STATISTICAL CONSULTANT

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Statistics Division (FSD) of the NOAA Fisheries Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) Miami Laboratory is awarding a Purchase Order for a contracted external statistical consultant to conduct a review of the Center's finfish observer programs. The goal of the product would be to place the SEFSC in a position to make optimal use of existing observer data for estimating bycatch of both commonly caught and more rarely encountered components of the bycatch. Advice would be provided on the appropriate ways to estimate bycatch from overlapping programs with differing sampling fractions given the sampling frames used and taking into account changes in approaches to allocation of selected vessels between the programs. Advice would also be provided on possible alternative sampling designs for the programs. Dr. Christman is a sole proprietorship that has been a statistical consultant since 1988, and has also held Professorships at George Washington University, American University, University of Maryland, and the University of Florida. Dr. Christman has authored over 24 peer-reviewed publications as first author, and has been involved as a co-author on 40 additional peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Christman has not only distinguished herself as one of these experts, but also has specific skills and experience working with the estimations on other NOAA Fisheries projects. Dr. Christman has also worked with NOAA researchers to develop methods to estimate abundance using observer data in the Sea Scallop fishery, as well as developing sampling designs for rare event species, which is of critical concern to the Government in terms of sea turtle bycatch. Her work with these data types in the past make it advantageous to the Government as there will be less needed time to familiarize Dr. Christman with the data than it would if another contractor was used. Market research was conducted by SEFSC and found there are no other experts in the field that has a record of scientific excellence as evidenced by numerous publications in scientific journals like those of Dr. Christman. A sources sought notice was posted on FedBizOpps on August 2, 2011 for a 10-day posting.