Attachment_1_PWS.pdf

Attachment 1 Performance Work Statement

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PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

Landscape Level Scientific, Technical and Peer Review Services

I. General

This is a non-personal services contract to provide landscape level scientific, technical and peer review services for the Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Basin. The Government shall not exercise any supervision or control over the contract service providers performing the services herein. Such contract service providers shall be accountable solely to the Contractor who, in turn is responsible to the Government.

II. Background

The Department of Interior (Department), Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), the implementing agency of the Lower Colorado River Multi- Species Conservation Program (MSCP) and partner agency for the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (GCDAMP) (collectively, Programs), requires contractor support to conduct a variety of scientific activities. Many of these activities include scientific peer review of information (documents, data, models, study plans, proposals, and other forms of scientific information); preparation and/or editing of scientific reports, site reports, study plans, monitoring plans, management plans; field visits; preparation and/or review of hypothesis testing field research studies;

analysis of data; development and testing of scientific models; gathering and synthesis of information, literature or cartography; preparation of reports; facilitation of scientific review panels and/or steering committees; and other science-related activities.

In accordance with the Bureau and Department guidance regarding scientific integrity (https://www.usbr.gov/ethics/integrity.html) and quality of information (https://www.usbr.gov/main/qoi/index.html), the MSCP and GCDAMP has a need for peer review of documents used by the programs to support important decisions. Since the inception of these programs, the MSCP and GCDAMP have requested various peer reviews of program documents, scientific research, monitoring plans, monitoring reports, etc. The MSCP and GCDAMP have also convened scientific review panels to review scientific documents and all best available information, theories, conclusions, and methods; and to engage in structured deliberations that produced new information or reports that would support decision making.

In addition, there is an increasing demand to gather, evaluate, and provide a synthesis of information on topics such as species status or other natural resources topics, all to be done in compliance with applicable, established scientific protocols and formats. The MSCP and GCDAMP expect these demands to be constant or increase in the future and thus, is seeking scientific and technical services to assist in meeting these demands and the associated workload.

III. Objective

The objective of this Performance Work Statement (PWS) is to obtain scientific, technical and peer review services for Reclamation. This PWS is intended to obtain services for development and review of scientific products, projects, and/or processes. Listed below are the types of work or products that are representative of the capabilities needed by the Contractor (such contracted services would be accomplished via task orders under this contract). Relative to, but not limited to, specific MSCP and GCDAMP projects, they include the following tasks or requirements.

IV. Quality Control Plan (OCP)

The Contractor shall submit a Quality Control Plan within 10 business days of contract award. This plan shall describe the Contractor’s methodology for compliance with the Deliverables and Performance Requirement Summary. The Government Representative will notify the Contractor of concurrence or required modifications to the QCP within 10 business days of receipt. The Contractor shall make https://www.usbr.gov/ethics/integrity.html https://www.usbr.gov/main/qoi/index.html appropriate modifications within 5 business days of the Government Representative’s notification and provide a revised QCP within 5 business days.

V. Quality Assurance

The Government shall evaluate the contractor’s performance under this contract in accordance with the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan. This plan is primarily focused on what the Government must do to ensure that the Contractor has performed in accordance with the performance standards. It defines how the performance standards will be applied, the frequency of surveillance, and the minimum acceptable defect rate(s).

VI. Task or Requirements:

The Contractor shall provide the following support as identified in each task or requirement.

Project Management

The Contractor shall:

a) Designate a Project Manager to provide project management and oversight of timeliness and quality of deliverables, overall project schedule, and ensure work being performed is within in scope. The Project Manager serves as the primary point of contact between Contractor and Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) for all work conducted as part of this project.

b) Provide COR with biweekly updates on tasks as assigned. The updates describe the work accomplished since the previous update, work currently underway, and work anticipated. The update shall state whether current work is on schedule, and if not, what actions are anticipated in order to get back on schedule. The updates shall be provided through email.

c) Support the COR in keeping the Administrative Record. This support shall include digitizing paper records for inclusion in the Administrative Record.

d) Be responsible for creating, developing, authoring and/or editing any initial, draft or final products that are required under the specific task order. However, letter reviews of documents only require that all reviews be provided to the Programs unless otherwise specified by the COR. If the COR chooses to have the Contractor-prepared final report peer reviewed (for example, a review of the “5-year MSCP Research and Monitoring Priorities Report), the Contractor must be prepared to consider those reviews and make changes to the report as necessary. In general, the final product for panel reviews/task orders shall summarize the goals and objectives of the review/task, the process undertaken to select the participants, the participants selected, a brief summary of their qualifications, the information considered by the panel, the exercises completed as part of the process, and the results of the panel review/ task order.

e) Safeguard all information, including that which is received from, given access to, independently researched/gathered, or produced for the Government. The Programs retain all intellectual property rights. Publishing of any product (either interim findings or final product) is solely at the discretion of the Government.

Scientific Peer Review and Scientific Information Synthesis

The Contractor shall:

a) Undertake a structured search process whereby it shall select independent, objective peer reviewers that represent a broad spectrum of applicable scientific expertise on whatever topic is the subject of the review; or independent, objective personnel that hold the applicable scientific expertise on whatever topic is the subject of the task order. Any appearance of conflict of interest must be avoided. When selecting peer reviewers, the Contractor shall comply with the National Academy of Science’s “Policy on Committee Composition and Balance and Conflicts of Interest for Committees Used in the Development of Reports” (https://www.nationalacademies.org/_cache_f2be/content/bi-coi_form-0-4885770000079783.pdf, 2003), and OMB’s “Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review” (https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/memoranda/2005/m05-03.pdf, 2004). Expertise is the most important factor in selecting peer reviewers/panels or task order personnel.

b) Target reviewers/personnel that have established, high-caliber scientific credentials (based upon such important factors as past performance and peer-reviewed publications and/or presentations) in the appropriate areas pertinent to the planned review/task. In general, the expertise required will be from areas of science such as wildlife biology, fisheries biology, genetics, hydrology, geomorphology, engineering, ecology, cartography, adaptive management, taxonomy and systematics, population biology, conservation biology, climate science, land management, bio-statistics, mathematical modeling, spatial modeling, remote sensing, and related fields. The Contractor shall recognize and provide clear direction to prospective reviewers/ personnel that the peer reviews/tasks required are scientific in nature and that decision making and policy interpretation are left to the Programs alone. The Contractor shall confer with the COR before final selection of external reviewers.

c) Review documents (models, data, proposed rulemakings such as listings, scientific papers, status reviews, management plans, recovery plans, biological opinions, annual/triennial workplans, annual reports, etc.), usually resulting in a report in letter form from each reviewer.

d) Gather, evaluate, and synthesize the best available information/data on a scientific topic resulting in a report and/or presentation to the Programs, accompanied by the data compiled and utilized.

e) Assimilate existing research data and/or new data gathered through field surveys or studies, literature searches, etc.; and production of a report with analysis, findings and conclusions.

f) Provide ongoing review of programs (e.g., research and monitoring effort). Reviewers may periodically be assembled to conduct a review of the entire program or a portion thereof, or a standing review panel may be asked to periodically review the program or portion thereof. These reviews would culminate in a written report to the Programs.

g) Provide expert panel review of key documents of all available information which may include meetings with scientists, agency personnel; and culminates in a written report summarizing and evaluating the best available information to the Programs. In general, the final product for panel reviews/task orders shall summarize the goals and objectives of the review/task, the process undertaken to select the participants, the participants selected, a brief summary of their qualifications, the information considered by the panel,

h) the exercises completed as part of the process, and the results of the panel review/ task order.

i) Facilitation of Program committee meetings and/or expert science panels related to recovery and/or augmentation efforts of endangered species or other Program resource areas. This may include assimilation of current literature, collation of subject matter expert information, and expert science panel review into a comprehensive report and/or presentation, in collaboration with and under the direction of the COR.

Research and Monitoring Projects

a) Develop research and monitoring projects/protocols that will guide management.

b) Develop data dictionaries for new protocols or for updating existing protocols.

c) Draft/update standard operating procedure documents for conducting surveys, data QA/QC, analysis, and data storage.

d) Develop training materials for survey observers, and teaching of training modules for the

Programs.

Data Analyses

a) Analyze, interpret, and synthesize the data and information necessary for the development and implementation of the Program’s research and monitoring programs/projects.

b) Compile and/or analyze natural resource/conservation issues across the Program’s areas of interest, in the broad categories of species risk and vulnerability assessments, inventory and monitoring, population and habitat assessments, biological planning and conservation design, management evaluation and research, and conservation genetics. Included in these areas are such tasks as: physical and biological research; multi-scale modeling; developing adaptive management and other decision-support tools for managers; and units of planning and science capacity to help implement the Programs.

Adaptive Management

a) Develop an adaptive management plan, including adaptive management monitoring/research plans.

b) Conduct evaluations of habitat needs for the Program’s species of interest.

c) Conduct species status reviews, including field research/studies/surveys (gathering all species status information such as biological background information, taxonomy, distribution, abundance, trends, potential threats, consideration of risk, etc.), aerial and/or ground surveys, hypothesis testing, data analysis, and report preparation.

d) Conduct program reviews of particular species for efficiency and effectiveness of expenditures, results and/or continuation of activities, in relation to the Program’s goals and objectives.

e) Conduct effects and effectiveness analyses.

GIS Tool Development and Analyses

The Contractor shall:

a) Conduct Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and/or remote sensing studies and analyses.

b) Develop applications or models.

c) Conduct mapping of wetland, riparian, upland, and other associated habitats on aerial photography or digital imagery.

d) Digitize previous mapped wetlands, riparian, or upland habitats.

e) Perform technical analyses or modeling of habitat data (e.g., status and trends or area intensification studies).

f) Convert hard copy and tabular data into spatial data.

Additional Services

a) Perform technical editing of various documents, such as management plans, annual and multi-year reports, development plans, monitoring plans, study plans, research plans, processes and other technical reports.

b) Provide programming to update existing electronic data collection field forms.

Attendance at Meetings

a) Attend project meetings/site visits as required by individual task orders.

VII. Key Personnel and Qualifications

This section lists Key Personnel that shall be representative of the following labor category types. The experience and education levels are minimums. The labor categories are for certain skilled, experienced, professional and/or technical personnel and are essential for successful accomplishment of the work to be performed under the resultant contract

The Contractor agrees to use assigned key personnel during the performance of the resultant contract and the that they shall not be removed from the contractor work, replaced, or supplemented with additional personnel, unless authorized in accordance with the following provisions.

The Contractor shall not substitute key personnel assigned to perform work under this contract without prior approval of the Contracting Officer or his authorized representative. Request for approval of substitutions shall be in writing and shall provide for a detailed explanation of the circumstances necessitating the proposed substitution(s). Requests must contain a complete resume for the proposed substitute, and any other information requested by the Contracting Officer. Proposed substitutes must have all qualifications specified above.

The Contracting Officer or his authorized representative shall evaluate such requests and promptly notify the Contractor in writing whether the proposed substitution is acceptable.

The Contractor shall provide a Program Manager who will be responsible for the performance of the work.

The name of this person and an alternate who will act for the Program Manager when he/she is absent will be designated in writing to the Contracting Officer. The Program Manager or alternate will have full authority to act for the Contractor on all Contract matters relating to daily operation of this Contract.

Qualifications for key personnel are as follows:

Project Manager/Principal – Level V

Master of Science (M.S.) with 12 years of experience or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) with 10 years of experience working on landscape scale conservation or adaptive management projects

Ecologist/Restoration Ecologist/Wetland Ecologist – Level IV

M.S. or PhD with 8 years of experience working as respective title

Biologist (Aquatic or Terrestrial)

– Level IV

M.S. or PhD with 8 years of experience working as a Biologist

Technical Expert Scientist – Level IV

M.S. or PhD with 8 to 10 years of experience in the respective field

Technical Editor/Publisher/report writing- Level II

5 to 7 years’ experience in scientific writing

VIII. Non-Key Personnel and Qualifications

Qualifications for non-key personnel are as follows:

GIS Analyst – Level III Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with 8 years, M.S. with 6 years or PhD with 5 years of experience working with habitat/spatial analyses

Research Associate/Technical Scientist – Level III

M.S. or PhD with 6 to 8 years of experience in the respective field

Research Associate/Technical Scientist – Level II

B.S. or M.S. with 4 to 6 years of experience in the respective field

Research Associate/Technical Scientist – Level I

B.S. or M.S. with up to 4 years of experience in the respective field

Landscape Ecologist/Landscape Biologist – Level III

M.S. or PhD with 6 to 8 years of experience working as respective title

Laborer/Field Technician – Level II

5 to 7 years of experience in respective field

Environmental Technician/Research Technician – Level II

5 to 7 years of experience in respective field

Principal Investigator – Level IV M.S. or PhD with 8 years of experience working as respective title

IX. Travel

The Contractor may be required to travel. Travel will be determined at the task order level. All travel, lodging, and meals and incidental expenses, will be reimbursed in accordance with the Federal Travel Regulations (www.gsa.gov/federaltravelregulation), except that reimbursement will not be limited to rates applicable to Government employees but may be reimbursed at rates deemed reasonable and typical for non-government travelers by the Contracting Officer.

X. Government Furnished Property (GFP) / Information (GPI

The Government will provide copies of, or access to, all required Government directives, publications and documentation, and will provide other necessary resources and information to accomplish the work. The Contractor must ensure protection, through completed non-disclosure statements, of the integrity and sensitivity of the information provided by Reclamation or collected from any other source while performing under this requirement. All documents and technical data provided to the Contractor during the execution of this service are considered confidential and shall not become property of the Contractor, unless specifically authorized by Reclamation.

XI. Type of Contract

This is an Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) type contract with a five (5) year ordering period.

XII. Place of Performance

All work identified shall take place in the contractor facilities except as identified in specific task orders.

XIII. Commencement of Work

The Contractor shall be required to commence the work required by a Task Order at the time specified on the Task Order, execute the work, and complete the entire project no later than the completion time specified on the Task Order.

XIV. Project Organization

This Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract will be managed from the Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Basin Regional Office.

The designated Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) for this IDIQ is:

James (Jimmy) Knowles Bureau of Reclamation P.O. Box 61470 (LC-8100) Boulder City, NV 89006-1470 E-mail: jknowles@usbr.gov Telephone: 702-293-8172 Fax: 702-293-8384

For each Task Order issued, a COR will be identified for the individual Task Order.

XV. Deliverables

If not otherwise stated in the task orders, the following requirements generally apply to all deliverables submitted:

Deliverables shall be addressed as follows:

http://www.gsa.gov/federaltravelregulation mailto:jknowles@usbr.gov

James (Jimmy) Knowles Bureau of Reclamation P.O. Box 61470 (LC-8100) Boulder City, NV 89006-1470 E-mail: jknowles@usbr.gov Telephone: 702-293-8172 Fax: 702-293-8384

If electronic deliverable is requested: E-mail: jknowles@usbr.gov

For most required services the Contractor shall provide four key deliverables: (1) Proposed Timeline, (2) Draft, (3) Final Products, and (4) Complete Official Record. Details and guidelines for the preparation of these products are provided elsewhere in this document. Additional deliverables may be required for a task order and will be specified in each individual order.

Each task order proposed by the Programs will have detailed deliverables and timelines for completion of each step and final outcome/product. In addition, it will have metrics, performance- based measures, and performance-based outcomes. The Contractor shall ensure that these elements are met on a timely basis (e.g., quarterly progress reports), and adhere to established protocols and scientific standards applicable to the specific task.

Reports/documents shall be delivered to the COR in electronic format as a text selectable “pdf” file (portable document format created with Adobe Acrobat) and Microsoft Word file within the dates established in the task order. Spatial products shall be delivered in ESRI shapefile or geodatabase format. Tabular products shall be delivered as a Microsoft Excel or Access file. The Contractor will provide all GIS data, analysis, maps, etc, with metadata that meets Reclamation standards.

All records acquired or generated by the Contractor in its performance of each task shall be the property of the Government and shall be delivered to the Government or otherwise disposed of by the Contractor either as the Contracting Officer may from time to time direct during the process of the work, or in any event, as the Contracting Officer shall direct upon task completion or termination of the contract. The Programs require that all data collected under this contract be submitted to the Programs as a reporting requirement before the end of the performance period. Data are important products of the scientific enterprise, and they should be preserved and usable indefinitely. Data must be in the form of the individual data points used in the study, not just summaries such as means; metadata must be included that comprehensively explain all variables, conditions, etc., such that the results can be understood and replicated by others.

The Contractor and any reviewers/personnel selected may publish (including Internet postings) results of this work only with the written consent of the COR. All work, findings, determinations, and products related to the task order are inherently proprietary to the Programs and thus, may be communicated with other parties only with the expressed written consent of the COR. Publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals may be pursued, and is, in fact, highly encouraged. However, the Government maintains “Unlimited Rights in Data,” meaning that the rights of the Government to use, disclose, reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, in any manner and for any purpose, and to have or permit others to do so, are not restricted in any way.

Reclamation will review all draft documents within 30 days of receipt unless otherwise specified.

Generally, one review will be sufficient. However, based upon the amount or complexity of comments, Reclamation shall have the option of reviewing drafts until they are satisfactorily revised. The Contractor, upon receipt of revision or comments, shall generally have 15 days to respond (unless otherwise specified) with the necessary written revisions.

All documents shall be consistent with the visual identity requirements for the Programs as provided by Reclamation to the successful awardee upon award or with each task order.

XVI. List of Contractor Submittals

Submittals shall be submitted as specified in each task order.

XVII. Literature Cited/Websites

National Academy of Sciences. 2003. Policy on Committee Composition and Balance and Conflicts of Interest for Committees Used in the Development of Reports. May 2003. Available online at:

https://www.nationalacademies.org/_cache_f2be/content/bi-coi_form-0-4885770000079783.pdf

Office of Management and Budget. 2004. Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review. December 16, 2004. Available online at:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/memoranda/2005/m05-03.pdf

Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program (LCR MSCP). Website:

https://www.lcrmscp.gov/

Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Program (GCDAMP). Website:

https://www.usbr.gov/uc/progact/amp/index.html https://www.nationalacademies.org/_cache_f2be/content/bi-coi_form-0-4885770000079783.pdf https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/memoranda/2005/m05-03.pdf https://www.lcrmscp.gov/ https://www.usbr.gov/uc/progact/amp/index.html

Performance Requirement Summary

The contractor service requirements are summarized into performance objectives that relate directly to mission essential items. The performance threshold briefly describes the minimum acceptable levels of service required for each requirement. These thresholds are critical to mission success.

Performance Objectives Standard Maximum Error

Rate (MER) or Performance Rate

(PR)

Method of Surveillance

PRS #1

Assist the Contracting Officer’s Representative(s) regarding scientific, technical and peer review services, including but not limited to scientific peer review, scientific information synthesis, development of research and monitoring project, data analysis, adaptive management, report writing and editing, GIS spatial analysis/tool development, and others as requested

Products/Deliverables are not more than 7 calendar days late for more than one of each type of activity, based on the requested completion date for each activity as coordinated with the Contracting Officer’s Representative for the Contract

MER= 1 Incident for each type of Task Order that were within the Contractor’s control.

Incident is defined as no more than one product is more than 7 calendar days late as coordinated initially with the task orders Contracting Officer’s Representative

Review/audit of documentation prepared for COR

Review/audit of project managed contract files maintained by service performer, for completeness, organization, and supporting documentation

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT