U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 2 Grant for Gulf Coast Joint Venture Biological Foundation Project

Joint ventures, the partnerships that were originally formed to implement the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, are regional, self-directed organizations involving Federal, State, and local governments, corporations, and a wide range of non-governmental conservation groups that have proven to be a successful means of developing cooperative conservation efforts to protect habitats of waterfowl and other birds. Joint ventures address multiple local, regional, and continental goals for sustaining migratory bird populations by developing scientifically based landscape conservation plans and habitat projects that benefit migratory birds and other wildlife populations. The joint ventures incorporate biological planning, conservation design, and conservation delivery with monitoring and research in an adaptive resource management framework (i.e., strategic habitat conservation) to create the biological-science and conservation-partnership base which will allow the joint venture partners to pool resources for regional projects in critical habitats for priority bird species. Under authorities of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provides administrative funding for joint ventures, covering the costs of primary support staff and base program operations.

The objective of the cooperative agreement with Ducks Unlimited, Inc., a federally-recognized non-profit corporation, is to provide manpower support to participate in developing and refining the biological foundation of the Gulf Coast Joint Venture. A cooperative agreement was chosen because there is substantial Federal involvement in the project (i.e., the Gulf Coast Joint Venture Coordinator, an employee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, provides day-to-day oversight of the manpower support provided by the recipient). Competition for this award would be disruptive to the functioning of the Gulf Coast Joint Venture staff team. The incumbent staff position (Biological Team Leader) is imminently qualified for the work performed, and has been doing so since 2005. Similarly, Ducks Unlimited is uniquely qualified in administering the Biological Team Leader position for the GCJV office, and has been doing so since 1998. The single-source determination is in accordance with criterion #2 (Continuation) and #4 (Unique Qualifications) under Department of Interior guidance (505 DM 2 at 2.14 B). THERE IS NO FULL ANNOUNCEMENT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS NOTICE.