NOI BOR-LC-19-N016.pdf

Notice of Intent to Award Template (03/2019)

NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD

This notice is not a request for applications. This provides public notice of the Bureau of Reclamation’s intention to fund the following project activities without full and open competition.

OPPORTUNITY

NUMBER

BOR-LC-19-N016

PROJECT TITLE Consumptive Use Modeling in the Colorado River Basin for the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center

RECIPIENT RTI International

ANTICIPATED

FEDERAL

AMOUNT

$49,955

STATUTORY

AUTHORITY

Section 9509, Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, (Public Law 111-11)

SEC. 9509. RESEARCH AGREEMENT AUTHORITY.

The Secretary may enter into contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements, for periods not to exceed 5 years, to carry out research within the Bureau of Reclamation.

CFDA NUMBER 15.560 – SECURE Water Act – Research Agreements

RECLAMATION

POINT OF

CONTACT

Leslie Dieguez, ldieguez@usbr.gov

SUMMARY OF

PROJECT

ACTIVITIES

Through this grant, this project will be completed in four phases over four years. During Phase 1, RTI International will evaluate consumptive use modeling from the State of Colorado and develop a technical approach to make the model outputs compatible with the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (CBRFC) framework. The approach will be implemented in a pilot watershed and the resulting forecasts will be compared to historical forecasts to determine whether the additional data significantly improved the forecast skill in that watershed. If Phase 1 shows that the data from external modeling can significantly improve CBRFC forecasts, Phase 2 will evaluate whether the same potential skill increase exists for other Colorado River Basin (CRB) watersheds within the State of Colorado. Phase 3 will evaluate consumptive use data and modeling from sources beyond the State of Colorado to determine whether there are additional opportunities to improve forecasts for CRB watersheds in other states and develop approaches to incorporate the data. If appropriate data sources are identified, Phase 4 will incorporate the external data for those applicable watersheds.

Notice of Intent to Award Template (03/2019)

SELECTION

JUSTIFICATION

RTI International (RTI) is uniquely qualified for two reasons: technical expertise, and identification by funding collaborators as the most qualified entity to complete the work. RTI has an extensive background in water supply forecasting systems and has garnered and maintained a strong relationship with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) River Forecast Centers (RFCs) over the last 25 years which makes them uniquely positioned to perform the technical aspects of this work within the operational RFC modeling framework.

For the CBRFC specifically, they have also been working for four years on a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) grant to investigate how incorporating satellite data into a distributed version CBRFC’s seasonal forecasting model could improve forecasting skill.

Finally, over the last several years, RTI has built relationships with many of the associated CRB stakeholders, which should aid in the collaboration and communication aspects of this work.

A group of eight CRB stakeholders, including the CBRFC, has determined that RTI is the most appropriate entity to complete this research and they have already approved their own funding to be given to RTI. The Reclamation funds sought for this project comprise 26% of the total cost of the overall project.