US Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), PGAS, Procurement Operations Division, 1325 East West Highway, Station 4301, Silver Spring, MD 20910-3283

A -- ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH PERTAINING TO THE SULFUR DIOXIDE EMISSION ALLOWANCE TRADING PROGRAM AND THE METHODS OF ESTIMATING BENEFITS OF THE NAPAP. POC Donald L. Moses, Contract Specialist (301) 713-0823, Edward F. Tennant, Jr., Contracting Officer. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), on behalf of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP), intends to procure the following requirements, on an other than full and open competition basis, from Resources for the Future, located at 1616 P St. N.W., Washington, DC 20036. The first task is to write a research report on methods for estimating benefits of environmental improvement relevant to NAPAP's congressional mandate, including the following: report on advances in the economics literature on the use of techniques to value the benefits of environmental improvements associated with emissions reductions, specifically aquatics effects, visibility, and health; describe important limitations in the economics literature and policy that inhibit the ability to develop a thorough assessment of the benefits and costs of the relevant emissions reductions; identify research areas that offer potential benefit to NAPAP as it prepares for future assessments; and a research report on state of knowledge concerning design and performance of pollution trading programs. The second task is an assessment of the sulfur dioxide emission allowance trading program, including: an introduction to the literature in economics and the policy sciences regarding general lessons and recommendations for design of incentive based environmental programs in general, and tradable permit programs in particular, as well as the characteristics that define the usefulness of such approaches; a survey of the existing literature that has evaluated the performance of the sulfur dioxide emission allowance trading program to date; identification of the impact that programs for trading of other pollutants, including nitrogenoxide or carbon dioxide, may have on the performance of the sulfur dioxide program, including impacts on the rate of acidic deposition; and identification of the research needed to advance the understanding of the potential application of incentive based approaches to environmental regulation and the limits to these approaches. The research report and assessment will be subject to external peer review and agency approval. Publication in peer reviewed professional journals by the contractor is also desired. This requirement is sole sourced due its specific nature within the field of economics, the time-sensitive nature of the effort, and the unique, NAPAP-related experience of this nonprofit institution. Firms that believe they can complete these tasks within 120 days of contract award shall submit a written response to be received at this contracting office no later than fifteen (15) days after the date of publication of this notice, clearly showing its ability to provide the required information. There is no solicitation available. (0208)

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