IJC-GLAM_Lake Ontario Wetland Survey_PWS.docx

Survey, Post-Processing, and Interpretation of Lake Ontario Wetland Elevations

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

1. BACKGROUND and PURPOSE

On January 16, 2015 the International Joint Commission (IJC) issued a Directive establishing the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management (GLAM) Committee which reports to the three Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Boards (Superior, Niagara and Lake-Ontario-St. Lawrence Boards). The GLAM Committee is to carry out the required monitoring, modelling and ongoing assessment of the regulation plans and address other questions that may arise due to changing conditions, in consultation with the Boards. In the summer of 2019, the IJC requested the GLAM Committee begin planning for an expedited review of Plan 2014 with the goal of further moderating flooding that occurred because of record water supplies to the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River system in 2017 and 2019. the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) serves on the GLAM committee as technical representatives.

GLAM has now entered the 2nd phase of the expedited review, which will more closely evaluate Plan 2014 and its limits and triggers to determine whether changes should be made. The evaluation of Plan 2014 depends on understanding how well various performance metrics used to select the regulation plan have reflected the impacts of unprecedented highwater levels on Lake Ontario. One of the most significant ecological performance indicators from the prior study is the area of meadow marsh area which is one of several different wetland zones and habitats on the Lake Ontario shoreline.

IWR, in partnership with the USACE Detroit District, seeks services and support in the development of knowledge and analysis to better understand, quantify, and communicate the changes in wetland area, elevations, and species in response to the 2017 and 2019 flood events and subsequent water level fluctuations.

2. SCOPE

To support the evaluation of Plan 2014, the contractor shall perform wetland vegetation surveys, following the approach of the Canadian Wildlife Survey – Ontario (Grabas and Rokitnicki-Wojcik, 2015 and Smith et al. 2021), at 16 coastal wetlands on the United States shoreline of Lake Ontario. Surveys at each wetland will consist of at least 5 transects perpendicular to the shoreline with elevation points collected every 20cm in elevation difference with appropriately sized quadrats to represent the plant species while avoiding overlap of the quadrats. The transects will extend over the elevation range of 74.0m to 76.0m IGLD 85 with at least one additional sample at the transition zones to both upland and open water where possible. Surveys will be conducted with survey-grade equipment, utilizing RTK and GPS where possible. Samples of water chemistry, including turbidity, temperature, conductivity, and pH, will be collected at each location. Post-processing and quality control of the survey data will be performed before delivering the data and a final report that details findings to the Great-Lakes Adaptive Management Committee (GLAM). The data must be collected and processed in a manner consistent with prior work and sampling efforts from 2002, 2003, 2012, 2014, and 2017 to allow for validation of prior models and evaluation of new models including the Coastal Wetland Response Model (CWRM) developed by Environment and Climate Change Canada.

3. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

The following sub-sections provide details of various general requirements for this effort.

3.1. Non-Personal Services

The contractor shall provide strictly non-personal services and contractor employees are not subject to direct supervision and control by the Government. The contractor shall advise and support the Government but shall not make final decisions or certifications on behalf of the Government nor perform any inherently governmental functions. The contractor and its employees shall not represent the Government nor appear to represent the Government in performance of these contract services. Contractor personnel shall clearly identify themselves as contractor employees in all interactions during contract performance.

3.2. Place of Performance

Wetland surveys will be performed at sixteen locations previously sampled by the New York Natural Heritage Program on the U.S. shoreline of Lake Ontario and the Upper St. Lawrence River while the remaining work will be performed at the contractor’s physical site. The general locations are listed below while the specific site at each location is to be the same as was measured by the New York Natural Heritage Program in 2012, 2014, and 2017.

3.3. Period of Performance

The period of performance is from date of Notice to Proceed (NTP) through twenty-four (24) months.

3.4. Materials

All materials, minus expendable supplies, purchased by the contractor with funds from this task order and used under this task order, become and remain the property of the Government.

3.5. Travel

The contractor shall provide services necessary to plan and schedule travel and travel shall be reimbursed in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 31.205-46. The contractor shall be reimbursed for actual allowable costs and not to exceed the amount allowed in the Joint Travel Regulations (JTR). No fee is allowable on travel costs. Travel to field locations for survey is required but no travel for meetings or presentations is anticipated.

3.6 SECURITY AND SAFETY

The work will be UNCLASSIFIED and network or facility access is not required. Contractor access supporting meetings at a government site shall be coordinated by the government technical point of contact (TPOC) or the contracting officer representative (COR). The contractor(s) will not require a Common Access Card (CAC).

Contractor Compliance: The contractor and its subcontractors shall comply with Public Law 91-596 (Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)) and the Environmental, Safety, and Occupational Health (ESOH) (DODD 4715.1E). These requirements shall be incorporated into the contractors’ safety and health program. The Department of Defense (DoD) participates in the OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). Contractor personnel performing services on a DoD installation shall participate in the local VPP. Information on the VPP is available at www.osha.gov/dcsp/vpp/index.html.

Mishap Notification and Investigation: The contractor and its subcontractors (if applicable) shall promptly report pertinent facts regarding mishaps involving Government property damage or injury to Government personnel and to cooperate in any resulting safety investigation. The contractor shall notify (via telephone) the cognizant contracting officer, the contracting officer’s representative, and/or other applicable members within four (4) hours of all mishaps or incidents. The Government person notified by the contractor will in-turn notify the Safety office. Contractor notifications made after duty hours shall be reported to the appropriate installation Command Post. If requested by the cognizant contracting officer, the contracting officer’s representative, and/or the cognizant program manager, the contractor shall immediately secure the mishap scene/damaged property and impound pertinent maintenance and training records until released by the investigating safety office. If the Government investigates the mishap, the contractor and the subcontractors shall cooperate fully and assist the Government personnel until the investigation is completed.

4. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS (TASK AREAS)

Three tasks are included.

4.1. TASK 1: Perform elevation and plant species surveys of the 16 identified wetlands locations in 2022, including water chemistry samples. This task also includes post-processing and quality control of the data and providing summary results and preliminary survey data to the Great Lakes- St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee by December 31, 2022.

4.2. TASK 2: Perform elevation and plant species surveys of the identified wetlands in 2023, including water chemistry samples. This task also includes post-processing and quality control of the data and providing summary results of the survey and survey data to the Great Lakes- St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee by December 31, 2023.

4.3. TASK 3: Develop a final report describing key aspects of field and analytical approach, and general findings, including an executive summary. The final report is to be a compilation of the preliminary report and data delivered in Task 1 and Task 2 with additional analysis and interpretation based on observed spatial or temporal trends in data collected under this contract and prior work. The final report and datasets will be provided to the Great Lakes- St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee by August 31, 2024.

5. DELIVERABLES AND DELIVERY SCHEDULE

The table below identifies a set of deliverables that are required for EACH TASK described in Section 4 of this task order.

6. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY (PRS)

7. APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS

N/A

8. CONTRACTING OFFICER REPRESENTATIVE AND/OR TECHNICAL POINT OF CONTACT (TPOC)

A contracting officer representative (COR) and/or technical point of contact (TPOC) will be appointed on this task order. The COR and TPOC have no authority to direct the contractor in any way to alter the contractual obligation. The contracting officer is the only individual authorized to make changes to the contract.

9. INVOICING

The contractor is authorized to invoice as frequently as monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly for work performed. Invoices will be submitted electronically. The invoice should include a summary of work completed. The contractor shall append the final invoice with an “F” to indicate final. The contractor shall give their concurrence to return any unused Materials and Travel funding when the final invoice is submitted.

Invoices should be sent to the following email addresses. Which ensures that a copy goes to the USACE finance office and a copy to the IWR budget officer:

CEFC-Q0Invoices@usace.army.mil DLL-CEIWRCONTRACT@usace.army.mil