WA 2-203 Support for Assistance to assess compliance with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Clean Water and Drinking Water Projects within Region 7, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas and Amendment 4 to WA 2-201

THIS NOTICE IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY. NO SOLICITATION WILL BE ISSUED AGAINST THIS SYNOPSIS. The purpose of this Modification 42 is to obligate $7,729 in funding in support of Work Assignment 2-201, Amendment 4. The period of Performance of WA 2-201 remains from July 29, 2009 through September 30, 2010. Work Assignment 2-201 is now funded to $92,729. Modification 42 also obligates $93,145 in initial funding in support of Work Assignment 2-203. The period of Performance of WA 2-203 is May 20, 2010 through September 30, 2010. Under WA 2-201 of Contract EP-C-05-046, the contractor supports EPA in providing ways to increase information sharing and improve collaboration between EPA Regions, EPA Headquarters and the Indian Health Service (IHS) working on Clean Water Indian Set Aside (CWISA) projects using ARRA funds. In particular Amendment 4 supports the preparation for, participation in, and note taking of ARRA tribal set aside conference calls in support of post-meeting activities. Under WA 2-203 of Contract EP-C-05-046, the contractor supports EPA's assistance to Iowa and Kansas in its oversight of ARRA grant projects in order to ensure successful implementation of the ARRA requirements. The contractor will conduct site visits for 79 water projects (47clean water and 32 drinking water) in Iowa and 45 water projects (22 clean water and 23 drinking water) in Kansas. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) contains specific acquisition requirements that must be met when using appropriated funds from the Act, including the need for acquisitions to be in accordance with the FAR and, to the maximum extent practicable, awarded as fixed-price (FP) contracts using competitive procedures. However, the Office of Management and Budget's guidance allows for the use of other than FP contracts. Although the Agency's Office of Water (OW) contracts were not awarded as FP contracts, they were awarded competitively, and each contract structure was selected to provide the contractor with the greatest incentive for efficient and economical performance, given the types of services to be performed. The existing OW contracts have sufficient qualified acquisition personnel to provide appropriate contract administration and oversight to monitor contract performance to mitigate the Government's risk. In order to meet the requirements of the Act in the most prudent business manner within the time constraints imposed, existing OW contracts are the most appropriate contractual vehicles consistent with Agency plans that promote the goals of the ARRA.