Description
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of International and Tribal Affairs (OITA) American Indian Environmental Office (AIEO), under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures, intends to issue a sole source purchase order to the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) of Alexandria, Virginia. Under this order, AIHEC will assist EPA in the development of a Tribal ecoAmbassadors Program that will collaborate initially with professors at Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) to implement research to address a particular environmental or public health challenge in the community or on the reservation. This pilot project will address specific analysis of environmental issues, which may include climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, air quality, water quality, and waste management. Under this order, AIHEC will be tasked with program management of the application process, the development of instructional webinars for selected Tribal ecoAmbassadors, and meeting support for up to four briefings on the research, results, and proposed solutions to the chosen topics. This will include support of a video conference at a future EPA Tribal Science Council meeting. The estimated period of performance is from July 2011 through June 2012. The justification is as follows. Market research indicates that this program is the first of its kind, connecting EPA directly to the TCUs in an exchange of invaluable environmental knowledge. To have a fully successful pilot year, this program needs to reach as many TCU academic institutions as possible. AIHEC is a 501(c)(3) organization governed by a board of directors, which is comprised of the presidents of its accredited U.S.-based TCUs. By automatically providing access to every TCU, EPA estimates a wide variety of types of program proposals (climate change adaptation, water quality monitoring, etc.). AIHEC is uniquely qualified to satisfy this requirement given its members represent all TCUs. EPA is not aware of any other tribal entity with this network of access to the targeted higher education institutions. NO SOLICITATION OR REQUEST FOR QUOTE IS AVAILABLE. Notwithstanding, any firm that believes it is capable of meeting this requirement may submit a response, which if received within ten days of the closing date of this announcement, will be considered. Responses to this announcement must be in writing to the Contracting Officer via the e-mail link below.