The USDA Forest Service requires services for the transportation of surplus Federal timber products by rail. This pre-solicitation and request for information (RFI) is issued for a Basic Ordering Agre... The USDA Forest Service requires services for the transportation of surplus Federal timber products by rail. This pre-solicitation and request for information (RFI) is issued for a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) as part of a PILOT project that has been designed to incentivize the removal of surplus Federal timber products from Federal lands. This BOA will allow the issuance of future orders to be awarded as firm-fixed price contracts. The scope covers the transportation (and all associated transportation services) of all Federal timber products via rail. The government intends to award multiple BOAs from this opportunity. This BOA opportunity will remain “Open and Continuous” for 4-years from date of any initial award made. Contractors may submit quotes and technical proposals at any time this BOA remains open. *** Draft versions of the Blanket Ordering Agreement are being made available to contractors to get familiar with the requirements. These are not the FINAL requirements and information contained in these documents is subject to change. Quotes should not be developed based on the draft information. *** Future Orders for specific projects will be emailed to only the Contractors awarded under this BOA. As such, it is imperative that all interested individuals have an email account, and that all firms must be actively registered in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) to be eligible for award under this solicitation. If not actively registered, the Forest Service will be unable to make a BOA award; thereby, effectively excluding an otherwise successful offeror from receiving a Call Order solicitation. Registration in SAM is a free service. Apex Accelerators offers resources that are available free of charge at https://www.apexaccelerators.us/#/ to assist with both SAM registration and in proposal submission. Send questions or interest to Curtis Yocum at curtis.yocum@usda.gov and Matt Daigle at matthew.daigle@usda.gov. Follow this notice on SAM for future notifications. It is anticipated that the Request for Quotes with all attachments shall be issued in March 2024. Basic Ordering Agreements shall be awarded using a best value source selection method; any resulting contracts from future orders shall be a firm fixed price commercial services contract. A question-and-answer Microsoft Teams meeting has been scheduled for 12:30 PM PT on Friday March 1st, 2024. Please use the link or call-in information below. Meeting ID: 298 092 956 557 Passcode: MJLAc8 Dial-in by phone +1 202-650-0123,,455068536# United States, Washington DC Find a local number Phone conference ID: 455 068 536#