A02.12 PWS IJC Pike and Muskrat Plan.docx

Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) – Acquisition Sensitive 17 Apr 2023 Update, Development, and Support of St. Lawrence River Northern Pike and Muskrat Performance Indicators

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

1. BACKGROUND and PURPOSE

On January 16, 2015 the International Joint Commission (IJC) issued a Directive establishing the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management (GLAM) Committee which reports to the three Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Boards (Superior, Niagara and Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence Boards). The GLAM Committee is to carry out the required monitoring, modelling and ongoing assessment of the regulation plans and address other questions that may arise due to changing conditions, in consultation with the Boards. In the summer of 2019, the IJC requested the GLAM Committee begin planning for an expedited review of Plan 2014 with the goal of further moderating flooding that occurred because of record water supplies to the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River system in 2017 and 2019. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) serves on the GLAM committee as technical representatives.

GLAM has now entered the 2nd phase of the expedited review, which will more closely evaluate Plan 2014 and its limits and triggers to determine whether changes should be made. The evaluation of Plan 2014 depends on understanding how well various performance metrics used to select the regulation plan have reflected the impacts of unprecedented high water levels on Lake Ontario. Two of the metrics used to evaluate ecosystem response to water levels in a prior study are muskrat house density in the Upper St. Lawrence River and young of year production for Northern Pike in the Thousand Islands portion of the Upper St. Lawrence River. These metrics were developed in support of the Lake Ontario-St Lawrence River Study Board’s final study report, titled “Options for Managing Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River Water Levels and Flows” (LOSLR Report) that led to the current regulation plan and were a part of the Integrated Ecosystem Response Model (IERM) developed for the study.

IWR, in partnership with the USACE Detroit District, seeks services and support in validating and updating the existing performance metrics and species models that relate the Northern Pike young of year productivity and muskrat house density to water levels that are impacted by regulation with data collected since the prior study, including the floods of 2017 and 2019. Updating of the metrics and models will include support in interpretation of output and integration of the indicators in the impact assessment model for the Lake Ontario- St. Lawrence River System being developed separately.

2. SCOPE

To support the evaluation of Plan 2014 the contractor shall update and refine the existing modeling framework for Northern Pike young-of-year productivity in the Upper St. Lawrence River. The existing framework is that which is used by the IERM model (LimnoTech) that was developed as part of LOSLR Report. Updates to the IERM models will include efforts to simplify the algorithm and include recent research on changes in Northern Pike spawning behavior in this region and assess changes and sensitivity in young of year productivity to water levels over time. Long term datasets collected by the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) will be incorporated into the analysis. As part of GLAM’s ongoing adaptive management work, additional data for abiotic variables including, but not limited to, water temperature and dissolved oxygen will be used as part of the analysis to identify changes in wetlands as result of both water level management and climate change.

The contractor shall also update the performance indicator used in the IERM algorithm for Muskrat house density on the Upper St. Lawrence. The contractor shall incorporate current research as well as information on winter severity and long-term monitoring data sets collected SUNY ESF to validate and update the indicator based on water level fluctuations in recent years. Updates to the algorithm will include relationships between water levels, habitat selection, and make use of both remote sensing data and field surveys.

The contractor will provide analyses and updates to the Northern Pike and Muskrat performance indicators and provide ongoing expert interpretation and support for the implementation of the performance indicators within the Integrated Social, Economic, and Ecosystem (ISEE) model that is being developed concurrently by the GLAM committee. Support will include incorporation of routines, algorithms, and data into the ISEE model and interpretation of model output. Support for this effort will also include providing expert guidance on evaluation of abiotic ecological indicators, such as dissolved oxygen and temperature, for the purposes of identifying new performance indicators for GLAM’s adaptive management efforts

3. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

The following sub-sections provide details of various general requirements for this effort.

3.1. Non-Personal Services

The contractor shall provide strictly non-personal services and contractor employees are not subject to direct supervision and control by the Government. The contractor shall advise and support the Government but shall not make final decisions or certifications on behalf of the Government nor perform any inherently governmental functions. The contractor and its employees shall not represent the Government nor appear to represent the Government in performance of these contract services. Contractor personnel shall clearly identify themselves as contractor employees in all interactions during contract performance.

3.2. Place of Performance

Work will be performed at the contractor’s physical site except for field surveys that may include the deployment and retrieval of sensors at locations along the U.S. Shoreline of the Upper St. Lawrence River. A general list of the water bodies is below, while the specific locations are to be the same as those monitored by SUNY ESF. Additional locations or data may be included at the direction of the GLAM Committee.

3.3. Period of Performance

The period of performance is from date of Notice to Proceed (NTP) through eighteen (18) months.

3.4. Materials

All materials, minus expendable supplies, purchased by the contractor with funds from this task order and used under this task order, become and remain the property of the Government.

3.5. Travel

The contractor shall provide services necessary to plan and schedule travel and travel shall be reimbursed in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 31.205-46. The contractor shall be reimbursed for actual allowable costs and not to exceed the amount allowed in the Joint Travel Regulations (JTR). No fee is allowable on travel costs. Travel to field locations for survey is required but no travel for meetings or presentations is anticipated.

3.6 SECURITY and Safety

The work will be UNCLASSIFIED and network or facility access is not required. Contractor access supporting meetings at a government site shall be coordinated by the government technical point of contact (TPOC) or the contracting officer representative (COR). The contractor(s) will not require a Common Access Card (CAC).

Contractor Compliance: The contractor and its subcontractors shall comply with Public Law 91-596 (Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)) and the Environmental, Safety, and Occupational Health (ESOH) (DODD 4715.1E). These requirements shall be incorporated into the contractors’ safety and health program. The Department of Defense (DoD) participates in the OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). Contractor personnel performing services on a DoD installation shall participate in the local VPP. Information on the VPP is available at www.osha.gov/dcsp/vpp/index.html.

Mishap Notification and Investigation: The contractor and its subcontractors (if applicable) shall promptly report pertinent facts regarding mishaps involving Government property damage or injury to Government personnel and to cooperate in any resulting safety investigation. The contractor shall notify (via telephone) the cognizant contracting officer, the contracting officer’s representative, and/or other applicable members within four (4) hours of all mishaps or incidents. The Government person notified by the contractor will in-turn notify the Safety office. Contractor notifications made after duty hours shall be reported to the appropriate installation Command Post. If requested by the cognizant contracting officer, the contracting officer’s representative, and/or the cognizant program manager, the contractor shall immediately secure the mishap scene/damaged property and impound pertinent maintenance and training records until released by the investigating safety office. If the Government investigates the mishap, the contractor and the subcontractors shall cooperate fully and assist the Government personnel until the investigation is completed.

4. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS (TASK AREAS)

Three tasks are included.

4.1. TASK 1: Update the performance indicator for Northern Pike used in the IERM model from the LOSLR Report with long term monitoring data sets and recent research and science. This task includes providing an updated performance indicator for inclusion into the ISEE model and preliminary report to the GLAM committee by October 31, 2023 and ongoing performance indicator interpretation and support through Dec 31, 2024

4.2. TASK 2: Update the performance indicator for muskrat housing used in the IERM model from the LOSLR Report with long term monitoring data sets and current recent research and science. This task includes providing an updated performance indicator for inclusion into the ISEE model and preliminary report to the GLAM committee by December 31, 2023 and ongoing performance indicator interpretation and support through Dec 31, 2024.

4.3. TASK 3: Develop a final report describing key aspects of analytical approach and development of performance indicators. The report will describe the potential use of abiotic ecological indicates such as water temperature and dissolved oxygen as a means to evaluate coastal wetland ecosystem response. New data collected for the development of this report will be provided to the GLAM committee. The final report is to be a compilation of the preliminary reports and data delivered in Task 1 and Task 2 with additional analysis and interpretation based on the findings of this work. The final report and datasets will be provided to the GLAM Committee by December 31, 2024.

5. DELIVERABLES AND DELIVERY SCHEDULE

The table below identifies a set of deliverables that are required for EACH TASK described in Section 4 of this task order.

6. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY (PRS)

7. APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS

N/A

8. CONTRACTING OFFICER REPRESENTATIVE AND/OR TECHNICAL POINT OF CONTACT (TPOC)

A contracting officer representative (COR) and/or technical point of contact (TPOC) will be appointed on this task order. The COR and TPOC have no authority to direct the contractor in any way to alter the contractual obligation. The contracting officer is the only individual authorized to make changes to the contract.

9. INVOICING

The contractor is authorized to invoice as frequently as monthly for work performed. Invoices will be submitted electronically. The invoice should include a summary of work performed during the invoice period. The contractor shall append the final invoice with an “F” to indicate final. The contractor shall give their concurrence to return any unused Materials and Travel funding when the final invoice is submitted.

Invoices should be sent to the following email addresses. Which ensures that a copy goes to the USACE finance office and a copy to the IWR budget officer:

CEFC-Q0Invoices@usace.army.mil DLL-CEIWRCONTRACT@usace.army.mil