Addendum #1 FWC 25.26-07 FINAL.pdf

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Commissioners

Rodney Barreto

Chairman

Coral Gables

Steven Hudson

Vice Chairman

Fort Lauderdale

Preston Farrior

Tampa

Joshua Kellam

Palm Beach Gardens

Gary Lester

Oxford

Albert Maury

Coral Gables

Sonya Rood

St. Augustine

Office of the

Executive Director

Roger A. Young

Executive Director

Charles “Rett” Boyd

Assistant Executive Director

George Warthen

Chief Conservation Officer

Jessica Crawford

Chief of Staff

850-487-3796

850-921-5786 FAX

Managing fish and wildlife resources for their long-term well-being and the benefit of people.

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Tallahassee, Florida

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MyFWC.com

DATE: SEPTEMBER 2, 2025

ADDENDUM NO.: 1

BID NO.: FWC 25/26-07

BID TITLE: REDDISH EGRET SURVEYS IN TAMPA BAY AND FLORIDA BAY

UPDATE: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

The enclosed addendum has been issued for consideration in the preparation of your response to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s

(FWC) Solicitation No. FWC 25/26-07, “Reddish Egret Surveys in Tampa Bay and Florida Bay”.

All responses to the subject solicitation must be received no later than Bid

Opening time on 2:00 PM (ET) on Tuesday, September 9, 2025.

A response received after the exact time specified will not be considered.

Failure to file a protest within the time prescribed in Section 120.57(3), Florida Statutes (F.S.), or failure to post the bond or other security required by law within the time allowed for filing a bond shall constitute a waiver of proceedings under Chapter 120, Florida Statutes. Written notices, formal requests and proceedings must conform with the requirements set forth in

Chapter 28-110, Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.). Protests must be filed with the Purchasing Office, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 1875

Orange Avenue East, Tallahassee, Florida 32311-6160 within the time prescribed in Section 120.57(3), F.S. and Chapter 28-110, F.A.C.

Sincerely, Martin Ehlen

FWC Procurement Manager

FWC SOLICITATION ADDENDUM 2

ADDENDUM #1 FWC 25/26-07

QUESTION #1

ANSWER #1

The count is focused only on the breeding season and does not require year-round monitoring. The most important overarching goal is to produce a breeding population estimate with confidence intervals for reddish egrets.

QUESTION #2

ANSWER #2

Surveys in the Tampa Bay study area will occur during March to May 2026 based on the

Contractor’s availability and best judgment. Surveys will occur in Florida Bay primarily during December 2025 to April 2026. To produce a population estimate that is high-quality, surveys should occur in rapid succession during peak reddish egret nesting.

QUESTION #3

ANSWER #3

Two paper copies and two flash drive copies of data collected.

Data is to include:

Longitude, latitude, and name of keys surveyed.

Date, time, weather conditions, observer names.

Approximate counts, by species, of all birds nesting on surveyed keys. These may represent peak or other counts from survey efforts not related to this project.

# of reddish egrets and/or reddish egret nests observed during each survey, with time of each observation recorded.

Is the population count focused specifically on the breeding season, or is year-round monitoring required?

What is the anticipated project timeline and start date?

Are there any specific reporting deliverables or data formats required?

FWC SOLICITATION ADDENDUM 3

All incidental/additional observations outside the actual surveys (e.g., nests not observed during the surveys, late season counts of independent young).

Color morph of all observed reddish egrets.

GPS coordinates or approximate mapped location of all observed reddish egret nests.

Stage of each reddish egret nest (i.e., incubation, early nestling, late nestling, branchling) when observed, unless risk of disturbance to nest or nearby nesting birds to acquire information is deemed unsatisfactorily high.

Nest height, canopy height at the nest, nest substrate, and water depth and/or distance to nearest permanently wetted area, unless risk of disturbance to nest or nearby nesting birds to acquire information is deemed unsatisfactorily high.

QUESTION #4

ANSWER #4

This solicitation is an Invitation to Bid rather than an RFP, and the Scope of Work is provided in the ITB solicitation on the MyFloridaMarketPlace, Vendor Information

Portal.

QUESTION #5

ANSWER #5

A combination of direct and flightline counts can be used as deemed appropriate by the contractor. If visibility to the interior or low-lying areas of an island is limited, or if disturbance is an issue, then a direct or ground-based count is inappropriate and a flightline survey is necessary. Each colony will be surveyed twice in close temporal

Could you please confirm if a formal Scope of Work or RFP document is available for this project?

(Section 4.2):

In Tampa Bay, we have 26 sites. Based on Section 4.2, we are unclear what specific survey methods are required at each site. Can you clarify if 2 flightline surveys required for ALL sites, or are direct/ground counts acceptable at some sites? 4.2.3 mentions repeated direct counts. Does each site need 2 flightline surveys and 2 direct count surveys? Or 2 surveys of either flightline or direct count per site as necessitated by site conditions?

FWC SOLICITATION ADDENDUM 4

proximity (i.e., within a week). If a direct count is the chosen method for a given island, the two surveys must be performed by independent observers.

QUESTION #6

ANSWER #6

Adjustments to the site list are possible and should occur with the approval of the FWC

Project Manager.

QUESTION #7

a. Is this a single observer flightline where they just watch for traffic coming in/out from a fixed location(s) or while circling the island?

b. Or is this a double observer simultaneous flightline as outlined in 4.2.2b but only for a duration of 30 minutes instead of 2 hours?

c. Could you provide a list of the 20 non-priority sites for FL Bay, or would you like us to define that list?

ANSWER #7

a/b) Yes, these short surveys are exploratory/informal and 30 minutes is a guideline but not a rule. They are intended to identify whether there is activity on an island and thus whether a detailed count is needed. Sometimes it will be immediately clear that an island has a colony and will need a full direct or 2-hour flightline survey. Or, if an island is small, it will be immediately obvious that it’s empty. In these examples, there would be no need to stay for 30 mins. These exploratory surveys could be conducted by one or more observers from a good vantagepoint or, more likely, while circling the island. It seems logistically likely that if the island is determined to be occupied by breeding reddish egrets, a full direct or 2-hour flightline survey would follow (though that decision is up to the Contractor).

c) This list would be selected by the Contractor and FWC Project Manager. Islands to particularly consider include but are not limited to the following:

Section 4.2.4): Can we adjust the site list based on 2025 nesting data? If the Aquatic Preserves can cover some of the sites in Charlotte Harbor and share their data with FWC, we could cover the Tampa Bay priority sites more quickly and potentially cover additional medium priority sites in the Tampa Bay area.

Section 4.3.9): states “flightline count protocol of approximately 30 minutes duration at various locations around these keys. “Could you clarify this:

FWC SOLICITATION ADDENDUM 5

Colony Name Colony Latitude Colony Longitude 1 Arseknicker Key 25.39663 -80.28656 2 Barnes Key 24.939236 -80.783158 3 Big Butternut Key 25.078685 -80.497542 4 Bottle Key 25.063434 -80.550852 5 Brews Key 25.043694 -80.712222 6 Cape Florida 25.676921 -80.160972 7 Cape Sable 25.185547 -81.121248 8 Central Bob Allen Key 25.031909 -80.678423 9 Chicken Key 25.620114 -80.286631 10 Cotton Key 24.96036 -80.624432 11 Cowpens Key 25.004791 -80.560546 12 Crab Key 24.989648 -80.658936 13 Deer Key 25.184316 -80.538327 14 Diamond Key 25.231999 -80.5645 15 East Buchanan Key 24.919846 -80.773283 16 East Key 24.999527 -80.611229 17 Frank Key 25.105639 -80.910611 18 Gophers Key 24.982621 -80.734921 19 HanVan Key 25.171191 -80.877489 20 Hobo Key 25.007805 -80.721518 21 Jones Lagoon 25.37192 -80.24095 22 Junk 25.044619 -80.702731 23 Lake Key 25.142466 -80.561633 24 Lil 1st Mate 25.026845 -80.646912 25 Little Betsy Key 25.130577 -80.653861 26 Little Jimmie Key 25.034366 -80.647589 27 Low Key 25.05158 -80.579657 28 Madiera 25.219639 -80.659281 29 Manatee Key 25.069897 -80.61242 30 Mangrove Key 25.394547 -80.315979 31 Murray 25.108031 -80.938146 32 North Nest Key 25.150075 -80.509195 33 North Park Key 25.127304 -80.567412 34 North Twin 24.968682 -80.744373 35 Ogden #12 25.070921 -80.634448 36 Pass Key 25.157001 -80.575718 37 Paurotis Pond 25.282619 -80.802546 38 Petersons Key 24.912851 -80.743702 39 Porjoe Key 25.137778 -80.472976 40 Ragged Key #5 25.527108 -80.173168 41 Shell Key (Florida Bay) 24.925977 -80.667769

FWC SOLICITATION ADDENDUM 6

42 Soldier Key 25.590273 -80.161303 43 Twin Key 24.964762 -80.741279 44 Virginia Key 25.742251 -80.152282 45 West Arseknicker 25.405026 -80.301953 46 West Buchanan Key 24.917837 -80.777828 47 West Key 24.984868 -80.648823

QUESTION #8

ANSWER #8

No, duplicated counts are only necessary for reddish egrets and are designed for estimation of detection probabilities, which will increase the confidence of the population estimate.

END ADDENDUM

Section 5.1.3): Do we need duplicated full colony (all species) direct counts for all species nesting at the island by independent observers as outlined in 4.2.3?