To determine the cost of implementing the new Region 5 Project Activity Levels (PAL) requirements, the contract preparer needs to estimate the number of days during the project’s working operating season in each of the Project Activity Levels. The contract preparer should use the actual number of PAL days from past years to estimate the levels for the project’s working operating season.
The number of days in the project’s working operating season should only be those days where a purchaser or contractor can be expected to work. Sundays or the whole weekend should be deleted from the total days if you do not expect the purchaser or contractor to work on those days. Also any limited operating seasons that shutdown the operations should be deleted. In determining the cost of the PAL implementation, only estimated operating days are to be used.
The Regional Transaction Evidence Appraisal (TEA) and R5 TEARV spreadsheets will calculate this fire precaution cost for timber sale contracts. The appraiser will supply the spreadsheet with needed information as number of days needed to complete logging, cost of a fireperson, number of days in each of the activity levels, etc; and the spreadsheet will calculate the fire precaution cost. The spreadsheet estimates the fire precaution cost by calculating an average cost per day and multiplies it by the number of operating days needed to complete the sale or project. The total shutdown days will be accounted for by subtracting them out of the operating season. This will mean fewer days during the season for the purchaser or contractor to work, thus this could lead to higher logging cost, more operating seasons and more move-in and move-out costs for the sale or project. Also, the cost of idle equipment and crew under an “E” day is calculated in the fire precaution average cost per day.
For service contracts, the contract preparer must take into account the cost of the PAL requirements in determining contractor cost for contract estimates. The number of potential shutdown days also needs to taken into account as a cost against the contract costs as well as contract length in preparation for advertising the contract.
The sale or project prospectus shall announce that the sale or project will be using the Project Activity Level system and then state the fire danger rating area, a grouping of fire danger rating areas, or the individual weather station that will be used to generate PAL values for the sale or project. State the number of historical Project Activity Levels (i.e., A, B, C, D, Ev, & E) days for the “working operating season”. Also, state the dates of the Normal Operating Season.