Four Forest Restoration Initiative Phase 2 Request for Proposals (4FRI2 RFP) Statement

Release Date: Sep 14, 2021

After thorough and careful review of proposals and discussions with offerors, the Government has decided to cancel the solicitation and re-assess the Government requirement.

Overall, the Government’s conclusion is that the requirements for meeting the restoration objectives (as currently defined in the RFP) are not reasonably aligned to industry needs.  In addition, significant financial and investment risks remain which ultimately represents a performance risk to the Government.

During the procurement process for this RFP, the Government changed the requirement and amended the solicitation multiple times in an effort to add certainty or reduce risk to offerors.  Despite the significant number of changes to the solicitation, we have concluded that significant risks persist which compromise the likelihood of successful performance over 20 years.  We have also concluded that issuing any additional amendments at this time would warrant issuing a new solicitation and re-advertisement.

It is in the best interest of the Government to thoroughly re-assess the requirement so that any new solicitation issued would better address all risks to offerors and the Government, including financial and investment risks. Until the underlying risks associated with the 4FRI2 project are better addressed, there is no reason to expect an outcome from the current RFP process that will meet the needs of the Forest Service for the 4FRI2 project. The Government’s reassessment may include re-consideration of a variety of specific government requirements such as:

• Economic Price Adjustment requirements;
• Acreage and volume of material to be offered;
• Biomass treatment requirements;
• Road maintenance requirements; and
• Cancellation ceiling.

The Forest Service recognizes all the time and effort that went into this RFP from all parties. We are deeply invested and our intention is to work with our partners together on a new proposal as soon as possible. We look forward to working on the critical, large-scale restoration vision of 4FR and continuing our work to reduce the threats of destructive wildfire. We commit to being as transparent as possible while maintaining the integrity of the procurement process. We are also continuing to jointly prioritize and fund work with partners in high priority, at risk areas while we re-assess these needs. We are seeking input to reassess the changes in ecological and economic conditions and discuss needs and lessons learned by industry interests and including all partners. Our next step is to regroup with our partners, stakeholders, industry, and elected officials to discuss what we’ve all learned and how we can move forward to ensure success when implementing future contracts and agreements.

For further input or media inquiries please contact SM.FS.SWpressoffice@usda.gov.