Aquatic Invasive Species Cooperative Agreement for the Fiscal Year 2014 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

Under FY14 appropriations to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will implement projects required under the 2014 Interagency Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework (http://asiancarp.us/documents/2014Framework.pdf). The award will support specific activities, and require specific deliverables of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) that only they can conduct and deliver under the 2014 Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework. All work conducted under this agreement will be in Illinois, and only IDNR has authorities to lead those activities, in cooperation with the Environmental Protection Agency and FWS. This is a notice of intent to award a single source cooperative agreement to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources without competition under justification 505DM 2.14 2 and 3. Competition for the award is not practical, because no other entity can conduct the required work. Through the work of the Council on Environmental Quality and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who oversee the integrated program to protect the Great Lakes from the invasion of Asian Carps, continued work (which began in FY 2010), is needed. That work is cooperatively conducted by the (ILDNR), EPA, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Only the ILDNR has the statutory authority to work with other agencies to conduct the needed monitoring, control, outreach, and law enforcement activities. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) will be substantially involved in projects under this funding opportunity. In particular, the Service will be responsible for the following: cooperating with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the USEPA, the USNOAA, and USGS, to conduct monitoring, control, outreach, and law enforcement activities. All work is designed to continue to prevent the establishment of bighead and silver carps in the Great Lakes.