BWR.DWM.RFR.2021.NPS TECH SERVICES MSA.Appendix4.10.15.21.docx

Appendix 4: EPA SECTION 319 FEDERAL GRANT AWARD REQUIREMENTS

As described in more detail in the RFR, all contracts awarded through the RFR pre-qualification process for NPS program support services will be fully funded through MassDEP’s Grant award from the EPA pursuant to Section 319 of the Federal Clean Water Act. Reference: US EPA Cooperative Agreement, Grant # BG-99187812-0, award date 12/16/2019.

Contractor’s commitment to comply with EPA Section 319 Grant Award Requirements: By executing a contract with MassDEP to provide NPS program support services, the Contractor acknowledges that it is subject to any applicable Federal Administrative and/or Programmatic Conditions, and contract requirements, that MassDEP is required to pass-through to the Contractor as the sub-recipient of the EPA Grant Award. MassDEP has identified the following Federal Conditions with which the Contractor must comply as a recipient of EPA funding for these services. MassDEP also reserves the right to add, modify, and/or delete Federal Conditions associated with the EPA Grant Award in the future as directed by EPA, either through Contract Amendment or otherwise.

For the convenience of the Contractors, MassDEP has supplied applicable links and/or has summarized the most pertinent pass-through EPA contractual provisions in this Appendix. However, MassDEP requires all Contractors to comply with all applicable EPA Section 319 Federal Grant Award provisions as a continued qualification condition for performance under this Contract for the entire contract duration, including any and all contract extension periods, whether or not these terms are expressly specified in this Appendix.

EPA ADMINISTRATIVE CONDITIONS

As a sub-recipient under the EPA Section 319 Grant Award, the Contractor agrees to comply with any applicable EPA general terms and conditions found at the following link:

https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-general-terms-and-conditions-effective-october-1-2019-or-later To the extent applicable, Contractors are directed to the EPA requirements pertaining to sub-awards, which are found at pp. 4-16 of the above-referenced document. Contractor must agree to either comply with such conditions and/or assist MassDEP to comply with these conditions upon request.

EPA PROGRAMMATIC CONDITIONS

As a sub-recipient under the EPA Section 319 Grant Award, the Contractor agrees to comply with (or assist MassDEP to comply with) all applicable EPA programmatic conditions, which include, but are not limited to, the following conditions that are summarized for the convenience of the Contractor. To the extent that any applicable conditions are not set forth below, these terms are incorporated by reference.

1. Annual Progress Reporting: The Contractor agrees to assist MassDEP to fulfill the agency’s obligations to EPA with respect to the submission of annual progress reports.

2. Notification of Key Personnel Changes: In addition to meeting the requirements of RFR Section 3.2.1, the Contractor agrees to notify MassDEP in writing of any changes in its key personnel within 15 calendar days of obtaining knowledge of such change.

3. Quality Management Plan (QMP) and Quality Assurance Project Plans (QAPPs): As applicable, the Contractor will assist MassDEP to facilitate and comply with all EPA requirements and/or guidance with respect to the creation, modification, and/or updates or amendments of MassDEP’s QMP and/or QAPPs in relation to projects that are implemented through this contract. The Contractor also expressly acknowledges that all QAPPs must be pre-approved by EPA prior to any data gathering or use.

4. Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility: to the extent applicable and upon request of MassDEP, the Contractor shall assist and facilitate MassDEP’s ongoing obligations to provide reasonable accommodations to persons with disabilities by providing access and opportunity for all individuals to participate in programs presented through electronic means, as required under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, codified in 40 CFR 7.

5. Cybersecurity Condition Requirements: As a subrecipient, all Contractors must comply with the following cybersecurity requirements of the EPA Section 319 Grant award to the extent applicable, which is set forth in full below. (Note that the “recipient” in this provision is MassDEP):

State Grant Cybersecurity (a) The recipient agrees that when collecting and managing environmental data under this assistance agreement, it will protect the data by following all applicable State law cybersecurity requirements. (b) (1) EPA must ensure that any connections between the recipient’s network or information system and EPA networks used by the recipient to transfer data under this agreement, are secure. For purposes of this Section, a connection is defined as a dedicated persistent interface between an Agency IT system and an external IT system for the purpose of transferring information. Transitory, user-controlled connections such as website browsing are excluded from this definition. If the recipient’s connections as defined above do not go through the Environmental Information Exchange Network or EPA’s Central Data Exchange, the recipient agrees to contact the EPA Project Officer (PO) and work with the designated Regional/Headquarters Information Security Officer to ensure that the connections meet EPA security requirements, including entering into Interconnection Service Agreements as appropriate. This condition does not apply to manual entry of data by the recipient into systems operated and used by EPA’s regulatory programs for the submission of reporting and/or compliance data. (2) The recipient agrees that any subawards it makes under this agreement will require the subrecipient to comply with the requirements in (b)(1) if the subrecipient’s network or information system is connected to EPA networks to transfer data to the Agency using systems other than the Environmental Information Exchange Network or EPA’s Central Data Exchange. The recipient will be in compliance with this condition: by including this requirement in subaward agreements; and during subrecipient monitoring deemed necessary by the recipient under 2 CFR 200.331(d), by inquiring whether the subrecipient has contacted the EPA Project Officer. Nothing in this condition requires the recipient to contact the EPA Project Officer on behalf of a subrecipient or to be involved in the negotiation of an Interconnection Service Agreement between the subrecipient and EPA.

6. Reporting Requirements: As a subrecipient, all Contractors must assist and facilitate MassDEP’s compliance with all reporting requirements required by EPA regulation (40 CFR part 35, 2 CFR part 200), §§319(h)(10) and (11) of the Clean Water Act, and by the Nonpoint Source Program and Grants Guidelines for States and Territories (2013). These requirements include the following reports:

a. Final NPS Project Reports: MassDEP is required to submit all final nonpoint source project reports to the EPA Nonpoint Point Source Coordinator, which include, but is not limited to, the submission of reports that have been prepared by Contractors, as reviewed and approved by MassDEP.

b. Annual Nonpoint Source (NPS) Program Report: MassDEP must provide information and report annually on progress made in implementing the State's NPS management program as required under §319(h)(11) of the Clean Water Act.

c. GRTS: MassDEP is required to enter all mandated data elements into the GRTS for NPS projects funded under §319 of the Clean Water Act, and any other data and/or information required by the EPA according to deadlines specified by EPA.

d. STORET Data Reporting: MassDEP must enter water quality monitoring data, for data collected in a waterbody pursuant to the implementation of a §319 project, into EPA's “Water Quality Exchange (WQX) data system. All water quality data generated with § 319 funding, either directly or by sub-award, are required to be transmitted into the Water Quality Portal (https://www.waterqualitydata.us) using either the Water Quality Exchange (WQX) or WQXweb.

7. Watershed-based Plans: Under EPA’s §319 guidelines, use of §319 “watershed project” funds require that a watershed-based plan (WBP) which includes all of the information in elements (a)-(i) as described in the §319 grant guidelines or an acceptable alternative plan be completed prior to implementation of on-the-ground projects. To the extent applicable, the Contractor is required to assist MassDEP to ensure a watershed-based plan or EPA approved alternative plan is completed prior to beginning to implement any on-the-ground project with §319 watershed project funds.

8. Public Awareness Requirements: to the extent applicable, the Contractor will implement the following requirements, and/or assist and facilitate, MassDEP’s compliance with the following public awareness requirements:

a. Outreach Signage Requirements: If the section 319 award includes an outreach component, the Contractor must assist MassDEP with providing signage that informs the public that the project is funded by EPA. The signage shall contain the EPA logo. Appropriate EPA links will be provided to the Contractor for this task that will detail this requirement. If the physical design of the sign allows, it should also include the following text: "This project has been funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency” or “This cooperative project has been funded in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.”

b. Announcements: The Contractor must ensure that announcements through the web or print materials for workshops, conferences, demonstration days or other events as part of a project funded by a §319 assistance agreement shall contain a statement that the materials or conference has been funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

c. Public or Media Events: To the extent applicable, the Contractor will assist MassDEP in meeting its notification requirements to the EPA Nonpoint Source Coordinator regarding public or media events publicizing the accomplishment of significant events related to construction projects, and provide the opportunity for attendance and participation by federal representatives with at least ten (10) working days’ notice. The Contractor agrees to work with MassDEP and to consult with the EPA Nonpoint Source Coordinator on the applicability of this condition, especially in cases where watershed projects involve the construction of numerous best management practice demonstrations and public events.

d. Limited English Proficiency Communities: To increase public awareness of projects serving communities where English is not the predominant language, the Contractor will work with MassDEP to facilitate and encourage the inclusion in their outreach strategies the communication of events in non-English languages. Translation costs for this purpose are allowable under the EPA grant award, provided the costs are reasonable.

9. Participation in Regional and National Meetings: Upon request of MassDEP, the Contractor will attend MassDEP-NPS program coordinator meetings and GRTS users meetings.

10. NPS Success Stories: to the extent applicable and upon request of MassDEP, the Contractor shall assist MassDEP in the drafting and submission to EPA all applicable NPS program success stories which highlight projects resulting in the restoration of waterbodies. These stories shall be submitted through the success story database in GRTS.

11. TMDLs Developed Under Section 319 Grant: To the extent applicable, for each §319-funded TMDL, the Contractor will assist MassDEP to ensure that the following supplemental information is included to support the load allocations specified in the TMDL: (1) an identification of total NPS existing loads and total NPS load reductions necessary to meet water quality standards, by source type; (2) a detailed identification of the causes and sources of NPS pollution by source type to be addressed in order to achieve the load reductions specified in the TMDL (e.g., acres of various row crops, number and size of animal feedlots, acres and density of residential areas); and (3) an analysis of the NPS management measures by source type expected to be implemented to achieve the necessary load reductions, with the recognition that adaptive management may be necessary during implementation.

12. Subaward Performance Reporting: To the extent applicable, the Contractor must assist MassDEP in meeting its reporting requirements on its subaward monitoring activities under 2 CFR 200.331(d). Examples of items that must be reported if the pass-through entity (i.e., the Contractor) has the information available are: 1) Summaries of results of reviews of financial and programmatic reports. 2) Summaries of findings from site visits and/or desk reviews to ensure effective subrecipient performance. 3) Environmental results the subrecipient achieved. 4) Summaries of audit findings and related pass-through entity management decisions. 5) Actions the pass-through entity has taken to correct deficiencies such as those specified at 2 CFR 200.331(e), 2 CFR 200.207 and the 2 CFR Part 200.338 Remedies for Noncompliance.

FEDERAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

As a condition of Contract award, all Contractors must also adhere to and comply with all applicable contract requirements for Non-Federal Entity Contracts under Federal Awards found at Appendix II of Part 200 of the Code of Federal Regulations (2 CFR 200 Appendix II Revised as of as of April 23, 2021). For the Contractors’ convenience, the link to Appendix II is as follows:

https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=&SID=3a165b617c09f828dcd74eec031ff829&mc=true&n=pt2.1.200&r=PART&ty=HTML#ap2.1.200_1521.ii

BWR-DWM-RFR-2021-NPS TECH SERVICES MSA / COMMBUYS Bid# BD-22-1045-BWR00-BWR01-68022