SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- CAKN Identification of Aquatic Macroinvertebrates for Steam Monitoring Program
- Notice Date
- 8/15/2013
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 541620
— Environmental Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- NPS, ARO - Alaska Regional Office240 W. 5th Ave, Room 114AnchorageAK99501-2327US
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- P13PS01848
- Response Due
- 8/29/2013
- Archive Date
- 9/28/2013
- Point of Contact
- CHRISTIE VANDENDRIES
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The National Park Service, Alaska Regional Office, intends to award a sole source, firm-fixed-price purchase order with one base year and 4 option years to Cole Ecological to process and identify macroinvertebrate samples in support of the Central Alaska Network (CAKN) Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Stream Monitoring Program. The contractor will provide the following services: 1. During that base period, the contractor shall process and identify between 70 and 105 macroinvertebrates samples (benthic and sweep net), submitted by the Central Alaska Network. 1) The number of samples to be processed in each option year will be between 40 and 105. 2) At least 500 organisms per sample will be identified to the lowest practicable taxonomic level, usually genus or species. When fewer than 500 organisms are present, the sample will be completely enumerated. 3) Chironomid midges will be mounted and identified to the lowest practicable taxonomic level, at a minimum genus. 4) Provide the Central Alaska Network with a spreadsheet containing a site by taxon abundance matrix, including taxonomic serial numbers (TSN) for each taxon. The TSNs must correspond to ITIS codes (www.itis.gov). 5) Provide the Central Alaska Network with all information required to back-calculate macroinvertebrate densities in the original submitted samples. 6) At a minimum, a voucher collection will be maintained for the life of the project containing type specimens of each taxon encountered, regardless of whether it already exists in any master reference collection at the facility, or whether it is below the level of taxonomic resolution for that taxon. This is not a request for competitive proposals, bids, or quotes. The Government shall consider all responses received prior to the close date of this announcement. Written responses to this notice shall contain sufficient documentation to establish bona fide capability to fulfill the requirement. A solicitation is not available. Please email Contract Specialist, Christie VandenDries, at christie_vandendries@nps.gov with responses or questions regarding this requirement. TAS: 14 1036 In accordance with FAR 6.305, FAR 5.406, and FAR 13.501, this special notice publishes the Justification and Approvals for Other than Full and Open Competition. BACKGROUND: The National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program was established to provide robust scientific information regarding the status and trends of critical natural resources in the National Parks. There are 32 multi-park networks in the I&M Program. The Central Alaska Network (CAKN) consists of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Denali National Park and Preserve, and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and covers 22 million acres, or 25% of all land administered by the National Park Service nationwide. In order to track the condition of our parks, Central Alaska Network scientists have chosen 37 key indicators, or "Vital Signs," to represent the overall health of the network. Each Vital Sign falls into one of 4 categories: physical environment, plant life, animal life, or human use. 15 vital signs relate to animal life, 12 relate to the physical environment, 4 relate to human use, and 6 relate to plant life. Underlying these 4 vital sign categories is a focus on habitat change. This focus allows us to predict and possibly model future variations on the landscape. With some idea about predicted change, managers can develop better strategies for resource protection. Natural resource monitoring is conducted primarily for two purposes: (1) to detect significant changes in resource abundance, condition, population structure, or ecological processes; or (2) to evaluate the effects of some management action on population or community dynamics or ecological processes. Monitoring data are most useful when the same methods are used to collect data at the same locations over a long time period (e.g. more than 10-15 years). The CAKN Inventory and Monitoring Program is being designed to last for well beyond this time frame. Four of the CAKN Vital Signs relate directly to rivers and streams, and include biological and chemical water quality, the composition and spatial distribution of aquatic communities including macroinvertebrates and diatoms, annual and seasonal stream flow patterns, and the distribution of anadromous and resident fish species. These four Vital Signs are interrelated and represent different ways of examining change in these important ecosystems. To fully evaluate any of the various aspects of stream ecosystems, how those ecosystems may be changing, and what those changes mean requires an accurate and ongoing appraisal of the macroinvertebrate communities in these systems. This is turn requires that the organisms in each sample be identified accurately. Stream macroinvertebrate communities exhibit a great deal of natural spatial and temporal variability. Such variability complicates the mission of any ecological monitoring program, which is to detect significant changes. Is the community actually changing (in response to global warming, for example), or is it remaining within the range of natural variability? The greater the natural variability, the more difficult it is to detect real change. Additional artificial variability introduced into the data due to sampling error or taxonomic inconsistency or other sources greatly compounds this problem; therefore, it is essential to minimize such errors wherever possible. Errors due to taxonomic inconsistency are easily prevented by simply relying on a single source for taxonomic services throughout the life of the project. Data consistency in taxonomic work is highly dependent on the expertise of the taxonomist doing the identification. Furthermore, the taxonomy of aquatic insects is still developing, and legitimate differences of opinion regarding the identities of particular specimens may exist. In addition, these communities remain relatively understudied for Alaska; this exacerbates the problem for taxonomists that are unfamiliar with any regional variation in the identifying characteristics of a given species. Mike Cole of Cole Ecological (formerly with ABR, Inc.) has been providing macroinvertebrate taxonomy services to the Central Alaska Network flowing waters program since 2006. He is familiar with the data, and maintains a voucher collection that contains type specimens of all taxa identified from Central Alaska Network stream samples since 2006 (over 150 unique taxa so far, identified to the genus or species level). He has been working with the Central Alaska Network to construct a list of operational taxonomic unit designations for the network, which is critical for maintaining the consistency of the data set from year to year, as well as for ensuring its scientific integrity. Switching to another taxonomist would unnecessarily compromise the scientific integrity of the macroinvertebrate data that the Central Alaska Network is collecting. 1) FAR Statutory Authority Cited: 13.501 and 6.302-1, Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. This contract for services requires the following technical expertise: 1.The taxonomist must be certified by the Society for Freshwater Science (formerly the North American Benthological Society). 2.The taxonomist must be experienced in identifying the macroinvertebrate taxa found in Alaskan streams. Of particular relevance is experience and familiarity with issues of taxon identification among Alaskan aquatic macroinvertebrate communities. Mike Cole of Cole Ecological, formerly lead taxonomist and taxonomy lab manager with ABR, Inc, has been providing macroinvertebrate taxonomy services to the Central Alaska Network flowing waters program since 2006. In 2013, ABR encouraged Dr. Cole to start his own company and transferred all existing invertebrate taxonomy contracts to Cole Ecological, as ABR is no longer offering invertebrate taxonomy services. Dr. Cole is very familiar with the Central Alaska Network data, and maintains a voucher collection that contains type specimens of all taxa identified from Central Alaska Network stream samples since 2006 (over 150 unique taxa so far, identified to the genus or species level). He has been working with the Central Alaska Network to construct a list of operational taxonomic unit designations for the network, which is critical for maintaining the consistency of the data set from year to year, as well as for ensuring its scientific integrity. Switching to another taxonomist would unnecessarily compromise the scientific integrity of the macroinvertebrate data that the Central Alaska Network is collecting. Data consistency in taxonomic work is highly dependent on the expertise of the taxonomist doing the identification. Furthermore, the taxonomy of aquatic insects is still developing, and legitimate differences of opinion regarding the identities of particular specimens may exist. In addition, these communities remain relatively understudied for Alaska; this exacerbates the problem for taxonomists that are unfamiliar with any regional variation in the identifying characteristics of a given species. A general discussion of data quality issues for macroinvertebrate taxonomy can be found in the following reference: J.B. Stribling, S.R. Moulton and G.T. Lester (2003). Determining the quality of taxonomic data. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 22(4):621-631. As Stribling et al. demonstrate, variations in data quality due to lab-to-lab differences in methodologies and expertise can be substantial. In one test, 54 samples were analyzed separately by 2 laboratories; the mean % disagreement among all 54 samples was 17%, with 7 samples (13% of the total) differing by over 30%, and several differing by nearly 50% between the 2 labs. By comparison, internal QA/QC procedures for any given lab generally require 100% agreement (or in other words, 0% disagreement). The bottom line here is that even if no actual change in the insect community occurred in a given stream, simply changing taxonomy laboratories would be expected to lead to an average 17% change in the reported species composition at that site, with the distinct possibility of a much more substantial apparent change. Stream insect communities exhibit a great deal of natural spatial and temporal variability. Such variability complicates the mission of any ecological monitoring program, which is to detect significant changes. Is the community actually changing (in response to global warming, for example), or is it remaining within the range of natural variability? The greater the natural variability, the more difficult it is to detect real change. Additional artificial variability introduced into the data due to sampling error or taxonomic inconsistency or other sources greatly compounds this problem; therefore, it is essential to minimize such errors wherever possible. Errors due to taxonomic inconsistency are easily prevented by simply relying on a single source for taxonomic services throughout the life of the project. If a switch in taxonomy labs occurs partway through a monitoring program, the only way to be sure that a reported change in species composition is real, rather than spurious, is a side-by-side comparison of identical samples using the old lab and the new lab. This would be true for every sample until such time as it could be concluded with confidence that the 2 labs are identifying every specimen identically (by, e.g., ongoing consultation), or to some minimally acceptable level of difference. If that acceptable difference is greater than 0%, unnecessary error is by definition added to the data, and the task of identifying trends in that data is made more difficult. Furthermore, it is difficult to correct for differences between labs, even after side-by-side comparisons. We can use side-by-side comparisons to quantify the average error that has been introduced by the switch in labs, but the actual error for each new sample will be of an unknown magnitude and direction, and there is no way to get rid of it without extensive consultation between the two labs. Despite their shortcomings, however, extensive side-by-side comparisons of this kind are absolutely required each time a new taxonomy laboratory is selected, in order to ensure the scientific integrity of the data. Such side-by-side comparisons can be expected to cost the government several to many thousands of dollars each time a new lab is selected. For these reasons, the Central Alaska Network believes it is critical to our mission to continue to contract with Mike Cole of Cole Ecological for macroinvertebrate taxonomy services. 2) A description of the market research that was conducted and the results, or a statement of the reason a market research was not conducted: In 2006 we completed a thorough market evaluation of laboratories in the United States that offer aquatic macroinvertebrate identification services. At that time ABR, Inc was identified as the best source, with the fastest turnaround time, one of the lowest prices per sample and substantial expertise, including familiarity with the Central Alaska Network, as ABR, Inc was already contracted to identify aquatic macroinvertebrates for the CAKN shallow lakes project. In 2013, ABR, Inc elected to stop providing invertebrate taxonomy services because it was a relatively small portion of the overall business. The company encouraged and assisted Mike Cole, who had been the lead invertebrate taxonomist and lab manager for ABR's invertebrate taxonomy lab, to start his own company, now known as Cole Ecological. All of ABR's existing invertebrate taxonomy contracts are being honored, with Dr. Cole continuing to serve as an ABR employee while finishing the existing contracts. ABR is declining requests for new invertebrate taxonomy services and encouraging clients to renew their invertebrate taxonomy contracts with Cole Ecological going forward. Procurement History: P9840080180 was issued as a delivery order against GSA schedule contract GS-10F-0175M to ABR for the same services on 9/12/2008 in the amount of $9,612.00 to ABR Inc. (DUNS 038523239). Additional contracts were established in 2006 and 2007, but due to procurement archiving, data is not available at this time regarding these purchases. D9840090082, was awarded to ABR Inc. via a sole source justification on 6/19/2009 in the amount of $20,025.00. This contract was issued as a delivery order against ABR's GSA schedule contract GS-10F-0175M. It contained one base year and 4 option years. This contract was exercised for the base period and 3 option years and concluded 6/18/2013. 3) Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition: Invertebrate taxonomy is a highly specialized field requiring years of training. Nevertheless, because aquatic invertebrate larvae are relatively understudied and can be ambiguous in terms of morphology, different taxonomists will often disagree as to the identity of particular invertebrate specimens. Each taxonomist and taxonomy lab will tend to be internally consistent, however (i.e., will always identify a certain specimen as the same taxon), which is why it is critically important to maintain a relationship with a single taxonomist (or taxonomy lab) in order to minimize spurious differences and maintain the highest level of data quality. Technology to partially replace traditional taxonomic approaches to the identification of invertebrate samples is currently under development. These new approaches will apply modern DNA-based methods to the identification of specimens in large, mixed samples, and will likely increase the potential for competition among larger numbers of companies in the invertebrate taxonomy market due to the reduced need for highly trained and specialized invertebrate taxonomists. However, the widespread and standardized application of DNA-based technology is still some years away. Furthermore, the database of invertebrate specimens is still being populated and is some years away from being as usable source of information. 4) All actions have been taken by the Government to remove or overcome barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for required supplies or services.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOI/NPS/APC-IS/P13PS01848/listing.html)
- Record
- SN03150351-W 20130817/130815235555-fa89ee3363de9110ccbe6167d04c7866 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |