SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- Technical Transfer Research Services / Benchmarking
- Notice Date
- 6/24/2003
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- ISSC-US BUREAU OF RECLAMATION 1917 Marsh Rd Yakima WA 98901
- ZIP Code
- 98901
- Solicitation Number
- 03SQ1U0200
- Response Due
- 7/10/2003
- Archive Date
- 6/23/2004
- Point of Contact
- Steve Rolph Water Resources Program Specia 5095755848286 srolph@pn.usbr.gov;
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to Point of Contact above, or if none listed, contact the IDEAS EC HELP DESK for assistance
(EC_helpdesk@NBC.GOV)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The Bureau of Reclamation intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with California Polytechnic State University - Irrigation Research and Training Center (ITRC) The proposed action is to assist The Upper Columbia Area Office (UCA), Bureau of Reclamation (USBR/Reclamation), Department of the Interior in the technical transfer investigation research services to assist in conducting a benchmarking of flexibility and needs investigation of USBR Pacific Northwest Region-UCA irrigation districts. Benchmarking ? refers to a systematic process for securing continual improvement through comparison with relevant and achievable internal or external norms and standards. The overall aim of benchmarking is to improve the performance of an organization, as measured against its mission and objectives. Benchmarking implies comparison ? either internally with previous performance and desired future targets, or externally against similar organizations, or organizations performing similar functions. Benchmarking is in use in both the public and private sectors. PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE: 1. The objective of this contract is to provide specific technical transfer research services to assist Reclamation?s Upper Columbia Area Office in conducting a benchmarking of flexibility and needs investigation of USBR Pacific Northwest Region-UCA irrigation districts. 2. Pursuant to this objective, the contractor shall apply benchmarking procedures to UCA irrigation districts for the following goals:evaluate their present status, compare their status against similar irrigation districts,determine what level of water delivery service various irrigation districts provide to customers, determine what constraints exist to providing better water delivery service,document a variety of conditions such as prices for water, acre-feet of water per acre, energy usage, etc. Learn what actions irrigation district personnel believe will enhance their daily operation,learn what investments the irrigation districts are planning to make within the next 5 years,define the needs of irrigation districts, and thereby define what technical assistance role USBR-UCA should take to assist the irrigation districts with achieving their goals of being good stewards of water and energy ? both during conveyance of water in by providing good service to the farmer customers. Obtain convincing arguments that can be used to develop modernization plans with an irrigation district. ? Almost invariably, other districts have successfully implemented some of the measures that are discussed. The benchmarking allows the USBR to know where those measures or practices are applied, and by sharing that information with the district, the district personnel become more comfortable with attempting some new practice. 3. The following tasks will be performed (Technical Requirements and Deliverables): The Contractor will interview irrigation district personnel from approximately 40 agricultural irrigation districts within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation?s Pacific Northwest Region ? Upper Columbia Area. Data will be analyzed to determine the degree of water delivery service provided to farmers and the extent of existing and planned district modernization. The interview process will help identify and define needs for direct technical assistance and training. These needs varied by district and area in the western U.S. Direct technical assistance to individual districts has been and will continue to be a key element of continuing success in modernization. 4. Additional Technical Requirements and Deliverables: Phase 1: UCA-Wide Districts Task 1 - Develop standard format for the district evaluation Contractor will utilize its basic ?rating? scales for various internal performance indicators that it used in previous benchmarking of irrigation district investigations. Additional questions will be customized for particular UCA- WCFSP needs. Benchmarking methodology used in this project must have been utilized by the Contractor in previous benchmarking investigations of irrigation districts conducted by the Contractor. Task 2 - Make list of districts and initial contact A list of key districts will be provided to the Contractor by USBR-UCA. The Contractor will contact these districts (approximately 40) by letter explaining the purpose of the survey, and include a questionnaire. The letter will be followed up by a phone call. At this time, a preliminary schedule of visits will be developed. District personnel will be asked to fill out certain portions of the survey form in advance. It is estimated that about 50% of the districts will probably follow through with the pre-visit work. Task 3 - Perform site visit and survey districts A Contractor employee will personally visit all districts and complete the survey. Many of the questions cannot be answered by the district personnel. Answers must be determined through a variety of questions posed by the Contractor. Task 4 - Write report and disseminate results The data will be organized, grouped, and statistically analyzed. The conclusions will be developed. A final report will be written. The final report will be sent digitally (Adobe .pdf file format) and hard copy to USBR-UCA, plus to each participating district. Phase 2: Single District Task 1 - Perform detailed evaluation of one district (Yakima Project - Sunnyside Valley Irrigation District) The purpose of Task 1 will be to evaluate and report on the accuracy of the measurement of irrigation water volumes delivered to Sunnyside Valley Irrigation District (SVID). Discrepancies have been reported between USBR current meter readings, as compared to data from a new broadcrested weir (a.k.a. ?Replogle Flume?) downstream of the fish screen, at the entrance to SVID?s main canal. An independent assessment of the accuracy of flow rate measurements and the conversion to volumes delivered will be provided by the Contractor. The hardware and procedures for both the current meter readings and the flume will be evaluated. Some of the factors to be considered include:Flume: while the main canal is operating: resolution of water levels sensors, resolution of the A/D conversion and archiving of data, frequency of data collection, accuracy of calibration of the water level sensor, inherent accuracy of the water level sensor, downstream water levels at various flow rates (high and low), existence of entrance condition problems, as evidenced by visual non-symmetric flow paths as well as current meter data, and correct location of the stilling well. Technique for computation of volume delivered (e.g. ? is it based on the target flow, or actual measured flow?) Note: If it is based on the target flow, then the mechanics and control of the gate at the headworks need to be examined. If it is based on actual measured flows over the flume, an examination of the gate control algorithm is not necessary. When the canal is empty: Possible existence of rough concrete or rubble in front of the flume, existence of unusual entrance canal cross section changes upstream of the flume, entrance design for the stilling well, comparison of ?as built? dimensions against ?design? drawings, and examination of the flume roughness. Current Metering ? Everything will be done while the canal is operating, correctness of depth of current meter measurement, correctness of cross section measurements, density of flow measurements (horizontal and vertical) Conditions (flow, time of day, time relative to changing target depths) of current metering, equipment used, and frequency of and procedures for converting flow rates to volumes.To conduct this evaluation, the contractor will be provided the following data/information in advance of visiting SVID: >From USBR-UCA: Winflume design file Records of current metering activity: Copies of the field data sheets for the past 2 years, computations and formulas for volumes delivered for the past 2 years, procedures that have been used to shift the flow rating curves. >From SVID: Any construction /design drawings for the flume, if available. Any ?as built? dimensions for the flume, if available. Any specifications on hardware associated with flow measurement: Water level sensor, stilling well design, datalogger or PLC that converts the sensor signal, example calculations or spreadsheet used to compute volumes from flows, and data for the past 2 years ? flows and volumes Task 2 ? Write Report and disseminate results The data will be organized, grouped, and statistically analyzed. The conclusions will be developed. A final report will be written. The final report will be sent digitally (Adobe .pdf file format) and hard copy to USBR-UCA, plus to SVID. Water measurement is a critical indicator measure used in performance based benchmarking. Detail data collected in Phase 2 will be integrated into the analysis tasks (Task 4 ? Phase 1) in the benchmarking investigation. The proposed contractor's unique qualifications are as follows: Cal Poly ITRC is an accredited research institute with experience in conducting and publishing benchmarking of flexibility and needs investigations with irrigation districts. Through its five year Master cooperative agreement (1425-8?FC-10-04220) with the USBR-UCA, ITRC has accumulated extensive experience in providing technical assistance to virtually every Federal Reclamation irrigation district located within the Upper Columbia Area. They are uniquely qualified in conducting such an investigation: Provided over 880 staff days of technical assistance services to UCA irrigation districts. Through many years of conducting on-site district-wide Rapid Appraisal Process (RAP) and other types of field visits, ITRC possesses an extensive field-based understanding of the UCA irrigation districts facilities, operations, personnel and water management issues unique to no other research organization.Gained the trust and confidence of the UCA irrigation districts. This is critical in acquiring information that may be considered sensitive by the districts. The knowledge and trust of the districts earned by ITRC, uniquely qualifies ITRC to rapidly compile the information and develop an investigation report within a very short deadline. In addition to irrigation districts, ITRC has developed a strong trusting relationship with the USBR in four Regions and 10 Area Offices. They have functioned as a neutral technical referee involving issues between irrigation districts and State and Federal agencies. Experienced in conducting large scale irrigation district benchmarking investigations. One investigation (Benchmarking of Flexibility and Needs 2000) covered 60 agricultural irrigation districts representing 91% of the irrigated acreage within the USBR Mid-Pacific Region. The second investigation (Benchmarking of Flexibility and Needs 2002) covered 17 non-Federal agricultural irrigation districts (1,760,000 irrigated acres) in California. ITRC introduced benchmarking of flexibility and needs methodology first to the U.S. irrigation districts and recently through the United Nations ? Food & Agricultural Organization to irrigation projects world-wide. With approximately 40 irrigation districts irrigating 1,200,000 acres, UCA irrigation projects should pose no challenge to ITRC. Developed unique Flexibility Indices and other benchmarking methodologies. ITRC initiates its benchmarking investigations by conducting a 200 question survey conducted with each irrigation district. Through a unique set of internal performance indicators an analysis is made to determine the extent of flexibility for the districts and projects. Provided water measurement technical assistance to Yakima Project irrigation districts and projects Flow measurement instrumentation includes Acoustic Doppler (Roza I.D., Bull Canal, Kittitas R.D., Wapato Irrigation Project), ultrasonic level sensor (Yakima-Tieton I.D.), flow meters (Selah Moxee I.D.) and ramp flumes (Roza I.D.). The immediate objective is to get the benchmarking investigation initiated as soon as possible to obligate Water Conservation Field Services Program funds earmarked for this project. There is an immediate need to initiate Phase 2 -Task 1 (SVID Water Measurement) within the next few weeks. It is critical that the high water mark level downstream of the ramp flume must be accurately surveyed at peak flow (end of June ? early July). The Benchmarking of Flexibility and Needs investigation was originally set up over six months ago as a task under the Cooperative Agreement. The goal is to have the benchmarking investigation completed by September 30, 2003. ITRC?s extensive working experience with Upper Columbia Area irrigation districts and with Reclamation, coupled with the organization?s unique qualifications of conducting numerous large-scale, multi-district benchmarking investigations will require minimal start-up time and allow the delivery date to be met. After an exhaustive search of other accredited research organizations that work with irrigation districts, none of them had any experience in conducting and publishing benchmarking investigations. None of them have developed any benchmarking methodology similar or equivalent to ITRC?s. The government believes that only one responsible source can provide the services listed above that will satisfy the agency needs. Any firm or individual that believes it can furnish the items described are encouraged to give written notification to the Contracting Officer. Supporting evidence must be furnished, in sufficient detail to demonstrate the ability to comply with the above requirements. All responses received by close of business July, 10, 2003 will be considered by the Government. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed action based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Inquiries will be accepted by Fax at (509) 454-5615, Attention: Connie Morgan or by electronic mail at cmorgan@pn.usbr.gov.
- Web Link
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- Place of Performance
- Address: Yakima Washington
- Zip Code: 989012058
- Country: US
- Zip Code: 989012058
- Record
- SN00355957-W 20030626/030624213804 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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