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Contracting
Acquisition Management
This website is designed to assist businesses that are interested in selling their products and services to the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region. Its intent is to inform you of who we are, what we buy and where our procurement offices are located. You will find information that describes our procurement procedures and policies generally applicable to all buying done by the Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region.
The Pacific Southwest Region of the USDA Forest Service contains 18 National Forests within the State of California, Hawaii, and Pacific Islands. Forest Service offices throughout the Region annually purchase a wide variety of goods and services including reforestation services such as tree planting and thinning, janitorial, equipment with operator, professional services, numerous supplies and construction of roads and facilities. Potential bidders may contact the lead contracting officer at their respective area locations.
Procurements by the Forest Service are guided by the Federal Acquisition Regulation as modified by various Department of Agriculture and Forest Service policies. These rules and regulations may differ from Uniform Commercial Code. USDA Forest Service procurements are generally set aside for small business and may be subject to specific preference requirements.
The Acquisition Areas also provide services and oversight in the areas of property management, leasing, and federal grants and agreements. The Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP) program provides loans of Forest Service owned property to State Foresters for the purpose of wildland and rural firefighting.
How to Do Business with the Forest Service
Doing business with the Federal government, including the Forest Service, can be complicated. The following information is intended to provide a brief overview of the steps necessary to position a business concern to do business with the Forest Service and the Federal government. Also contacts are provided regarding additional resources that will assist a business concern in understanding the processes of doing business with the Forest Service and other Federal government agencies.
To successfully bid and perform Federal government and Forest Service contracts businesses are expected to follow applicable Federal, state and local laws. From a business perspective this includes being appropriately registered as a business under state and local rules, carrying adequate insurance including workers compensation if an employer, and in the case of construction contracts having the ability to adequately bond projects under the Federal government’s surety bonding requirements which are different than the state license bonding requirements required of some businesses. A computer, or computer access, is also needed and a valid email address as contracting in the Federal government is dependent in many cases on computer processes through “on-line” databases. When formed in a business like way a business is then ready to learn more about winning contracts with the Federal government.
Any business that wants to bid or provide proposals on Federal government projects must be registered in SAM on-line and have a Unique Entity ID Number. Registration will go much more smoothly if certain information is at hand prior to beginning the registration process. If a person registering does not have the information available the SAM site will guide a person through obtaining the information which will slow the registration process. Basic information needed is -
- Company Name – As noted in Step One following State and local requirements for registering a business is important to doing business with the Federal government.
- Federal Tax Identification Number (TIN) – In cases of a sole proprietorship this may be a Social Security Number, for corporations and other business formations a TIN is needed and obtained from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
- Financial Institution Information – Business bank information will be required including the American Business Association (ABA) routing number for the account, account number and other information that will be used by Federal agencies to make payment when the business has won a contract.
- Other Information – Also needed is information about the business such as address, number of employees, annual receipts, etc. Additionally information about the goods/services provided identified by NAICS number, Product Service Code (PSC), Federal Supply Classification (FSC) and other needs will be requested and SAM will help guide a business registering on how to obtain this information.
- On-Line Representations and Certification Application (ORCA) – As a portion of SAM Registration, the business will be instructed to complete an annual online representation/certification. This must be accomplished before SAM registration can be completed.
- SAM “Look Alike” Websites: The Forest Service has become aware of several organizations that appear to serve the same function as SAM. In these cases, you will notice that the website ends in.com, rather than .gov. It is recommended that contractors go directly to the SAM website to complete their registration (THIS SITE IS FREE!).
- If using a link or searching for the site, ensure the web address is a .gov site and not .com, .org or other.
- The Forest Service is also aware of private corporations that provide SAM registration support for a fee. The Forest Service does not endorse these organizations, but cannot dictate how a contractor completes registration. If utilizing one of these organizations, it is your responsibility to ensure any information provided in your SAM registration is complete and accurate.
- In lieu of paying a fee for assistance, vendors can receive assistance, free of charge, from the Small Business Administration; Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs); State economic development agencies; and local chambers of commerce (Links provided in Step Four below).
Almost all Federal project solicitations for bids or proposals over $25,000 are advertised on Sam.gov and a user guide is available for a “Vendor” on the website to assist in using the site.
There are many websites and resources to assist businesses in understanding doing business with the Federal government. There are many unique aspects such as the Federal Acquisition Regulations that govern how the Federal government issues solicitations for work and writes the contracts that result from the solicitations. The resources that can help in understanding doing business with the Federal government include –
- Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) – Located in every state PTAC’s assist businesses in understanding how to prepare bids and proposals on Federal government contracts.
- Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) – Organized in association with the Small Business Administration, the SBDC’s provide general assistance on business structure, and how to obtain business loans and surety bonding. Some assistance is provided regarding Federal government contracting too.
- Small Business Administration (SBA) – The SBA is the Federal Agency tasked with assisting small businesses to be successful. Find out more at SBA’s general website. There is also an SBA website that deals specifically with Doing Business With the Federal Government.
- Small Disadvantaged Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) – Veteran Business Outreach Center (VBOC), Sacramento, CA email or call 916-527-8400.
•If interested in contracting with the Forest Service with regard to Incidents (wild land fire and other all-hazard incidents) please visit the following Incident Procurement Website.
Quick Links
- Marketing and Identifying your product(s) or service(s)
- Procurement Forecast
- Sustainable Acquisition
- Invoice Processing Platform
- R5 Incident Procurement
Ready to do Business?
Also See ...
- National Forest Service Business Opportunities
- National AQM Incident Procurement
- National Interagency Fire Center, Contracting
- Small Business Administration
- USDA Procurement
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