SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- Coastal Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
- Notice Date
- 9/6/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Acquisition and Grants Office, SSMC4 - Room 7601/OFA61 1305 East West Highway, 7th Floor, Silver Spring, MD, 20910
- ZIP Code
- 20910
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-AMD-0002-dh
- Point of Contact
- Diane Husereau, Contracting Officer, Phone 301-713-0839 x102, Fax (301) 713-0809,
- E-Mail Address
-
diane.c.husereau@noaa.gov
- Description
- NOAA intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with Resources for the Future, an independent non-profit research institute located in Washington, DC. using simplified acquisition procedures. The purchase order is to augment work already underway in the areas of coastal environmental and natural resource economics to support policy, management, and operational decision making with respect to: 1) NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS) Habitat Protection program; and 2) NOAA's Chesapeake Bay economics program. In 2001, NOAA initiated an effort to determine how the NMFS Habitat Conservation program can best utilize economic information and analyses in order to ensure that the greatest benefits are achieved from their programs. A team of top environmental and natural resource economists was formed to undertake a comprehensive review of the functions and activities of the program to determine the appropriate role for economic analysis. This included matching economic analytical methods such as cost/benefit and cost/effectiveness analysis to program objectives and legal authorities. Case studies of actual decisions were developed covering program activities in areas such as harbor dredging, dam operations, and wetlands fill permitting. A major policy and research issue emerging from this effort is the role of risk, uncertainty, and cumulative effects in individual habitat planning and response decision making. The work proposed for RFF is to develop a policy relevant model within which risk, uncertainty, and cumulative impacts can be brought to bear on individual, serial, projects. Factors to be considered within the model are ecosystem services as an underlying framework, fisheries management and the analysis of natural capital and the institutional context of the planning and regulatory decision making. In 2001, NOAA undertook an ambitious education-outreach program with state, local, and Federal planners and managers, NGOs, and industry concerned with Chesapeake Bay environmental and natural resources management. The purpose is to better understand the principles of economics, economic valuation, economic incentives, economic tools, and economic aspects of natural resource management, particularly in the context of the Chesapeake Bay restoration initiative. The objective is to demonstrate to non-economists how economics can be used to improve policy choices and management tools related to issues such as commercial and recreational fishing, dredging, habitat and fisheries restoration, recreational boating,. etc. A team of top environmental and resource economists in the region was formed to develop individual sections dealing with one or more policy actions or management tools. Given the amount of funding to the effort, original research is not called for. Rather, the effort is to assess and synthesize exisiting research, with a premium on clarity of presentation and expertise. The work proposed for RFF in this effort is to extend these individual sections to three additional areas: 1) costs and benefits of fish consumption advisories; 2) market-based land use policies for improving water quality; and 3) using price instruments to improve water qualityin the Bay. RFF is also to use its institutional presence in the region as a top natural resource research institution to help in the outreach to the Bay management and user community. Resources for the Future (RFF) is Uniquely Qualified. RFF is the nation's premier independent nonprofit institute addressing natural resource and environmental issues. The mission of Resources for the Future is to improve environmental and natural resource policy making worldwide through objective science studies of the highest caliber. For over 50 years, RFF has pioneered the application of economics as a tool to develop more effective policies for solving environmental, energy, and natural resources problems. RFF's work frequently focuses on harnessing the power of market-like incentives to change behavior, often in tandem with government regulations, to correct what economists view as the failure of markets to fully address environmental externalities. RFF research has been instrumental in the identification and adoption of innovative techniques for pollution control, such as pollution taxes, marketable discharge permits, and deposit-refund schemes. RFF researchers pioneered the idea of market-based and basin-wide approaches to water quality regulation. RFF also has a decades-long history of analyzing innovative trading schemes involving SO2, fisheries, water quantity, land use, wetlands, and carbon and other greenhouse gases, and has been extensively involved in the design, analysis, and evaluation of air quality trading under the Clean Air Act. RFF researchers are active in many issues, including the development of instruments and analyses for improving water quality, whether directly though water trading, or indirectly by affecting land use. Some of these analyses are specific to the Chesapeake Bay as well as Habitat protection and habitat economics. RFF is an independent, nonpartisan institution, addressing real-worldissues; committed to rigorous technical and research standards; and the ability to communicate results and policy analysis in a timely and understandable manner; and the researchers themselves, who are highly respected in their fields. RFF researchers routinely adopt interdisciplinary approaches to problems, developing and applying sophisticated tools for the analysis of environmental and natural resource issues. RFF researchers have been leaders in evaluating and identifying policy options as well as methodologies to measure benefits and costs. RFF's emphasis on the development of rigorous analytical methods characterizes its studies, as has its perception of the systemic nature of problems. SEE NOTE 22
- Record
- SN00159605-W 20020908/020906213225 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |