Sole Source Justification 143041-24-0099 Rhithron Associates_Redacted.pdf

Version 2.0

Source Selection Information – see FAR 2.101 and 3.104

(Tailor this determination for the specific requirement, as applicable; however, the final product should not include any of the blue text, which is only included to guide document preparation.)

SINGLE SOURCE DETERMINATION USING

SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES (SAP)

FOR AN ACTION NOT EXCEEDING THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD

(AUTHORITY: FAR 13.106-1(b)(1))

(Requisition 143041-24-0099)

1. Agency and contracting activity. Department of Commerce, NOAA Acquisition and Grants Office

(AGO), Fish Ecology Division and National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Fisheries Science Center

2. Description of supplies or services required to meet agency needs (including the estimated value).

The NWFSC Fish Ecology (FE) Division requires Rhithron Associates to taxonomically identify, measure and weigh aquatic macroinvertebrates from samples already collected from streams in the Pacific Northwest, and in particular the Salmon River Basin, Idaho. Types of samples include benthic macroinvertebrates (Hess samples) and water column invertebrates (Drift samples). Samples will be identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible. There are a total of 273 Hess and drift samples to be processed. NOAA researchers will use this data to support ecosystem assessments for ESA-listed salmon populations.

Sample Intake and Processing: Sample(s) will be collected by NOAA-NWFSC staff and preserved in ethanol. Upon arrival at the Rhithron laboratory in Missoula Montana samples will be inventoried and thoroughly checked against the client provided Chain of Custody. Any disagreements or clarity of sample metadata will be rectified prior to sample processing. Sample contents will be homogenized, rinsed of preservative, and organisms removed until the entire sample is processed. Individuals will be identified to the request taxonomic levels consistent with previous Salmon River Hess and Drift samples from NOAA-NWFSC. Specimens with vegetative cases will have their cases removed prior to sample completion. After all quality control measures are applied all specimens will concentrated onto a Whatman GFF and placed in numbered weigh boats to be dried at 60 degrees C for 20 hours. Samples will be massed after desiccation and then placed in a combustion muffle furnace at 500 degrees C for 2 hours or until a constant mass is achieved.

Quality Control: Ten percent of samples will be randomly selected and quality control preformed to calculate Sorting Efficiency (SE), Percent Taxonomic Disagreement (PTD), and Percent Difference in Enumeration(PDE) (Stribling et al. 2003; Stribling et al. 2008). Minimum Data Quality Objectives (MDQO) will be 95%,15%, and 5% for SE,PTD, and PDE respectively consistent with national standards (USEPA 2017).

Delivery schedule: Data will be delivered in formats consistent with NOAA-NWFSC requirements. Data will be delivered within 180 days of sample receipt at the Rhithron Lab. Invoices will be issued upon data delivery and payment terms are 30 days. Any return shipping of materials or external QC costs will be paid for by the NOAA-NWFSC.

The period of performance for this contract is 1 June 2024 to 31 May 2027.

(Insert PR/RFQ number, as applicable)

3. Identification of the single source or the brand name to be solicited.

Wease Bollman Rhithron Associates, INC.

33 Fort Missoula Missoula, MT 59804-7203 Phone: 406-721-1977 E-Mail: wbollman@rhithron.com Web Address: http://www.rhithron.com GSA Contract #: GS-10F-0138V

DUNS: 105550037

NAICS: 541620

4. Supporting rationale. Only one source or brand name is reasonably available as detailed below:

• Other - Only one source is capable - Since 2001, the NWFSC Fish Ecology (FE) Division has conducted the Salmon River ecosystem study, which measures a variety of ecologically important environmental attributes in multiple tributaries of the Salmon River, ID home of ESA-listed Chinook salmon and steelhead trout.

The purpose of this long-term study is to understand how natural and anthropogenic driven environmental variation, such as variation in the abundance of prey for juvenile fish, influences the growth, movement, and freshwater survival of juvenile Chinook salmon and steelhead trout. Prey concentration (e.g., mg total biomass/m3 of flowing water), as defined by stream and terrestrial invertebrates, is a key environmental metric monitored in this study.

Continuity of our long term data set is critical to the integrity of our research program.

Rhithron Associates, Inc. has processed stream macroinvertebrate samples from this project between 2002 and 2019. The consistency in processing methods and the stability of both taxonomic expertise and QA/QC protocols employed over this time period is critical to maintain the continuity and quality of the long-term data for this research. Changes to methods or companies to this long term dataset will complicate the project’s ability to generate assessments of habitat condition and ecosystem function for ESA-listed salmon populations. Furthermore, this research supports elements of the Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion.

Changes in methodology are perhaps the greatest challenge for users of long-term data.

Shifts in methodology in a long-term research project make it impossible to distinguish whether shifts in a dataset are due to true ecological or biological reasons or whether those shifts are simply due to a methods change. For invertebrate samples, changes in methodology, such as use of different equipment, quality control protocols, and taxonomic expertise can render use of the data extremely difficult as data from the first part of the time series are not comparable to those after the methodological changes. For this project, a shift in the methods and expertise of taxonomists processing samples will jeopardize the use of this highly valuable and rare 18-year dataset. Generally, methodology shifts that do occur are planned well in advance to allow a period of overlap in which both methods are applied, thus enabling cross-calibration of datasets from one method to the next. In the case of invertebrate samples, switching to an alternate processing lab is financially not possible as it would require replicate samples (which we do not have) and at least twice the funding to cover costs for two processing labs.

Rhithron Associates, Inc. is a laboratory that specializes in the analysis of aquatic macroinvertebrates. They have a large staff of highly qualified taxonomists certified by the Society for Freshwater Sciences. They have expertise in identifying west coast invertebrates to genus/species, including Chironomidae and Oligochaetes. The ability to identify Chironomids and Oligochaets to genus/species is necessary for our studies. Expertise in these taxonomic groups is especially important for our projects because we expect those groups (which are very difficult to identify to species) to be particularly informative in some of our samples. Their regional expertise is critical to the value of the data produced.

5. Market Research.

(Provide a brief description of the results of the market research performed. The extent of market research should be commensurate with the total estimated value. Attach a copy of the market research report or cite the exception to preparing a report.)

We periodically investigate other mechanisms for processing macroinvertebrate samples and have not yet found another lab or group (in house or outside lab) that meets our needs.

We require that our samples be processed by staff that are highly trained in taxonomy (Level II certifications for all taxonomic groups from the Society for Freshwater Science) in a lab with established and strict quality control protocols, taxonomists with expertise with Pacific NW species occurring in Idaho steams, a group that can guarantee that data generated from new samples are consistent with data from our long-term dataset extending back to 2002, are able to process samples quickly and provide data in multiple formats, and are able to provide high quality data that are suitable for publication in peer-reviewed scientific publications. We also require biomass measurements of identified taxa in order to use bioenergetics models to estimate juvenile salmon growth potential and many of the labs we researched were unable to perform this task or did not present this capability on their website (e.g., http://www.usu.edu/buglab/)

7. Science Director’s Certification

Science Director

8. Contracting Officer’s Certification

I hereby determine that the circumstances of this action deem only one source is reasonably available. This determination is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

(Insert name) Date