PWS_geomorphology_sediment_research_4-12-24_1.pdf

DRAFT PERFORMANCE OF WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

Geomorphology Sediment Research, Douglas AZ

Part 1 General Information

1. GENERAL: San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) has identified a desire to conduct a study on geomorphology and sediment in Black Draw channel on the refuge. The Government shall not exercise any supervision or control over the contract service providers performing the services herein. Such contract service providers shall be accountable solely to the Contractor who, in turn is responsible to the Government.

2. Description of Services/Introduction: The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, tools, materials, supervision, and other items and non-personal services necessary to perform the desired geomorphology and sediment research study, as defined in this Performance of Work Statement (PWS). The contractor shall perform to the standards in this contract.

3. Background: Efforts are being undertaken to further assess resources and actions on, and nearby the refuge, as they relate to the ground water and water recharge. Data gained from these efforts will be utilized to inform refuge management actions as they relate to stream and Cienega restoration efforts. Geomorphology and sediment research in Black Draw has been identified as a need to document how past and ongoing actions impact the hydrology of the channel. This contracted research will directly support and further U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research; requiring close coordination with USGS staff.

*See the attached google earth KMZ files of the research area.

4. Objectives:

a) The main research effort will be focused on monitoring channel morphology using two primary tools: repeat monumented cross section surveys and repeat imagery collection and analysis.

b) Mapping is desired to produce digital elevation models (DEMs) that can cover multiple square kilometers at sub-meter grid cell resolution. The vertical accuracy of the DEMs is on the order of 5

cm. The number of cross sections to monitor and the extent of mapping will be decided in collaboration with FWS staff.

c) Differencing of the DEMs should take place in the winter, to quantify the extent and thickness of erosion and deposition in the monitored reaches. Estimation of vegetation-induced uncertainty in the

DEMs is to be completed.

d) Contractor shall utilize processes to track changes in channel bed elevation and bank morphology in response to restoration activities and past actions.

e) Data should provide the necessary inputs for 2-D open channel flow modeling using HEC-RAS-2D.

f) Contractor efforts should be able to complement terrestrial laser scanning which may be conducted by the USGS. Lidar data sets collected as part of the broader research effort (e.g., by USGS) may be incorporated into this contracted study for a geomorphic change analysis.

g) Stream gaging is necessary in order to document the driving force of the anticipated erosion and deposition. The gage installation and calibration will be conducted and monitored by USGS, and data will be provided to contractor (install planned for 2024). Contractor should install and maintain a transducer (FWS provided) as an alternative method to capture flow data.

h) Contractor will complete modeling efforts with the data collected by this contract and any associated

USGS research provided.

i) Contractor and FWS staff will coordinate on focus areas within the draw where mesquite remains and where mesquite has previously been grubbed along the banks.

o Contractor proposal should show ability to test a series of scientific hypotheses:

H1) Bank retreat and channel widening will be most prevalent in areas where woody vegetation removal includes root excavation.

H2) Channel aggradation will be most prevalent downstream of areas of bank erosion, where local sediment released from storage exceeds the fluvial transport capacity.

H3) Aggradation in a given river reach will reduce the erosion rate of local banks, to negative feedback pressure on aggradation over time. Modeled bed shear will decrease as aggradation occurs.

H4) Establishment of arroyo-bottom vegetation will promote aggradation and will become necessary for sustained bed sediment stabilization and storage.

H5) Areas with high rates of bank erosion will correlate with areas of high modeled bed shear stress adjacent to the retreating bank.

o COMPLIANCE, PERMITS AND LICENSES

▪ NEPA compliance for this research will be the responsibility of the refuge.

▪ The use of covered UAS (drones) are prohibited for achieving approved objectives. (OPM-11 Section 6. Implementation and Operations). Any drone use must be documented on a letter of authorization by FWS prior to use.

o DELIVERABLES:

a) The monitoring effort should produce data in the form of gridded DEMs, surveyed channel cross sections, bank root data, stream stage hydrographs, and HEC-RAS model output.

b) Mapping imagery sets.

c) Results and a report of the study are to be completed by April 2025 or one year after start date.

o DATA RIGHTS

▪ The Government will have unlimited rights to all data deliverables, produced or acquired, under this contract. All documents, materials, and data deliverables, including the source codes of any software, all data collected, new or existing, produced under this contract shall be the sole responsibility of the Government with all rights and privileges held as a Custodian and

Trustee belonging exclusively to the Service for the Government.

▪ Contractor retains the right to use all research results and deliverables for educational and research purposes. The contractor may only use or sell these documents and materials with written permission from the Contracting

Officer and Project Officer. This right does not abrogate any other

Government rights.

▪ The contractor must ensure that all documents, reports, and data deliverables, whether tabular, geospatial or otherwise, and associated metadata produced by contractors are wholly and completely delivered to the Service. Data are required to be made publicly available in a machine-readable, open format following the OPEN Government Data Act of 2018.

5. Period of Performance:

Proposed: May 2024 to May 2025

Initial surveys and flights will take place in late-spring or early-summer 2024. The frequency of data collection will depend on flood frequency. It will be critical that cross sections will be re-surveyed and imagery re-mapped following each geomorphically active flow event. Refuge staff will alert contractor to flow events and contractor must be available on short notice to respond and collect data. DEMs and a report on results will be completed by May 2025 (or one year from contract start date)

6. Hours of Operation: The contractor is responsible for conducting business between the hours of sunrise to sunset, Sunday thru Saturday, except Federal holidays at the Contractor’s option. The

Contractor must at all times maintain an adequate workforce for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks defined within this PWS when the Government facility is not closed for the above reasons.

When hiring personnel, the Contractor shall keep in mind that the stability and continuity of the workforce are essential.

7. Recognized Holidays: The Contractor is not required to perform work on these holidays.

New Year’s Day Labor Day

Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday Columbus Day

President’s Day Veteran’s Day

Memorial Day Thanksgiving Day

Juneteenth Christmas Day

Independence Day

8. Place of Performance: The work to be performed under this contract will be performed near San

Bernardino NWR. Job site is approximately 15 miles east of Douglas, Arizona, on a graded dirt road. The nearest facilities are located in Douglas. The project area lies in a remote area adjacent to the international border of Mexico and the United States. Sierra Vista, Arizona is 65 miles west of the refuge and Tucson, Arizona, is 100 miles northwest of the refuge.

9. Gate Locks: Access does require passage through locked gates, access will be coordinated with refuge staff.

10. General Access Information: County maintained road, Geronimo Trail Road, provides access to the general area. A border access road within private property provides access from the county road to the crossing location. No road construction outside of the selected alternative will be needed. Any concerns will be addressed during project meetings.

11. Pre-Proposal Site Visit: Prospective contractors may request a pre-proposal site visit to view the area. Request for the site visit must go directly to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) and questions not explicitly outlined in the PWS be directed to the COR and not to refuge staff conducting the site visit tour. Request for a site visit must occur a minimum of one week prior to the solicitation closing date.

12. Post Award Conference/Periodic Progress Meetings: The Contractor agrees to attend any post award conference convened by the contracting activity or contract administration office in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 42.5. The contracting officer, Contracting

Officers Representative (COR), and other Government personnel, as appropriate, may meet periodically with the contractor to review the contractor's performance. At these meetings the

Government personnel will apprise the contractor of how the government views the contractor's performance and the contractor will apprise the Government of problems, if any, being experienced. Appropriate action shall be taken to resolve outstanding issues. These meetings shall be at no additional cost to the government.

13. Quality Control: The Contractor shall develop and maintain an effective quality control program to ensure services are performed in accordance with this PWS. The Contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of defective services. The

Contractor’s quality control program is the means by which they assure themselves that their work complies with the requirement of the contract.

14. Quality Assurance: The government shall evaluate the Contractor’s performance under this contract in accordance with the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan. This plan is primarily focused on what the Government must do to ensure that the Contractor has performed in accordance with the performance standards. It defines how the performance standards will be applied, the frequency of surveillance, and the minimum acceptable defect rate(s).

15. Contracting Officer Representative (COR): TBD

16. Key Personnel: The following personnel are considered key personnel by the government:

Contract Manager and Site Project Leader. The contractor shall provide a contract manager who shall be responsible for the performance of the work. The name of this person and an alternate who shall act for the contractor when the manager is absent shall be designated in writing to the COR.

The contract manager or alternate shall have full authority to act for the contractor on all contract matters relating to daily operation of this contract. The contract manager or alternate shall be available between 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday thru Friday except Federal holidays or when the government facility is closed for administrative reasons.

17. Special Qualifications:

Contractor personnel should demonstrate in proposal: Professional qualifications necessary for satisfactory performance of required services.

a) Pertinent education, training, professional licensure, and relevant experience;

b) Previous bank modeling experience for arid southwest channels

c) Other relevant certifications;

d) The availability of an adequate number of personnel in the key discipline shall be presented to ensure that the contractor can meet the potential of working on multiple task orders;

e) Channel morphology and sediment research experience in the arid southwest (last three (3) years); breadth and diversity of similar projects to Statement of Works;

f) Experience with evaluation of natural processes in channels, problems, and potential solutions to stabilizing hydrology in flashy arid or semi-arid environments.

g) Past performance with Government agencies or on federal lands

h) Timeline and budget plan to meet the targeted study completion date.

18. Type of Contract and Other Direct Costs: The government will award a firm fixed price contract.

Final payment will be made upon Refuge acceptance following total completion of the project by the contractor. Upon completion and acceptance of all work and receipt of a proper invoice, the contractor will be paid the balance of the firm fixed-price of the contract via IPP.gov.

19. Identification of Contractor Employees: All contract personnel attending meetings and working in other situations where their contractor status is not obvious to third parties are required to identify themselves as such to avoid creating an impression in the minds of members of the public that they are Government officials. They must also ensure that all documents or reports produced by contractors are suitably marked as contractor products or that contractor participation is appropriately disclosed.

PART 2 DEFINITIONS &

ACRONYMS

DEFINITIONS AND ACRONYMS:

DEFINITIONS:

i CONTRACTOR. A supplier or vendor awarded a contract to provide specific supplies or service to the government. The term used in this contract refers to the prime.

ii CONTRACTING OFFICER. A person with authority to enter into, administer, and or terminate contracts, and make related determinations and findings on behalf of the government.

Note: The only individual who can legally bind the government.

iii CONTRACTING OFFICER'S REPRESENTATIVE (COR). An employee of the U.S.

Government appointed by the contracting officer to administer the contract. Such appointment shall be in writing and shall state the scope of authority and limitations. This individual has authority to provide technical direction to the Contractor as long as that direction is within the scope of the contract, does not constitute a change, and has no funding implications. This individual does NOT have authority to change the terms and conditions of the contract.

iv DEFECTIVE SERVICE. A service output that does not meet the standard of performance associated with the Performance Work Statement.

v DELIVERABLE. Anything that can be physically delivered but may include non-manufactured things such as meeting minutes or reports.

vi KEY PERSONNEL. Contractor personnel that are evaluated in a source selection process and that may be required to be used in the performance of a contract by the Key Personnel listed in the PWS. When key personnel are used as an evaluation factor in best value procurement, an offer can be rejected if it does not have a firm commitment from the persons that are listed in the proposal.

vii PHYSICAL SECURITY. Actions that prevent the loss or damage of Government property.

viii QUALITY CONTROL. All necessary measures taken by the Contractor to assure that the quality of an end product or service shall meet contract requirements.

ix SUBCONTRACTOR. One that enters into a contract with a prime contractor. The

Government does not have privity of contract with the subcontractor.

x WORK DAY. The number of hours per day the Contractor provides services in accordance with the contract.

xi WORK WEEK. Monday through Friday, unless specified otherwise.

PART 3

GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY, EQUIPMENT, AND SERVICES

GOVERNMENT FURNISHED ITEMS AND SERVICES:

1. Utilities: The Government will not provide any utilities for this contract.

2. Equipment: The Government will provide a transducer for flow monitoring.

3. Materials: The Government will not provide materials for this contract.

PART 4

CONTRACTOR FURNISHED ITEMS AND SERVICES

CONTRACTOR FURNISHED ITEMS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. General: The Contractor shall furnish all supplies, equipment, facilities and services required to perform work under this contract that are not listed under Section 3 of this PWS.

2. Equipment: The Contractor shall furnish all equipment outside of FWS provided equipment to adequately preform the requested job.

PART 5

ATTACHMENT/TECHNICAL EXHIBIT LISTING

Research target area; Black Draw Channel on Refuge