Contract C76F94

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has awarded a fixed-cost agreement valued at $160,668.07 for a one-year period spanning July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. This contract encompasses a comprehensive research initiative to characterize holobiont composition—encompassing host genetics, bacterial microbiome, and algal symbionts—in nursery-reared coral populations, with the objective of projecting population persistence. The work is structured around six primary tasks: development of a Quality Assurance Plan and Reporting framework; microbiome characterization of broodstock and juveniles through 16S amplicon sequencing; symbiont vertical transmission and stability assessment via Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 (ITS2) sequencing; forward-time evolutionary modeling of nursery population thermal tolerance; cross-species Coral Bleaching Automated Stress System (CBASS) thermal stress profiling of nursery-reared juveniles; and genomic and holobiont characterization of three-plus-year Montastraea cavernosa outplants.

Deliverables are structured across four quarterly phases with staggered completion dates. The contract specifies substantive outputs including Quality Assurance Plans, sample identification spreadsheets, DNA extraction confirmation documentation, library preparation metadata, sequencing quality control statistics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAM) fluorometry datasets, and summary reports. The first quarterly deliverables are due September 28, 2026, with subsequent phases concluding on January 6, 2027, March 30, 2027, and June 30, 2027. The prime contractor information is not provided in the award documentation.