Department of the Interior – National Park Service: Bridging the Watershed Program Grant

This Funding Announcement is not a request for applications. This announcement is to provide public notice of the National Park Service’s intention to fund the following project activities without full and open competition.
ABSTRACT
Funding Announcement Number:NPS-NOIR#P16AC00265
Project Title: National Park Service- Bridging the Watershed Program
Recipient: Alice Ferguson Foundation, Inc.
Total Anticipated Award Amount: 267,000
Cost Share-None Required
Continuation: Task award under terms and conditions established in umbrella Cooperative Agreement, P15AC00001
Anticipated Length of Agreement: Through September 30, 2016
Anticipated Period of Performance: Through September 30, 2016
Award Instrument: Cooperative Agreement (task award)
Statutory Authority 54 U.S.C. §101702(a), 54 U.S.C. §101702(b)
CFDA # and Title 15.944, Natural Resources
Single Source Justification Criteria Cited
#4 – Unique Qualifications
NPS Point of Contact: Tina Holland

OVERVIEW, RECIPIENT AND NPS SUBSTANTIAL INVOLVEMENT

The objective of this agreement is to collaboratively conduct programs valuable to the education and stewardship objectives of the cooperator and necessary for the management of the areas and resources under the jurisdiction of the NPS.

The purpose of the program is to promote increased stewardship of the Chesapeake watershed by providing educators in the school systems and non-profit partners and community groups with educational tools to use national parks as classrooms, and the BTW program supports the NPS mission through the program’s ability to provide students with meaningful national park experiences based in the resources of participating national parks. The NPS and the cooperator also wish to cooperate with one another for their mutual benefit and for the general benefit of the people of the United States and future generations to enjoy the natural and cultural resources of the national park system

SINGLE-SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
SINGLE SOURCE POLICY REQUIREMENTS

Department of the Interior Policy (505 DM 2) requires a written justification which explains why competition is not practicable for each single-source award. The justification must address one or more of the following criteria as well as discussion of the program legislative history, unique capabilities of the proposed recipient, and cost-sharing contribution offered by the proposed recipient, as applicable.
(4) Unique Qualifications – The applicant is uniquely qualified to perform the activity based upon a variety of demonstrable factors such as location, property ownership, voluntary support capacity, cost-sharing ability if applicable, technical expertise, or other such unique qualifications;

The National Park Service awarded this task to the Alice Ferguson Foundation Inc. the Alice Ferguson Foundation, is in partnership with the National Park Service under Master Cooperative Agreement P15AC00001.

(4) Unique Qualifications –
Bridging the Watershed Program is an outreach program of the Alice Ferguson Foundation, in partnership with the National Park Service under Master Cooperative Agreement P15AC00001 and area schools, designed to promote student academic achievement, personal connections with the natural world, lifelong civic engagement, and environmental stewardship through hands-on curriculum-based outdoor studies in national parks and public lands. The Master Agreement allows the Alice Ferguson Foundation to participate in specific tasks, and can provide the specific support to conduct a particular task while providing an effective outcome for the National Park Service and the Bridging the Watershed projects.