CN-370000-PL263-T401.pdf

PL263 - Task Assignment 401 - Details The CONTRACTOR shall provide a program director and staff who will dedicate a portion of their time for the maintenance, further development, interpretation and utilization of the Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) data systems to provide scientific and technical support to the Office of Environmental Services (OES)/Division of State Lands (DSL) of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEPARTMENT) and the Acquisition and Restoration Council (ARC) for land acquisition and land management planning activities. The total amount allocated for this Task 401 shall be $229,456.00 and can be amended if the DEPARTMENT determines a need.

Any work completed by the CONTRACTOR in excess of $229,456.00 shall be at the CONTRACTOR’S sole discretion and the DEPARTMENT shall not be responsible for reimbursing the CONTRACTOR for such additional services unless this task assignment is specifically amended to allow for such additional work.

FNAI Database Operations The CONTRACTOR (FNAI), as a member of the international network of Natural Heritage Programs, participates in a unique database (Biotics) covering the biological and ecological features and areas important to the preservation of biodiversity for each state. Biotics was developed to track ecological and conservation information needed to make sound decisions regarding land acquisition, management, and protection. Biotics is a software product that links geographic information to an extensive series of supporting tabular data files. Biotics operates on a Windows-based network of desktop workstations, the primary data files are hosted on a central file server under the Oracle database management software. The CONTRACTOR has more than 33,000 occurrence records of rare plants and animals and exemplary natural communities in Florida; each is documented and stored in Biotics. The CONTRACTOR also has a comprehensive database on managed areas such as state and national forests and parks, military bases, and other conservation lands. Biotics is a flexible system which, together with Crystal Reports and geographic information system (GIS) software, is capable of producing information in a variety of formats, including text files, PDF, and GIS output that can be custom-designed for a variety of users. The CONTRACTOR’s database incorporates the most recent data available from a variety of sources on rare species and community occurrences. The CONTRACTOR is the only source in Florida utilizing Biotics and associated Heritage Program methodologies and having access to information of this scope and magnitude. Biotics is a powerful information management tool that maintains information about: (1) the status, distribution, ecology, and management of rare plant and animal species and habitats; (2) the distribution and ecology of high quality natural areas; (3) boundaries and management information for conservation lands; and (4) boundaries of environmental land acquisition projects. Maintaining this information in Biotics involves a variety of tasks, including updating Element Ranking Forms and Element Source Abstracts, as well as adding information for specific Element Occurrences (EO), including spatial boundaries, descriptions, EO Ranks, and source information. Much of this data development requires fieldwork, sometimes a substantial investment in time may result only in negative data—that is, the absence of any new occurrences and therefore no new element occurrence records (EORs). All of these activities contribute to the end product of the FNAI Element Occurrence GIS shapefile. The CONTRACTOR will continue to update information in Biotics to maintain the effectiveness of the information and to ensure continued reliability and credibility. The CONTRACTOR will further develop and

Details for PL263 - Task Assignment #401 (continued) maintain FNAI's Geographic Information System (GIS), which provides data in a visual format that enhances environmental land planning and links data maintained in Biotics to other formats that promote data sharing. The products and services to be provided by the CONTRACTOR include the following:

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES

Performance-based Budgeting and Database Development:

Activity 1. Element Occurrence Records (EORs) CONTRACTOR will collect and incorporate into Biotics information about the ecology and statewide and global statuses and occurrences of rare or endangered plants and animals, including the maintenance of an up-to-date list of rare or endangered plants and animals and a list of natural communities that contribute to the ecological diversity of Florida. In this regard:

(a) *Add new EORs to the FNAI Biotics database with a mix of

(b) *Updates of existing EORs

(c) Total not to exceed cost as listed on rate schedule and as agreed to by DEP Contracts Manager through email.

For the purposes of this Activity assignment, updates to existing EORs consist of updates to EO spatial boundaries, or updates to one or more of the following Biotics fields: Last Observation, EO Rank, EO Data, or General Description.

Activity 2. Data Requests and Other Special Services The CONTRACTOR will provide to the OES/DSL special scientific and technical support as described, in part, in this paragraph and not otherwise specified in this agreement. FNAI is uniquely qualified to provide these special services in a time- and cost-efficient manner because of the comprehensive data and other information managed in its databases and because of the special expertise of its staff.

1. re-evaluation and design of existing Florida Forever projects;

2. evaluation of Florida Forever acquisitions to be considered for surplus;

3. technical support in preparation of Florida Forever five-year plan;

4. technical support (ecological, land management, and conservation planning data) in response to state land management issues and the development of state land management plans;

5. technical support (ecological and conservation planning data) in preparation of Governor and Cabinet agenda reports;

6. technical support (ecological and conservation planning data) in response to legislative data requests, including performance-based budgeting measures; and

7. technical support (ecological and conservation planning data) to assist OES/DSL in preparation of outreach and other communications, such as DSL web pages.

The CONTRACTOR will respond to requests from OES/DSL for such assistance and will provide a report with each invoice generally describing each request, date of completion, and for whom the service was provided. Any requests that involve GIS analysis utilizing new methodologies for analyzing and manipulating data shall include a report describing the GIS protocols used to conduct such analysis. The cost of the CONTRACTOR’s availability to perform these services will not exceed $19,296 per year.

Conservation Lands Planning:

Activity 3. Conservation Lands Mapping CONTRACTOR will collect new and update old boundaries for conservation lands focusing principally on federal, state, water management district, and local government holdings, but also including private conservation lands where practicable. All new federal, state, water management district, and local government conservation acquisitions and boundary changes greater than 10 acres will be included. This information from diverse sources will be standardized and integrated into FNAI’s comprehensive statewide conservation lands data layer, which is made available to the public.

Activity 4. Acquisition Projects Mapping CONTRACTOR will collect new and update old boundaries for environmental land acquisition projects focusing primarily on Florida Forever projects of the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund (BTIITF) and five water management districts (WMDs) programs, but also including other Florida Forever projects if data are available in digital format. Updates will include boundary amendments approved by Acquisition and Restoration Council. All new BTIITF and WMD projects will be added to FNAI’s Biotics and GIS. Site Basic Records (SBRs) will be created for each new project.

Activity 5. Managed Areas Basic Records CONTRACTOR will collect administrative information about conservation lands to develop or update Managed Area Basic Records (MABRs). Such data will be entered into FNAI’s Biotics data management system.

Activity 6. ARC Meetings One or more representatives of the CONTRACTOR will attend and participate in hearings/meetings of the ARC to provide information as needed during such hearings/meetings.

CONTRACTOR will provide a list of meetings attended.

Activity 7. Management Plan Reviews The CONTRACTOR will review in detail land management plans, providing written comments to OES and the land manager about the plans as appropriate and within the expertise of the FNAI. The CONTRACTOR will complete the activities at least two weeks prior to the ARC meeting for which the information is prepared.

Reporting Requirements:

To support and facilitate the management and oversight of the above activity assignments, the CONTRACTOR will provide the following reports for each reporting period as follows:

1. Reports summarizing all data requests received and answered by FNAI during the billing period and the costs of filling each request. These reports will include a listing of the DSL- OES data requests.

2. Two (2) electronic copies of all updated and new data in FNAI’s Florida Element Occurrence (“fleo”) GIS shapefile. Data collected through this agreement, including ArcGIS shape files of FNAI GIS data that can be incorporated into the DEPARTMENT’s data library for internal use, will be consistent with the DEPARTMENT’s default ArcGIS project supported by the Office of Technology and Information Services. Data-sensitive elements, which constitute about ten percent of the database, will be filtered to provide general information on such occurrences unless information that is more specific is needed.

3. Two (2) electronic copies and two (2) hard copies of the map of conservation lands and environmental land acquisition projects boundaries, including ArcGIS shape files and FNAI GIS data of new and updated MABRs (“flma”), SBRs (“ffbot” and “*WMD_projects”) and Florida Forever acquisitions (“ff_acquired”), as described in Conservation Lands Planning Activities 3 through 5 above.

4. To support the charges of each invoice, provide a list of the Management Plans evaluated and the dates of the ARC meetings attended by FNAI staff.

Payment and Invoice Schedule:

The CONTRACTOR shall submit products/invoices, including the applicable Reporting Requirement items listed above, for work completed on or before the following dates:

1st Quarter – Products due by September 30, 2015 and invoice submitted by October 15, 2015.

2nd Quarter – Products due by December 31, 2015 and invoice submitted by January 15, 2016.

3rd Quarter – Products due by March 31, 2016 and invoice submitted by April 15, 2016.

4th Quarter – Products due by June 16, 2016 and invoice submitted by June 17, 2016. (Invoice due the day after products due because of the State fiscal year cutoff for processing invoices)

All invoices shall include the reporting period covered for the invoice amount billed.

(For Example: Reporting Period: July 1, 2015 – September 30, 2015)

*Mix of new EOR’s and updates will not exceed total amount. Charges for each are to be itemized on each invoice.

Note to DEP Finance & Accounting:

All deliverables invoiced should be paid with funds from the CARLTF, special category 102205 with the exception of activity item #7 Management Plan Reviews which should be split funded as follows:

CARLTF - Category 102205 – 12 reviews @ $310 each = $3,720 FFTF - Category 084108 – 21 reviews @ $310 each = $6,510

Per Unit Cost Total Units Total Costs Performance-based Budgeting and Database Development:

1.a. New Element Occurrence Records (EORs) PLUS $250 per EOR* NOT TO 1.b. Updates to existing EORs $150 per EOR* EXCEED 155,000 $

2. Data Requests and Other Special Services $1,608 12 months 19,296 $

Conservation Lands Planning:

3. Conservation Lands Database Development

December 31, 2015 update

$8150 per scheduled geospatial dataset update 1 8,150 $

June 16, 2016 update

$8150 per scheduled geospatial dataset update 1 8,150 $

4. Acquisition Projects Database Development

December 31, 2015 update

$8150 per scheduled geospatial dataset update 1 8,150 $

June 16, 2016 update

$8150 per scheduled geospatial dataset update 1 8,150 $

5. Managed Areas Basic Records (MABR) $210 per MABR 50 10,500 $

6. ARC Meetings $305 per meeting 6 1,830 $

7. Management Plan Reviews $310 per plan 33 10,230 $

MAXIMUM TOTAL for all activities in Task 301 229,456 $

Activity