The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers intends to award a sole source cost type contract to Tufts University to provide a continuation of research and development services to the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), Project - RC-2119 entitled Endangered Butterflies as a Model System for Managing Source-Sink Dynamics on Department of Defense Lands Project RC-2119 was selected through a competed solicitation BAA-10-0001 for funding in FY11. Contract W912HQ-11-C-0050, was awarded on 03 May 2011 to the Harvard College with a 60 month period of performance. Tufts University is uniquely qualified as the Principal Investigator (PI) of this project has moved from the Harvard College to Tufts University. Completing this work relies on Government expertise, contacts with DOD land managers and endangered species biologists. The PI has the expertise to successfully lead the project to completion without a substantial duplication of effort for the remaining two and a half years. Objective of Scope of Work: Department of Defense (DoD) lands provide the best available habitat for numerous threatened, endangered and at-risk species (TER-S), and many of these species are currently managed on military lands by controlled disturbances (e.g. fires) or by de novo restoration of habitat. However, these management strategies run the risk of converting sources (where births exceed deaths) into sinks (where deaths exceed births) or of creating ecological traps - low-quality but attractive restored habitat that bleeds animals from nearby sources, threatening metapopulation viability. Importantly, our work will focus on temporal change in habitat quality following management or restoration that may lead local habitat patches to cycle from sink to source status and back. Objective: Through a combination of field studies and state-of-the-art quantitative models, it is proposed to use three species of endangered butterflies as a model system to rigorously investigate the source-sink dynamics of species being managed on military lands. Butterflies have numerous advantages as models for source-sink dynamics, including rapid generation times and relatively limited dispersal, but they are subject to the same processes that determine source-sink dynamics of longer-lived, more vagile taxa. This is a special notice prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)(A), Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. However, any firm that believes it can meet this requirement may give written notification to the Contracting officer within forty five (45) days of publication of this announcement. Supporting evidence must be in sufficient detail to demonstrate the ability to comply with the requirement. Responses received will be evaluated; however, a determination by the Government to compete the proposed procurement based on the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. If no responses are received, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will proceed with awarding a cost type contract to Tufts University. Point of contact for this requirement is Susan Hill at 703-428-6420 or
[email protected] Address: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, HECSA, 7701 Telegraph Road, Alexandria, VA 22315.