The Department of Agriculture (USDA), US Forest Service (USFS) ?EAST ZONE REGIONS 1, 2, 4, AND 9? anticipate soliciting quotes (RFQ) for ?WATER HANDLING? for use during local, regional, nationwide fire suppression, all-hazard incidents, and RX Prescribed Project Work. REGION 1 WILL NOT BE SOLICITING FOR ANY TACTICAL WATER TENDERS. Section D.2 within the solicitation will contain equipment & personnel requirement details. The Contractor is responsible for all equipment, materials, supplies, transportation, lodging, managed/supervised/trained/certified personnel necessary to meet or exceed the Agreement specifications. The resources may be used in the protection of lands, to include but not be limited to, severity, fire suppression, all-hazard incidents, and RX Prescribed Project Work. Optional awarded Agreement use by Interagency Cooperators (DOI, NPS, BIA, State etc.) are subject to that agency?s payment and administrative terms. The USFS Fire and Aviation Management (F&AM) Regional Program Office Representatives will determine annually whether it is in the Government's best interest to initiate an open season on-ramping process to add additional Contractors and/or resources during the annual Contracting Officer (CO) review period noted in Section C.3.1 of the solicitation. RATES: Proposed rates should be based on up to a 16-hr daily shift and include all within B.2 -- PRICING AND ESTIMATED QUANTITY. Note: D.21.8.1 -- Rates of Payments. Payment will be at the rates specified in the agreement that is in effect at the time of the order. DISPATCH CENTER: Agreements will be competitively awarded within the advertised and available regional dispatch centers. Agreement intent and Government guidance is for quoters to select the available dispatch center closest to their resource location to reasonably meet the Government's (Host Agency's) date and time needed for emergency incident support, as well as offer best value to the Government for travel costs for each potential dispatch/BPA Call. Since wildland fire support and locations are unknown at time of award, selection of a host dispatch center/zone outside of where the resources reside may result in loss of opportunity and failure to meet Government's critical and timely need at time of incident. Map link: https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/ SET-ASIDES: The agreement will be competitively awarded. The Government anticipates awarding multiple preseason Incident Blanket Purchase Agreements (I-BPAs) using a total Small Business set aside with further consideration per Section B.6 -- SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS ADVANTAGE APPLICABLE TO DPL RANKING. ****The solicitation will be issued using the Virtual Incident Procurement (VIPR) system**** 1) Vendors must have a valid e-mail address; all VIPR communications, to include rate negotiations, technical evaluations/photo uploads, and award notifications, are conducted via e-mail. 2) Vendors must have a valid UEI (Unique Entity ID) Number. Request a free UEI Number from the Sys…