SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Assessing Impacts of Nitrogen Deposition across Large Spatial Gradients
- Notice Date
- 4/19/2012
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541620
— Environmental Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- HPODUS Environmental Protection AgencyAriel Rios Building1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W.Mail Code: 3803RWashingtonDC20460
- ZIP Code
- 20460
- Solicitation Number
- PR-ORD-12-01420
- Response Due
- 4/27/2012
- Archive Date
- 5/27/2012
- Point of Contact
- Harold Honegger
- E-Mail Address
-
Contracting Officer
(honegger.harold@epa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This is a sources sought notice to determine the availability of potential small business firms for a possible small business category set-aside. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Office of Acquisition Management, is conducting a sources sought to determine whether small socioeconomic businesses exist to support Assessing Impacts of Nitrogen Deposition across Large Spatial Gradients. The Statement of Work (SOW) for this requirement can be found below. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541620 - Environmental Consulting Services. Interested parties who feel they can meet the SOW requirements may submit written capability statements, not to exceed 5 pages, outlining their capability no later than 2:00 pm EST on April 27, 2012. The capability statements will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining if the small business community can perform the services of this requirement. The Government must ensure there is adequate competition among the potential pool of available small businesses. Submit responses via email to Harold Honegger at honegger.harold@epa.gov. This is not a Request for Quote. No solicitation is available at this time. STATEMENT OF WORK TITLE: Assessing Impacts of Nitrogen Deposition across Large Spatial Gradients PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: Award to April 30, 2014 I. PURPOSEThe purpose of this research is to assess the environmental impacts from nitrogen deposition across large scale gradients in the United States.II. BACKGROUNDNCEA?s Global Change Research Program (GCRP) is an assessment oriented research program. The NCEA GCRP assesses the potential consequences of global change on human health, the environment, and the economy of the United States. The NCEA GCRP assists local, state, regional, and national managers and decision makers to respond to such consequences by understanding vulnerabilities and evaluating adaptation options for protecting ecosystems, resources, and human health. Nitrogen (N) deposition is a prominent global change factor that currently stresses ecosystems and the services people extract from them. Terrestrial plant biodiversity in particular has been identified as a sensitive ecological end point. Recent work has identified initial estimates of the ?critical loads? for N-induced species declines (Pardo et al. 2011a, Pardo et al. 2011b), which suggests that vast areas of the US may be losing or already have lost species. Whether this is actually occurring over large spatial scales has not been determined in the US, though confirmation has been found in Europe (Maskell et al. 2010, Stevens et al. 2004, Stevens et al. 2010). Work over the past year within EPA/ORD/NCEA has identified ?hot spots? where these impacts may have occurred; and, it is the intention of this SOW to assess these projections for target areas in the US. III. CONTRACTOR TASKSThis research covers a variety of tasks that include identification and assessment of candidate deposition gradients across the US, a literature review of available data along candidate gradients, selection of a few gradients (3 or less) for further analysis that meet agreed upon criteria, establishing monitoring sites along selected gradient(s), data collection for agreed upon environmental end points, analysis of the resulting data, and writing up of the results as a journal article (one or two). This purchase order has two Phases: Phase 1 comprises of Tasks 1-3 and optional Phase 2 comprises of Tasks 4-5. Provided that satisfactory progress is made on Phase 1 as determined by satisfactory completion of the deliverables for Tasks 1-3, and resources are available, optional Phase 2 will be exercised. In order to successfully complete the work under this statement of work, the Contractor must have the following expertise: academic training in ecology at the PhD level, with an emphasis on terrestrial plant ecology, biogeochemistry, and statistics; experience with geospatial analyses and understanding of the critical loads approach (e.g. Pardo et al 2011); and, recognition as an expert on the impacts of nitrogen deposition.PHASE 1 Task 1:Establish regular communication.The Contractor shall schedule an initial conference call with the EPA Contracting Officer Representative (COR) and/or Contracting Officer?s Technical Representative (COTR) to ensure clear understanding regarding the Statement of Work (SOW). The Contractor shall convene this call within one week of receipt of the approved simplified acquisition purchase order for this SOW from the Contracting Officer (CO). Thereafter, the Contractor shall arrange for regular (every 1-4 weeks as agreed to by the COTR) conference calls with the COTR to provide updates on progress and address concerns as they arise. These calls should not exceed one hour. On these calls and in writing (email is acceptable), the Contractor shall inform the COTR of any developments that affect the conduct or schedule of the deliverables under this SOW. Copies of all deliverables should be sent concurrently to the COR and the COTR. Copies of all correspondence pertaining to the performance of this purchase order sha ll be sent to the COTR and copied to the COR and CO. Deliverable 1a:Initial conference call with the COTR.Deliverable 1b:Schedule regular conference calls with the COTR. Task 2:Identify and assess candidate deposition gradients for analysis.The Contractor shall identify and assess candidate deposition gradients for analysis. N deposition maps and associated data provided by the COTR (possibly augmented by the Contractor) will provide the initial template for identification and assessment. Geospatial analyses of the N deposition maps will identify candidate gradients. Criteria for selection of candidate gradients will be developed, and should consider the magnitude of the N deposition gradient, type of N deposition along the gradient (e.g. wet vs. dry, oxidized vs. reduced), length of the gradient (e.g. km), presence of natural/seminatural sites along the gradient, and heterogeneity along the gradient (e.g. of soil types, vegetation, local land use, etc.). An assessment (literature analysis) of available data and available sampling sites along candidate gradients will also be major components of the selection criteria. Following discussions with the COTR on the results of the identification and assessment, a reco mmendation for gradient(s) to be selected for further analysis will be made. Deliverable 2a: Initial memo describing the identification and assessment process, including criteria for selection. Due one week after Deliverable 1a.Deliverable 2b: Final memo describing the identification and assessment process, including criteria for selection. Due one week after Deliverable 2a.Deliverable 2c: Draft technical report identifying and assessing candidate deposition gradients, including tables of candidate gradient properties. Due six months after Deliverable 2b.Deliverable 2d: Final technical report identifying and assessing candidate deposition gradients, including tables of candidate gradient properties. Due one month after Deliverable 2c.Deliverable 2e: Memo recommending deposition gradient(s) for further analysis. Due one week after Deliverable 2d. Task 3: Set up monitoring sites along selected deposition gradient(s).Following selection of gradients by the COTR using recommendations from the Contractor, the Contractor will then develop and implement a plan for monitoring the impacts of N deposition along the gradient(s). A draft plan will be generated that includes the number of sites, their size, locations along the gradient, and the ecological responses to be sampled. Several responses should be considered, including N deposition, plant community structure, leaf N content, soil pH, soil CEC, root:shoot, microbial community structure and/or function, and light penetration to the soil surface. Following exchange with the COTR, a final plan and implementation schedule will be generated. Deliverable 3a: A draft plan for monitoring and analysis along selected gradients. Due one month after Deliverable 2e.Deliverable 3b: A final plan for monitoring and analysis along selected gradients. Due two weeks after Deliverable 3a. PHASE II (OPTIONAL) Following completion of Tasks 1-3, the COR, COTR, and Contractor will review progress and budgetary status of the project. Provided satisfactory progress is made and resources are available, the CO will issue a modification to the purchase order to exercise the option for work to continue on Phase II. Once the modification is issued, the Contractor shall perform the tasks below. Task 4: Assess exposure and impacts from nitrogen deposition along selected gradient(s)The Contractor shall perform the data collection of environmental impacts along selected nitrogen deposition gradients.Deliverable 4a: Monthly memos summarizing the progress of data collection. Task 5:Analysis of data and journal article(s) on the project.The Contractor shall analyze the data using guidelines from Deliverable 3b, present initial findings as a webinar to the COTR, and write up the results as one journal article for each gradient sampled in Task 4. Deliverable 5a: Draft memo describing analytical results. Due one month after final memo from Deliverable 4a.Deliverable 5b: Final memo describing analytical results. Due one month after Deliverable 5a.Deliverable 5c: Draft journal article(s) describing analytical results. Due two months after Deliverable 5b.Deliverable 5d: Final journal article(s) describing analytical results. Due one month after Deliverable 5c.IV. Management Controls:The contractor shall certify there is no conflict of interest. The contractor shall provide the following conflict of interest certification in the proposal: I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, no actual, apparent, or potential organizational or individual conflicts of interest related to this Statement of Work exist. Personnel who perform work under this Statement of Work, or relating to the Statement of Work, have been informed of their obligation to report personal and organizational interests. All actual, apparent or potential organizational or individual conflicts of interest related to this Statement of Work have been reported to the CO or are attached, if applicable. The contractor shall be responsible for obtaining a conflict of interest certification for subcontractors. The Contractor shall submit to the COR any revisions to the Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) in accordance with task requirements should tasks be modified or added. V. Notice Regarding Guidance Provided Under This Order:Guidance is strictly limited to technical and analytical support. The contractor shall not engage in activities of an inherent governmental nature such as the following: (1)Formulation of Agency Policy(2)Selection of Agency priorities(3)Development of Agency regulations Should the contractor receive any instruction from an EPA staff person that the contractor ascertains to fall into any of these categories or goes beyond the scope of the purchase order, the contractor shall immediately contact the CO or COR. The contractor shall also ensure that work under this purchase order does not contain any apparent or real personal or organizational conflict of interest. The contractor shall certify that none exist at the time the proposal is submitted to the EPA. VII. References Maskell LC, Smart SM, Bullock JM, Thompson K, Stevens CJ. 2010. Nitrogen deposition causes widespread loss of species richness in British habitats. Global Change Biology 16: 671-679.Pardo LH, Robin-Abbott MJ, Driscoll CT. 2011a. Assessment of Nitrogen deposition effects and empirical critical loads of Nitrogen for ecoregions of the United States. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. Report no. NRS-80.Pardo LH, et al. 2011b. Effects of nitrogen deposition and empirical nitrogen critical loads for ecoregions of the United States. Ecological Applications 21: 3049-3082.Stevens CJ, Dise NB, Mountford JO, Gowing DJ. 2004. Impact of nitrogen deposition on the species richness of grasslands. Science 303: 1876-1879.Stevens CJ, et al. 2010. Nitrogen deposition threatens species richness of grasslands across Europe. Environmental Pollution 158: 2940-2945.
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