SOW Cultural III Survey.docx

Statement of Work Cultural Resources Inventory of Selected Federal Parcels for Dingell Act Land Exchange

I. Introduction

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) New Mexico State Office (NMSO) and the New Mexico State Land Office (SLO) are developing an equal fair market value land exchange proposal whereby SLO land within or near the Organ Mountain Desert Peaks National Monument, Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, Sabinoso Wilderness, and the Red Hills Off-Highway Vehicle area would be exchanged for BLM lands located elsewhere in the state.

The transfer of lands out of Federal ownership or control is generally an adverse effect under 36 CFR 800.5, and as such, the BLM has initiated consultation with the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).

II. Objectives

The objectives of this statement of work (SOW) is to provide cultural resources inventory data on federal parcels under consideration for transfer to the NM SLO as part of meeting the BLM’s responsibilities under Section 106. The identification approach has been developed in consultation with the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office, and is intended to focus on a representative sample of parcels or portions of parcels in areas that are 1) relatively unknown in terms of cultural resources, 2) that have relatively greater potential to contain significant cultural resources than other parcels in the area. These criteria are further described below under Section III. The purpose of the SOW is to obtain a sample inventory of the total federal lands under consideration for exchange that currently lack full coverage inventory and are not otherwise excluded. The SOW will result in a total of 4,000 acres of cultural resources inventory completed at a Class III level for the parcels or portions of parcels indicated in the attached GIS shapefile. These objectives are accomplished as a base award plus two options.

Base: Class III survey of 3,480 acres in Las Cruces District, Roswell Field Office, Socorro Field Office, Rio Puerco Field Office and Taos Field Office (see Table 1).

Option 1: 200 acres in the Carlsbad Field Office Option 2: 320 acres in Farmington Field Office Offerors are required to provide a cost proposal for the base 3,480 acres and additional cost proposals to include the additional acreage areas into the same report. Failure to provide proposals for the base plus the 2 options will result in a “not responsive” evaluation.

III. Scope

The federal parcels identified as potential exchange parcels occur in several BLM NM Field Offices, including: Taos, Farmington, Rio Puerco, Socorro, Roswell, Carlsbad and the Las Cruces District. As such, the successful offeror must hold a valid survey and recordation permit for the NW, NE, SW and SE permit areas, and all field supervisors must be listed on the permit for the appropriate permit area by the time of award. The table below summarizes the number of acres of Class III inventory in each field office.

Table 1: Base Award Acres summary by Field or District Office

Option 1:

Option 2:

After award, the contractor will carry out the inventory following the requirements in this document at section V.

IV. Government Furnished Materials

1. GIS data, shapefiles, and geodatabases containing relevant cultural resources data and the federal parcels under consideration for exchange.

2. If necessary, keys to government padlocks to access parcels for inventory

3. ARMS fee for uploading completed cultural resources data is waived by ARMS as part of a contract between BLM and ARMS. The contractor in this case is acting as the BLM’s agent.

4. BLM National Cultural Resources Information Management Systems (NCRIMS) geodatabase along with draft implementation guide.

V. Tasks to be Performed by the Contractor

BPA Task 4.2.12.1 – Pre-work conference: Contractor attendance at a pre-work conference scheduled by BLM’s Contracting Officer (CO) or Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COR) is required. The purpose of the conference is to achieve a clear and mutual understanding of all contract requirements and the schedule, and to identify and resolve potential problems. In addition to this pre-work conference, the contractor must also obtain fieldwork authorizations from each of the field or district offices prior to commencing fieldwork in each office. The prework conference will be scheduled by the CO or COR to take place shortly after award, but the individual fieldwork authorization shall be scheduled by the contractor with the field office or district office archaeologists (see contact information below) prior to starting fieldwork in that office.

BPA Task 4.2.12.2 – Pedestrian Survey: Pedestrian survey of the selected inventory parcels will be carried out following the guidelines in NM BLM Handbook H-8100-1 (attached). As most parcels are accessed by crossing private or state lands, the contractor is required to coordinate access with the appropriate field office 1 week prior to beginning work in that field office. This is so that they have time to contact grazing permittees and land owners and arrange access for the contractor. This is a non-collection inventory. An emailed status report to the COR is requested every 2 weeks. This shall list the parcels completed, preliminary numbers of sites, and any issues or problems encountered.

BPA Task 4.2.12.3 – Recording and Evaluation: All sites and isolated occurrences will be fully recorded following H-8100-1. Site maps shall be made following guidelines in H-8100-1, and include all elements listed in Chapter 1.A.8.i, section1-15. The H-8100-1 stipulates that sites be fully recorded even if they extend beyond the defined survey area. Exceptions may be granted by the Field Office archaeologist such as very large or long sites that are likely to extend well beyond the survey parcel, or where access to private lands to record the site is not granted. This project requires careful recording, including in-field analysis of artifacts and photography or sketching of diagnostic lithic artifacts. If sites include fewer than 100 items, they must all be recorded and analyzed in the field. If more than 100 items are present, then a sample of no fewer than 100 items will be analyzed, drawn in such a manner as to be representative of the site as a whole. Artifact concentrations and features shall be shown clearly on site maps. Large sites may require detail maps of structural features in addition to the full site map. Site datums shall be marked as specified in the NM BLM H-8100-1. Evaluation of each site’s eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places is required. Limited testing for eligibility may be conducted if eligibility cannot be determined from the surface manifestations alone. Testing can include augers, soil probes, trowel testing, or shovel testing, and shall be described in the report, with positive tests shown on site maps. Artifacts recovered from any testing must be documented and provided to the BLM. The BLM will take responsibility for curating the artifacts.

BPA Task 4.2.12.4– Reporting: Reporting of inventory results shall follow the guidelines in H-8100-1 Chapter 1.B.1. and Appendix 2, Standards for Completing Large-Scale Cultural Resource Inventory Project Reports and include the sections listed in Appendix 2-2 under “Components of a Large-scale Cultural Resource Inventory Report”. If cultural resources are identified that may be of religious significance to tribes (shrines, TCPs, etc.), these will be reported on in a confidential appendix and not included in the portion of the report that is publicly accessible. Sites and the project, including GIS data and online data entry, are to be entered into NMCRIS by the contractor and provided to the COR in the BLM NCRIMS geodatabase (see BLM IM 2018-079 - attached). This is a requirement for BLM to accept the report. Any artifacts collected from testing will be provided to the BLM with the final report.

Deliverables:

1. 1 electronic copy (MS Word document) of draft report accompanied by draft shape files and draft site forms (MS Word)

2. 8 paper copies of the final survey report to be printed after BLM acceptance of final report in electronic format;

3. 3 paper copies of final unbound NMCRIS site forms including photographs and site maps, site update forms (including photographs), in-field artifact analysis forms;

4. 3 paper copies of the NMCRIS Project Activity Record;

5. 1 GPS-derived geodatabase in NCRIMS format that includes polygons plotting all recorded site boundaries) and another showing the actual areas inventoried. Populating the attributes will follow the draft NM implementation guide for NCRIMS.

6. 1 GPS-derived shapefile plotting all isolated occurrences (IOs). The shapefile will be attributed with the IO numbers and description of the IO.

7. One pdf/a of each paper deliverable on appropriate removable media.

8. Artifacts collected as a result of testing.

Schedule:

1. Prework conference and records check shall occur within 7 calendar days from date of award.

2. Draft report, site forms, a table of sites, site types and eligibility recommendations, table of IOs that include IO number, description, and coordinates, draft GIS data with site polygons and area inventoried in NCRIMS geodatabase, and IOs shapefile shall be submitted within 90 days of award.

3. BLM shall submit comments and corrections within 15 business days of receipt of the draft deliverables.

4. Final report, site forms, site and IO summary tables, and finalized geodatabase conforming to the NCRIMS data standard for sites and inventory are due within 150 days of award. The final report and site forms shall incorporate changes requested by BLM and shall address all comments submitted by BLM. Any collected artifacts must be provided at this time.

5. Final GIS data for sites and the surveyed parcels shall be uploaded into NMCRIS within 150 days of award.

Payment Schedule:

20% paid upon issuing fieldwork authorization (given at the prework conference) 50% paid upon receipt of draft deliverables 20% paid upon receipt of final deliverables 10% paid upon acceptance of final deliverables and confirmation of data upload to NMCRIS