Performance Work Statement 12-21-2020 Sources Sought_1.docx

Performance Work Statement Sacramento Deepwater Ship Channel Fish Community

1.0 General

This is a non-personal services contract to concurrently document zooplankton and fish communities in littoral and pelagic habitats during the day and at night in the Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel (SDSC). The Government shall not exercise any supervision or control over the contract service providers performing the services. Such contract service providers shall be accountable solely to the Contractor who, in turn is responsible to the Government.

2.0 Period of Performance

The services will be start on April 1, 2021 and shall be completed by December 31, 2024.

3.0 Place of Performance

Sampling will take place in the SDSC between channel marker (CM) 62 and the terminus (Stone Locks) in West Sacramento (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Location of Sacramento Deepwater Ship Channel and reaches to be sampled. Black circles indicate Channel Markers and colored lines indicates reaches to be sampled (red line = open water (day), blue = open water (night) and green = nearshore).

4.0 Hours of Operation

Normal business hours are between 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

5.0 Government Furnished Property, Equipment, and Services

None

6.0 Contractor Furnished Items and Services

The Contractor shall provide all equipment, supplies, management, supervision, personnel, and transportation except as specified herein as government-furnished, necessary to assure that all services are in accordance with the contract and all applicable laws and regulations. The contractor shall ensure all work meets performance standards specified in this Performance Work Statement (PWS) and referenced documents.

7.0 Fish Monitoring Requirements

A. The SDSC fish community includes Delta Smelt, an endemic species listed as ‘threatened’ under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), so it is an essential requirement of this project that the most benign sampling method possible be used to assess fish abundance, distribution and composition.

B. The sampling method must minimize fish handling.

C. To ensure continuity and inter-comparability, it is essential that pelagic and littoral zooplankton and fish communities be sampled using the same gear.

D. The gear used must be able to sample littoral and pelagic habitats during the day and at night.

E. Vendor must obtain all required collection permits including ESA take coverage for Delta Smelt and winter run Chinook salmon before initiating sampling.

8.0 Tasks

Task 1. Field data collection

A. Vendor will sample biweekly (every other week) from May through October for three years, resulting in 12 sampling events per year and a total of 36 events. During each sampling event, the vendor will sample continuously in pelagic habitat from ~CM 62 to 87, encompassing the length of the SDSC, and will also subsample approximately one third of that distance in littoral habitat (Figure 1). In addition, once monthly the vendor will resample the center-line pelagic habitat at night.

B. The distance to be covered during pelagic sampling (RM 62 to 87) is estimated to be 20 miles or ~32,000 m and during littoral sampling is ~6.5 miles or 10,500 m. The cross-sectional survey area of the net used to sample during transects should be ~3 m2. Each pelagic sampling run should sample at least 90,000 m3 of water and each littoral event 31,068 m3.

C. During each sampling run, vendor shall continuously record the following geographic, environmental and water quality parameters: boat latitude and longitude, water depth, boat velocity, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, pH, conductivity, chlorophyll a fluorescence and dissolved nitrate concentration. All electronically stored data will be saved in a format that contains the date and time stamp for each recorded value.

D. Once per month during daytime sampling events, 9-15 eDNA water samples should be collected from each habitat and processed using established standards.

Task 2. Data synthesis and reporting A. The vendor will use Chl a data as a proxy for phytoplankton standing stock, Threadfin Shad as a representation of primary consumers and Inland Silverside as a representation of a secondary consumer that could rapidly respond to variation in food web changes resulting from management actions, i.e., restoration of net flow to the SDSC and nutrient enhancement. The vendor will summarize sampling data as density per volume sampled for each taxa category of fish and zooplankton. Bioinformatics results from eDNA metabarcoding will be presented as a list of identified organisms for each sampling transect, with Alpha diversity (species occurring within a collection) and Beta diversity (species occurring between collections) quantified.

B. In addition two annual reports and a final report documenting sampling activity and findings, vendor will deliver one poster and oral presentation at a regional or national science conference and prepare one manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The presentation and manuscript should describe the goals and objectives of the sampling conducted, the methods employed and the principal findings.

Task 3. Data management

A. Vendor must store raw data, eDNA samples and electronic files of environmental data on site and maintain back-up copies. At the end of the performance period, these data shall be published on the Environmental Data Initiative (EDI) website https://environmentaldatainitiative.org/

9.0 Contract Changes

Additional services required by changes in mission assignments must be documented by a written contract modification. If the contractor receives a request from Reclamation personnel directing or requesting work that the contractor believes is not within the terms of the PWS or the contract, then the contractor must notify the Contracting Officer of the request. The only person that has the authority to modify the terms of the contract or request work for which compensation will be provided is a Contracting Officer.

image1.emf