A02.12 PWS St Marys Rapids Sampling.docx

Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) – Acquisition Sensitive 12 Jul 2023 Data Collection for the Development of St. Marys Rapids Performance Indicators

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

1. BACKGROUND and PURPOSE

On January 16, 2015 the International Joint Commission (IJC)[footnoteRef:1] 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 to address other questions that may arise due to changing conditions, in consultation with the Boards. Lake Superior’s outflow regulation plan, known as Plan 2012, went into effect in January 2015. Plan 2012 was selected with the intention of providing more natural flows in the St. Marys Rapids to improve habitat. [1: The IJC is guided by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 which was signed by the Unites States and Canada. The IJC was established to prevent and resolve disputes over waters shared between the two countries.]

GLAM has been tasked with evaluating Plan 2012 to determine whether the intended goals have been met or if changes should be made to the Plan. The evaluation depends on understanding how well various performance metrics reflect the impacts of outflow regulation. There is limited ecological data in the St. Marys Rapids to draw conclusions on the impacts of gate operations. Thus, it is necessary to gather data and establish metrics to support modeling efforts.

IWR, in partnership with the USACE Detroit District, seeks services and support in establishing performance metrics in the St. Marys Rapids and develop models that relate the biological productivity (i.e. fish stranding or flushing) to flow changes during monthly gate operations. Establishing the metrics and models will include support in interpretation of output and integration of the indicators in future impact assessment models expected to be developed separately.

2. SCOPE

To support the evaluation of Plan 2012 the contractor is expected to collect the following field data to support modeling efforts:

a) Habitat (substrate) characterization exposed at various gate operation scenarios during gate closures.

b) Conduct field surveys to determine the incidence of stranding of fish, fish eggs, and benthos across exposed habitat to identify habitats more susceptible to gate closure impacts.

c) Conduct field surveys to determine the extent of flushing of invertebrates, fish eggs, larvae, and juveniles during gate openings.

Site conditions will determine the frequency of the data collection due to safety concerns. It is assumed that this task will evaluate a minimum of four gate modifications, with a priority to evaluate gate closures (i.e. drawdown events) and four gate openings. If possible, planned gate openings for research (e.g., two short-term openings and closings) could be evaluated. This work is expected to continue into FY 24 due to operational and basin supply-driven conditions. The contractor shall be responsible for providing their own equipment required for the completion of this task.

1. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

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

a. 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.

b. Place of Performance

Work will be performed onsite in the St. Marys Rapids and at the contractor’s physical site/laboratory

c. Period of Performance

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

d. 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. All data and data products resulting from, collected, developed, or derived from existing datasets as part of the work under this agreement, and all associated metadata required for reasonable use and understanding of aforementioned data, that are not stored, stewarded and made accessible and available to USACE will be provided to the IJC and made accessible for the IJC’s use in support of the GLAM Committee’s routine evaluation of regulation plans.

e. 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.

2. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS (TASK AREAS)

Three tasks are included:

a. TASK 1: Characterize habitat (substrate) exposed at various gate operation scenarios during gate closures. This data gathered will help calibrate hydrodynamic models, characterize changes in substrate, and help determine depth of thermal moisture refugia during gate closures. All findings will be summarized in a report to the GLAM committee by December 31, 2024.

b. TASK 2: Determine incidence of stranding of fish, fish eggs, and benthos across exposed habitat to identify habitats more susceptible to gate closure impacts. This data is expected to support ecological models to be completed at a later date by others. All findings will be summarized in a report to the GLAM committee by December 31, 2024.

c. TASK 3: Determine extent of flushing of invertebrates, fish eggs, larvae, and juveniles during gate openings. If possible, planned gate openings for research (e.g. two short-term openings and closings) would be evaluated using established protocols. All findings will be summarized in a report to the GLAM committee by December 31, 2024.

3. DELIVERABLES AND DELIVERY SCHEDULE

Through coordination with IWR and USACE, the contractor should provide the following deliverables by December 31, 2024:

a) Map showing the project area and transects.

b) Delineated wetted perimeters for each event collected.

c) Time to stabilization for each closure.

d) Time-series data from all loggers and any interpretations/analysis performed.

e) Summary report.

4. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY (PRS)

5. APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS

N/A

6. 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.

7. 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 completed. The contractor shall append the final invoice with an “F” to indicate final. All task orders under the Water Resources IDIQ are firm fixed price (Labor) and 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