The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) Business Center, Acquisition Division on behalf of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is requesting A&E qualification information (SF-330 Architect-Engineer Qualifications) of Professional Land Surveyors for the purpose of providing easement boundary surveys and re-surveys of easements under the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program components: Wetland Reserve Easements (WRE), Emergency Watershed Protection Program-Floodplain Easements (EWPP-FPE); Health Forest Reserve Program (HFRP); and all Farm Bill 2018 Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) U.S. held easements, RCPP-HRFP, and RCPP-WRE easements.

The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program helps landowners, land trusts, and other entities protect, restore, and enhance wetlands or protect working farms and ranches through conservation easements. The programs are voluntary, have annual enrollment periods, and include additional funding through the Inflation Reduction Act for the next five years.

As an integral part of the easement acquisition process, the boundary of a proposed easement area must be delineated in a manner that is suitable for recording. The exact recording requirements will vary from State to State. At a minimum, NRCS policy, NRCS easement programs land survey specifications, and State code must be met. See Attachments 1A and 1B.

SF-330 Architect-Engineer Qualifications received as result of this request will be maintained in accordance with FAR Subpart 36.603 and will be available for review by any USDA Contracting Officer to meet USDA Architect & Engineer (A&E) requirements for boundary surveying within states/territories of the United States.

At this time, the following states are anticipating requirements for boundary surveying:

Alabama Maine North Dakota

Arkansas Maryland Ohio

California Massachusetts Oklahoma

Connecticut Michigan Oregon

Delaware Minnesota Pennsylvania

Florida Mississippi Rhode Island

Georgia Missouri South Carolina

Idaho Montana South Dakota

Illinois Nebraska Tennessee

Indiana New Hampshire Texas

Iowa New Jersey Utah

Kansas New York Vermont

Kentucky North Carolina Wisconsin

Louisiana

SF-330 Qualifications received will be initially classified with respect to the firm’s location, and state of Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) licensure. Firms must have a minimum of one Professional Land Surveyor currently licensed in the state for which they are seeking consideration.

NRCS state program offices are developing their individual requirements: number of anticipated surveys, their geographic location in the state, and total anticipate dollar value.

It is anticipated that awards will be made on a state-by-state basis following formal selection procedures for architect-engineer services anticipated to be over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold ($250,000) in accordance with FAR 36.602; and following the short selection procedures for awards anticipated under the Simplified Acquisition Threshold in accordance with FAR 36.602-5.

When formal selection procedures are anticipated, an additional notice with specific details and evaluation criteria will be posted to this site. SF330 qualifications received as a result of this general notice, as well as any received as a result of the additional and specific public notice will be evaluated in accordance with 36.602-1 and detailed in the notice.

In cases where the short selection procedures can be utilized, and there are an adequate number of qualifications on hand, no additional notice will be made. Review and evaluation of the SF-330s submitted in response to this solicitation will be conducted by a Technical Evaluation Board in accordance with the evaluation criteria below, listed in order of importance:

1. Professional Qualifications – evaluation will be based on the number of licensed Professional Land Surveyors, field employees and CAD Technicians their education and years of experience in the state.
2. Specialized Experience and Technical Competence – evaluation will be based on experience performing legal boundary surveys, particularly easement boundary surveys, and the diversity of the survey work in rural and remote areas.
3. Location in the General Geographic Area and Knowledge of the Locality – evaluation will be based on the firm’s location (field and office) in comparison to the location of required boundary surveys and performance of work similar in size and scope, within the general geographic area.
4. Capacity to Accomplish the Work – evaluation will center on the number and availability of survey crews a firm can field, availability of CAD technicians and equipment, and current workload.
5. Past Performance – will be based on past performance on contracts with the Government and Private Industry in terms of cost control, quality of work and compliance with performance schedules.

Discussions will be held with at least the three (3) most highly qualified firms identified, and a selection report prepared recommending the three most highly qualified firms in order of preference. Negotiations will then commence with the firm determined to be most highly qualified. If a mutually satisfactory contract cannot be negotiated, negotiations will be held with the second most qualified firm identified, and so on.

This short selection process may be used to meet urgent needs, within the simplified acquisition threshold, until a more formal process can be completed or to accompany existing contracts already in place.

AE data files will be maintained in a secure database maintained by the FPAC Business Center, Acquisition Division and be protected as Source Selection Information in accordance with FAR 3.104-4.

SF330s submitted are valid for one year from the date of notification that the firm has been added to the database. Firms are encouraged to update their data annually by responding to an annual notice to provide new and/or updated qualifications. Qualifications included in the database will be retained for three years. An AE firm’s data will be removed and destroyed after three years if they have not resubmitted/updated their SF330, or the AE firm responds to the Contracting Officer that they no longer wish to be included.

Submission instructions

Firms wishing to submit qualifications should submit:

1. a fully completed SF330, Part I and Part II, not to exceed 30 electronic pages (not including form instructions which should be removed).
2. Copy of current certificate of license for each Professional Land Surveyor.

Attachments: Attachment 1A - Boundary Survey Specification

Attachment 1B - Boundary Re-survey Specification

SF330 form Part I and Part II

Attachments/Links