25-26429_ESA_SS_LegalNotice+KFolkerts.pdf

STATE OF WASHINGTON

Department of Fish and Wildlife

SOLE SOURCE POSTING

December 17, 2024

The WA Department of Fish and Wildlife, contemplates awarding a sole source contract to ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATES ( ESA) to complete the development and deployment of a riparian data analysis platform.

This request builds on custom work accomplished in the past years between WDFW and ESA. The original contract was justifiably provided to ESA through a sole-source contract as they possessed unique expertise in how to enhance the system capabilities with the additional elements to be added in Phase 2. Having worked very closely with WDFW executive leadership and policy staff in Phase 1, ESA also possess a unique understanding of the intent of the database.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATES founded in 1969 is dedicated to integrating environmental, economic, and social principals of sustainability into all aspects of its work. ESA is highly experienced in technology consultation, data collection, geospatial analysis, software development, and dashboard visualization. In building the data system, ESA guided WDFW to understanding this project from new perspectives.

WDFW will enter into a 6-month contract with ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATES. The contract will be issued on or after January 10, 2025, and will continue for a 6-month term, 06/30/2025. The cost of this 2-year contract is $110,000. WDFW may opt to extend the contract for an additional 6-months if required for unforeseen political circumstances. WDFW determines that the optional 6-month extension would result in equal (and/or slightly higher) consideration being added to the total contract value.

Offerors contemplating the above requirements are required to submit capability statements detailing its ability to meet the state’s requirements within ten (10) working days of this announcement.

Capability statements should address the following state requirements:

• Discuss the vendor’s ability to modify a separate copy of the application while maintaining compatibility with the version being actively modified by ESA.

• Discuss the vendor’s ability to learn the code and extensive dataset of the existing application.

• Discuss the vendor’s ability to maintain ESA’s ability to perform under their existing contract when they incur expenses providing information to and incorporating information from the vendor.

• Discuss the vendor’s ability to interact with established focus groups, WDFW technical staff, and WDFW policy leaders in a way that does not take away from ESA’s interactions with these groups or put a higher burden on WDFW staff.

Offerors should explain their expertise with Esri, Neo4j, Python's Networkx package, working with very large cloud-hosted databases, and working successfully with both technical and executive policy staff preferably staff at WDFW or a comparable agency, preferably a state agency in Washington. The vendor should also demonstrate a mastery of WDFW’s riparian management recommendations and an in-depth understanding of salmon distribution, 303(d) listings, and fish passage barrier inventories, and entities in Washington State who make land use decisions related to urbanization, forestry, and agriculture.

In the absence of other qualified sources, it is the State’s intent to make a sole source award of the contract. To submit capability statements or for questions, contact:

Janice Jackson 360.902.2444 Janice.jackson@dfw.wa.gov

25-26429 mailto:Janice.jackson@dfw.wa.gov

SOLE SOURCE POSTING