Description
JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (or SOLE SOURCE) Background: The National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program was established to provide robust scientific information regarding the status and trends of critical natural resources in the National Parks. There are 32 multi-park networks in the I&M Program. The Central Alaska Network (CAKN) consists of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Denali National Park and Preserve, and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and covers 22 million acres, or 25% of all land administered by the National Park Service nationwide. In order to track the condition of our parks, Central Alaska Network scientists have chosen 37 key indicators, or "Vital Signs," to represent the overall health of the network. Each Vital Sign falls into one of 4 categories: physical environment, plant life, animal life, or human use. 15 vital signs relate to animal life, 12 relate to the physical environment, 4 relate to human use, and 6 relate to plant life. Underlying these 4 vital sign categories is a focus on habitat change. This focus allows us to predict and possibly model future variations on the landscape. With some idea about predicted change, managers can develop better strategies for resource protection. Natural resource monitoring is conducted primarily for two purposes: (1) to detect significant changes in resource abundance, condition, population structure, or ecological processes; or (2) to evaluate the effects of some management action on population or community dynamics or ecological processes. Monitoring data are most useful when the same methods are used to collect data at the same locations over a long time period (e.g. more than 10-12 years). The CAKN Inventory and Monitoring Program is being designed to last for well beyond this time frame. Three of the CAKN Vital Signs relate directly to rivers and streams, and include water quality, stream and river flow, and the distribution and abundance of freshwater fishes. These three Vital Signs are interrelated and represent different ways of examining change in these important ecosystems. To fully evaluate any of the various aspects of stream ecosystems, how those ecosystems may be changing, and what those changes mean requires an accurate and ongoing appraisal of the water chemistry of the systems (that is, what are the concentrations of various important dissolved compounds such as nutrients). Because the streams of the Central Alaska Network are relatively pristine (unpolluted), the natural levels of many of these compounds are very low. This means that in order to accurately monitor these ecosystems, we must be able to accurately quantify very low concentrations of these compounds. Very few water chemistry vendors are able to repeatably and accurately detect the low levels we require, because highly specialized methodologies are required to attain that level of data quality. The Cooperative Chemical Analytical Laboratory (CCAL) was established by the U.S. Forest Service over 30 years ago specifically to carry out these kinds of specialized analyses. The CAKN flowing waters program and the CAKN shallow lakes program have relied on CCAL to analyze water chemistry samples since 2006. 1. FAR Statutory Authority cited: 6.302, Circumstances Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition. Per FAR 6.302-1(B)(1)(i) the Cooperative Chemical Analytical Laboratory at Oregon State University, 3200 Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR 97331. is the only laboratory that can provide the services required due to the level of testing needed and continuity in data. 2. Nature and description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency's needs. Chemical analysis of water for the following constituents (methodologies and required detection limits and precisions in parentheses): 1. Total Nitrogen (APHA 4500-NO3 F; APHA 4500-P J., detection limit 0.01 mg/l +/- 0.01 mg/l) 2. Total Phosphorus (APHA 4500-P B; APHA 4500-P E; EPA 365.2. Modifications: microwave digestion 60 minutes, 50 ml analysis volume, Ascorbic acid method, detection limit 0.002 mg/l +/- 0.002 mg/l) 3. Orthophosphate (APHA 4500-P E; EPA 365.2. Ascorbic acid method, detection limit 0.001 mg/l +/- 0.001 mg/l) 4. Nitrate/nitrite-N (APHA 4500-NO3 F; EPA 353.3. Cadmium reduction method, detection limit 0.001 mg/l +/- 0.001 mg/l) 5. DOC (APHA 5310 B, detection limit 0.05 mg/l +/- 0.05 mg/l) 6. Ammonia-N (APHA 4500-NH3 G; EPA 350.1, detection limit 0.01 mg/l +/- 0.003 mg/l) 7. Silica (APHA 4500-SiO2 E; Technicon industrial method 105-71W/B, detection limit 0.20 mg/l +/- 0.05 mg/l) 8. Sodium (APHA 3111 B; flame atomic absorption spectroscopy, 0.01 mg/l +/- 0.01 mg/l) 9. Calcium (APHA 3111 B; flame atomic absorption spectroscopy, 0.06 mg/l +/- 0.06 mg/l) 10. Magnesium (APHA 3111 B; flame atomic absorption spectroscopy, 0.02 mg/l +/- 0.02 mg/l) 11. Potassium (APHA 3111 B, flame atomic absorption spectroscopy, 0.03 mg/l +/- 0.03 mg/l) 12. Sulfate (APHA 4110 B; EPA 9056A, 0.02 mg/l +/- 0.02 mg/l) 13. Chloride (APHA 4110 B; EPA 9056A, 0.01 mg/l +/- 0.01 mg/l) 14. pH (APHA 4500 H; Calomel reference electrode, glass pH electrode, temperature compensator, 0.1 pH units +/- 0.1 pH units) 15. Alkalinity (APHA 2320, titrate to pH 4.5. Modifications: Use 0.02N Na2CO3 and 0.02N H2SO4, 0.2 mg/l +/- 0.02 mg/l) 16. Specific conductance (APHA 2510; Wheatstone bridge, 0.4 microS/cm +/- 2%) 17. Total Dissolved Nitrogen (APHA 4500-NO3 F; APHA 4500-P J., detection limit 0.01 mg/l +/- 0.01 mg/l) Laboratory specifications: a. The laboratory must be experienced in the analysis of low-level nutrient concentrations in water samples from oligotrophic systems and meet the detection limits. b. The laboratory must conform to EPA surface water chemistry criteria. c. The laboratory must participate in the USGS Standard Reference Water Survey Program. d. The laboratory must provide a detailed Quality Assurance Plan to CAKN. e. The laboratory must use prepared NIST-traceable calibration standards. f. The laboratory must, when sample volume allows, run duplicate analyses for 10% of samples per analysis. g. The laboratory must be located in Alaska or the Pacific Northwest to minimize transit time for shipment of frozen samples. 3. A demonstration that the proposed contractor is the only source available to provide these services or goods (i.e. unique qualifications, proprietary rights etc.). The Central Alaska Network has selected this laboratory to analyze its water samples because CCAL is capable of detecting extremely low levels of the chemical constituents found in Alaskan waters. Unlike most water chemistry labs, which specialize in the analysis of wastewater or water from polluted locations, CCAL specializes in the analysis of research samples from natural lakes, streams, precipitation and groundwater in unpolluted areas. Our samples are collected in pristine streams with extremely low solute concentrations; as such, we require the low detection limits provided by CCAL. CCAL has more than 30 years experience analyzing these kinds of water samples. CCAL is also capable of dealing with the high concentrations of DOC often found in lakes and streams in Alaska. The highly colored nature of water from these systems can compromise the accuracy of measurements and many labs are not equipped to deal with the required color corrections.CCAL has a well-developed Quality Assurance Plan that insures delivery of precise and accurate results. CCAL laboratory techniques conform to EPA surface water chemistry criteria and CCAL participates in the USGS Standard Reference Water Survey Program, an external interlaboratory QA Program, to monitor the accuracy of analytical procedures. Participation in the USGS Standard Reference Water Survey Program insures that measurements made in different laboratories will be of comparable quality and in principle will be directly comparable. Data produced by CCAL from a standardized set of protocols allow direct comparisons among diverse studies, creating a legacy of data that grows with each new study. This conformity increases the value of data collected by the CAKN flowing waters monitoring program and allows us to compare our data directly with that collected by other monitoring networks. This in turn increases our power to detect environmental change on a regional level. By standardizing detection and measurement of the chemical and physical properties of water, and by eliminating the need and expense of establishing duplicate facilities, CCAL operations are beneficial to both cooperative and individual research projects. For these reasons CCAL continues to be the least expensive lab operating under a good Quality Assurance Plan capable of measuring the low concentrations that we require. CCAL is also being used for water sample analysis by the CAKN shallow lakes program, as well as by other I&M networks, including the Southwest Alaska Network and the Pacific Northwest Network. Another important reason we selected CCAL was due to its relatively close proximity to Alaska. The water samples we collect must remain frozen until they are analyzed. It is not feasible to ship samples cross country as we risk the samples thawing and thus compromising the quality of the data. CCAL is located in Oregon and we can easily transport samples to the lab before the samples thaw and begin to degrade. When shipping from remote areas such as Kotzebue or Nome samples often arrive in Oregon partially thawed. It is important we have a lab that is close to Alaska. The success of the CAKN water monitoring program depends upon the ability to detect and quantify subtle changes in natural processes with confidence. CCAL has demonstrated for the past five years that they are capable of providing us with the high quality data we require. 4. A description of the market research that was conducted and the results, or a statement of the reason a market research was not conducted: In 2006 a market evaluation was completed of laboratories in Alaska and Pacific-Northwest. We also requested quotes from labs throughout the US. At that time CCAL was identified as the best source. 5. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition: We have been working with CCAL to provide high quality chemical analyses to the network for the past 6 years. Over this time, we have invested a significant amount of staff time, effort and expense (see table below) to insure that we have a high quality dataset. In addition to the time we spent researching labs during 2005-2006, we have since reviewed laboratories each year to insure that CCAL is still the best choice in labs. Additionally we have developed computer script and data importing routines that work directly with data reports produced by CCAL. Changing labs would require reworking these scripts and would slow our data QA/QC process resulting in delays in publishing these data. The network requires data be reported within six months of acquisition, meeting this deadline would be difficult if we had to redevelop our data importing routines. Finally, changing labs would require an extensive QA/QC process to ensure that data provided by the new vendor are compatible with existing data from CCAL, further increasing costs to the Government. Year Contract Number Total2006 P9840060135 $6,150.002006 P9840060136 $14,757.09 2006 P9840060299 $10,280.102007 P9840070141 $15,804.002007 P9840070304 $5,313.002008 C9840080105 $13,496.602008 P9840080111 $20,564.102008 P9840080179 $9,748.002009 P9840090081 $33,645.502009 P9840090081 $9,099.302010 P984010015 $28,710.062010 P984010015 $5,919.602011 P9840110061 $66,865Total $240,352.25 6. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required. Preparer:Trey Simmons Approved: Jordan W. GunnContracting Officer