A04 - SOW.pdf

Cane River Creole National Historical Park

STATEMENT OF WORK:

Interpretive Planning for Texas & Pacific Railway Depot

DATED:

1 November 2020

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

1. Background

Cane River Creole National Historical Park (CARI) is comprised of two Creole plantations, Oakland and Magnolia Plantations, located south of Natchitoches along Cane River, with a headquarters area at the historic Texas and Pacific Railway Depot (Depot) at 607 Trudeau Street in Natchitoches. CARI leases the Depot from the City of Natchitoches and intends to use the space as park administrative offices, visitor center, and theater/community room.

The Depot was constructed in 1927 during the height of the Jim Crow era and was segregated into “white” and “colored” waiting rooms. The structure was continuously used as a passenger station and later freight station until 1982 when it was abandoned. Today the structure remains as one of the last segregated train stations within Louisiana and has a deep connection to the African American community of the City and Parish of Natchitoches.

The Depot will serve as the primary visitor center for the park, providing visitors with information about Oakland Plantation, Magnolia Plantation, and the African American history along Cane River.

Because of the integrity of the resources at Oakland and Magnolia, both plantations have been designated as National Historic Landmarks. The Depot is part of the nationally significant National Register Historic District within downtown Natchitoches.

2. Objectives

The objective of this contract is to begin interpretive planning for the Depot through a series of facilitated discussions, meetings, and workshops with interested stakeholders and the broader African American community within Natchitoches. The end goal is to build consensus around the interpretive themes, stories, and messages that should be presented to visitors at the Depot. All interpretive themes, stories, and messages should relate to CARI (specifically plantation history at Oakland and Magnolia Plantations) and African American history (specifically tied to community experiences at the Depot and surrounding neighborhood). The final interpretive framework will be used to kick-start future phases of pre-design, schematic design, design development, and exhibit fabrication (to be completed at a later date).

3. Scope of Work

The Contractor shall provide all services including labor, materials, equipment, facilities, and travel, (except as otherwise specified in this contract), necessary to provide the interpretive planning services for CARI at the Depot. Planning services shall include a series of community meetings and final report on the interpretive themes, stories, and messages to be conveyed to visitors within the visitor center room and theater/community space (2 rooms) of the Depot.

Work also includes coordination with the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) and Park Superintendent to integrate community input with park mission and project expectations.

Requirements for the Completed Project:

Qualifications & Experience

• Contractor shall consist, at a minimum, of an interpretive planner and professional facilitator.

o Interpretive planner shall have previous work experience with NPS interpretive projects.

o Professional facilitator shall have no less than 8 years of facilitation experience with successfully navigating controversial meetings and topics and building consensus with a variety of stakeholders with different opinions.

o Both interpretive planner and facilitator shall have experience in working with sensitive interpretive themes including topics such as slavery, civil rights, social/racial injustice, and African American history.

Community & Internal Meetings

• Contractor shall host a minimum of 5 in-person community meetings, listening sessions, facilitated dialogues, and/or workshops at various days and times within the City of Natchitoches to engage the local community. Each meeting is expected to be 2 hours.

Because of the sensitive history of the Depot, discussions may become heated, uncomfortable, and awkward as the park works with the surrounding community to establish expectations. All community ideas, discussion, and feedback shall be recorded and summarized in typed meeting notes. Meeting notes shall be submitted to the NPS no more than 10 working days following each meeting.

• Contractor shall convene internal teleconferences or Zoom calls with CARI staff, Cane River National Heritage Area staff, and other key partners on a regular basis. At a minimum, internal meetings shall include:

o A start-up meeting to outline project goals/expectations o A summary meeting following the conclusion of the 5 in-person community meetings o A summary meeting after the draft report is presented to the community to discuss next steps to finalize the project.

Reports & Deliverables

• Contractor shall produce a draft report summarizing and synthesizing the findings of the community meetings. At a minimum, the report shall include:

o Summary of park’s interpretive themes found in the CARI Foundation Document (see attachment).

o Listing of all interpretive themes, messages, and stories gathered from the community.

o Revised list of interpretive themes and final interpretive framework for future phases of the project. This list should be a combination of the data gathered from the Foundation Document and community input.

o Identify visitor experience considerations, such as exhibit spaces, types, materials, design features, etc. as suggested by the community.

The draft report shall be submitted to CARI for review and edit prior to being released to other stakeholders. Once approved by CARI, the draft report shall be presented at a separate community meeting to provide community members with one final opportunity to review and make recommendations.

• The Contractor shall finalize the report based on the final community recommendations at the last community meeting. The final report shall be submitted to CARI staff, who will present the final findings to the community.

• The Contractor shall provide 5 hard copies and one PDF for all deliverables. All digital files over 50MB in size shall be provided to the COR via secure FTP or encrypted flash drive (with the secure password sent to the COR).

4. Period of Performance

All work, including review and approval, shall be completed on or before December 30, 2022.

5. Key Officials

Contracting Officer (CO):

Laurie Sherrod Interior Region 2, West Major Acquisition Buying Office (MABO) Contracting Officer O: 404-938-0178 Email: laurie_sherrod@nps.gov

Contracting Officer Representative (COR):

Carrie Mardorf Superintendent O: 318-352-0383, 100 C: 318-652-0141 Email: carrie_mardorf@nps.gov

Technical Expert:

Barbara Justice Chief of Interpretation O: 318-352-0383, 200 Email: Barbara_justice@nps.gov

6. Attachments

The following listed documents are incorporated into this contract:

o Foundation Document o Depot Floor Plan