Cook Inlet Beluga Whale (CIBW) Prey, Salmon Productivity Monitoring at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER).

The U.S. Department of Defense, through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District, is requesting Statements of Interest for the Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Prey, Salmon Productivity Monitoring at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson project. The project will support the U.S. Air Force 673d Civil Engineering Squadron and the JBER Conservation Fisheries Program through a cooperative agreement authorized under Section 670c-1, Title 16 United States Code, the Sikes Act. The opportunity is available only to members of the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units Program in the Alaska, Rocky Mountain, or Pacific Northwest Regions. For projects implementing and enforcing integrated natural resources management plans, priority is given to Federal and State agencies having responsibility for fish or wildlife conservation or management. The project's purpose is to characterize prey species composition in JBER waters that provide critical foraging habitat for the endangered Cook Inlet Beluga Whale. The work is intended to inform JBER environmental management decisions regarding Beluga habitat quality, support Endangered Species Act compliance, improve understanding of prey availability as a factor potentially limiting population recovery, and support collaborative regional environmental DNA monitoring. Objectives include characterizing fish species composition in Eagle River and adjacent Knik Arm waters, documenting seasonal and inter-annual patterns in prey presence, integrating sampling and data management with the regional Cook Inlet eDNA monitoring effort, and developing a long-term prey species monitoring protocol for JBER. Approximately $167,897.16 is expected to be available for the 18-month base period. Additional funding may become available for optional tasks and follow-on work in subsequent years. Up to six 18-month follow-on periods are contemplated, subject to funding availability. The established CESU indirect cost rate is capped at 17.5 percent. The selected non-Federal entity is responsible for qualified personnel, vehicles, equipment, supplies, logistical support, eDNA sampling equipment, preservation and shipping supplies, laboratory analysis, data analysis, and interpretation except for items explicitly furnished by the Government. Government support includes available maps, GIS and historical data, site access coordination, required escorts for the Eagle River Flats Impact Area, boat transportation with a qualified captain as available, review of deliverables, and coordination with regional monitoring partners. No applicant cost share or matching contribution is stated as required. Applicants must demonstrate recent experience and extensive expertise in eDNA monitoring of aquatic ecosystems, with a strong preference for marine fish community assessment experience involving metabarcoding and droplet digital polymerase chain reaction approaches. Experience with Cook Inlet Beluga whales and fish communities is desirable. Applicants must have access to, or a partnership with, an appropriate eDNA laboratory and must provide a Principal Investigator with expertise in eDNA assay selection and optimization, bioinformatic processing for fish identification, and quantitative modeling for ecological inference. Applicants must also demonstrate secure data management, reproducible science practices, and capacity for collaborative multi-institutional research. To be eligible for award, the recipient and any proposed subrecipients and contract vendors must have an active NIST SP 800-171 DoD assessment performed within the last three years. At this stage, applicants must submit only a Statement of Interest, not a full proposal or budget. The Statement of Interest may not exceed two pages and must be single-spaced in 12-point font. It must provide the applicant's name, organization, CAGE Code, Unique Entity ID, CESU Region, and email contact information. It must also include a brief statement of qualifications covering a biographical sketch of the Principal Investigator and relevant experience, relevant past projects and clients, staff, faculty, or students available for the work and their expertise, and other capabilities such as equipment or laboratory and field facilities. Statements of Interest are due by Noon Central Time on September 10, 2026, by email to Nicholas A. Aprea at Nicholas.a.aprea@usace.army.mil and David Leptien at david.b.leptien@usace.army.mil. Questions are due no later than 10 calendar days after the RSOI posting date. Statements of Interest from eligible CESU members will be evaluated by a board of one or more people at the receiving installation or activity. Review will consider how well the statement meets program objectives, the qualifications of the proposed Principal Investigator, relevance of prior experience, and the applicant's capability to successfully meet program objectives. Submitters determined to best meet the objectives will be invited to submit a full proposal. The solicitation warns that the full proposal turnaround may be limited to five business days. RSOIs must be posted on Grants.gov for 30 days before the Government makes a decision and requests full proposals. The base period will extend 18 months from the date of award, consisting generally of three months for administrative onboarding and project planning, 12 months for technical field work, and three months for report completion with no new work. Required post-award activities include a kickoff meeting, work plan, monthly progress updates, quarterly progress reports, data and analysis packages, field reports, a prey species monitoring protocol, a final comprehensive report, annual Federal property inventories, and records and data management. David Leptien, USACE Project Manager, may be contacted at david.b.leptien@usace.army.mil or 402-889-5570. Additional technical contacts are Andrea Gilstad at Andrea.Gilstad.1@us.af.mil or 907-384-0276 and Christopher Garner at christopher.garner.9@us.af.mil or 907-384-2479. The source does not state that this solicitation recurs on an annual or other regular application cycle.

Demonstrate direct alignment with the program objectives; feature the qualifications of the Principal Investigator prominently; emphasize the most relevant prior projects and experience; provide concrete evidence of technical and organizational capability to perform the work; demonstrate the required eDNA, laboratory, bioinformatics, data management, and collaborative research capabilities; be prepared for a full-proposal turnaround potentially limited to five business days.