Status report for the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) on Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in the Fraser River watershed of British Columbia

Status report for the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) on Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in the Fraser River watershed of British Columbia

Intellectual Property 

The Crown has determined that any intellectual property arising from the performance of the Work under the Contract will vest in Canada, on the following grounds: 

6.4 	    Where the main purpose of the Crown Procurement Contract, or of the 
          deliverables contracted for, is:

6.4.1  To generate knowledge and information for public dissemination; 
	
	Purpose:   

This contract is for professional services to prepare a status report for the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) on Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in the Fraser River watershed of British Columbia. The report will be used as the basis for a COSEWIC assessment of the status of this species. 

Background:    

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assesses which wild species, including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fishes, arthropods, molluscs, vascular plants, mosses, and lichens, are at risk of extinction or extirpation from Canada and to what degree. Assessments are based on comprehensive wildlife species status reports on each wildlife species. Contracts are administered via the COSEWIC Secretariat housed in Environment Canada.

COSEWIC status reports commissioned after May 2001 are "living documents." After the report is concluded, any subsequent updates to status reports will be prepared simply by adding new information to the existing report and, where appropriate, updating factual information. COSEWIC will be cited as the author on the report's cover page (ownership and copyright will rest with the Crown). Report Writers who produce the initial status report or, in the future, who add information to the "living document" to produce an updated status report, will be acknowledged as having prepared the status report. Over time, the Acknowledgements will list the contributors (Report Writers) who have provided their expertise. 

At the request of Environment Canada, the contractor will provide to the Crown a written permanent waiver of Moral Rights  from all authors of the report, in a form acceptable to Environment Canada. 

The contractor will be granted a license to use, copy, reproduce and publish portions of the Provisional Report provided that 1) the Contractor will not publish the entire Provisional Report, or distribute it to any third party, and 2) the Contractor acknowledges that the Crown has contributed Crown Copyright in the Provisional Report and includes the following notice and disclaimer in any new document which incorporates portions of the report: “Notice: Some of the information used or referenced in this document is Crown Copyright, compiled on behalf of COSEWIC under a contract with Environment Canada, however, comments or conclusions made by the author using this information do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Environment Canada or COSEWIC.”

COSEWIC has determined that Fraser River Sockeye Salmon are a priority for assessment, and the status report that is the subject of this contract will be the basis for the COSEWIC assessment.

Scope:

The scope of this contract is to support COSEWIC in its role under the Species at Risk Act, to assess risk of extinction or extirpation for Canadian species.

Objectives:   
	
Compile and analyze the best available information pertaining to the status of all Designatable Units of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River drainage, to prepare a COSEWIC status report that will be used by COSEWIC to evaluate the status of all Fraser River Designatable Units of Sockeye Salmon. Note, information on recognizing Designatable Units can be found on the COSEWIC website at: http://www.cosewic.gc.ca/eng/sct2/sct2_5_e.cfm  
.  

Statement of Work:

The contractor (“Report Writer”) will use the best available information on the Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in the Fraser River drainage, including scientific, community, and Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge (ATK) to write a comprehensive status report that will form the basis of an assessment on the status of the Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in the Fraser River drainage in Canada.

The content and format of the report will conform to the Information for Preparing COSEWIC Status Reports found on the COSEWIC web page http://www.cosewic.gc.ca, which specifies headings, the content under each heading, range maps, other figures, and appendices.  The report will also follow the more specific guidelines used by the Marine Fishes Subcommittee of COSEWIC.  The Report Writer will also be required to use the typographic and editorial style set out in these instructions. Any illustrations or graphics used must be originals prepared by the Report Writer or, if not, appropriate authorization of their use must be obtained and clearly cited in the report. 

The Report Writer will be expected to actively seek out all relevant and important existing sources of scientific, community, and ATK. In addition to other sources of information, the Report Writer will contact the COSEWIC representative(s) for the jurisdiction(s) and relevant Wildlife Management Boards responsible for the wildlife species, recovery team co-chairs (as applicable) and the appropriate Conservation Data Centre to obtain the most recent information on the wildlife species.  Contact information for the above agencies / organizations is provided in the Instructions for preparing COSEWIC Status Reports. 

The Report Writer is required to contact the COSEWIC Secretariat at least two months before the deliverable due date of the draft report (contact information is provided in the Instructions for preparing COSEWIC Status Reports) to obtain detailed instructions and ensure that methodologies and concepts are applied correctly and consistently in the preparation of wildlife species distribution maps and the calculations of extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, and index of area of occupancy.  Much of this information has been compiled in reports by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), which provide starting points that will need to be updated and tailored to the relevant Designatable Units and timelines used in the status report.  In addition, the Report Writer must submit to the COSEWIC Secretariat all survey data (wildlife species observations / time series, localities, search effort), whether collected during fieldwork performed in the course of writing the status report or obtained from other sources.  Every effort should be made to ensure that the data obtained from these sources can be transferred to COSEWIC by obtaining proper permissions.

In 2005, COSEWIC initiated an effort to solicit community knowledge on species for which status reports are commissioned. COSEWIC may receive information on species from the Community Knowledge section of its website http://www.cosewic.gc.ca/eng/sct6/sct6_7_e.cfm. Information obtained through this source, including additional contact names, will be forwarded to the Report Writer for consideration and incorporation into the status report.

It is the responsibility of Report Writers to include ATK relevant to the wildlife species status assessment. This will be facilitated through the ATK Subcommittee, which has reports on ATK for this species, and which will also review any ATK gathered by the Report Writer. All holders of ATK contacted must be appropriately acknowledged. Report Writers must contact the COSEWIC Secretariat ATK coordinator before commencing work on the status report. Contact information for the ATK coordinator and more information about gathering ATK are provided in the Instructions for preparing COSEWIC Status Reports.

Once completed, the report will be subjected to the COSEWIC’S standard review process. The Draft Report, after receiving approval by the relevant COSEWIC Species Specialist Subcommittee (SSC) Co-chair, will be reviewed by the relevant SSC members, the ATK Subcommittee, the jurisdiction(s), relevant Wildlife Management Boards, recovery team co-chairs (as applicable) and any other external reviewers recommended by the SSC. Comments and suggestions will be forwarded to the Report Writer with instructions from the SSC Co-chair for changes that must be incorporated to produce the Provisional Report.  Another review of the report will follow, and the Report Writer will be given specific instructions for modification of the report to produce the Post-Provisional Report based on comments from the review.  At this point the contract is concluded.  Following the COSEWIC assessment, a final document entitled COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report will be published on the SARA public registry (http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/) and /or archived at the COSEWIC Secretariat.


Project Description and Deliverables, and Milestone Payment:

A detailed proposed schedule of deliverables and payments should be included in the bid submission. The schedule for submitting deliverables will be finalized following negotiations between the successful bidder, the Marine Fishes SSC Co-Chair, and the COSEWIC Secretariat. For all payments, the deliverable must first be approved as acceptable by the Co-Chair. If there are changes required prior to acceptance, the contractor will receive these within 2-8 weeks (lengthier review period will apply to draft and final reports) and will have 1 month to make the changes. Suggested key deliverables are provided below.

All work should be submitted in electronic format. 

1.	Draft Status Report accepted by Species Specialist Subcommittee (SSC) Co-chair, and submission of raw data for all graphs and tables in Excel spreadsheet format. Normally, payment of 60% of total professional fees will be paid upon completion of this deliverable.
	
2.	Provisional Status Report accepted by the SSC Co-chair, which incorporates all changes pursuant to the review of the Draft Report. Normally, payment of 30% of total professional fees will be paid upon completion of this deliverable.

3.	Post-Provisional Status report, accepted by the SSC Co-chair, which incorporates all changes pursuant to the review of the Provisional Status Report. Normally, payment of 10% of total professional fees will be paid upon completion of this deliverable.



Project Cost 

Total value of contract not to exceed $40,000.00 (excluding GST/HST).