Sole Source Justification form cps signed_1.pdf

Last Updated: 11/15/2011 Version 1

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service New Mexican ridge-nosed rattlesnake Animas Mountains databases correction project

Requisition No. Enter number

Purchase Order No. Enter number

Sole Source Justification

A. Description

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is seeking a sole-souce contract award to Dr. Andrew Holycross (contractor), with Mesa Community College in Mesa, Arizona. The contractor will complete work with 20+ year datasets for capture locations of the New Mexican ridge-nosed rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi obscurus;

“rattlesnake”), a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The contractor will work to collate, correct, standardize, validate, and georeference the datasets. Some of the earliest years of the datasets were collected prior to the termination of selective availability, and these datasets will be corrected and have appropriate error estimates associated with them. Once the datasets are corrected, the contractor will produce a report containing electronic maps of all relevant information from the datasets and provide that information to the Service. The contractor will also provide the georeferenced datasets to Natural Heritage New Mexico. This information will be crucial to inform a future Species Status Assessment to determine if the recommendations provided in the rattlesnake’s most recent 5-year review remains valid. Additionally, this information can be used to update the species’ Recovery Plan.

B. Justification

a. Circumstances

The most recent 5-year review for the rattlesnake was completed in September 2019. The data used to complete the review came from peer-reviewed published literature, agency reports, and graduate theses or dissertations but did not represent specific data regarding locality or population estimates.

The Service does not possess this data nor has it been consolidated by any single entity or agency.

The contractor does have access to this information. The contractor is a scientist who has conducted research on the rattlesnake for over 20 years. This contractor is considered an “expert” for this species. The datasets to include information from the Animas Mountains in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, which is also an area the contractor is intimately familiar with.

b. Other Capable Sources

The Service is only aware of the contractor and the 20+ year datasets on the rattlesnake. Therefore, we consider this contractor to be the sole source to work with for these datasets and can provide the Service with this biological information.

c. Barriers to Competition

We do not consider there to be any barrier to competition for funding this unique research project, for the reasons stated above. This pertains to the needs of the Service for the results of this biological information to aid in our listing and recovery planning for the rattlesnake. The results of this contract should aid the Service in eventually recovering this species and may lead to removal from the list of federally listed species.

C. Recommendation and Certification by Program Office

Based on the above justification, I recommend this acquisition to be conducted using sole source acquisition procedures as specified in FAR Part 13. I hereby certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Program/Project Officer Name, Program/Project Officer

Date

07/23/2020

Last Updated: 11/15/2011 Version 1

D. Contracting Officer Certification and Approval

Based on the above justification, I hereby certify that the circumstances of this contract action deem only one source reasonably available and approve the use of sole source acquisition procedures for this purchase.

Contracting Officer Name, Contracting Officer

E. Concurrence by Chief of Contracting Office (only required for awards exceeding $25,000)

I hereby concur that the circumstances of this contract action deem only one source reasonably available.

Chief of Contracting Office Name, Chief of Contracting Office