Attachment_1_-_SOW_-_RRCA_Cultural.pdf

SECTION C – STATEMENT OF WORK

Proposed Project: The Rangely Rock Crawling Park Class III Inventory requires an intensive cultural resource block inventory (Map 1. Vicinity Map). The inventory area covers approximately 615 acres of public lands in the White River Field Office (WRFO), where WRFO proposes to designate several open areas (Map 2). This inventory is required under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

The project area is located in Rio Blanco County, Colorado, within 1 mile of Rangely, Colorado. The project timeframes are listed in Table 1. The BLM seeks to identify previously undocumented sites, update records for known sites within the inventory area, and evaluate for impacts including those associated with the proposed open areas and BLM designated travel routes located within the inventory area.

Proposed Class III Inventory: The fieldwork shall meet the reporting deadlines described below and shall follow the BLM Colorado Handbook (revised 2021), Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic

Preservation (OAHP) Guidelines, and the 2021 Northwest District Standards and Procedures

(Attachment 1). No contract modifications shall be provided for unanticipated site density or logistic complexity not considered by the contractor in their bid. The contractor shall have a signed fieldwork authorization (FWA) before beginning fieldwork. The FWA request shall follow the process identified by the field office.

Table 1. Project Timeframes

Task/Dates Description Acres

Task 1: Survey the proposed Rangely Rock Crawling Park open area and completion of letter report within 10 days of fieldwork.

Task 2: Prepare Draft Final Report within 120 days after the completion of fieldwork.

Task 3: Prepare Final Report within 180 days after the completion of fieldwork.

Contract Requirements: This is a three item contract, with deliverables due on the schedule in the reporting section below, and shall ultimately result in the reporting on the results of the Class III cultural resource inventory. The required fieldwork and reporting shall meet the report deadlines described below. The selected contractor shall have a current BLM Cultural Resource Use Permit (CRUP) to perform cultural work in the appropriate field office. The Principal Investigator and Field Director/Crew

Chief must be on the selected contractor’s current CRUP as qualified to do cultural work in the field office. The Field Director/Crew Chief must be present at all times with crews in the field.

All reports and supporting records shall meet guidelines established by the OAHP and BLM.

Contractors must also follow the BLM Colorado Handbook (revised 2021) and CRUP permit stipulations, including the delivery of geospatial data containing inventory and site shapefiles. The contractor shall follow the specifications for geospatial data, as detailed in the most recent Digital Data

Specifications Guide, which may be found on the BLM website or obtained from the Project Inspector.

The Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) is Matthew Dupire, mdupire@blm.gov at (970) 878-

3839. The project inspector will be Luke Trout, ltrout@blm.gov at (970) 878-3809.

Access: It is the contractor’s responsibility to coordinate access, locate the block inventory area, and conduct the inventory in the area as mapped. The survey area is not flagged for inventory. BLM shall assist the contractor with gaining access where landowners block access.

Literature Review: A literature review must be conducted prior to starting field work and shall include the records at the field office and OAHP to identify all recorded cultural resources and previous cultural inventories. The contractor shall coordinate with the Project Inspector to arrange the records review.

Historic GLO survey records/maps must be reviewed and are available at the White River Field Office, and on the web at http://www.glorecords.blm.gov. Archival research that meets the Secretary of the

Interior's Guidelines for Historical Documentation is required.

Field Inventory: A Class III, 100% pedestrian inventory at transect intervals spaced between 15 - 20 meters shall be conducted in order to identify, record, and evaluate all cultural resources greater than 50 years old. All fieldwork and documentation shall be performed according to the Secretary of the

Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology and Historic Preservation, the BLM Colorado

Handbook (revised 2021), the OAHP Guidelines, and the current standards and guidelines for the field offices. OAHP forms shall be used for all sites and isolated finds recorded and/or reevaluated. Linear sites must be recorded on BLM Linear Site forms, and historic oil and gas well pads must be recorded on the BLM Well Pad form.

All previously-recorded Eligible, Needs Data, and Unevaluated sites in the inventory area shall be re-visited. New management data and component forms shall be completed for sites previously recorded on old versions of site forms.

The following environmental conditions may limit or preclude Class III coverage (BLM Handbook

(revised 2021). The contractor shall identify these areas on the final inventory maps and total acres inventoried shall reflect an adjustment from total project acres:

• Previous natural ground disturbance that has modified the surface so extensively that the likelihood of finding cultural resources is negligible;

• Human activity within the past 50 years that has created a new land surface to such an extent as to eradicate traces of cultural resources;

• Inventory at the same class and level previously conducted, and sites records adequately documenting the location, methods, and results of the inventory;

• Natural environmental characteristics that are unfavorable to the presence of cultural resources

(such as recent landslides or rock falls):

o Slopes greater than 30 degrees where no potential exists for rock-shelters, rock art, historic mining sites, or other cultural resources associated with rock faces or ledges. This particularly applies to steep talus or shale slopes. The contractor must field verify that these conditions exist.

o Areas where vegetation cover is 100 percent. There shall rarely be areas within heavily vegetated environments where spot ground-checking is not possible.

mailto:mdupire@blm.gov mailto:ltrout@blm.gov http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/

The definition of a site and isolated find shall follow the 2021 Northwest District Standards and

Procedures (Attachment 1). The contractor shall confirm the definitions with the Project Inspector.

Diagnostic artifacts should only be collected if the project could damage, destroy or endanger the artifact. Diagnostic artifacts shall be either photographed or illustrated as fine line drawings in the report and appropriate OAHP form. All photographs and illustrations shall have an appropriate scale, and documentation of the artifacts shall include measurements of length, width, and thickness. If other artifacts are collected during this project, a table and paragraph discussing the items collected and their associated numbers shall be included with the report as an appendix. All collected artifacts shall be prepared and delivered to the designated curation facility for the field office not later than 180 days after completion of fieldwork. A spreadsheet listing the BLM Project Number, Author, Title, Township/Range, Section, Site Number, Site Type, Eligibility, Artifact Number and Artifact Description shall accompany the artifacts, and a copy of the spreadsheet shall be provided to the field office.

If it is necessary to refine National Register eligibility recommendations, limited evaluative testing units

(shovel or trowel) may be conducted. This level of testing should not require the retrieval of artifacts for further analysis or testing, but that decision is at the discretion of the Field Director/Crew Chief. All test locations shall be identified on the site plan map. The main goal is to avoid assigning a site to a “Needs data” status, if feasible. The contractor must conduct a shovel or trowel test prior to recommending a site as “Needs Data.”

Survey will be limited to BLM-administered land. Sites that extend onto private surface will only be recorded when landowner access is granted. When the contractor identifies a site that appears to extend onto private surface, the BLM will contact the landowner(s) to request access to fully record the resource.

Reporting

After the field office receives acceptable site and inventory shapefiles, the field office shall request an

OAHP document number. Once the OAHP assigns the number (usually the same or next day), it, and the field office report number, shall be sent back to the contractor to incorporate into the documentation.

A. Task 1 (35 % of Contract): Payment shall be made based on acceptance of a digital letter report in PDF format that describes the results of the Class III inventory. The letter report is due to the BLM within 10 days after completion of fieldwork for each incremental payment, and shall contain at a minimum:

1) A brief description of each site, which shall include site type, temporal or cultural affiliation, and the NRHP eligibility recommendation. This information can be in table format.

2) A draft or field sketch site plan map including standard archaeological site information for each site.

3) A copy of a 7.5' topographic map showing the project inventory boundary and site locations.

The COR’s review of the letter report and verbal notification of acceptance of the results to the contractor within 10 days of receipt constitutes completion of this item of the contract.

B. Task 2 (35% of Contract): payment shall be made based on the digital submission of a Draft Final

Report and draft site forms in Word format, along with inventory and site shapefile data. Payment shall total 35% of the contract cost. This documentation must be submitted to the BLM for review within

120 calendar days after completing the fieldwork.

The BLM will not accept CDs containing the draft documentation (report and forms) and geospatial data. Instead, the contractor may supply these data on a USB flash drive or arrange for digital transfer via an FTP site or other secure internet location (again pursuant to the most current Digital Data

Specifications Guide).

The Draft Final Report, and all required inventory and site forms, shall meet the guidelines established by the Secretary of Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology and Historic Preservation, BLM

Colorado Handbook (revised 2021), OAHP Guidelines, and the field office standards and procedures

(Attachment 1). The draft documentation shall not be digitally secured or protected. A complete list of the previous inventories and complete site and isolate numbers found during the literature search may be included as a table and summarized in the text.

A description of the APE, including the potential for adverse effects as a result of open area use (Map 2) and/or the use of BLM designated routes within the Rangely Rock Crawling Park shall be included in the report. The draft report shall also evaluate the sites in the APE for National Register eligibility and make a recommendation regarding a Determination of Effect for the undertaking. Those evaluations should be made in the context of previous investigations and findings in the general area, and management issues for the region. All sites determined to be “needs data” shall include a detailed justification for such a determination.

For all newly recorded sites (both eligible and non-eligible) located within 50 feet of a BLM access road transecting the inventory area, or an associated ancillary facility (e.g., user-made parking areas), a

Travel Route Assessment form will be completed (Attachment 2), in addition to applicable OAHP forms. Redundant information from the OAHP the forms does not need to be included on the Travel

Route Assessment form. Only #14,15,16,17 & 18 should be filled out on the Travel Route form. While a current assessment of site condition must be made for each site in terms of impacts from natural processes (erosion), human processes (looting/vandalism, commercial development, recreational use-motorized or other, chaining), or livestock impacts, as per OAHP management data form items 33, 34, and 35, detailed impacts from travel will be documented on the Travel Route Assessment form.

The BLM shall provide a written response to the Draft Final Report within 30 days of receipt.

C. Item 3 (30% of Contract): payment shall be made upon acceptance of the Final Report by BLM.

Final payment shall total 30% of the contract cost. Delivery of the Final Report and supporting records is required no later than 180 days after completion of fieldwork. BLM shall notify the contractor of acceptance of the Final Report within 14 days of receipt which constitutes completion of the contract.

The final report and forms shall respond to the corrections and comments made by WRFO during the review of the Draft Final Report. Additional requirements for the final report and forms are:

• Final payment is contingent upon BLM’s acceptance of the response to the comments and corrections made during the BLM review.

• Cultural resource legal, UTM, or specific narrative descriptions are not to be presented anywhere in the report narrative.

• The report cover page, appendices with legal/UTM locations, and maps with site locations must contain the following statement in large font, bold type “For Official Use Only: Disclosure of site locations prohibited (43 CFR 7.18).”

• One bound copy of the final report, and unbound copies of site forms with photographs, maps, and associated documentation are required. The final PDF files of reports and site and isolate forms must follow SHPO file naming conventions, pursuant to the most current Digital Data

Specifications Guide and shall not be digitally secured or protected.

• BLM shall not accept CDs containing the project documentation (report and forms) and geospatial data. Instead, the contractor may supply these data on a USB flash drive or arrange for digital transfer via a secure FTP site (again pursuant to the most current Digital Data

Specifications Guide)

• Site and Isolated Find forms MUST NOT be bound with the report narrative.

Period of Performance: September 1, 2021 to August 31, 2022

SUBMITTALS

Applications must contain the following submittals:

• Technical Proposal describing and outlining the work plan on how the project will be completed along with key personnel that will be assigned to the project. The Proposal should outline how work will be completed within the timeline of the contract. The Principal Investigator and Field

Directors/Crew Chiefs must be listed on the contractors CRUP.

• A minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 past performance reports and/or references displaying completion of work of a similar size and scale across a similar archaeological landscape.

• Price of each task within the SOW

SELECTION CRITERIA

Selection will be based on Low Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) criteria. Applications will be rated as acceptable/not acceptable and then it will go to low price:

• Technical Proposal Acceptable/Not Acceptable

• Key Personnel Acceptable/Not Acceptable

• Price Low price if the above items are acceptable

Map 1. Project Vicinity Map (Inventory Area/Rangely Rock Crawling Park)

Map 2. Proposed open areas within the Rangely Rock Crawling Park.