Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
Department of Energy Approved Project Facilitator
Department of Agriculture · Forest Service
More open Forest Service contracts
AI summaryOnly current Department of Energy (DOE) approved Project Facilitators can bid on solicitation 12318727Q0010, a combined synopsis/solicitation from the USDA Forest Service. The Forest Service wants an expert adviser (a Project Facilitator, PF) for an Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC: a company pays for energy upgrades and is repaid from the savings) at the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin. The work runs from November 2026 to December 31, 2029, mostly remote. The response due date is November 13, 2026, 10:00 AM Eastern. More in the summary
AI summary Beta
Only current Department of Energy (DOE) approved Project Facilitators can bid on solicitation 12318727Q0010, a combined synopsis/solicitation from the USDA Forest Service. The Forest Service wants an expert adviser (a Project Facilitator, PF) for an Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC: a company pays for energy upgrades and is repaid from the savings) at the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin. The work runs from November 2026 to December 31, 2029, mostly remote. The response due date is November 13, 2026, 10:00 AM Eastern.
Who can bid
- Current DOE-approved Project Facilitator (the notice limits the buy to approved PF vendors; DOE keeps the approved list at energy.gov/cmei/femp/federal-project-facilitators)
- Price every item on the schedule, including options, to be considered responsive
- Annual representations and certifications current in the System for Award Management (SAM), or complete paragraphs (c) through (v) of 52.212-3
How to submit: Email to cassandra.carey@usda.gov with a copy to kimberly.turner@usda.gov; subject line "Proposal submission" followed by the RFQ number and name. What to include is under Full summary below. Check the solicitation's instructions on SAM.gov.
Things to watch (10)
From the version posted Oct 23, 2026.
- Serious: Only DOE-approved Project Facilitators can bid. A business not already on DOE's approved Project Facilitator list cannot compete.
- Worth checking: Estimated hours and costs not shown. The schedule prices most lines per hour, but no estimated quantity appears in the text; check the schedule on SAM.gov before pricing.
- Worth checking: Every item must be priced. An offer that leaves out any line, including option items and travel, is not responsive, so the full price volume must be built.
Show all 10Show fewer
- Worth checking: Past performance length differs: six months or one year. The submission rule asks for contracts with at least six months of performance, but the evaluation counts contracts with at least one year; use contracts of a year or more.
- Worth checking: Award may be made without discussions. The Government may award without contacting offerors, so the first offer must hold the best technical approach and pricing.
- Minor: Start dates differ across documents. The documents give November 15, November 16 and November 20, 2026 as the start, and say actual dates depend on award.
- Minor: Questions due October 29, 2026. Questions sent after 10:00 AM Eastern on that date are not considered.
- Minor: Late offers returned unopened. An offer that arrives after the deadline is not read.
- Minor: Travel trips priced per trip. Each trip is three working days and priced as a lump sum; some trips are options and the rest of the work is remote.
- Minor: Many deliverables with 5 to 30 day turnarounds. The performance table sets due dates such as 30 days after receipt of reports and 5 days for agendas, with no deviations accepted.
Read from the notice and 1 attachment. Show which files.
- Solicitation 12318727Q0010 DOE Approved Project Facilitator.pdf (read)
Full summary
What they want
- Review the site's Phase 1 and Phase 2 project documents to learn the project (Task A1)
- Phase 2 only: engineering and economic reviews of the Investment Grade Audit (IGA: the detailed energy study) and Final Proposal, with a limited price reasonableness check and an independent cost estimate (Task A3.3)
- Phase 2 only: advise the contracting officer (CO) and contracting officer's representative (COR) on negotiating and awarding the task order, then write a lessons learned document (Task A3.4)
- Support the post-award kickoff, design reviews, installation phase, commissioning, project acceptance and the post-installation measurement and verification (M&V) report review for Phases 1 and 2 (Tasks A4.1 to A4.4)
- Option: first-year M&V report review and checklist for Phase 1 and Phase 2 (Task A5)
- Join at least one installation phase meeting a month and virtual project development meetings with the energy service company (ESCO), CO and COR
- Trips of three working days each; all other work is remote or virtual, and some trips are priced as options (Task C)
- Send written deliverables by email or an online system as PDF or Microsoft Office files, with a summary in a monthly report
- Contract type
- Firm-fixed-price requirements contract; one award
- Period of performance
- About November 2026 through December 31, 2029, plus a possible extension of up to 6 months (FAR 52.217-8). Start dates differ across documents; Task A5 first-year M&V reviews and some trips are options
- Place of performance
- Work is mostly remote or virtual. The facility served is the Forest Products Laboratory, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, Wisconsin. SAM.gov lists the place as USA
- Estimated value
- Not stated
- Contract vehicle
- Limited to DOE-approved Project Facilitators; the project is an ESPC task order under the DOE ESPC indefinite delivery contracts
- How they'll choose
- Best value: Technical Capability/Approach and Past Performance combined are more important than price
- Offers due
- November 13, 2026, 10:00 AM Eastern
- How to submit
- Email to cassandra.carey@usda.gov with a copy to kimberly.turner@usda.gov; subject line "Proposal submission" followed by the RFQ number and name
- Page limits
- Past performance: 2 pages for each contract (up to 3 contracts). No overall page limit is stated
What they'll judge offers on
- Technical Capability/Approach: 4-year degree in engineering or a related technical field; at least 5 years of experience in engineering, project management or contracting, including federal acquisitions or third-party financing; strong understanding of ESPC statutes, FAR and Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) clauses, and cost and price analysis
- Past Performance: familiarity with the relevant ESPC contracting vehicle; recency (contracts in progress or completed within the past three years) and relevancy (very relevant to not relevant)
- Price: total evaluated price, including all options, checked for fairness and reasonableness
What to include when you submit
- Send the technical volume (Volume I) and the price volume (Volume II) as separate files in Microsoft Office compatible formats
- Format: 8.5 x 11 inch paper, single-spaced, 1 inch margins, font of at least 11 point, no hyperlinks, standard page numbers
- Volume I: describe your technical capabilities for the statement of work, your strategy for the work and costs, and any assumptions that performance depends on
- Past performance: no more than three similar contracts completed or begun in the past three years; for each give the name and number, total value, completion date or stage, government contact (name, address, email, phone), any subcontractor or prime, location, and whether it finished on time
- Write any exceptions to the solicitation's technical terms and conditions in Volume I
- Volume II: fully burdened task costs for every line on the page one schedule, pricing all items including option items
- Submit the Sample Task Order Cost in spreadsheet software compatible with Microsoft Excel
- Complete SF 1449 blocks 12, 17, 23, 24 and 30, and the representations and certifications (52.212-3), or confirm the SAM entries
- Hold prices firm for 90 calendar days from the date offers are due
- Questions go by email to cassandra.carey@usda.gov with a copy to kimberly.turner@usda.gov, with "Questions" and the RFQ number and name in the subject line
After award, you must have
- Personal identity verification (PIV) of contractor staff, with a named company representative for PIV compliance
Not in the notice text
- The estimated quantities and costs for each schedule line (hours and trips) are not shown in the text; check the schedule of items on SAM.gov.
- The location of the trips is not stated; the Forest Products Laboratory is in Madison, Wisconsin.
- The monthly report that deliverables refer to is tied to a task area marked Reserved, so its format is not described.
- The solicitation says to submit a Sample Task Order Cost but does not describe it elsewhere.
- The tentative timeline is subject to change, and the Phase 2 Investment Grade Audit is described as nearing its next stage.
Eligibility and how to respond
- No set-aside: any business, large or small, can bid unless the notice says otherwise.
- How to submit, from the AI summary: Email to cassandra.carey@usda.gov with a copy to kimberly.turner@usda.gov; subject line "Proposal submission" followed by the RFQ number and name. Check it in the notice before you send anything.
- Architect-engineer services tied to buildings or construction are usually bought under the Brooks Act: the agency ranks firms on qualifications from an SF 330 first, then negotiates a price with the top firm. How A/E contracts work.
- Service contracts usually set minimum pay rates (the Service Contract Act). Price the labor with the SCA price calculator.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 23, 2026
- Notice type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- Office
- USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC
- Product/service code
- R425 · Support – Professional: Engineering/Technical
- Business type
- Engineering, architecture & research (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 541330)
- Attachments
Past awards and competition
Who has won work like this before, the likely incumbent, and what similar contracts paid, from USAspending.gov.
Before you respond
- How to respond to a solicitation (8 steps)
- How to read a government solicitation
- How to price a government contract
Terms on this notice: Solicitation
Full notice text from SAM.gov
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Forest Service requires the need to purchase the services of a Project Facilitator (PF) to be used to achieve fair, objective, and transparent valuation and pricing measures for Forest Service Energy Savings Programs at Forest Products Lab in accordance with the Performance Work Statement attached.. Product or Service Code (PSC): R425 – SUPPORT- PROFESSIONAL: ENGINEERING/TECHNICAL. NAICS: 541330 - Engineering Services-Contracts and Subcontracts for Engineering Services Awarded Under the National Energy Policy Act of 1992. This procurement is only open to current approved Department of Energy (DOE) approved PF vendors.
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