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

B -- MAPPING OF COOK INLET TIDE RIPS USING LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND REMOTE-SENSING TECHNIQUES" SOL 3906 DUE 040198 POC Wallace Adcox (703) 787-1362 WEB: MMS Homepage. Contains general information about MMS and our mission., http://www.mms.gov. E-MAIL: Contracting Officer's e-mail address, wallace.adcox@MMS.GOV. The Minerals Management Service of the Department of Interior intends to competitively award a contract for the mapping of Cook Inlet's tide rips by using local knowledge and remote-sensing techniques. The purpose of this study is to provide and augment information needed to support development of environmental risk assessments, Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), mitigating measures, and review of industry development plans. We anticipate a twenty-one-month period of performance at an estimated cost of between $120,000-$130,000. PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE NOTICE CAREFULLY AS IT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY NOTICE THAT WILL BE ISSUED. BACKGROUND: Cook Inlet tide rips are strong tidal currents that occur where water masses converge in the inlet. Tide rips were mapped in 1977 with the help of a State of Alaska workshop with local fishermen. The rip areas were generalized on a large-scale map before geographical information systems and global positioning systems (GPS). Cook Inlet fishermen concentrate their efforts at the rips because the fish concentrate there. Cook Inlet commercial fishing groups have asked the Service to develop alternatives to exclude the rips from being leased to oil and gas industry, to avoid interference with the fishery. The Service needs precise ground-truthed information on the location of the rips to accurately locate such potential rip deferrals or to develop alternative, rip-specific mitigation measures within lease blocks. In addition, the tide rips can concentrate oil within or along their edges. There are documented cases were spilled oil has concentrated and persisted in rips and, on occasion submerged when boomed. Although this concentrating of spilled oil in Cook Inlet rips is well established from spill-case histories, neither this spill behavior nor the rips themselves are included in the Service oil spill risk analysis model and must be considered separately from that risk analysis in environmental assessments for Cook Inlet. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: This study will precisely map the tidal rips and their variability in Cook Inlet, provide statistics on the consistency of rip locations, and develop an information base that could help lessen conflicts between local fishermen and offshore oil industry. This goal will be accomplished through the following objectives: (1) learn the locations of tide rips fished by drift gillnetters in the OCS part of Cook Inlet during the commercial salmon season and how variable these locations are, (2) find out how the location of tide rips change between years and seasons in all of Cook Inlet, (3) collate and relate information on fishery use of rips, rip locations and their variability to potential conflicts with oil industry's operations, and (4) synthesize historical information, local knowledge, and scientific data for Cook Inlet on how rips affect spilled oil in the inlet. DESCRIPTION OF WORK: Task 1 -- Communicate with Local Stakeholders: You must communicate with local commercial fishing interests to reduce conflicts between the performance of your field program and local concerns. You are encouraged to use and employ local expertise in conducting this field program. You must contact and coordinate with local Federal and State resource agencies. Task 2 -- Synthesize Available Information and Hold a Fishermen's Workshop: Collate and review information on Cook Inlet tide rips and fishermen-oil industry space conflicts, focusing on existent and available information such as literature, public hearing records, and remote sensing data. Convene a workshop on the Kenai Peninsula, AK to present your preliminary information to local fishermen. Compare your information to their local knowledge of the tide rips, obtain information from them about the dynamics of the tide rips, clarify fishermen's use of tide rips and adjoining water, summarize fishermen's potential space conflicts with offshore industry, use the meeting to improve your research design, and provide fishermen the opportunity to participate in ground truthing the study (see Task 4). You must summarize results of the workshop and provide copies of this summary to participants. Task 3 -- Map Cook Inlet Tide Rips used by Drift Gillnetters during the Commercial Salmon Season: Obtain satellite remote-sensing imagery, aerial imagery, and/or radar velocity mapping data during the commercial salmon season to map rips used by drift gillnetters in lower Cook Inlet. The commercial salmon season for drift gillnetters extends from mid-June through mid-September with most effort in July. Your primary effort will be on the OCS portion of lower Cook Inlet north of Anchor Point. Obtain data for varying tidal magnitudes and tidal stages. Also capture any within-season trend that could due to the seasonal cycle of freshwater discharge to the inlet. Collect data to statistically describe the variability in rip locations. Enter the rip locations and statistical envelopes into a ArcView database. Appropriately archive Images and/or sampling media. Task 4 -- Ground-truth Rip Locations: Simultaneous with Task 3 data collection, document the location of tide rips with shipboard GPS to ground-truth the remotely collected data. The Service prefers that you use local commercial fishing vessels and fishermen to complete this task. Task 5 -- Characterize Tide Rip Locations and Their Variability throughout Cook Inlet: Obtain satellite remote-sensing imagery, aerial imagery, and/or radar velocity mapping data to resolve locations of the rips in Cook Inlet that could concentrate oil spilled from the Cook Inlet OCS. Obtain data for varying tidal magnitudes and tidal stages and ensure capture of season-to-season variation. Use historical remote-sensing or other information to examine year-to-year differences in rip locations. Statistically describe the positional variability of the rips. Enter the locational data and statistical envelope into a ArcView database. Appropriately archive images and/or sampling media. Task 6 -- Synthesize and Interpret Information: Describe and summarize information from Tasks 1-5, including development of an ArcView database. Include description of the commercial fishery's use of the rips and potential space conflicts with oil industry. Discuss statistical characterization of rip location with regard to Tasks 3 and 5, and in context of the physical oceanography of Cook Inlet. Collate, describe, and discuss rip dynamics as they affect the fate and behavior of spilled oil in Cook Inlet, making use of case histories, local knowledge, and scientific data for Cook Inlet. Task 7 -- Produce a Final Report, Technical Summary, And Journal Article: Write draft and revised final report and technical summary. Prepare and submit a paper to a peer-reviewed journal. Task 8 -- Hold Outreach Meeting with Fishermen: You must conduct an outreach meeting with interested fishermen between draft and revised final reports to examine the locational information developed for rips with respect to Objectives 3 and 4. You must prepare a "plain English" information poster or slide show with respect to Objective 3, suitable for our presentation at subsequent public meetings. HOW TO RESPOND: In order to compete for this contract interested parties MUST demonstrate that they are qualified to perform the work by providing, BY FOUR O'CLOCK EASTERN TIME ON April 1, 1998, an original and three (3) copies of a Capabilities Statement detailing: (1) your key personnel (those who would have primary responsibility for performing and/or managing the study) with their qualifications and specific experience; (2) your organizational experience and facilities; and (3) specific references (including contract number & project description, period of performance, dollar amount, client identification with the point of contact & telephone number) for previous work of this nature that your key personnel or organization has performed within the last four years (references will be checked). If you believe the Government will find derogatory information as a result of checking your past performance record, please provide an explanation and any remedial action taken by your company to address the problem. Following review of all Capabilities Statements, we will establish a list of those deemed most qualified to perform the work. Offerors will then be contacted and told their evaluation. We will provide additional proposal instructions at that time. Proposals will essentially consist of an oral technical presentation and written cost/business proposal. Further details of proposal requirements and logistical considerations will be provided at a later date. Your Capabilities Statement will be evaluated based on your key persons' skills, abilities and experience; your organization's experience and past performance (including number, size, and complexity of similar projects, adherence to schedules and budgets, effectiveness of program management, willingness to cooperate when difficulties arise, general compliance with the terms of the contracts, and acceptability of delivered products.) Questions should be faxed or E-mailed as soon as possible to fax (703)787-1387 or E-mail "wallace.adcox@mms.gov." Please include with your question(s) your full name, the RFP number & title, your organization, complete address, and phone and fax numbers. TELEPHONIC QUESTIONS OR REQUESTS ARE STRONGLY DISCOURAGED. (0069)

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