Jay, this work is performed under contract, as you know. One of the pertinent factors a bidder must address in their proposal is the qualifications of the individuals who will be performing the work...in terms of experience level, training, and certifications. As you also probably recall, there is no private industry certification program for chain saw operators in the US...so that last factor is moot. Perhaps oddly, the traffic control flaggers on these contracts are required to have documented professional training as well as a state certification
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. Neither is the case for fallers.
So documented experience, as well as competent performance on previous contract work, carries the load of evidence when a Contracting Officer evaluates the quality of a particular bid.
You ask would any logging contractor be able to handle the work...there are plenty of custom cutters who are fully able, but like in any field, there are less skilled ones, too.
Once the contract is awarded, my role is to act as the Contracting Officer's technical expert on the ground, termed the Contracting Officer's Representative. As such, I cannot direct how the work is pursued. But I have full authority to halt work, in fact am required to do so, if I observe work practices that are unsafe to the point of having potential to injure or kill either the workers or the public.
On a job like hazard tree removals, I make it a point to closely moniter the skill level of the sawyers when the project commences. If I am satisfied with what I see and hear (for I engage closely with these guys to find out where/what/how much experience they have, no matter what the company boss has submitted in the bid), then I loosen up my oversight. If I have less confidence, then I monitor more closely. So really, ensuring that the people doing the cutting have the chops to handle it falls to the COR...which of course begs the question, "does the COR have the skill to tell?"
In reality, very few COR's have those skills at the level I do. On this Forest, CO's recognize that...so I tend to be assigned to handle most of the hazard tree removal contracts either as COR or as designated inspector on those I don't have time enough to perform all of the COR duties. On those contracts, I'll at least put in enough time to make a judgment about whether we have a rookie who's likely to have problems handling the job safely. It's not so hard to tell
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.
More informally, as in the case with Danny, I do give input on how he might handle a particular tree, but that is basically more on a personal basis, not part of contract administration. Some guys don't want any input, some like to chew on ideas and different ways to approach felling problems. Danny has been falling professionally for nearly 10 years, mostly here in western Oregon and Washington, and some time over in eastern Washington and northern Idaho. He's real good with a saw, and runs a 460 or 660 day after day. There are a few tricks to working with a 5 foot bar that he'd not had an opportunity to learn...but I had no worries about putting that saw in his hands for that fell.
Once in a while a contract cutter will decide to pass on a tree...not very often at all, but it has happened. They do have that option, providing I agree the tree has significant attendent hazards to the faller. In such rare cases, I usually fall that tree after the contract is completed, though we have blasted one or two over the years.