Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Procurement Operations Branch, MS2500, 381 Elden Street, Herndon, Virginia 20170-4817

B -- SHOREBIRD STUDY OF THE SANTA MARIA BASIN STUDY AREA POC J.Callas, (703) 787-1354 The Minerals Management Service (MMS) intends to enter into negotiations with the Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California for the purpose of acquiring research information about the distribution, abundance, habitat (sandy beaches and rocky shoreline) and the prey availability of shorebirds of the Santa Maria Basin Study Area needed by the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf Region's (POCSR) Office of Environmental Evaluation (OEE). The University has on staff an expert that has ongoing sandy beach research projects in that area. This expert has qualifications that are unique because not only is there a very strong research background in both the morphodynamics and the macrofaunal biology of sandy beaches, but also a research background in shorebirds. The expert has been conducting research on sandy beach ecology in southern California since the early 1980's, and most of the study sites have been located in the Santa Maria Basin Study Area. The research is ongoing, and much of the information on the study designs, methodologies, and research findings remains unpublished. It is critical that the same protocol be used throughout all the studies so that historical data can be merged with those from the new study. Therefore, since the University employs the only known researcher conducting studies described herein in this area, no other institution or company has the requisite knowledge to meet the above criteria. See Note No. 22. (0105)

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