Aquatic Invasive Species Grants to Great Lakes States Fiscal Year 2015 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

Under FY15 appropriations for Asian carp prevention and control outside the Great Lakes, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will support implementation of the interagency Ohio River Basin Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework (Framework). The award will support specific activities and require specific deliverables that the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association (MICRA) is uniquely positioned to coordinate completion of with multiple member state agencies and collaborators under the Framework. All work conducted under this agreement will be completed by contractors in multiple locations throughout the Ohio River and tributaries. This is a notice of intent to award a single source cooperative agreement to the MICRA without competition under justification 505DM 2.14B 2 and 3. Competition for the award is not practical as MICRA is a partnership of the 28 Mississippi River Basin state fish and wildlife agencies that have management jurisdiction of the fishery resources in the Mississippi River and tributaries, host of the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force regional panel for coordinating multiagency aquatic invasive species action in the Mississippi River Basin, and is uniquely positioned to provide a nexus for the compilation of resources necessary to develop and implement the interagency, interstate Ohio River Basin Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework. With their status and ability to work amongst its member state agencies and collaborators, MICRA will be able to provide qualifications and perspective that no other entity would have. All work is designed to slow the spread and control the abundance and distribution of Asian carps in the Ohio River basin.