1. Preseason Incident Blanket Purchase Agreements (I-BPA) and Virtual Incident Procurement (VIPR)
February 2015

2. I-BPA Program Overview
I-BPAs are competitively awarded pre-season agreements for equipment, supplies, or services to be used on fire and all-hazard incidents; they largely replaced EERAs
VIPR is the web-based Forest Service acquisition application designed to solicit, award, and manage I-BPAs
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service
These first several slides will be gone thru quickly… providing a lead-in to a mini training session on how the FESSAA Team works with the regions on the agreements, how changes are implemented, and what input contractors can have.
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service

3. National Solicitation Plan for I-BPAs: National and Regional
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USDA Forest Service
Solicitations are issued based upon a national solicitation plan which outlines the resources to be solicited by year and by scope.
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USDA Forest Service

4. National Solicitation Plan for I-BPAs: Local
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USDA Forest Service
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USDA Forest Service

5. Scope of Solicitations
I-BPAs are solicited on three primary levels as identified in the National Solicitation Plan for I-BPAs:
1) National
one solicitation nationwide
2) Regional
one solicitation in each region
Two regions can partner to issue inter- regional solicitations as appropriate
3) Local
solicitation level and acquisition cycle determined by the geographic area
can be done by the forest, zone, or region
will vary and can be different from region to region
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service

6. Acquisition Management
2015 Resources
Solicitations for 2015
Regional Templates =
Gray Water Truck; Trailer Mounted Handwashing Station; Potable Water Truck
Mobile Laundry
Portable Toilet; Wheelchair Accessible Portable Toilet; Portable Handwashing Station
Local Templates =
Chipper
Miscellaneous Heavy Equipment (Feller Buncher; Mulcher/Masticator (Boom Mounted); Strip Mulcher/Masticator; Road Grader; Skidder)
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USDA Forest Service
These resources will be solicited in 2015.
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service

7. Acquisition Management
2016 Resources
Solicitations for 2016
Regional Templates =
Heavy Equipment with Water (Pumper Cat, Skidgine, and Softtrack)
Refrigerated Trailer
Water Handling Equipment (Engine, Support Water Tender, and Tactical Water Tender)
Weed Washing Unit
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service
These resources will be solicited in I will review in an upcoming slide more on how changes to solicitations are reviewed.
Summary for 2016: HEW – no changes.
Refrigerated Trailer – looking at the stairs, still need a platform for personnel entering/exiting units.
Water Handling – brakes on all axles, engine compression release brake, Exhibit N – all positions to be current with the PMS
Weed Washing Unit – no changes (specification was developed by the San Dimas Technology and Development Center), users are satisfied with results being accomplished by current vendors based on this specification.
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service

8. Acquisition Management
2016 Resources
Solicitations for 2016
Example of evolving specifications for Refrigerated Trailer
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service
These resources will be solicited in I will review in an upcoming slide more on how changes to solicitations are reviewed.
Summary for 2016: HEW – no changes.
Refrigerated Trailer – looking at the stairs, still need a platform for personnel entering/exiting units.
Water Handling – brakes on all axles, engine compression release brake, Exhibit N – all positions to be current with the PMS
Weed Washing Unit – no changes (specification was developed by the San Dimas Technology and Development Center), users are satisfied with results being accomplished by current vendors based on this specification.
OSHA Compliant, but not very functional
OSHA Compliant, better, but still need platform
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service

9. Acquisition Management
Scope of Program
VIPR Activity Report (as of 11/28/2014)
Year
Solicitations
Vendor Responses
Signed Agreements
Vendor Resources
2009 27
464
381
1414
2010 26
1306
1173
2868
2011 52
1289
1206
4022
2012 62
721
660
2253
2013 22
1248
3502
2014 37
1511
1401
5776
Totals
226
6597
6069
19835
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USDA Forest Service
This slide gives a sense of the magnitude of the program… lots of agreement and resources.
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USDA Forest Service

10. Participants in the I-BPA Template Development & Solicitation Process
FESSAA
CETT
Boards
Regional COs
Vendors
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USDA Forest Service
Who all is involved in the Solicitation Process
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USDA Forest Service

11. Fire Equipment, Services & Supply Acquisition Analysis (FESSAA) Team
Congressionally designated
Forest Service Acquisition Management (AQM) virtual team made up of 3 Procurement Analysts and 2 Management Analysts
Team provides national direction, guidance, and oversight to the I-BPA program, VIPR, and other acquisition-related activities
Works closely with Fire and Aviation Management (FAM)
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service

12. Contract Equipment Task Team (CETT)
Under the direction of WO FAM
Comprised of reps from geographic fire operations, equipment specialists, AQM, a WO-FAM Ops liaison and a FESSAA liaison
Mission is to develop and update equipment and service specifications; provide information to the field on cost and needs analysis; and facilitate information exchange between the field, Fire & Aviation Management, and FESSAA
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service
When we first embarked on a competitive model we started with solicitation samples from every Region that was using a solicitation template. The group responsible for bringing that all together was the Contract Equipment Task Group. The CETG later became the Contract Equipment Task Team, or CETT. That group agreed on a standard specification to be used by the agency when soliciting for that resource. That was a very painstaking process because at this time Regions were all doing things a little bit different. I know people in this room were impacted because when you took your equipment from the Pacific Northwest to another Geographic Area there was a very strong likelihood that you’re equipment may have been held to a different set of standards. The first solicitations loaded and supported by VIPR were vetted through the CETT to agency personnel and they were also published on FedBizOpps, or FBO, as Draft Solicitations for the vendor community to comment on. All those comments were brought forward to the CETG and that group addressed each comment, question, or concern. Every solicitation that was on its first acquisition cycle, we published to FBO.
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service

13. Acquisition Management
Template Review
Solicitations are reviewed in their final year of the acquisition cycle, in most cases year 3; when the CETT reviews the solicitations, we’ve had two (2) full seasons to work with the templates.
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service
As you recall from the National Solicitation Plan slide, we are in the 2nd acquisition cycle for every solicitation that is supported in VIPR. And for many of them we are in the 3rd acquisition cycle.
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USDA Forest Service

14. Template Review – continued
Specifications are fairly mature so we’re not seeing many major changes, most are minor and oftentimes just a slight edit to specification language.
Changes to the templates are processed via a Change Request process.
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service
As you recall from the National Solicitation Plan slide, we are in the 2nd acquisition cycle for every solicitation that is supported in VIPR. And for many of them we are in the 3rd acquisition cycle.
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service

15. I-BPA Policy Board and VIPR CCB (Change Control Board)
Forest Service boards chartered nationally by AQM and FAM to help with management, prioritization, and tracking of potential changes to I-BPAs and VIPR
Policy Board reviews business change requests; VIPR CCB reviews technical changes to VIPR
Membership is comprised of representation from WO-FAM, FESSAA, AQM Systems, field FAM operations and VIPR CO
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USDA Forest Service
The CR process facilitates making changes to the templates and VIPR functionality. Change requests are submitted to the Boards for consideration. The CRs are vetted thru the CETT, CO Forums, incident business community, etc. as necessary.
The Policy Board relies heavily on the CETT on all CRs that involve the technical specifications.
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service

16. Acquisition Management
VIPR COs
Forest Service COs across the country are granted access to VIPR and responsible for soliciting, awarding, and administrating I-BPAs
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Your local or regional CO is your primary contact.
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USDA Forest Service

17. Acquisition Management
Vendor Involvement
The CO should always be your first option for any solicitation questions or template suggestions.
Depending on the CO’s experience or understanding with the specific template, they may be able to provide you with an immediate answer.
The CO may also need to rely on the Fire Contract Equipment Specialist if they have that position in their Region.
The CO may need to refer the question to the Contract Equipment Task Team (CETT), if it is specification related.
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service
The CO should be able to address immediate questions/concerns on a solicitation.
How can I offer the best feedback? Review the specification, put yourself in the shoes of the incident personnel that are using the resource and ask if the specification makes sense. Remain objective in your review and suggestions. The specifications were most likely developed by the CETT so the field may or may not have a lot of information on how a specification was arrived at. If the CO or Fire Contract Equipment Specialist does not have a good understanding of the specification they will ask for an explanation from the CETT.
Depending on the nature of their concern, suggestion, or whatever, that can be communicated to the CO/Equipment SME for the Region (solicitation) they want to respond to. It should be noted that solicitations are heavily vetted amongst the fire community and most of our specifications are in a very mature state. That said, they are reviewed the year prior to them being made available, that is done by the CETT and is based on feedback provided to representatives of that Team.
If the question was asked I could say we have made some changes where something needed to be done immediately but with VIPR being an electronic system, all specifications are preloaded and available for use on or about the first day of the fiscal year, or October 1st of every year. If something is identified after the initial release it goes through our I-BPA Policy Board and if it's related to a specification, the CETT is always involved and asked for a recommendation.
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18. Vendor Application Reference Materials
FAQs
Online help feature for vendors in the Vendor Application
Vendor Brochure
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USDA Forest Service
That’s an overview of how I-BPA program changes are reviewed and implemented. I’m now going to move into the topic of incident performance evaluations for I-BPAs… once I get thru a few slides I’ll open it up for questions.
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service

19. I-BPA Performance Evaluations
Simplified Performance Evaluation Form Highlights
1-page form.
Requires additional documentation if vendor’s performance is Unsatisfactory, Marginal, Very Good, or Exceptional.
Rater will be required to provide documentation supporting the other than Satisfactory rating in accordance with the Rating Guidelines in Exhibit E of the I-BPA.
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service
How can I help? Have your personnel engage their incident supervisors early. There is a strong likelihood that resources will move from one division to another and your personnel may work for multiple supervisors. There is also a strong chance that who you are working for the first few days of an assignment may need to demob before your resource does. Avoid the situation where you are prompted to seek out incident supervisors when you’re name appears on the demob list. The next thing you can do is review the rating guidelines in Exhibit E. There are some fairly straight forward guidelines for what justifies a rating above, or below satisfactory. I’ve seen many performance evaluations where the rater has given a 3 (very good) or a 4 (exceptional) but there was not supporting justification as to why the vendor exceeded the minimum, or satisfactory rating. The agency can’t really do much with those type evaluations. So, we need your help in helping us educate those completing your performance evaluations. We are developing some cheat sheets that Finance sections can use or post but you understanding the rating guidelines is the best place to start. In an attempt to get us better past performance the CETT has proposed a shortened, 1-page form. I’ll review that and the Rating Guidelines in the next two slides.
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USDA Forest Service

20. VIPR Performance Evaluations
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USDA Forest Service
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USDA Forest Service

21. VIPR Performance Evaluations
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USDA Forest Service
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USDA Forest Service

22. Questions? Shane LaValley http://www.fs.fed.us/business/incident/
Procurement Analyst/Contracting Officer
Washington Office, Acquisition Management
Fire Equipment, Services & Supply Acquisition Analysis Team (FESSAA)
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service
Acquisition Management
USDA Forest Service 22