SALE OF AIRCRAFT AND AIRCRAFT PARTS FOR FIRE SUPPRESSION

Notice Date

September 25, 2000

Contracting Office

USDA Forest Service, P&P, Room 706 RP-E, P.O. Box 96090, Washington, DC 20090-6090

ZIP Code

20090-6090

Response Due

November 7, 2000

Point of Contact

Ron Hooper, OFFADD, (202) 205-1709

E-Mail Address

Ron Hooper, OFFADD (rhooper@fs.fed.us)

Description

15-Aircraft and Airframe Structural Components: This is a *SOURCES SOUGHT* for all interested parties to pre-qualify to participate in the purchase of excess military aircraft and aircraft parts for fire suppression. On September 30, 1996 the Congress of the United States passed the Wildfire Suppression Aircraft Transfer Act of 1996 (the Act). The Act authorized the Department of Defense to sell excess aircraft and aircraft parts to eligible persons or entities for use in forest/range fire suppression and pre-suppression services. The Secretary of Agriculture must certify in writing to the Secretary of Defense, prior to any sale, those persons or entities that are eligible to participate in the sale. This notice seeks interested persons or entities and identifies criteria against which interested persons or entities will be evaluated for the purpose of certification of eligibility to participate in a sale under the Act. Interested persons or entities must respond to the seven criteria listed in this notice, to USDA Forest Service, Office of the Deputy Chief for Business Operations, ATTN: Ron Hooper, P.O. Box 96090, Washington, D.C. 20090-6090, by 4:00 pm Eastern time on November 7, 2000. Criteria for use in certifying eligible persons or entities: 1) Demonstrate proof of adequate financial capacity to purchase, modify, operate, and maintain the proposed aircraft at competitive rates in the airtanker marketplace. 2) Provide a business plan indicating current and proposed ability to drop retardant from airtankers in an acceptable manner. 3) Demonstrate adequate organization and facilities for operation and maintenance of the airtanker aircraft. 4) Demonstrate the ability to comply with all applicable Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR). Demonstrate the ability to be certified and operate under 14 CFR, Part 137. 5) Provide a plan for obtaining the required approvals, including type and Airworthiness certificates, for aircraft modification and/or tank and gating System. (FAA and the Interagency Airtanker Board) 6) Demonstrate experience in operating and maintaining large multiengine, turbine aircraft. RESTRICTIONS: Section 171.3 of Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations published by the Department of Defense on June 1, 1999, restricts the use of the aircraft and aircraft parts sold under the Act to wildfire suppression purposes only; the aircraft and aircraft parts must not be flown or removed from the United States unless dispatched by the National Interagency Fire Center in support of an international agreement to assist in wildfire suppression or when jointly approved in advance, in writing, by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Defense. Persons or entities who currently hold, or have held at sometime in the past 15 years, a contract with the USDA Forest Service for the aerial delivery of fire retardant by fixed wing aircraft, need not respond to this requests for interested persons or entities. Such persons or entities will be included in any notice concerning sale of excess military aircraft under the Act. Responding to this notice and participating in any future sale of excess military aircraft as authorized by the Act, does not guarantee any successful buyer of a future contract with the USDA Forest Service for aerial delivery of fire retardant. Such contracts are advertised and awarded on a competitive basis under a separate notice and solicitation.

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20000927/SUMSC001.HTM (W-269 SN500435)