A04_SOW.docx

Bureau of Land Management Grazing Monitoring

1. Introduction:

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Nevada State Office, is soliciting bids for range field monitoring Nevada-wide. The intent is to select a qualified contractor to assist BLM in conducting range field monitoring, as well as compiling the monitoring results into high quality digital reports. There are 6 BLM Districts in Nevada, with offices in Caliente, Ely, Elko, Battle Mountain, Tonopah, Winnemucca, Carson City, Las Vegas. Field work will occur in remote areas throughout the state.

2. Background:

Range monitoring is necessary to manage grazing on public lands administered by the BLM. Nevada BLM administers 679 grazing authorizations on 958 grazing allotments on approximately 43 million acres of public land. Increased monitoring requirements in combination with a decreased BLM staffing and conflicting workload priorities have made it difficult to conduct the necessary monitoring. Monitoring data is used to complete grazing permit renewals, and/or make adjustments to meet management objectives, among a variety of other uses, and high-quality data is imperative to provide BLM the ability to make the best management decisions possible.

3. Scope of Work:

The BLM Nevada State Office (NVSO) has a need for a contractor to work with the NVSO and District Offices within the State to conduct monitoring associated with targeted and prescribed grazing, annual use, Lahontan cutthroat trout, drought or seasonal conditions, and other short term and long-term trend monitoring throughout the state. Monitoring will follow techniques provided from BLM policy and guidance. The contractor will prepare high quality monitoring reports, monitoring files, and maps related to the tasks below.

Contractor field teams will conduct field work and compile the monitoring results into high quality digital reports in rural NV within Districts. See Attachment 3 for more detailed work that needs to be done.

3.1 Tasks

Task 1: Meetings and coordination Task 2: Field work for monitoring Task 3: Prepare draft monitoring reports and observational data collected by allotment.

Task 4: Prepare final monitoring reports incorporating all office edits and revisions

3.2. Deliverables:

Task 1: Meetings and coordination

1.1. The contractor will participate in a post award kickoff meeting.

1.2. The contractor will coordinate with BLM District Offices and the State Office to develop schedules. The schedules will include:

1.2.1. Each team (assuming two members for each monitoring team) must have their schedule planned in two-week increments.

1.2.2. Each two-week schedule must be developed in coordination with the District receiving the work and the State Office.

1.2.3. Each two-week schedule must be finalized with monitoring locations, monitoring technique(s) associated equipment, data forms, and any associated maps at least 2 weeks prior to the field work occurring.

Sample Schedule (only for clarification):

Week 1 – For this example, lets say that all meetings and information exchange (reviews, etc) occur on Mondays. The contractor and BLM will coordinate prior to field work starting to ensure that the first week (as well as the general overall season) are planned.

Week 2 – bi-weekly meet, set up weeks 4&5 monitoring schedule, including compiling all needed forms, maps, equipment, special instructions, etc. Turn in draft allotment monitoring report for week 1.

Week 3 - receive back review of draft week 1

Week 4 – bi-weekly meet, sets up weeks 6&7 monitoring schedule, including compiling all needed forms, maps, equipment, special instructions, etc. In addition, discuss and review the summary of the weeks 2&3 field work and turn in draft report for weeks 2&3 and final report for week 1.

Week 5 - receive back review of draft weeks 2&3

Week 6 – bi-weekly meet, sets up weeks 8&9 monitoring schedule, including compiling all needed forms, maps, equipment, special instructions, etc. In addition, discuss and review the summary of the weeks 4&5 field work and turn in draft report for weeks 4&5 and final report for weeks 2&3.

Week 7 - receive back review of draft weeks 4&5

1.3. The contractor will schedule re-occurring bi-weekly meetings planned out for the duration of the field season.

1.3.1. The BLM District representative from each District where work is planned for the upcoming two weeks, or has been completed in the previous two weeks, and the COR for the State Office will participate in these meetings.

1.3.2. Bi-weekly meetings will include.

· When the meeting will occur, an agenda for each meeting, as well as the preparation of meeting notes.

· Monitoring techniques that will be used for each BLM District as well as when the monitoring will occur.

· A summary of work completed in the previous two weeks and what is on the schedule for the next two weeks as well as any schedule changes and the justification for the change.

· The District receiving the two-week report will have 1 week to review and edit the report, after that time the report will be considered final.

· The district receiving the previous two weeks field reports will confirm receipt of these reports.

· The district set to receive the next two weeks of work will be ready at these meetings to ensure the contractor has any forms, templates, etc., necessary to ensure that the contractor understands the product desired.

1.4. The contractor will create and be responsible for implementing a safety plan for the contract employees.

1.5. The contractor will use the file structure and naming protocol provided by the BLM NVSO for the data that will be collected and reported.

1.6. The contractor will schedule an end of season close out meeting, that will include attendance of all districts and the NVSO, for which the purpose will be for the BLM to confirm that the contractor has successfully completed the work required.

Task 2: Field work for monitoring

2.1. The contractor must provide all personnel/management (i.e., labor), equipment, vehicles, and supplies needed to conduct monitoring.

2.2. The contractor will use the schedule developed with the BLM Districts to conduct monitoring.

2.2.1. The Districts will provide the contractor with all required monitoring requests as soon as practicable, but no later than 2 weeks prior to the monitoring needing to be conducted. If Targeted or Prescribed Grazing projects are included in monitoring needs, those would be built into the workload schedule prior to including other monitoring. In addition, any workload associated with LCT would be prioritized and included in the schedule creation prior to other monitoring.

2.3. The contractor field teams must be skilled and trained in the monitoring techniques described in the BLM technical references and manuals which are listed in attachment 1 and available from the BLM upon request.

2.3.1. The contractor field teams will provide draft field reports at a biweekly interval, and time must be afforded in their schedules to accommodate this workload.

2.3.2. The DO/SO will be provided 1 week to review each field report, and then the field reports will be finalized by the contractor and routed/filed as appropriate.

2.3.3. The contractor will be responsible for ensuring that all field reports are filed both physically (paper copy) and in digital format using the naming system and filing system provided by BLM.

2.4. Field reports will consist of at a minimum: field data collection sheets, notes, labeled photos, and maps.

2.4.1. All field sheets will be filled out in entirety, with an N/A instead of a blank when appropriate. All photos will be labeled with date, location, etc. as defined by BLM. The contractor will provide any documentation that the technical references and manuals may list as required for the monitoring technique conducted.

2.4.2. Summary field reports will be completed and made available for each bi-weekly meeting. This summary will include the locations monitored, and the type of monitoring conducted in the previous two-week time frame.

2.4.3. All field data sheets, notes, labeled photos and maps will be maintained in a neat and organized system in preparation for completing the draft and final report.

Task 3: Prepare draft monitoring reports and observational data collected by allotment.

3.1. The contractor will provide a draft report to the BLM for field monitoring conducted at two-week intervals. The draft will be based on a template appropriate to the purpose of the monitoring (LCT, MIM, annual use, Targeted Grazing treatment, etc.). The template/requirements for the draft report must be conveyed by BLM as soon as practicable, but no later than two weeks prior to the data collection occurring.

3.1.1. The draft report will include all field data sheets, detailed notes, clearly labeled photos, and maps. The draft will be provided to BLM by the contractor in solely a digital format, so as to allow for editing prior to printing.

3.3. The BLM will review and edit the draft reports and provide the contractor with their edits and comments within 1 week.

Task 4: Prepare final monitoring reports incorporating all office edits and revisions.

4.1. The contractor will make all revisions within 1 week of receiving the BLM edits.

4.1.1. Contractor and BLM will actively work together to resolve any questions arising from BLM edits.

4.2. The contractor will provide the BLM with a hard copy final monitoring report complete with all the data, labeled photos, etc., that contributed to the final report.

4.3. The contractor will provide BLM with electronic copies of the final allotment reports for monitoring complete with all the data, labeled photos, etc., that contributed to the final report.

4.4. The contractor will be responsible to ensure the final monitoring reports are filed according to BLM direction.

4.5. The contractor will supply electronic copies of final shapefiles and geodatabases created for the monitoring reports.

3.3 Key Personnel

The contractor shall assign to this contract the following key personnel:

· One Project Manager

· Field Teams (there will be at a minimum one field technician/crew lead and one field technician on each team.)

4. Contractor Performance Assessment After completion of a contract evaluation will be completed in the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) at https://www.cpars.gov/ . A CPARS shall be done for contract orders over $250,000.

5. Quality All Work shall be checked and technically reviewed and approved in accordance with environmental statutes, EO, DOI and BLM policies, directives, and guidelines.

Accuracy – all documents conform to formatting requirements, agency directives, department directives, Executive Order, and Executive Statutes as included in 4.7. Documents and submittals contains all information as specified in the PWS.

Professional – Documents and submittals are well organized, grammatically correct and demonstrate sound professional evaluation and analysis.

6. General Training:

The Contractor is responsible for all training for its employees except when training can only be provided by BLM.

7. Place of Performance:

The place of performance is Districts throughout Nevada. Contractor must be able to attend any meetings in Reno, NV and throughout the state as needed.

8. Federal Holidays:

Holidays observed by the contractor shall include all legal holidays observed by the Government. These holidays are:

9. Government Furnished property:

The Government will not be furnishing any property associated with this contract. All propriety will be the responsibility of the contractor to supply.

10. Preservation of Historical and Archaeological Data The Historic and Archaeological Data Preservation Act of 1974, provides for the preservation of historical and archaeological data that might otherwise be lost as the result of alterations to the terrain caused by a federal or federally licensed activity or programs.

If, in connection with operations under this contract, the Contractor, subcontractors, or the employees discovers, encounters, or becomes aware of any possible historical or archaeological data, objects or sites of cultural value on the project area, such as historical ruins, graves or grave markers, fossils, or artifacts, the Contractor shall immediately suspend all operations in the vicinity of the cultural value and shall notify the Contracting Officer in writing, giving the location and nature of the findings. No objects of cultural resource value shall be removed.

Where appropriate by reason of discovery, the contracting Officer may order delays in the time of performance and/or changes in the work. If such delays and/or changes are ordered, the time of performance and contract price shall be adjusted in accordance with the Changes clause.

The Contractor shall be responsible for protecting the cultural resources within the affected area from damage. In addition, the contractor will be liable for all damage to the identified cultural resources caused by their actions or the actions of their agents or representatives. The Contractor shall immediately notify the Contracting Officer or his representative if any damage occurs to any cultural resource and immediately suspend work in the area in which damage has occurred until authorized to proceed. Actions taken under this paragraph shall be subject to the FAR 53.242-15 Stop-Work Order.

11. Interruption of Work:

ENVIRONMENTAL – The Contracting Officer, by issuance of a stop work order, may direct the Contractor to shut down any work that may be subject to damage due to weather conditions or fire danger. The Contractor shall be given a resume work order, which shall document the date the stop work order ended. An allowance has been included in the contract time for short-term environmental delays up to one day at a time. The count of contract time shall therefore continue during stop work of one day or less, but the count of contract time shall stop during stop work orders in excess of one day at a time. All periods of stop work by the Government shall be documented. Actions taken under this paragraph shall be subject to FAR 52.242-15 – Stop-Work Order.

ENDANGERED SPECIES – The Government may direct the Contractor to stop work and all operations or may redirect the work to another location in the event that listed species or proposed threatened or endangered plants or animals protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, or Federal candidate (Category 1 and 2), sensitive or state listed species, identified under BLM Manual 6840 (Attachment 4), are discovered to be present in or adjacent to the project area. Actions taken under this paragraph shall be subject to FAR 52.242-15 Stop-Work Order.

FIRE DANGER SEASON – If the COR allows the Contractor to continue work during periods of declared fire danger or season, the Contractor shall comply with all applicable state laws relating to fire prevention and with all special conditions of work as directed by the COR.

12. Identification of Contractor Employees:

All contract personnel are required to identify themselves as contractors. Whether attending meetings, or working in other situations where their contractor status is not obvious to third parties, they must make their status known to avoid creating an impression that they are Government employees.

13. Confidentiality:

During the work involved in this contract, there will be high potential to have access to data that is designated as sensitive. As such, contractors performing services shall sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement form prior to performing any work. In addition, it is the contractor’s responsibility to make sure their employees understand that no sensitive information may be disclosed. Data may be disclosed only with applicable BLM Program Lead approval, on a case by case basis.