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

B -- EVALUATION OF SUB-SEA PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTAL DATA FOR THE BEAUFORT SEA SOL 30985 DUE 042799 POC Wallace O. Adcox, Contracting Officer, (703) 787-1362 E-MAIL: Contracting Officer's, wallace.adcox@mms.gov. This amends the original notice for this procurement that appeared on CBDNet on March 31, 1999, (SN314932). Only part of the notice appeared in the CBD because of file size limitations. This modification is to post the remainder of the notice. The original notice ended with "2) Spits, Capes and Headlands: ancient lookouts ". HERE IS THE REMAINDER OF THE NOTICE: points and hauling and rooking grounds for marine mammals and nesting sites for birds; 3) Straits, which act to funnel movement of marine mammals; 4) River mouths or estuaries attrac-tive to anadromous fish; 5) Benches and terrace escarpments, which at sea level rose following the Late Wisconsin glacial maximum, would have provided some degree of horizontal coastal stability; 6) Shipwrecks and other unidentified sightings. The contractor must map the lateral and vertical extent of these near surface features that may delineate the presence of ancient river valleys on the North Slope. BOULDER PATCH: Map the distribution of the Boulder Patch by: 1) Mapping all historical evidence of the Boulder Patch from all previous studies in the Beaufort Sea; 2) Establish a standardized set of criteria for interpretation of multi-beam sonar records and side scan sonar records and other geophysical instruments in the identification of Boulder Patch communities. This standard will be based upon definitions describing a "significant biological community" and by sonar signatures of the features of interest; 3) Incorporate any visual confir-mation of the absence or presence of Boulder Patch habitat; 4) The seabed beneath each trackline will be classified based upon a prescribed category and a "target" concentration; 5) Templates will be established using data from the sonar records to determine uniform standards through the procedure of analyzing the categories and target concentrations; 6) Map the distribution of Boul-der Patch communities and their concentrations on the Beaufort Sea Shelf from the interpretation of all available seismic records; 7) Identify the densities of Boulder Patch habitat from all sur-veys; 8) Target concentrations will be placed within a database for geospatial analysis; ). OP-TIONAL TASKS: OPTIONAL TASKS WILL ONLY BE DONE IF ADDITIONAL FUNDING IS MADE AVAILABLE OR IF THE CONTRACTOR INDICATES THAT THEY CAN COM-PLETE THE OPTIONAL TASKS WITHIN BUDGET. OPTIONAL TASK: 5A -- PERMA-FROST: Sub-seabed permafrost underlies most of the Beaufort Shelf. It is relict from the late Pleistocene when the seabed was exposed to subaerial Arctic condition during periods of lower sea level. Offshore permafrost is presently in thermal disequilibrium as a result of marine trans-gression. The resulting degradation may cause thermokarst subsidence if the frozen ground con-tains excess ice. Excess ice occurs when the volume of ice exceeds the volume of original voids in the sediment (37.5% of the frozen sediment volume according to Reimnitz et al, 1988). Perma-frost may have a significant effect on plans to locate a sub-sea pipeline and the transmission of acoustic noise from oil and gas activities during exploration and development activities. Perform the following: 1) Identify the distribution(horizontal extent) and thickness of the permafrost be-neath the shallow shelf areas of the Beaufort Sea; 2) Locate the depth of occurrence, thickness, and stratigraphic horizon of the permafrost in the shallow cores and within all exploratory wells; 3) Utilize Velocity profile when available to locate the top of the high velocity permafrost; 4) Utilize all data from exploratory well log data on the shelf to map the thickness and distribution of the permafrost layer; 5) Utilizing isopach maps, map the shallow high velocity zone's and contour the thickness of the units. If possible, determine the degree of bonding of the soils pene-trated by shallow cores. OPTIONAL TASK: 5B -- GAS HYDRATES: Natural gas hydrates may contribute to both future energy supplies and to increase of atmos-pheric greenhouse gases. Geophysical evidence suggests that gas hydrates are trapped in sedi-ments beneath the Beaufort Sea Shelf. Subsurface gas hydrates may also pose a potential drilling hazard beneath the shelf. MMS is responsible for assessing such hazards beneath the shelf. Com-pile all spatial data of gas hydrates from all digital data, maps and reports beginning with the geohazard reports in the MMS vault. Include gas hydrate studies from the Mackenzie Delta re-gion of the Beaufort Sea. From the evaluation of subsurface cores, geophysical seismic records and geophysical logs, map the occurrence of gas hydrates beneath the shelf from Point Barrow to the Mackenzie Delta. OPTIONAL TASK: 5C -- BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATABASE: The contractor will compile a bibliographic database of articles of all sub sea environmental features evaluated for the project for the Beaufort Sea. This bibliographic database will contain all research in the Beaufort Sea study area on: 1) Boulder Patch (kelp beds); 2) Ice Gouging; 3) Strudel Scour; 4) Seafloor sediment distribution; 5) Bathymetric data; 6) Seismic stratigraphy of Pleisto-cene/Holocene sedimentation; 7) Sea level curves of the Pleistocene/Holocene; 8) Surficial and Shallow Geology including information on faulting/seismic events; 9) Archeology Site Data Collection; 10) Shorefast and Pack ice in the Beaufort Sea; 11) Permafrost; 12) Gas Hydrates. OPTIONAL TASK: 5D -- OTHER DEPENDENT DATA SETS: Major Rivers and flow rates: Display detailed coverages and all major rivers systems which along the Beaufort Sea coast and determine any historical data of freshwater flow rates into the near shore, zone of fast ice. YEAR 2 TASKS: TASK 6 -- DEVELOP ARCVIEW/SPATIAL ANALYST APPLICATION TOOLS: Build an interface which can be added as an extension to the most current version of ArcView GIS. This new interface will be used by leasing and environmental personnel for the interpreta-tion of the database based upon specific analysis criteria. These specific needs are stated within the objectives of this study. ICE GOUGING: Ice Gouge Density: Develop tools to determine the density of ice gouging over any geographic area in the Beaufort Sea by year or range of years. This tool should be able to determine the density of ice gouging for any specific range of water depth on the shelf. Ice Gouge Frequency: Develop tools for the user to easily determine the fre-quency of ice gouging over any portion of the shelf Gouge Depth: Develop tools to determine the ice gouge depth and their distribution by water depth over the shelf. Gouge Orientation: Deter-mine the orientations of the gouges and evaluate gouge orientation based upon ice displacement vectors. ICE COVERAGE: 1) Develop tools to display the known ice displacement vectors and those areas of fast and pack ice; 2) Query and display the ice thickness, direction, type for year, month or date to the finest resolution possible. OCEANOGRAPHIC/METEOROLOGICAL DATA: Develop tools to query the bathymetric database. STRUDEL SCOUR: 1) Develop tools to display distribution of strudel scours on the Beaufort Sea Shelf study area; 2) Develop tools that will display analyze the physical parameters associated with strudel scour; 3) Develop tools that will determine the density of strudel scour over any geographic area in the Beaufort Sea by year, month, date to the finest resolution of the data. Develop tools that can display strudel scour density by depth range. BOULDER PATCH: Develop Interface tools to: 1) Display the distribu-tion of Boulder Patch (based upon the concentration of the Boulder Patch). Identify kelp associa-tions if known; 2) Display the distribution of Kelp based upon known concentrations; 3) Display representative video images of Boulder Patch communities from past studies (e.g. Liberty geo-hazard work, 1997, 1998); 4) Link point and line features to geo-referenced video images of Boulder Patch Communities. SHALLOW STRUCTURE, FAULTS AND SEISMICITY: De-velop application tools than can: 1) Map the distribution of faults beneath the Beaufort Sea Shelf; 2) Map the distribution of faults by horizon mapped; 3) Map the distribution of seismic activity by depth and magnitude. OPTIONAL ARCVIEW INTERFACE TASKS : OPTIONAL TASK: 6A -- ARCHEOLOGY SITE PREDICTION ANALYSIS TOOLS: Establish criteria to map fea-tures beneath the shallow shelf that may assist in the prediction of archeological sites. Predicting where submerged archaeological sites might occur on the continental shelf can be assisted using the 20,000 to 18,000 chronohorizon of the late Wisconsinan glacial maximum. Tools should be developed to spatially view the four shallow structural horizons and the sub sea features associ-ated with those horizons. A separate set of interface tools will be developed so analysts can: 1) Create a set of base maps specifically for the investigation and evaluation of archaeological re-sources on the shelf; 2) A program will identify the site of any proposed exploration, develop-ment operation or proposed lease sale area; 3) The program will then identify those archaeologi-cal sites or other bottom or sub bottom feature within a user specific distance. OPTIONAL TASK: 6B -- PERMAFROST: Develop application tools that can: 1) Map the depth and thickness of the interpreted zones of permafrost beneath the Beaufort Shelf; 2) Analyze the depth to per-mafrost based upon the variables of sediment thickness, sediment type; 3) Analyze the thickness of permafrost based upon the variables of sediment thickness, sediment type, and distance from shoreline. TASK 7 -- USERS MANUAL: Provide a user-friendly manual that describes how to install the components and explains the database structure (flow charts of relational tables and table linkages), and database components (a data dictionary). The manual should also describe the analysis routines, and provide ArcView shapefiles illustrating the spatial and temporal query and analysis capabilities of the system that link the data to the ArcView/Spatial Analyst Inter-face. Illustrate, with specific samples from the database how the query and analysis tools are used. The users-manual should be on-line access incorporated into the ArcView interface. TASK 7A -- REFERENCE MANUAL: The reference manual must contain a section that discusses the analysis of all of the data for this project. The analysis should be supported by ArcView figures inserted within the body of the text. The reference manual will contain an introduction that ex-plains the significance of all features that have been mapped. After an explanation of the inter-preted data is examined, a more detailed explanation of each set of sub-sea features including the seismic stratigraphy should be thoroughly explained. ArcView figures should be incorporated with the text to provide a thorough geospatial reference to these sub sea features. The following section should allow for a discussion of the results. The final section will contain a bibliography. A camera-ready hard copy report will be delivered to MMS with full color illustrations. Twenty-five (25) paper copies will be delivered to MMS at the time of the camera-ready copy. ARCVIEW MAPS: BASE MAPS: The contractor will include at least two base maps and asso-ciated geospatial coverages for all illustrations. The regional base map should be at a resolution of 1:4000,000, and a additional higher resolution scale of 1:250:000. The base maps should have coverages of coastline, bathymetry, land cover, hydrography, and cities. A Gazetteer will be in-corporated for the purpose of naming these features. The following maps and illustrations should be included within the Reference Manual: surface and subsurface geology, bathymetry, seismic navigation, geologic sample locations, seismic stratigraphy, sediment isopachs, acoustic anomalies, ice gouging, strudel scour, boulder patch, paleo-subsurface channeling and other features, references. OPTIONAL TASK 7A -- Text and illustrations describing the area of perma-frost and gas hydrates will be described and figures presented to illustrate permafrost and gas hy-drates in the sub sea sediments of the Beaufort Sea. TASK 8 -- PROVIDE A WEB-ENABLED DOCUMENT IN (SGML), XML, OR HTML CODE THAT CAN LINKTO STATIC MAPS. The full content of the reference manual shall be converted into a web-enabled document that is easily incorporated into the Alaska OCS Region's web site. This document can be easily updated and then used to print on paper, publish on CD-ROM or the World Wide Web (WWW). The text and figures will be formatted in either SGML, XML, or HTML code. ArcView figures will be converted to either GIF or JPEG formats and placed within the body of the text as static maps. Maps displayed on the Internet must not include point locations of proprietary or sensitive in-formation such as locations of shipwrecks. OPTIONAL TASK8A: Link static maps to GIS IN-TERACTIVE MAPS AND DATA USING ESRI'S ARCVIEW INTERNET MAP SERVER: Key words and static maps will link to interactive coverages and GIS maps using ESRI's Internet Map Server. All components must be compatible with MMS standards. The linkage to GIS maps on the WEB using ESRI's Internet Map Server technology will occur only if MMS purchases a copy of ESRI's Internet Map Server and provides access to the contractor and to the data in this study at the Alaska OCS Region office. TASK 9 -- PROVIDE TRAINING ON APPLICATION AND DATABASE FOR UP TO 12 PEOPLE: Provide training on the use of the database and enhanced ArcView interface and analysis tools for two days. The training will take place in the Alaska Region office of MMS or other local office identified by the Contractor. The training will consist of two parts: 1) A half day session seminar which discusses a general overview of the database, interface tools and the capabilities of the database system to evaluate sub-sea environ-mental data. The information from this session will illustrate the conclusions based upon com-piling all of the data; 2) A one and a half day technical session that will describe the database structure, query tools working through the analysis capabilities of the system. DATA AVAIL-ABILITY AT MMS ALASKA OCS REGIONAL OFFICE: The following are the locations and accessibility of some needed data sets that are within the MMS Alaska Region Office: High Resolution Seismic And Geohazard Reports -- The MMS Security Vault has navigation tapes, paper copies of shot point navigation maps, interpreted geohazard reports, and seismic records for most pre drilling surveys in the Beaufort OCS. It is the responsibility of the Contractor to re-view the tapes and the paper copies of the navigation in the geohazard reports and determine the most accurate data to include for the shotpoint navigation file. The prospective contractor will be provided with access to specific data sets collected under the ongoing study titled AReference Manual and GIS Geospatial Database of Oil -Industry and Other Human Activity (1979-1998) in the Beaufort Sea (Contract # 30915). In addition, we have inventoried most of the available U.S.G.S high-resolution records for the Beaufort Sea. The records for these data sets are found within our vault and are available on microfiche. High-Resolution seismic and geologic data un-der permit are restricted data. The high-resolution seismic and geologic data under permit by ei-ther the State of Alaska and the Federal Government must be obtained by requesting for its re-lease. This request must be made in the form of a written letter drafted by the contractor, re-viewed by MMS and signed by the Regional Director of the Alaska OCS. 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 27, 1999, an original and five (5) 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 informa-tion 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 Capa-bilities 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 considera-tions 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 per-formance (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 prod-ucts.) Please send the original and two copies to Minerals Management Service, 381 Elden Street, MS2500, Herndon, VA 20170-4817, Attn: Wallace O. Adcox. Send the remaining three (3) copies to Minerals Management Service, Alaska OCS, 949 East 36th Ave. -- Suite 300, MS8300, Anchorage, AK 99508-4302, Attn: Dr. Warren Horowitz. Questions regarding this procurement 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. Posted 04/06/99 (W-SN316918). (0096)

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