DoD Installation Natural Resources Geospatial Data

USACE-ERDC-CERL requires services of a contractor to collect, compile, and deliver historical (existing) natural resources management geospatial data related to 385 Department of Defense (DoD) installations and associated entities (Reserves and National Guard Bureaus (NGB)). This data currently does not exist anywhere outside of each installation’s Directorates (Public Works and Environment) where the respective data was collected. There is not a requirement to collect any new data, however the effort to collect the existing data from all agencies and compile it into a standardized format for delivery will not be a small one. Access to installation geospatial data is disjointed and often only acquired and managed by specific installation contractors at various Directorates and is generally maintained at each specific Directorate and branch at each individual installation where the data is collected.

The types of geospatial data to be collected includes that related to forest stand and related timber data, including any harvest information, fire history and location, where roads and trails exist, where training areas and training ranges exist, hydrography/wetlands, cultural resources, critical habitat, and any additional natural resources management data that is available. CERL researchers will utilize this data to validate and increase the accuracy of a model, the Carbon Sequestration Toolkit for DoD lands, that it is developing at the direction of the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management.

ERDC-CERL intends to award a firm fixed price contract, on a sole source basis, to Colorado State University (CSU) Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands (CEMML) in accordance with 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)(B), Unacceptable Delays in Fulfilling the Agency’s Requirement.

Colorado State University (CSU) Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands (CEMML) has been determined to be the only source capable of fulfilling this requirement for highly specialized services, as utilizing any other source would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the government’s requirement. The services are considered highly specialized because the data is sensitive in nature and only an entity with a considerable amount of experience working with DoD installations as they have acquired their geospatial data over the past two decades would be capable of determining what currently exists, where it exists, and then compiling it into a single data source subjected to adequate quality control. Through market research performed to date it is estimated that CSU CEMML can complete the required effort in approximately twelve (12) months as they already have all of the background DoD Installation knowledge necessary to know what types of data each installation has and where to begin pulling that data. It is estimated that any other contractor without that background would need somewhere in the range of six (6) to twelve (12) months to perform research and establish contacts within the individual installations before they could begin collecting data, meaning they would need somewhere between 18 – 24 months to complete the same scope. That timeline would not align with the milestone schedule that the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management has set for CERL to develop the Carbon Sequestration Toolkit. The impact of that would be unvalidated models with unknown accuracy that are less likely to be accepted as authoritative.

This is not a small business set aside.

This Notice of Intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however interested parties may identify their interests and capability to respond to this requirement. Any interested party that believes they can fulfill this requirement should submit a capability statement to be reviewed. All submissions will be considered, however there is no guarantee that submissions in response to this notice will be in any way alter the Government’s acquisition strategy.

Please provide responses to this notice no later than the Response time listed above in this notice, to:

CERL-CT-QUOTES@usace.army.mil

Telephone responses will not be accepted.

Responses to this notice will not be considered as a response to any solicitation, a request to be added to a prospective offers list, or to receive a copy of any solicitation. A determination by the Government not to compete the contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.