Item 9
Define the approach and techniques applicant intends to apply for internally managing and controlling a typical project, including the following: Please note that it is up to the applicant to define their approach. There are a broad range of options which are acceptable, but bid items may be awarded based upon a contractor’s ability to manage their project. Your response to this section is as least as important as your bid price, past history, and certification. The State is not responsible for supervising contractor work, contractor work crews, insuring bid item progress, or quality assurance/quality control. It is the contractor’s responsibility to manage the project, keep the DNR updated, and to guarantee the quality of the work. If the State does not know the status of a project or finds problems in performance, then the contractor has not fulfilled their responsibility under this contract. The Compliance and Inspection Procedures defined in Section I-B are for the benefit of the State; their purpose is to insure the State ‘gets what they paid for’. They are not for the benefit of the contractor. The contractor needs to institutionalize their own compliance and inspection procedure so that the contractor can insure that the State ‘gets what they paid for.’ If the State inspectors’ find unacceptable work as defined in Section I-B, then the contractor has not fulfilled their obligations under Item 9 of the SOQ.
Progress Tracking and progress reporting. What process do you use to track your progress? Do you record your progress on a map, spreadsheet, graph, electronic, hardcopy, Microsoft Project software, etc? How often do you update? What information do you include on your progress report? How do you track your quality assurance/quality control? Do you keep a daily log by person, project, bid item, etc? How and when will you update the DNR of your progress?
Issue resolution and change management process. If a problem arises, what will you do? If the prescription says to ‘only mark red maple’ and there is no red maple, what is your company process? How will you document? What format will you use for documentation? Who is responsible? Who has the final say? How and when will you contact the DNR? What if a sub-contractor finds a problem? What formal process will your company use to track and resolve issues? How will your company deal with changes, either from you or from the DNR, which occur after the bid item is awarded?
Work Schedule including: hours per week, daily schedule and weekly schedule. It is understood that weather is a factor. In fact, if it’s raining, you probably shouldn’t be marking. But what is your normal work schedule? When will we find you out on the sale? We don’t really care how many hours you work per week, we only want to know when you’ll be working on our jobs. Your application won’t get rated higher if you tell us you work 7-days a week and 16-hours per day. Once you start a bid item, will you have a crew work every day until complete, or do you do other jobs at the same time? When do you normally take lunch? Do you take off on State or Federal holidays?
Project staff transition or replacement. If you are a single person company and you have no employees and work alone, then this is not applicable. If you have any employees or use sub-contractors, then this is applicable. If someone on your current staff quits, will you replace them and how? If that person was working on a bid item, how will you handle the transition to another person? Who handles the transition? Who checks the work – in the field and in the office? How and when will you contact the DNR? How do you document what has been done regarding the transition to insure quality?
Quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC). Document, document, document! The State is contracting timber sale preparation work to save time. This will not be a benefit, though, if the field work does not meet standards. It is the contractor’s responsibility to meet State standards as defined in the contract and to prove to the State that those standards have been met. It is not the State’s responsibility to check the contractor’s work for the benefit on the contractor. The State checks the contractor only for the benefit of the State, though this information is shared with the contractor. The contractor must have a QA/QC plan in place that insures quality work. Experience, certified markers, a good work ethic, and education do not guarantee quality work. What does your company do to insure quality work? What does your company do to show the State inspector that you have done quality work? Note that the cost of doing QA/QC should be considered when you bid.
How do you inspect and document the quality of your hardwood marking? How do you inspect and document the accuracy of you 100% sawtimber tally? How do you inspect and document the accuracy of your pulp tally or pulp cruise? How do you inspect and document the accuracy of your point cruise? What instruments do you have and use? When do you use your instruments? How do you document the use of your instruments? How do you determine upper stem diameters? For GPS, do you have a Trimble GEO 2 or 3 or similar unit of another brand that can record PDOP’s? Who does your GPS? Is your GPS person trained? How have they been trained? Who checks paint lines? How do you document and insure the accuracy of your paint lines?
Item 9 Example
Define the approach and techniques applicant intends to apply for internally managing and controlling a typical project, including the following:
Progress Tracking and progress reporting. I will list all bid items received on an Excel spreadsheet. The bid items will be separated into type of work, i.e. line work, marking, etc. For each bid item and type of work, I will list the amount, due date, progress to date, and comments. In addition, all QA/QC information will be listed under the appropriate bid item. This spreadsheet will be e-mail to the local inspectors on a weekly basis, i.e. Friday’s at 1700. Any agreed upon changes to bid items will be noted.
Issue resolution and change management process. Minor changes to work will be discussed with the local DNR inspector and documented on the inspector’s log. We will expect copies of these inspections. If we do not consider changes minor, then the DNR inspector will need to submit to our field representative a written ‘change order’. If this ‘change order’ does not significantly change the amount of work, then we will note this change on our Progress Tracking Report as noted above. If this ‘change order’ adds work, then we will not proceed until the P.O. is modified. Upon modification of the P.O., we will update our Progress Tracking Report and continue work.
If issues arise concerning quality of work or interpretation of the prescription, our lead forester (Smokey Bear) will handle for the company. Field staff or sub-contractors are not authorized to handle changes other than minor items as noted above. If Smokey and the local inspector cannot agree, then the DNR TMS for the area will be called. We feel that the TMS and Smokey should be able to resolve all issues on site. If we feel that the issue is a change, than we will request a ‘change order’. If we feel that the issue involves more work, than we will request an increase in the P.O. Again, any change will be noted on our Progress Tracking Report.
Work Schedule including: hours per week, daily schedule and weekly schedule. Our staff normally works Monday to Friday from about 0700 to 1700 averaging 10 hours a day. We occasionally work Saturday but never Sunday. Of course, weather conditions can affect our schedule. If requested by the DNR, we may be available to work outside this schedule.
Project staff transition or replacement. If a forester assigned to a bid item cannot continue working on that bid item, the DNR local inspector will be contacted. With DNR approval, we will replace that forester with another staff forester. If this is not possible, we may sub-contract the remaining work. We have agreements with two other certified consulting firms that we often work with (Joe’s Consulting and Brenda’s Forestry Firm). Smokey Bear will insure the quality of the transition. He will field check the ‘old’ work before giving the work to the new forester. He will also work with the new forester to insure the work continues with the same quality. Smokey will document this transition and these notes will be available for review.
Quality assurance/quality control. The QA/QC procedure will depend on the type of work being conducted. On marking jobs, we use a clinometer on tree height for the first five trees in the morning and after lunch. We note these trees with red dots on the cruise cards. On the way to the truck for lunch and at the end of the day, each marker takes 3 sample points for BA and quality of marking and quality of stump marks. These points are recorded on our Company tally sheets and then shared with the remainder of the crew. These check points are available for review by the DNR inspector.
On cruise jobs, we use the clinometer on the first 3 points of the day and after lunch. Also, any time we have questions regarding tree height. Each employee is issued a Suunto clinometer. In addition, our lead forester (Smokey Bear) goes to all cruise jobs and randomly selects at least 5% of the points. Smokey uses a Spegal Relascop to check upper stem diameters. Again, these records are available for review by the DNR Inspector.
For all line work, Smokey visits each sale for a visual evaluation. His inspection is noted on our Company inspection form. Each sale has an inspection formed signed by Smokey. All field notes and GPS files are reviewed by Smokey in the office before being sent to the DNR. We use a Trimble GEO 3 and record all PDOP’s. Smokey has attended a 2-day GPS training session conducted by Trimble.
On marking jobs where the pulp is tallied, we check 5% of the sample trees. These trees are measured and recorded by crew members as they go to and from the truck each day. These sample trees will be recorded on the company check tally form and will be available for review by the DNR.
Upon completion of each bid item, a quality control summary will be submitted to the DNR along with the other paper work. This summary will be signed by Smokey and will show a summary of all QA/QC measurements taken and their results.
Statement of Qualification (SOQ) for Timber Preparation Contracts Page 1 of 4
Item 9, Additional Information