PNF3 FY24 1118158 Greater Chino Valley Collaborative Facilitation_Statement of Objectives SOO v01 03082024.docx

US Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Statement of Objectives

Contents

Project Title 0309 Q1 REC CON Greater Chino Valley Collaborative Facilitation NEW, FY 2024- FY 2029, Prescott National Forest

1.0 Purpose

The contractor will facilitate the continuation of a cross-jurisdictional collaborative group, the Greater Chino Valley Collaborative (GCVC). This collaborative supports enhancing diverse outdoor recreation while sustaining the integrity of natural systems, maintaining community heritage and rural character, and promoting compatible economic opportunities in the Greater Chino Valley area.

2.0 Scope or Mission

The contractor will provide a fair, balanced process to support the Greater Chino Valley Collaborative, including: overall process design and integration of best practices for collaboratives and collaborative governance; meeting agenda development, facilitation and documentation of quarterly Leadership Council and Coordinating Team meetings, as well as meetings for working groups as needed; fostering shared leadership across GCVC partners, joint learning, and collaborative action to achieve desired outcomes; design and facilitation of broader stakeholder engagement on relevant topics (as needed); and long-term coordination and communication among partners.

The primary goals of the GCVC are to:

· Strengthen existing partnerships that engage with sustainable recreation opportunities on the Prescott National Forest, as well as other shared stakeholder goals within the greater Chino Valley area.

· Develop additional partnerships by discussing existing and new opportunities to develop or enhance recreational opportunities that better reflect both current and future user groups.

· Promote buy-in from the public by making the GCVC’s efforts both community-based and a collaborative product.

The work involved will build on the progress already made through the existing GCVC process.

The contractor will assist in efforts to help build capacity of the Prescott National Forest (PNF) and partners to work collaboratively on sustainable recreation opportunities, tailor support to specific local situations and interests on the Forest and surrounding communities, build on previous work, share and build on successes from local experience and examples from other Forests, and focus on concrete outcomes and strategies.

The contractor must be an expert in public/private partnerships with the forests in Region 3, to be able to effectively assist the Forest Service in developing the design and content for the GCVC. On-the-ground experience in implementing the concepts of the Region’s Sustainable Recreation Strategy in national forests is strongly preferred.

The contractor will be responsible for managing the collaborative’s structure; planning internal and public meetings, working group sessions, and conference calls; conducting stakeholder interviews/outreach assessments; developing agendas and stakeholder contact information lists; coordinating overall communication with Forest points of contact, partners, and stakeholders; delivering detailed meeting notes in draft and final form; interpreting qualitative data; developing collaborative governance charters and strategy documents related to action items such as project implementation, project prioritization, funding strategies, and strategies for building local collaborative capacity for shared leadership and shared resources. These efforts will lead to resilient collaborative structures for the long term, such as training members to serve as working group facilitators. Contractor shall work in teams comprised of at least two people, to include a minimum of one facilitator and one note taker.

The contractor will foster proactive dialog; exploration of values and assumptions; understanding of historical perspectives and contexts; increase partnership capacity and volunteerism; and be able to build/maintain rapport with GCVC stakeholders quickly. Quality candidates will have direct experience with the Greater Prescott Trails Planning Process, the Verde Valley’s Verde Front initiative, or the Greater Chino Valley Collaborative.

Travel will be required for some meetings, while others may be held via Zoom. Travel costs are not to exceed GSA per diem. No overtime is authorized. The Forest Service or other GCVC partners will provide meeting space, and the contractor will provide meeting materials up to $500.

3.0 Period and Place of Performance.

The period of performance will require 365 calendar days with all work completed before August 31, 2024. For contract administration purposes, the completion date in Integrated Acquisition System (IAS) will be September 30, 2024. Contract will have four option years for potential extension.

March 1, 2024-Feb 28, 2025 March 1, 2025-Feb 28, 2026 March 1, 2026-Feb 28, 2027 March 1, 2027-Feb 29, 2028 March 1, 2028-Feb 28, 2029

Services are to be provided both in-person, in the Chino Valley area, and online via Google Docs, email, and Zoom. In-person meetings may occur at the Prescott National Forest Supervisor’s Office, the Town of Chino Valley city offices, or other partner offices within Chino Valley.

4.0 Background

The Greater Chino Valley Collaborative was initiated in 2019. Its purpose is to establish and foster a collaborative body for recreation planning in the Greater Chino Valley Area (see map of geographic area on the website listed below). This body includes the Prescott National Forest, the Town of Chino Valley, Yavapai County Board of Supervisors, Arizona Game and Fish Department, the community of Paulden, and several other non-governmental organizations such as the Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, the Trust for Public Land, and the Yavapai Trails Association.

After an initial public stakeholder meeting to identify desired projects and outcomes and/or issues of concern, the collaborative effectively was placed on hold during the COVID pandemic of 2020. This initiative was restarted in May 2021. A charter was developed, followed by the creation of a leadership council, a coordinating team, and an outdoor recreation working group in 2022. To date, the GCVC is working to establish a new State Park at Del Rio Springs Ranch and has identified initial projects for the collaborative to begin working on – namely new OHV-related informational kiosks to be placed on both Town of Chino Valley and Forest Service lands. Longer-term planning efforts with the Forest Service, to identify recreation opportunities to develop within the geographic scope of the collaborative, are anticipated to begin in 2025.

Southwest Decision Resources, the current facilitator for the GCVC, created and maintains a public website containing information about the collaborative: https://sites.google.com/swdresources.com/gcvc/home .

5.0 Performance Objectives

The objective of this offering is the successful facilitation of ongoing efforts of the GCVC. Performance will be measured by the successful completion of quarterly leadership and coordination meetings, as well as additional meetings for various working groups. Public meetings and workshops will be held as needed. Agendas and notes for all meetings will be provided via Google Docs or another similar file sharing protocol. Overall goals of the project are to increase cooperation and to leverage resources among local municipalities, State and Federal governments, and other interested stakeholder organizations, toward accomplishing the shared goals for the greater Chino Valley area. These objectives will be measured in terms of successful collaboration on and implementation of specific projects identified in the GCVC working groups as well as continuation of a shared funding strategy.

Building on the stakeholder assessment, a combination of virtual and in-person meetings will convene partners responsible for public and private land decisions. The main objective is to build interest and commitment to a collaborative planning process for recreation in the greater Chino Valley area. At these meetings, partners identify shared interests, agree on geographic scope, discuss the process, identify who else to involve, and outline plans for launching a set of place-based trails working groups that involve both governmental and non-governmental partners.

Outputs:

● Clear identification of shared interest

● Commitment to the collaborative planning process

● Process roadmap

● Meeting notes

The coordination of GCVC meetings includes but is not limited to serving as a central point of contact and coordination for meeting information such as maps, agendas, and contacting / scheduling with participants. The contractor will develop relevant documents to support the process including process and structure diagrams, prioritization steps and criteria, virtual meeting support materials, guidance and other materials. The contractor will be responsible for the development and maintenance of a basic website or StoryMap as an online space for sharing relevant information with partners and the public.

Outputs:

· Collaborative website

· Process and structure diagrams and related core documents

· Mapping support

· Support initial plan development

6.0 Deliverables / Schedule

Key Deliverables

In advance of a new working group kick-off meeting, an outreach assessment shall be developed, by interviewing partners to identify individual partner positions, opinions, and ideas identified as opportunities or challenges to the collaborative process.

· Deliver detailed meeting notes in draft and final form.

· Identify next steps.

· Deliver detailed meeting notes in draft and final form.

· Identify next steps.

· Deliver detailed meeting notes in draft and final form.

· Identify next steps.

· Develop and maintain a contact list of stakeholders, collaborative members, and interested publics including name, phone number, and email address. If applicable, identify professional affiliation, club/organization affiliation, and subject area of interest.

7.0 Operating Constraints

The SOO will provide Offerors with the maximum flexibility to propose innovative approaches and solution. However, there may be constraints that the Government must place on the solutions. This section shall identify all constraints associated with the requirement including, but not limited to, information assurance and architecture; network accessibility; security; privacy; safety considerations/constraints; and existing policies, directives, and standards

Security Requirements:

1. There are no special security requirements for the contractor regarding independent building access or computer access as neither are required or granted.

a. Any limited building access will be related to meetings and the contractor will be escorted into the building as with any authorized guest.

b. Contractor will use their own company computers and related systems for use on the contract.

2. Any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) accumulated in the process of communications, correspondence, surveys, workshops, questionnaires, and similar processes must be protected, kept secure, and destroyed as soon as it is no longer needed.

a. Every effort will be made to avoid collecting and using PII unless it is necessary.

3. Heritage, cave, and karst resources and information about these resources are protected by various federal laws. If any information is shared by partners during and proceedings, the information will be protected and not shared or posted/published without approval from the proper authority.

4. Contractor will confirm the level of sensitivity or security with any partner in the GCVC which provides sensitive information during any meeting, outreach, or workshop and will protect such information accordingly.

Data Rights:

Any data collected by the contractor for this partnership becomes the property of the USDA Forest Service and/or the GCVC.

Section 508 – Electronic and Information Technology Standards The complete Section 508, including the excerpt below, can be found at https://www.access-board.gov/ict/#original508.

Appendix D to Part 1194: Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards as Originally Published on December 21, 2000 [65 FR 80523, Dec. 21, 2000. Redesignated and amended at 82 FR 5832, Jan. 18, 2017]

Subpart A — General § D1194.1 Purpose.

The purpose of this part is to implement section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of1973, as amended (29U.S.C. 794d). Section 508 requires that when Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology, Federal employees with disabilities have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access and use by Federal employees who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency. Section 508 also requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public seeking information or services from a Federal agency, have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to the public who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency.

§ D1194.2 Application.

(a) Products covered by this part shall comply with all applicable provisions of this part. When developing, procuring, maintaining, or using electronic and information technology, each agency shall ensure that the products comply with the applicable provisions of this part, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency.

(1) When compliance with the provisions of this part imposes an undue burden, agencies shall provide individuals with disabilities with the information and data involved by an alternative means of access that allows the individual to use the information and data.

(2) When procuring a product, if an agency determines that compliance with any provision of this part imposes an undue burden, the documentation by the agency supporting the procurement shall explain why, and to what extent, compliance with each such provision creates an undue burden.

(b) When procuring a product, each agency shall procure products which comply with the provisions in this part when such products are available in the commercial marketplace or when such products are developed in response to a Government solicitation. Agencies cannot claim a product as a whole is not commercially available because no product in the marketplace meets all the standards. If products are commercially available that meet some but not all of the standards, the agency must procure the product that best meets the standards.

(c) Except as provided by §1194.3(b), this part applies to electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained, or used by agencies directly or used by a contractor under a contract with an agency which requires the use of such product, or requires the use, to a significant extent, of such product in the performance of a service or the furnishing of a product.

For this contract, the key element effected by Section 508 will be the website created to share information with partners and the public about CVRP effort as per section 3.0 Technical Requirements / Tasks above. An online guide “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0” may be found at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ to understand how to design web content to be 508 compliant.

8.0 Attachments

If applicable, include an Attachment stating Evaluation Factors and significant Subfactors representing the key areas of importance and emphasis to be considered in the source selection decision image1.png