Environment and Protected Areas - Request for Proposal - NORTHWEST REGION AERIAL UNGULATE SURVEYS FOR WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT

Alberta Environment and Protected Areas (EPA), Fish and Wildlife Stewardship, requires rotary-wing contracts to transport EPA staff to remote sites to achieve program objectives for ungulate monitoring within the Northwest region of Alberta. Estimates of population size and composition, and the monitoring of population trend is integral to the careful management and conservation of species, as well as required to inform sustainable allocation of game species. Surveys are conducted using Distance Sampling and/or total minimum count, depending on the ungulates being surveyed. Pilots should have experience flying these types of wildlife surveys, and provide detailed examples (area, species and # of hours flown) within their resumes. This contract will be used to facilitate survey work in Northwestern Alberta, primarily within the Peace Parkland data analysis unit (DAU) made up of Wildlife Management Units (WMU) 527, 526, 523, 522, 521, 360, 359, 358, and 357 (Figure 1), and additionally to support contingency units within the Northwest region. Alberta Environment and Protected Areas requires the flexibility to work beyond designated WMU boundaries. This arrangement allows biologists the flexibility to adjust to annual circumstances such as weather conditions and reallocated funding or priority changes. Similarly, the allocated funding for these surveys may be modified to adjust to changing requirements. The surveys in the Northwest region will require a total of four helicopter(s) with experienced pilot(s), to provide a low altitude, low airspeed viewing platform for EPA staff to safely classify ungulates into age and sex categories based on visual features (ex. size, antlers, vulva patches). Multiple aircraft may operate concurrently or independently. The required number of aircraft may be delivered by one company or by multiple companies. Companies must provide bids for all listed base(s) as per the Fixed Hourly Rate table in Attachment 3 to Appendix C. Bases of operation for this work may include Peace River, Grande Prairie, Manning, Worsley, High Prairie, Slave Lake, and Valleyview. Contracts will be valid through to March 31, 2026. Multiple contracts may arise from this RFP and may be awarded in such a way to ensure sufficient operational coverage across the entire Northwest region. Suitable weather conditions are a limiting factor for these surveys (e.g. adequate snow cover, appropriate temperature, visibility, precipitation, and wind conditions). To ensure safe and effective delivery of surveys, we expect the successful Proponent(s) to communicate regularly throughout the survey season to identify suitable opportunities to achieve project objectives. The estimated total number of hours required to complete surveys represented by this RFP will be 150 flying hours. Proponents must review insurance clauses set out in the sample contract (Appendix A, Section 4) and ensure all requirements can be met before submitting a Proposal. Proof of adherence to insurance clauses will be required prior to signing of the final contract. The maximum capacity of the Proponent to deliver on concurrent Proposals, with the minimum requirements outlined in this RFP should be provided. At a minimum, this should include the number of pilots and aircraft that meet the minimum requirements specified in this RFP, and if applicable, any constraints that may exist throughout the proposed contract period. Figure 1. Map of the survey area, within the Northwest region of Alberta. Identified Base locations are labelled on this map (Peace River, Grande Prairie, Manning, Worsley, High Prairie, Slave Lake, and Valleyview)