SOW_ECA_.pdf

ECA & EMS SOW

USDA AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE

BELTSVILLE AREA

BELTSVILLE, MARYLAND

COMPLETE ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE AUDIT AND DEVELOP AN EMS

PROGRAM FOR BARC SCOPE OF WORK (SOW)

June 2024

1. SOW OBJECTIVES

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) is approximately 6,400- acre facility located in the northwestern portion of Prince Georges County, Maryland which consists of agricultural fields, offices, and research laboratories. The objective of this SOW is to complete an environmental compliance audit and assist the BARC facility in developing and re-establishing all aspects of an Environmental Management System (EMS) program including an EMS policy, framework, and manual in conformance with ISO 14001 Standards.

Specifically, the objectives of this SOW include these tasks:

• Task 1: Environmental Compliance Audit

• Task 2: Development of an EMS

• Task 3: Implementation Support of the EMS

The SCOPE OF WORK and TASKS are provided in more detail below.

2. SCOPE OF WORK

The Contractor shall furnish all services, materials, supplies, labor, equipment, superintendence, and travel and administrative reports and plans as required, related to the work described herein.

Tasks are outlined below.

TASK 1. Environmental Compliance Audit

3. Task OBJECTIVE

The objective of this task is to complete an Environmental Compliance Audit (EC) in accordance with ASTM International (ASTM) Code E2107-06 and E2365-21 at the BARC facility Beltsville, Md. The contractor shall apply its knowledge of environmental regulations and management to audit environmental compliance and to identify opportunities for environmental management system improvements, correction of deficiencies and/or the elimination of any would-be legal and financial liabilities.

Site visits may require multiple days of onsite work. Draft audit findings will be due 60 days following the Notice to Proceed (NTP). The draft findings shall be submitted for review and comment. The final audit findings and response to ARS comments will be due 21 days following receipt of comments.

Prior to the field audit, the contractor shall coordinate with the Contracting Officer’s Representative and facility Point of Contact (COR/POC) to discuss protocol issues affecting the BARC facility, including:

• Audit team facility access and safety

• Facility operations

• Current environmental plans and programs

• Hazardous materials and waste management

• Chemical inventory program

• Waste minimization and/or recycling program

• Underground and above-ground storage tank status

• Drinking water, wastewater and stormwater management programs

• Air compliance program

• Review of facilities inventory data

• Facility assessment schedule and procedures

• Unusual or unique operational considerations

The contractor shall create Draft and Final audit itineraries for approval by the COR/POC. Within fifteen business days after receipt of facilities inventory information, the contractor must schedule a conference call with the COR/POC and other required Government stakeholders to obtain input on creating the audit itinerary. The contractor shall use this call to ascertain typical facility operations, locations of these operations, as well as associated staff.

Within five business days after that call, the contractor will submit a Draft audit itinerary. In every case, regardless of the aforementioned coordination, the contractor must submit a Draft audit itinerary at least ten business days in advance of the planned audit dates. The Draft audit itinerary may be reviewed by Government, and any changes or recommendations provided by the Government should be incorporated into the final audit itinerary documentation. The audit itinerary may be unilaterally revised by the Government at any time for any reason. The only exception is when the contractor is in travel status for the audit week, itinerary modification must be by mutual agreement of the COR/POC and Contractor’s Lead Auditor.

The audit itinerary must include travel-in and lodging plans for the audit week. Travel-in will be shown on the Sunday preceding the workweek scheduled for the audit. The itinerary will show an In-Briefing, which must be followed by an itinerary of sites to be visited, and interviews to be held, during the audit. All itinerary elements will be shown on the standard itinerary, including interviewee names and time slots. Deviation from these audit itinerary requirements and/or audit itinerary format shall be at the sole discretion of the COR/POC.

In consultation with the COR/POC, the contractor shall be responsible for identifying key Government individuals for interviews. The contractor will be responsible to schedule and confirm those interview dates/times prior to finalization of the audit itinerary. Identifying staff associated with an audited facility’s operations and scheduling employee interviews is the responsibility of the contractor and should be initiated as early as possible in the audit planning. While the assigned facility point-of-contact should assist in this effort, the contractor bears responsibility for directly-contacting, arranging, confirming, and interviewing staff during performance of the environmental compliance audits.

The audit itinerary should generally-support an eight- to ten-hour workday, including travel between sites/facilities and employee interviews. Interviews should generally be scheduled for between 30 minutes to one hour for each individual. Names of each employee to be interviewed shall be shown on the itinerary.

In an attempt to obtain a representative sample of sites/facilities and interviews that captures an accurate representation of environmental compliance (for programs, operations, and facilities) during the audit, the itinerary must consider:

• Major types-of-work at BARC that may have associated environmental compliance considerations;

• Programs required by USDA and/or Agency policy and guidance (such as lands transaction environmental screening, water and wastewater systems operations, pesticide use/disposal, waste management planning, fuel purchase & storage, emergency response planning for “hazmat”, hazard communication (HAZCOM), etc.

• Availability of key personnel at various locations for interviews; and

• Repeat and recurrent findings from past environmental compliance audits; and

The contractor shall be responsible for working with the COR/POC to craft an audit itinerary that balances all these factors to the satisfaction of the Agency.

Scope The Contractor shall perform an EC Audit for all potentially relevant areas of Federal, State and local environmental law. The Contractor shall provide all appropriate personnel, labor, equipment, safety, personal protective equipment, computer(s), web connectivity, phone(s), electronic equipment, software, database(s) access, materials, supplies, supervision, and transportation needed to perform the necessary contract management, EC audits, and provide associated deliverables in accordance with this Statement of Work (SOW).

The following subtasks are included as part of this task:

Subtask 1 - Initial meeting or teleconference with the Contracting Officer’s Representative

(COR).

Subtask 2 - Contractor review of prior EC audit reports, as applicable.

Subtask 3 - Preliminary workplan including checklists and questionnaires for review and approval by the COR.

Subtask 4 - Coordinate logistics and schedule for the site visit with the COR and facility contact.

Subtask 5 - Site visit.

Subtask 6 – Submit Draft Report.

Subtask 7 – Draft report findings teleconference with BARC stakeholders.

Subtask 8 – Submit Final Report.

Environmental Compliance Audit (EC) The contractor shall prepare and send to the facility POC a survey questionnaire to identify potential regulatory environmental concerns at the facility. The survey shall be based on existing information regarding the facility and provided to the contractor.

The objective of the EC is to collect relevant information associated with operations sufficient to ascertain compliance with Federal, State, and local environmental regulations. The audit shall cover at a minimum the following compliance areas:

• Air Pollution

• Drinking Water

• Wastewater

• Solid Waste Management/Recycling

• Hazardous waste management and non-hazardous chemical waste management

• Spill Control and Response

• Hazardous materials transportation

• Chemical hygiene plans

• Chemical storage

• Safety Data Sheet and chemical inventory management

• Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) Tier II reporting compliance

• Underground storage tanks

• Above ground storage tanks

• Pesticide Management

• Environmental Radiation Protection

• All facility environmental permits

• Any other relevant environmental laws

Including at a minimum the following regulations:

• Clean Air Act (CAA) o BARC is currently completing a third-party CAA audit on the facility Synthetic Minor Permit. The contractor shall review the results of the CAA audit and incorporate results into the ECA.

• Clean Water Act (CWA)

• Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)

• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)

• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

• Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA)

• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

• Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

• Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA)

Audit Report The audit report shall include:

1. An executive summary that summarizes the findings and includes a table listing the findings for each compliance area.

2. The body of the report shall be subdivided by compliance area. For each compliance area, include:

a. A discussion of the requirements of the compliance area, including a list of all relevant federal state and local regulations.

b. A list of non-compliant findings including:

i. A description of the finding.

ii. Supporting evidence for the finding.

iii. Any steps the facility has already taken or is taking to resolve the finding.

iv. An opinion regarding the severity of the finding – major, intermediate or minor.

1. Major – An environmental release has occurred, is likely to occur or a regulatory agency is likely to impose a penalty for the finding.

2. Intermediate – A regulatory agency is likely to impose a penalty, but a release is unlikely to occur as a result of the find.

3. Minor – A release or penalty is unlikely.

v. Recommendations for correcting the non-compliant finding.

vi. If the facility is in compliance, provide evidence demonstrating compliance and identify any exemplary performance if the facility has exceeded the minimum standards for compliance or is using best practices.

c. Appendices shall include:

i. Copies of completed questionnaires and checklist, photographs, and other relevant data.

ii. A list of reports and documents reviewed and copies of relevant reports and documents. For very long reports, only an executive summary or excerpts from relevant sections is required.

iii. Organization charts and if relevant, process flow charts.

iv. Any other supporting information.

The Contractor shall incorporate any government comments received on the draft report into a final version for distribution, including noting any disagreement the facility may have with specific findings.

TASK 2. Development of an EMS

4. Task OBJECTIVE

The objective of this task is to develop the BARC EMS, including a robust EMS guidance document, in conformance with ISO 14001 Standards.

Following the completion of Task 1, the contractor will develop an EMS with input from BARC staff and may include, but not be limited to, the following steps:

1. Exploring the context of the USDA BARC Organization

2. Establishing an Environmental Policy

3. Assist in determining Roles and Responsibilities of the EMS Team

4. Assist in holding a kickoff meeting

5. Determine Environmental Aspects and Impacts

6. Identify Compliance Obligations and Permitting requirements

7. Assist in estimating a budget and required resources

8. Set Environmental Objectives and Action Plans

9. Identify Operational Controls, and Monitoring and Measurement Needs

10. Define Roles and Responsibilities for specific Environmental Tasks

11. Establish Other System-Levels Procedures

12. Establish and/or validate environmental equipment

13. Organize Environmental Permits

The development of the EMS shall include recommendations and results of the Task 1 ECA. The contractor shall complete a detailed review of all relevant documents provided by BARC staff and those that are publicly available. The desktop review shall include but is not limited to:

1. SDWA (BARC is a non-transitory, non-community water system with two water plants)

2. CWA (Including Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure plan, NPDES permits, MS4, and other stormwater requirements)

3. CAA (BARC currently possesses a synthetic minor permit)

4. RCRA (Subtitle C & I compliance with hazardous waste requirements, solid waste and recycling)

5. EPCRA

6. NEPA

7. Maryland's NPDES Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Permit (MS4)

8. Maryland Oil Operations Permit requirements.

9. Federal and Maryland Petroleum Underground Storage Tank and Above Ground Storage

Tank requirements.

10. All other applicable Federal, State, or local environmental requirements the contractor identifies while on-site (TSCA, ESA, CZMA, ETC).

The facility is currently completing a separate contracting action for a compliance audit of the BARC Synthetic Minor Permit to Operate. The contractor shall incorporate the results of that audit into the EMS development.

The contractor shall meet with BARC stakeholders electronically via MS Teams or similar format on a regular basis to review EMS development and provide BARC opportunity for feedback. The contractor will submit all draft documents related to BARC EMS development for review and comment. As part of the EMS development the contractor shall write a short briefing that recommends the number of full-time equivalents (FTEs) required to maintain all environmental compliance activities at BARC.

TASK 3. Implementation support of EMS

5. Task OBJECTIVE

The objective of this task is to assist the BARC facility in implementation support of the EMS program for a period of 12 months following the completion of Task 2.

Implementation support could at a minimum include the following items:

• Development of EMS Training Materials

• Development of EMS Training Tracking System

• Development of EMS Environmental Objective and Regulatory requirements

Tracking

• Development of EMS Significant Environmental Aspects and Operations Controls

Tracking

• Review of Environmental Permits and their Requirements

In addition to the listed items above the contractors shall provide BARC with a recorder for 12 months’ worth of EMS meetings.

The recorder’s responsibility shall be as follows:

• Assist with agenda preparation – the draft agenda shall be based on the previous meeting minutes and unresolved issues. The draft shall be sent out not later than three days before the scheduled meeting so that changes and modifications of the agenda may be facilitated with input from ARS.

• Meeting Minutes - The recorder shall take notes in the meeting including any action items.

• Draft Meeting Minutes - The recorder shall provide draft minutes within seven (7) calendar days of the previous EMS call and final minutes within three (3) calendar days following BARC comment.

6. GOVERNMENT-FURNISHED INFORMATION

BARC will provide USDA departmental environmental regulations (USDA DR-5600) and ARS policies and procedures. BARC will also provide all electronic and physical environmental compliance data available and the results of an ongoing Synthetic Minor Permit Audit.

7. SCHEDULE OF DELIVERABLES

The Contractor shall provide an electronic copy of the deliverables as outlined below.

Deliverable Due Date Hard Copy Delivered to:

Electronic Copy Delivered to: In Working Days Date

Task 1. Questionnaires to Facility

14 days from NTP TBD COR

Task 1. Site Visit 42 days from NTP TBD COR

Task 1. Draft Audit Report

28 days from Site Visit

TBD COR

Task 1. Final Audit Report

14 days from comments on draft report.

TBD COR

Task 2. Draft EMS Documents

Within 120 days of Task 1 completion

TBD COR

Task 3. EMS Implementation Support Documents

Within 180 days of Task 2 completion

TBD COR

Task 3. Monthly EMS Call Agenda and Minutes

Agenda 3 days prior to EMS calls and Minutes within 7 days

TBD COR

Upon termination of the contract, the contractor shall supply all contract-related documents and data to BARC.

8. ESTIMATED PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

Aug 2024 – Aug 2026