NPRA Resource Invntry & Database Dvlpmt.docx

United States Department of the Interior

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Financial Assistance

NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD

This Funding Announcement is not a request for applications. This announcement is to provide public notice of the Bureau of Land Management’s intention to fund the following project activities without full and open competition.

ABSTRACT

OVERVIEW, RECIPIENT AND BLM SUBSTANTIAL INVOLVEMENT

1. Background: The petroleum industry is expanding oil and gas development and production within the National Petroleum Reserve –Alaska (NPRA). Significant amounts of construction grade rock and gravel is needed to both construct and then maintain energy development infrastructure such as roads, pipeline bedding, production pads, and airstrips. The logistical challenges and expense of procuring or importing the volumes of gravel needed for development in the remote area necessitate the identification of mineral materials resources nearby. Due to the geology, a large portion of the NPR-A is perceived to lack suitable resources – both in volume and quality – to meet the demand. The Alaska Congressional Delegation has asked BLM to initiate a gravel assessment in the NPR-A which is also supported by the State of Alaska, North Slope Borough government, local tribal governments and industry.

This project meets the DOI priority of “Making America Safe through Energy Independence” by providing key information on the location of construction grade rock and gravel needed for future energy development within the NPRA. In addition, The 2013 NPR-A Integrated Activity Plan (IAP) preferred alternative stated that the “BLM would, as funds are available, develop a plan of exploration and evaluation of gravel sources suitable for construction of roads and pads necessary for development. Such exploration and evaluation may be conducted in cooperation with other agencies or with private industry.”

Objectives: BLM Alaska has the opportunity to work closely with a State agency which has the expertise and mission for inventory and development state wide. We will develop a database of existing knowledge on the location of sand, gravel, and rock (mineral material) resources within the NPRA utilizing existing remotely sensed surface data and published and unpublished surface information. The actions taken under this assessment will include::

Recipient: The State of Alaska Program Goals:

BLM’s Substantial Involvement: There will be substantive BLM programmatic involvement through the BLM Program Officer (PO) collaborating with the Recipient's Project Officer (RPO) to manage all stages of project development, implementation, and evaluation. Recipients and the BLM will share responsibility for project management, control, and direction although the BLM will have the right to intervene by modifying the project management plan if the project is not staying on schedule or technical issues arise.

Additional:

· Joint collaboration between the BLM and recipient in carrying out management, development, implementation, and evaluation of the proposed work;

· Review and approval by the BLM of one stage of work prior to the start of the next stage;

· Close monitoring and/or operational involvement in the proposed work.

SINGLE-SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

SINGLE SOURCE POLICY REQUIREMENTS

Department of the Interior Policy (505 DM 2) requires a written justification which explains why competition is not practicable for each single-source award. The justification must address one or more of the following criteria as well as discussion of the program legislative history, unique capabilities of the proposed recipient, and cost-sharing contribution offered by the proposed recipient, as applicable.

In order for an assistance award to be made without competition, the award must satisfy one or more of the following criteria:

(1) Unsolicited Proposal – The proposed award is the result of an unsolicited assistance application which represents a unique or innovative idea, method, or approach which is not the subject of a current or planned contract or assistance award, but which is deemed advantageous to the program objectives;

(2) Continuation – The activity to be funded is necessary to the satisfactory completion of, or is a continuation of an activity presently being funded, and for which competition would have a significant adverse effect on the continuity or completion of the activity;

(3) Legislative intent – The language in the applicable authorizing legislation or legislative history clearly indicates Congress’ intent to restrict the award to a particular recipient of purpose;

(4) Unique Qualifications – The applicant is uniquely qualified to perform the activity based upon a variety of demonstrable factors such as location, property ownership, voluntary support capacity, cost-sharing ability if applicable, technical expertise, or other such unique qualifications;

(5) Emergencies – Program/award where there is insufficient time available (due to a compelling and unusual urgency, or substantial danger to health or safety) for adequate competitive procedures to be followed.

BLM did not solicit full and open competition for this award based the following criteria:

(4) Unique Qualifications -

The State of Alaska is interested in NPR-A materials to support a recently proposed conceptual transportation project. The State is promoting the development of an ambitious road network to link many of the North Slope region’s Native communities and to aid in development of energy resources. The mission of the State of Alaska, Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) is to determine the potential of Alaska’s land for production of metals, minerals, fuels, and geothermal resources, as well as the locations and supplies of groundwater and construction material. Their interest includes the NPR-A and other Federal lands within the State. The DGGS provides an objective geologic information to assess Alaska’s oil, gas and mineral resources. The DGGS staff has extensive experience in conducting geologic/engineering studies for a variety of agencies and is the best-qualified public or private groups to conduct this mineral materials assessment. The DGGS is also a storehouse for unpublished field and analytical data from several field campaigns and stores this data in its own Geologic Materials Center.

With BLM’s assistance, the information from this project would be published and incorporated into the public domain. In order to generate information of this quality a third party would need expertise and in depth knowledge of Alaska’s needs for construction grade rock and gravel in NPR-A. The third party would also need the ability to acquire and interpret the seismic shot-hole samples and other sample information already stored at the DGGS’s Geologic Materials Center, which they own and have direct access.

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