2023. **Please submit all questions to: https://forms.office.com/g/FHrSGduEen RATES: Proposed rates should be based on up to a 16hr. Daily Shift and include all within B.2 -- CONTRACT TYPE AND DOLLAR LIMITATIONS. Note: D.21.8.1 -- Rates of Payments. Payment will be at the rates specified in the agreement that is in effect at the time of the order. DISPATCH CENTER: Agreements will be competitively awarded within a Regional dispatch center. Agreement intent and Government guidance is for Quoters to select the available dispatch center within the geographic area where their resource is located in order to reasonably meet the Government’s (Host Agency’s) date and time needed for emergency incident support, as well as offer best value to the Government for travel costs for each potential dispatch/BPA Call. SET-ASIDES: The agreement will be competitively awarded. The Government anticipates awarding multiple preseason Incident Blanket Purchase Agreements (I-BPAs) as unrestricted with further consideration per Section B.6 -- SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS ADVANTAGE APPLICABLE TO DPL RANKING. A single, national solicitation will be issued to obtain these services. ****The solicitation will be issued using the Virtual Incident Procurement (VIPR) system**** 1) Vendors must have a valid e-mail address; all VIPR communications, to include rate negotiations, technical evaluations/photo uploads, and award notifications, are conducted via e-mail. 2) Vendors must have a valid UEI (Unique Entity ID) Number. Request a free UEI Number from the System for Award Management (SAM): https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration 3) Vendors must have active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM): https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration 4)The Virtual Incident Procurement (VIPR) System will be used by the Forest Service for all pre-season incident procurements. In order to respond to solicitations issued through VIPR, Vendors must use Login.gov to access USDA eAuth protected applications. In addition to your password, Login.gov requires that you set up at least one authentication method to keep your account secure. This is multi-factor authentication (MFA). Login.gov uses MFA as an added layer of protection to secure your information. Additional information regarding Login.gov can be obtained at: https://www.eauth.usda.gov/eauth/b/usda/faq?gid=PublicCustomer OR by contacting your local acquisition office: http://www.fs.usda.gov/business/incident/contacts.php#field. WILL NEED THIS TO CREATE A VIPR ACCOUNT. Information: https://www.eauth.usda.gov/eauth/b/usda/registration 5) Vendors must submit a quote electronically using the VIPR Vendor Application: https://www.fs.usda.gov/business/incident/vendorapp.php?tab=tab_d