Q and A Sheet RFP S 63500 00004826.pdf

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

RFP #S-63500-00004826:

1) RFP #S-63500-00004835 lists the following, "ODFW anticipates surveys may require a maximum of 190 dog-handler days, per study area (maximum of 380 dog-handled days total). ... To meet study objectives, data must be collected concurrently at the two study areas. All surveys must be completed between May 1 and July 31, annually."

Where as RFP # S-63500-00004826 states the following, "ODFW anticipates surveys must require a maximum of 80 dog-handler days, per study area (160 dog-handled days total). Previous experience indicates surveys are likely to be completed within 150-160 dog-handler days (note these are days working and do not include rest days). .... To meet study objectives, data must be collected concurrently at the two study areas. All surveys must be completed between May 1 and July 31, annually.

We are curious why the amount of time differs but the dates remain the same? One reason we are curious is that our detection teams are trained to locate Coyote, Bear, and Cougar and we would not require a separate team to complete surveys for the three species, which brings me to my next question...

• Response: We are sampling at different spatial scales because we need to do so for analysis purposes. Our experience shows dogs that are looking for coyote scat tend not to find much from other species. We are aware dogs can locate scat from all species but based on our experiences this won’t work to meet our objectives. We will be using our study design and not combining the surveys.

2) Can we employ the same team in each of the two areas to collect all three target species; coyote, bear, and cougar?

Currently, we are not sure how to apply to the RFP because we would not need to charge the full price of a team for each RFP if we can collect all 3 species concurrently. However, we also cannot reduce the cost of a single RFP by half if we are not awarded both. This makes it difficult to provide a suitable quote for this work. We're not sure if you can share this, but we were curious why ODFW would split this into two different RFPs? It appears to be cost-prohibitive to run additional teams through the same areas to collect differing species. In most of our studies, we are collecting upwards of 5 different species at a time which is beneficial for numerous reasons, aside from cost-effectiveness.

• Response: No, the survey areas may or may not overlap and we don’t want one dog team picking up coyotes and cougar/black bear scats. We have done this in the past and all we end up with is coyote scat. Surveys targeting cougar and bear specifically end up with more scat.

3) The coyote RFP states there are 36, 3x3 km grid cells per study area, and the team must cover approximately 16-18 km of survey for the coyote surveys while there are 185, 2x2 km2 grid cells and the team must cover approximately 6-

8 km of survey effort within a grid cell (4 km2) for the bear and cougar. If I am reading this correctly, this means that there are 36 survey days for coyotes per study area and not 80 days as stated in the coyote RFP, and 185 for bear/cougar, which is similar to what was stated in that RFP. Can you confirm that the coyote RFP is for 36 days or 80 days per survey area?

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

• Response: This is basically the same effort once scaled by area. Coyotes = 1.8-2 km surveyed per km2. We assume it will take 2 days/3x3 grid – so 2 surveys by 26 grid cells = 72 days of work. We rounded up a bit to give some flexibility in case it takes longer. Cougars/bears = 1.5-2 km surveyed per km2. Effectively the same unit effort as the coyote surveys. We have previously surveyed for cougars and bears using this same effort and it has worked for us in the past.

4) I am confused by the study design and if it's possible, would love to speak with the Principle Investigators. Having done this work for 22 years, the distances required to survey seem to be a very short distance to survey for cougars in one area before moving to the next while at the same time a huge area for coyotes that will have a detection team potentially collecting copious amounts of scats from the same individuals. Also, the cougar and bear will be using different areas reducing our, or any detection team's, potential for finding one species or another in such a short survey distance. As I mentioned above, you, or at least our program, can also collect coyotes during the cougar and bear surveys which cancel the need for a separate study.

• Response: We have surveyed cougars at the same scale before, it works to meet our objectives. For Coyotes our objective is to get a lot of scat from the same individuals for intensive sampling. If we don’t get scats from the same individuals, our analyses won’t work. The cougar and bear work is also set at a spatial scale to try and get multiple scats from the same animals at a larger spatial scale. We cannot afford to intensively sample the entire home range of cougars and bears (very large home ranges) – this would require sampling entire 8x8 or 12x12 km2 cells, which we cannot realistically accomplish. We will sample multiple 2x2 grids within the larger cells (i.e., cells may be adjacent or near each other). We based our study design on our past experiences, GPS collar data on these species, and our knowledge of the system.