Attachment B Scope of Work Natural Capital Management

#AS27-5

1. Introduction The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) is soliciting proposals from experienced firms (Offeror) to deliver professional services focused on the assessment, quantification, enhancement and monitoring of wildlife habitats, and verification and transactions of natural capital assets on state Wildlife Management Areas (WMA’s). Additionally, the awarded contractor (Contractor) will also facilitate the promotion of qualified natural capital assets to generate additional financial resources to DWR for continued WMA management activities and improvements. This Project (Project) will be completed in full cooperation and collaboration with DWR staff to benefit specific WMAs statewide.

To achieve successful wildlife habitat improvement outcomes, planned biodiversity and habitat enhancements must integrate projects focused on habitat restoration and improvement, improved soil health, and enhanced water resource retention. This Project aims to create a standard-based, credible inventory of existing natural resources assets. Furthermore, it is intended to promote sustainable management results that align with the DWR's mission while upholding current property rights and land uses using ongoing natural capital financial consideration. The Contractor shall not limit or impair existing or authorized public hunting, fishing, recreation, grazing, or other uses of the WMA’s as currently allowed and implemented.

2. Background Utah’s lands and waters provide ecological and economic value of statewide significance. There is growing interest in Utah among the state, landowners, and the public to receive additional surface property based financial resources by implementing proactive land and habitat enhancements and restoration through financially leveraging natural ecosystem capital and services. This could include strategies beneficial to enhance wildlife habitats on state WMA’s including carbon retention, soils improvements, water resources protection and preservation, and others. These ecological habitat improvements should be measurable, independently verifiable natural-resource outcomes with transparent accounting of the natural capital to benefit important wildlife habitats on DWR lands in Utah.

This solicitation is seeking a qualified, collaborative partner to establish defensible baselines, quantify current resource conditions and changes over time, and report habitat improvement outcomes to recognized standards, and facilitate ongoing financial resources and consideration to DWR in a manner consistent with the mission of the DWR and with State of Utah policy.

3. Scope of Work The Contractor shall perform the tasks below. The DWR seeks outcome-focused proposals to enhance WMA capacity to leverage natural capital resources that align with current DWR goals and mission. Specific implementation tasks and methodologies may be refined with the DWR following award. The Contractor’s role is advisory and technical — to assess, quantify, monitor, verify, and recommend habitat improvement tasks and projects on qualifying WMAs statewide. All land and resource management decisions remain at the sole discretion of the DWR consistent with its mission, strategic plan and as trustee and guardian of the State’s wildlife and Wildlife Management Areas.

Work will be performed on designated, DWR fee title Wildlife Management Areas and cooperating working lands within Utah, as identified by the DWR, together with the Contractor’s own facilities. Specific locations will be provided to the awarded Contractor.

Task 1 — Initial Baseline Natural Resource Assessment. Establish current condition baselines across all identified Utah WMA Project areas, including:

· Assess current habitat conditions and important biodiversity values, including conditions for priority big-game and other species habitats as per the original purposes and objectives of each WMA.

· Compile and reconcile existing data and identify data gaps.

· Establish meaningful criteria (as per DWR wildlife and habitat management plans, goals and objectives) to determine current ecological condition including habitat mapping successfully functioning habitats and areas that are in degraded or disturbed condition.

· Identify opportunities to protect and enhance water related assets consistent with plans to support Project implementations.

· Provide analysis results and providable data to DWR.

Task 2 — Habitat Restoration, Conservation and Biodiversity. Based on initial baseline assessment, evaluate habitat improvement and restoration opportunities to develop a Project implementation plan.

· Using the baseline natural resource assessment, the Contractor will work with DWR to develop a Project implementation plan over a 6-month timeline. This planning process will involve a collaborative strategy of designing ecological improvement projects for the purpose of generating sustainable capital resources to support DWR’s continued WMA management goals in the future.

· In coordination with the DWR Project implementation team, Contractor will:

· Present baseline assessment information and analysis and discuss results.

· Address habitat and WMA management resource concerns and opportunities.

· Recommended initial project implementation options for each DWR Region including options for each Project property.

· Identify potential opportunities to protect and enhance existing or new water assets as part of specific WMA implementations.

· Collaborate with the DWR implementation team and agree on and finalize Project implementation timelines, up-front financial resources from Contractor, contracting resource allocation, etc., to initialize planned WMA projects.

Task 3 — Natural Capital Quantification and Ecological Asset Accounting. Quantify natural-resource outcomes and develop a transparent accounting of the natural-capital values associated with the project area, using recognized, independently verifiable standards and units. Establish a framework that allows outcomes to be tracked, reported, as consistent with State policy.\

Task 4 — Community Involvement, Landowner Engagement, and Stakeholder Inclusion. As needed, the Contractor will develop and carry out a community-involvement and engagement plan for projects that may require it. This could include working with partner organizations, grazing lessees, local communities, conservation districts, etc. Existing rights and community management authorities shall be respected, and local interests, knowledge, and benefits shall be meaningfully reflected as needed. The Contractor shall provide for sustained, transparent communication and community input throughout the life of the project as prescribed.

Task 5 — Integration and Coordination with State and Partner Initiatives. Coordinate and align the work with the State’s existing natural-resource programs so that it complements and does not interfere with them — including Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative, Utah Wildlife Action Plan projects or other DWR/DNR adjoining initiatives. As appropriate, coordination or partnering with federal partners such as the Utah Reclamation and Mitigation Commission (URMCC), Bureau of Reclamation, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and others. Identify opportunities for shared data, co-funding, and joint implementation, and ensure outcomes are reported in formats usable by these initiatives.

Task 6 — Reporting, Data Management, and Deliverables. Provide periodic progress reporting and final deliverables — assessment reports, data sets, maps, and a verification-ready outcome summary — in formats compatible with State systems, including GIS-ready spatial data where applicable.

4. Compliance The DWR will evaluate Project compliance through systematic coordination and collaboration meetings with the Contractor. A comprehensive measurement, reporting, and monitoring framework shall be established to facilitate independent, third-party verification of resource outcomes, incorporating specific indicators, robust data-collection protocols, and quality assurance standards within designated reporting timelines. Where appropriate, the Contractor shall implement continuous or real-time, in-situ monitoring of various resource conditions to ensure progress towards Project objectives.

5. Project Deliverables At minimum, the Contractor shall provide:

– Planning Phase (Up to 6 months)

- Detailed project work plan, operational binding agreement and schedule (planning phase, projects implementation phase, and performance phase). To be completed in the first 6 months.

- Baseline natural-resource and habitat conditions assessment presentation, report and data;

- Water resources and water source-protection summary;

- Soil health and land-function summary;

- Natural-capital quantification and ecological-asset accounting framework;

- Community-involvement and engagement plan and summary (as needed);

- Coordination plan for integration with State and partner initiatives where applicable;

- Final implementation report, including a verification-ready outcome summary and GIS-ready data.

- Planned yearly measurement, reporting, and verification framework and protocols.

– Implementation Phase (2-3 years)

· 2-to-3-year implementation phase dedicated to completing the initial planned habitat and ecological improvements.

– Performance Phase (from 10 - 30 years)

Work will be performed on designated, DWR fee title Wildlife Management Areas and cooperating working lands within Utah, as identified by the DWR, together with the Contractor’s own facilities. Specific locations will be provided for the awarded Contractor.

6. Project Timeline/Period of Performance The anticipated period of performance will begin on or about September 1, 2026, with a Phase I, 6-month planning phase to finalize project specifics. This will be followed by a 2 to 3 year implementation phase dedicated to completing the initial habitat and ecological improvements. Upon completion of these improvements, the 10–30-year long-term performance period will commence, with the possibility of renewal or extension (10 years) in accordance with the Utah Procurement Code and the resulting contract. The DWR anticipates a long-duration engagement consistent with the multi-decade permanence horizons associated with recognized natural-resource stewardship and natural capital verification standards.

7. Project Budget The Project Budget will be developed based on the outcomes of the initial baseline assessment.

8. Requirements and Evaluation Criteria Minimum Mandatory Qualifications (Pass/Fail)

1. Vendor must have a minimum of 3 years’ experience related to the key elements in the scope of work. Proposals that fail to meet this threshold will be disqualified from further evaluation.

2. Page Limit: Not to exceed 20 pages which includes: Executive Summary and technical criteria response. Resumes, letters of reference, table of contents, exhibits are excluded from the page limit.

Scored Evaluation Criteria (Technical Score) Firms meeting the minimum mandatory qualifications will be evaluated and scored based on the depth and quality of their experience in the following technical areas:

· Executive Summary (200 points): The summary should show an understanding of Utah’s Wildlife Management Areas, wildlife, water and stewardship needs and DWR’s habitat improvement and management priorities and land management legal framework.

· Ecological Asset Accounting & Transactions (300 points): Vendor MUST demonstrate and explain their experience in Natural Capital Quantification, Ecological Asset Accounting, and the actual implementation of related transactions.

· Verification Standards (200 points): Vendor MUST provide specific experience utilizing recognized natural-capital or ecological-outcome accounting frameworks, including navigating independent third-party verification processes.

· Ecological Assessment Expertise (200 points): The Vendor MUST describe their technical approach to completing this assessment. They must show a proven track record in conducting comprehensive natural resources, rangeland, and habitat or biodiversity evaluations. This should include information on the firm’s project team, roles, resumes, subcontractors, and organizational capacity. Vendor may also provide letters of reference in addition to the above requirements.

· Water-Resource Evaluation 100 points): The Vendor MUST describe their technical capability and specialized experience in water-resource evaluation specifically tailored for ecological enhancements.

· Financial & Operational Capacity (300 points): The Vendor must demonstrate the immediate capacity to deliver comprehensive analysis and allocate/manage financial resources across the entire project area throughout the full period of performance.

· Public-Agency Coordination (300 points): The Vendor MUST provide demonstrated experience coordinating with public-agency programs and managing multi-partner initiatives. Also, describe how the Vendor will provide how coordination with DWR should occur regularly and include a schedule, milestones and risk-management plan.

· Stakeholder Management (200 points): The Vendor MUST demonstrate an established capability to build, manage, and maintain relationships with landowners, local communities, and project partners.

· Performance Term (300 points): The Vendor MUST be able to accommodate standard periods of performance for the state which could include a 10-year performance term with 2 10- year options to expand. Explain how that will be done, especially with a potential of a 30-year contract. How will the Vendor continue to management the contract due to attrition?

· Payments to the State (300 points possible): DO NOT provide any figures regarding payments or percentages in your response to this criterion. We are looking for how the vendor will provide payments. The DWR seeks a model in which the Contractor bears the cost of program development and the State shares in the value of the verified outcomes generated on its land, at minimal direct cost to the State and to participating landowners. Vendors must propose a payment structure to the State that addresses, at minimum:

Payments to the State shall be separate from, and additional to, the Contractor’s investment in program development, infrastructure, and operations.

Vendor must achieve a minimum of 1680 points in order to be advanced to the cost evaluation.

Percentage to the State (720 points possible) – What percentage of the revenue will be sent to the State?