Lower Yakima River Monitoring to Support Water Quality Modeling

This is not a solicitation. This is a notification of an intent to award a single source procurement under NAICS code 541380 - Testing Laboratories. The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) Acquisition and Operation Branch (AOB) in Denver, Colorado will solicit and award a purchase order to the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology). Ecology will provide water quality monitoring on the lower Yakima River in Washington state to support the development of a water quality model of the lower Yakima River that Ecology is developing. Reclamation believes that only one responsible source can provide this requirement. Reclamation will solicit the procurement using a written request for quote (RFQ).

The Contractor shall complete the following tasks:
1. Collect biweekly samples of suspended solids, turbidity, nutrients, organic carbon, and alkalinity in the Lower Yakima River mainstem and major tributaries through November 2022 (dependent on weather and river conditions).
2. Monitor continuous (diel) temperature, turbidity, and DO at stations on the Lower Yakima River.
3. Submit results of monitoring into Ecology¿s Environmental Information Management database.
4. Perform nitrate sensor calibration and upkeep at two gages installed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) on the Lower Yakima River.
5. Perform water quality monitoring and sampling at all specified conditions during 2023 runoff season should conditions allow.

Contractor qualifications must include:
1. Laboratory facilities to perform water quality analyses up to the standards referenced in Ecology¿s Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) (McCarthy and Mathieu, 2017).
2. Established relationships with the Yakima Nation and private-property owners as multiple sites are located on Yakima Nation land and private-property land.
3. Established relationship with Ecology to upload all water quality data to their database.
4. Established relationship with the USGS to assist in the calibration and maintenance of their nitrate sensors.

The expected period of performance is from the date of award to December 2023. Award is currently anticipated in September 2022.

The statutory authority for other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), only one source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. If firms believe they have the technical capability to meet this need, submit a capability statement to Contract Specialist Mark Wolfe at mdwolfe@usbr.gov by the deadline listed on this notice. Any information received will be considered by Reclamation and treated as market research information towards future similar or same requirements.