Justification_for_Sole_Source.docx

Justification for Sole Source for the

STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

The Value of Conservation Technical Assistance An Economic and Programmatic Assessment and Analysis

Description: The USDA-NRCS needs a well-documented assessment paper, supported by robust economic and other analyses, which describes and documents the direct and indirect on-site and off-site benefits of the Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) Program. This will be used to support effective and efficient use of this program to further facilitate voluntary private lands conservation.

The paper will describe the use of the CTA Program to support conservation practice standards development; technology transfer; technical tools development; natural resources inventory data collection and analysis; conservation planning and other technical assistance; and conservation practice/system implementation and follow-up. The paper will describe the CTA Program’s measurable and unmeasurable benefits in robust quantitative and qualitative means.

This Statement of Work (SOW) describes the objectives expected to be achieved with regard to fully describing the conservation, production, economic, social, and food security benefits of the CTA Program. Efficient and effective use of the CTA Program will greatly support the agency’s continuing efforts to work toward its vision of “Productive working lands in harmony with a healthy environment.”

Requirements: The analyses and resulting deliverables, consistent with the timeline called for by this SOW, requires a vendor that must have a number of essential characteristics. The vendor must have the proven knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform high-quality analyses, display results effectively, and produce a professionally written report that demonstrates the conservation, production, economic, social, and food security benefits of the CTA Program. The vendor must be wholly knowledgeable of the complexities and nuances of the CTA Program that has existed, in similar form, for more than 80 years and is the very foundation for NRCS technical assistance delivery to farmers and ranchers. Additionally, the vendor must recognize and understand the direct and indirect benefits of the CTA Program so that limited agency time is spent educating the vendor of these aspects. The vendor also must have high quality oral and writing skills to be able to communicate the results of the analyses to agency leadership and others as determined by the agency.

The vendor must also understand:

· The legislative, statutory, regulatory, and policy construct of the CTA Program

· The interplay between the CTA Program and other federal, State, and local conservation programs

· How the CTA Program is leveraged with conservation partners to expand the available resources for private lands conservation

· NRCS’s conservation practice standards development, technology development, and technology transfer processes

· The National Resources Inventory (NRI) and Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) and how they are used to evaluate national natural resource issues, trends, and results, using CTA Program resources

Justification: Blackwoods Group is uniquely qualified to perform the tasks described in this SOW. The company’s staff have long experience and familiarity with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) (formerly the Soil Conservation Service), and with the budgeting and programmatic aspects of the CTA Program. Their staff contain an individual having a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of New Hampshire and who worked for 37 years with the USDA-NRCS as an economist and served as Senior Economist in the NRCS Economics Division and Director of the NRCS Resources and Social Science Division. Blackwoods Group brings experience in working on the 1998 Appropriations for the U.S. Department of Agriculture when its staff was detailed to the House Agricultural Appropriations Committee. Staff have the experience in performing numerous analyses of conservation programs within the Farm Bill and assisted in leading forums, entitled “US Agricultural Policy and the 2007 Farm Bill: Promoting the Economic Resilience and Conserving the Ecological Integrity of American Farmlands.” These staff bring experience and working knowledge as Deputy Chief for Soil Survey and Resource Assessment, with full responsibility for the agency’s resource inventory and assessment efforts, including, but not limited to, the NRI and CEAP, prior to coming to Blackwoods. As Conservation Policy and Analysis Consultant, and with an extensive career as an agricultural economist, Blackwoods Groups knows well the means and methods of analyzing and demonstrating the benefits of the CTA Program, is well acquainted with the data necessary for these analyses, and is a skilled technical writer, with many publications under his authorship.

Blackwoods Group also carries strong leadership and writing skills, as demonstrated by prior efforts to publish NRCS’s flagship document, “America's Private Land, A Geography of Hope,” as well as other publications, such as “Third Party Vendors in Conservation.” This document spoke to NRCS’s long and successful history of working with individuals and communities, and provided an historical overview of the relationship between NRCS and private contractors who perform conservation work. Staff on the Blackwoods Group bring unique knowledge and experience in the natural resource conservation field, as demonstrated by the detail to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, where staff assisted in drafting what would ultimately become the Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act Of 2007. Staff of the Blackwoods Group served as a Senior Analyst and a Senior Policy Analyst, while at NRCS.

Requirements or Technical Representative Certification I hereby certify requirements and/or technical supporting data relied upon for this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

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Contracting Officer’s Certification I hereby certify this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

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Approval of the Justification If other than Contracting Officer’s Certification is required for approval in accordance with the FAR and/or agency policy.

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