A--TRIBAL CUMULATIVE IMPACTS (TCI) RESEARCH SUPPORT Contract

Pre-Solicitation Notice of Intent to Award Sole Source to Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians for the requirement titled TRIBAL CUMULATIVE IMPACTS (TCI) RESEARCH SUPPORT under Solicitation 68HERC25R0046 The Government hereby submits a notice of intent for an anticipated five-year contract for research support for a pilot study in collaboration with the Bad River Band to explore cumulative environmental impacts on community-level health. This government-to-government partnership and resulting pilot study titled Tribal Cumulative Impacts (TCI) will be guided by culturally relevant participatory research approaches grounded in decolonizing and transdisciplinary methodology. Specifically, partners will seek to quantify cumulative environmental exposures, from chemical and non-chemical stressors, across several socio-environmental domains (i.e., air, water, land, built, sociodemographic) and other culturally significant domains identified by the Bad River Band. Initial scoping discussions between partners suggest the domains to be reflective of the Four Orders of Creation air, water, land, fire as well as spirituality, built environment, and sociodemographic factors. The partnership will also seek to assess associations with cumulative environmental exposures and health outcomes at the community-level. Our project will be viewed as animate alive and act as a building block to benefit future generations and a greater good for the Bad River Band by providing information, training, and tools to support public health planning and decision making. Therefore, all deliverables will recognize the Tribal Sovereignty and self-determination of the Bad River Band to foster culturally informed environmental management strategies and health interventions from a seventh-generation perspective. We also strive to produce living deliverables (i.e., data sets, models, frameworks, curriculum templates) that can be adapted over time to meet future needs. EPA requires the services of The Bad River Band due to its experience doing human-health related studies and it being the only source with ownership of relevant historic data collected on their lands, the expertise in data collection and analysis of pollution from local sources, and its standing in the community to foster Community Engagement for this Environmental Justice project. This sole source contracting action shall be supported by a sole source justification and approval, pursuant to FAR 6.302-1 Only One Responsible Source, 41 U.S. Code 3304(a)(1). This notice of use of noncompetitive procedures and the intent to award to Bad River Band constitutes a synopsis for this requirement. The total estimated value is $1.1M. Responses to this notice must demonstrate clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government, would not be cost or time prohibitive and would not hinder the mission objective of this requirement. The determination not to compete this proposed contract action is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered for the purposes of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. The Government will not be responsible for any costs incurred by responding to this notice. This is NOT a request for quotes or proposals. Point of contract for this requirement is Matthew Growney, Contracting Officer. Any inquiries should be emailed to the Contracting Officer at growney.matthew@epa.gov.