Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Procurement Operations Branch, MS2500, 381 Elden Street, Herndon, Virginia 20170-4817

B -- EVALUATION OF SUB-SEA PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTAL DATA FOR THE BEAUFORT SEA SOL 30985 DUE 042199 POC Wallace O. Adcox, Contracting Officer (703) 787-1362 E-MAIL: Contracting Officer's E-Mail, wallace.adcox@mms.gov. The Minerals Management Service of the Department of Interior intends to competitively award a contract for evaluation of sub-sea physical environmental data for the Beaufort Sea OCS. The purpose of this study is to integrate and interpret all of the available shallow geological and high-resolution geophysical data in the Beaufort Sea, Alaska in order to evaluate the shelf and shallow subsurface for environmental conditions, critical biological habitats, and potential archaeological sites. We anticipate awarding a cost-reimbursement contract that would require twenty-four (24) months for an estimated cost of between $300,000-$345,000. PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE NOTICE CAREFULLY AS IT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY NOTICE THAT WILL BE ISSUED. BACKGROUND: Critical biological habitats and potential archaeological sites in the Beaufort Sea are directly related to sea-floor morphology, substrate, and sediment cover; water depth; and the severity and cyclicity of dynamic physical processes. Recent exploration and development activities in the Beaufort Sea have highlighted the need for the careful interpretation, and in some cases, reinterpretation of shallow geological and high-resolution geophysical data in evaluating sea floor environmental conditions, critical biological habitats, and potential archaeological sites. The interpretation of such data was crucial in the EA evaluation and site selection of the Liberty 1 and Warthog exploration wells and in the EIS and environmental evaluation of the island site and pipeline route of the Liberty Island production facility. In addition, previously unknown potential archaeology sites and critical biological habitats (e.g. Boulder Patch) were discovered during these recent surveys. In light of these new discoveries, it is necessary for MMS Alaska Region to reevaluate existing data for characteristics and distribution of 1) critical biological habitats such as "Boulder Patch" communities in light of new finds and a better understanding of their mode of occurrence so that MMS can predict, and avoid or mitigate adverse affects to them and, 2) shore-fast ice areas; 3) surface and subsurface features of potential archeological sites. The Alaska Region anticipates more exploration and development in the Beaufort Sea including the construction of gravel and ice islands and sub-sea Arctic pipelines, many of which will be located near or adjacent to previously surveyed leases. Evolving MMS stakeholder awareness and concern demands a better understanding of the U.S. Arctic OCS environment including a more comprehensive and integrated assessment of the environment and all factors that may affect it. The approach of evaluating environmental conditions and habitats and marine archaeological potential from geological and geophysical data can be expanded to include all existing "geohazards" survey data across the Beaufort Shelf. Many of these surveys have, until recently, been held proprietary by the Field Operations Office, Alaska Region. MMS did not evaluate most of these data sets for environmental information, and those that were, were not correlated with others. Also, most were not interpreted for archaeological resources, which were deemed negligible in the last archaeological baseline study. The approach of looking at an integrated data set consisting of many individual, high-density, detailed, but uncorrelated surveys is extremely valuable in establishing regional models, and understanding sea floor ecology. This will allow us to extrapolate conditions into adjoining areas and predict new occurrences of critical habitats and potential archaeological sites and the processes that affect them. In the public domain, such geological and geophysical data consists predominantly of U.S. Geological Survey reconnaissance seismic lines collected in the 1970's-1980's. These regional data consist of paper records and microfiche and are generally widely separated, of irregular quality, and are not integrated into a single correlative database. In addition, public data is often lost, misplaced, aged and fragile, or of poor reproductive quality. The creation of a unified database of separate detailed "geohazards" surveys will increase the value and usefulness of the public data as "tie-lines" for correlation between the areas of site surveys. Much of the industry interest and current lease holdings are in areas that were previously leased and subsequently relinquished. Some of these previously leased blocks have been surveyed and their data would be of great value for current or planned activities. High resolution geophysical and shallow geologic data contain useful information on sea floor and shallow subsurface conditions, which MMS can evaluate for features directly related to biological habitats, such as "Boulder Patch" communities, or directly to processes affecting biological communities, such as ice gouging, strudel scour, shore-fast ice, and bottom currents. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: The goal for this study is to have the contractor interpret all of the available high resolution seismic data and shallow subsurface geologic data for the Beaufort Sea Outer Continental Shelf in Alaska. The Contractor would develop the methodology to interpret and quantify in appropriate formats the environmental features found on the surface, and within shallow strata of the Beaufort Sea Shelf. In addition the Contractor would compile the data within a geospatial ORACLE/SDE (ESRI's Spatial Database Engine) database and develop an enhanced Graphical User Interface within ArcView/Spatial Analyst GIS/ for the interpretation of the data. The Contractor shall develop the database and analytical tools so that MMS analysts may: 1) Determine the location of archaeological sites within Federal OCS blocks; 2) Delineate and extrapolate the possible occurrence of critical biological habitats for avoidance or mitigation in future activities as per lease stipulations (i.e Boulder Patch or other hard substrates suitable for benthic communities); 3) Evaluate site and pipeline alternatives for EIS assessments; 4) Answer EIS/EA issues from Scoping and Public comments regarding oil spills from pipelines due to strudel scour, or ice gouging; 5) Answer EIS/EA issues from Scoping and Public comments about possible disturbance of archaeological resources; 6) Define historical sedimentation patterns and dynamic short- and long-term processes that could affect critical biological habitats; 7) Define the distribution of critical marine habitats (i.e., "Boulder Patch") in and around new and proposed exploration and development activities in the Beaufort Sea; 8) Demonstrate to the public which data are being interpreted for the NEPA analysis; 9) Respond to questions regarding the potential effects of Development activities in the Beaufort Sea when baseline information is sketchy at best; 10) Assist in the developing a monitoring program for future oil and gas development sites; 11) Develop new geospatial data formats that can be included for all new geohazard surveys done on the Alaska OCS. The contractor will develop methodologies to analyze the sub-sea environmental database using Geographic Information System ArcView/Spatial Analyst (GIS), ORACLE/SDE and statistical package. The data collection is for the Federal OCS, State of Alaska waters of the Beaufort Sea Continental Shelf from Barrow, Alaska to the Canadian border. DESCRIPTION OF WORK: TASKS DESCRIPTIONS: TASK 1 -- INVENTORY AND DIGITALLY COMPILE ALL HIGH-RESOLUTION SEISMIC NAVIGATION, SEISMIC DATA, GEOLOGIC CORE AND SAMPLE DATA ON THE BEAUFORT SEA SHELF. SUBTASK 1A -- INVENTORY AND DATA COLLECTION OF NON-DIGITAL AND DIGITAL DATASETS: 1) Develop a plan to obtain all of the high-resolution seismic navigation, seismic records, and geologic data for the Beaufort Sea Shelf. This will include compiling a list of all Federal OCS, and State of Alaska seismic and geologic permits. This task will in addition include gathering all such data from any research by public (e.g., U.S Geological Survey) or private institutions. 2) Develop a list of companies and organizations that have ownership rights to the data. This list will include recent addresses, telephone numbers and contacts; 3) Write a letter to each company and organization requesting the release of the data to MMS for the purposes of this project. This letter will contain the following sections: Introduction, Project Background, Project Objectives and Data Request. The letter should request the permission to use all shotpoint navigation files and high-resolution seismic data records collected for all high-resolution seismic surveys in the Beaufort Sea, Alaska; 4) Edit the letter based upon MMS internal comments; 5) Prepare a final letter for signature by the Regional Director of Alaska Region of MMS; 6) Develop a system to track the acquisition of the data; 7) Request in writing all data. SUBTASK 1B -- COMPILE THE GEOPHYSICAL AND GEOLOGIC DATA INTO A SINGLE GEOSPATIAL FORMAT COMPATIBLE WITH THE LATEST VERSIONS OF ARCVIEW GIS ORACLE/SDE SOFTWARE: 1) All navigation shotpoint files are to be incorporated into a single GIS Geospatial navigation database for highresolution seismic data for Federal and State of Alaska waters. The navigation files will include all seismic lines, line numbers, shotpoints, and shotpoint numbers. The Contractor will compile the navigation files from all digital and paper copies of the shotpoint navigation lines. The digital files of navigation will be checked against the paper copies for their accuracy. The Contractor will research all available sources for a complete list of this information: 2) All navigation data will be evaluated for its precision. The contractor must obtain all available seismic records (originals if possible) and link that data to the appropriate navigation. All data should be QA/QCed and problems identified and resolved. The contractor will identify the type of instruments used to collect data from all surveys (e.g. Sub-bottom Profiler, Mini-Sparker, Precision Fathometer, Side Scan Sonar, navigation system etc..). The margin of error will be defined for all navigation systems used. The projection of the original data will also be defined. SUBTASK 1C -- GEOLOGIC CORE AND WELL DATA: All shallow core, shallow subsurface drilling data and other sample data (e.g., A Van Veen clam-shell sampler) will be inventoried for the Alaska Beaufort Sea. The location of the geologic sample data will be spatially located in a database and provided with a unique ID number. The data to be compiled will be: type of collection tool, sediment type, depth, age, marine/non-marine/transitional and sediment's physical characteristics, if available. Fields within the database will be constructed to populate the database. The database will also include any data from geophysical logs that may define the physical characteristics of the shallow sediment layer. SUBTASK 1D -- INTEGRATION OF CORE AND GEOPHYSICAL DATA: All of the geologic sample and geophysical seismic navigation, and seismic records will be linked and integrated for correlation and analysis purposes. TASK 2 -- DEVELOP PROCEDURES TO INTEGRATE AND ANALYZE THE GEOPHYSICAL AND GEOLOGICAL DATA COLLECTED WITHIN TASK 1: Develop standardized and scientifically recognized procedures to interpret all sub-sea environmental data within this study. This task should include reviewing all available interpretive reports for consistency in the evaluation of the data. This task will include digitizing all available hazard data from geohazard reports in the MMS security vault. These digitized features will be converted and compiled into ArcView Shapefiles. The digitizing of maps will include 1) Bathymetry; 2) Near Surface Sediments; 3) Shallow Structure/Faulting; 4) Ice Gouging; 5) Strudel Scour; 6) Channeling/depth of channel. TASK 3 -INVENTORY AND DIGITALLY COMPILE SEA ICE AND BATHYMETRIC DATASETS: 1) Compile available pertinent data from the study AReference Manual and GIS Geospatial Database of Oil -Industry and Other Human Activity (1979-1998) in the Beaufort Sea (Contract # 30915). (Samples of the data sets will be provided in the Fall/Winter, 1999); 2) Compile a database of point data for allbathymetric soundings in the Beaufort Sea for the study area. 3) Compile a database of sea ice coverages that can be used to differentiate fast ice from pack ice and provide information on ice direction to the highest possible resolution. TASK 4 -- DEVELOP DATABASE DESIGN/ANALYSIS TOOLS AND IMPORT FORMS: 1) Develop a relational database structure for the Sub-Sea Environmental Database using the most recent version of ORACLE for aspatial data and ESRI's Spatial Database Engine (SDE) for spatial data; 2) This effort will expand the CORIS data structure; 3) Develop system processes, develop business rules, develop Entity Relationship (ER) diagrams, determine database size, design database structures, define fields, produce field name definitions, define field domains, develop field parameters, and produce a data dictionary; 4) Develop tools to analyze the data within ArcView, ORACLE, and SDE. Data formats will be established for all data sets and user-friendly routines developed in order to load new data sets into the ORACLE/SDE database; 5) Database query tools developed in ORACLE/SDE will provide the user with the capability to view and query the unique values for each field within the ORACLE tables. A start-up script will link all of the tables within the relational database so that all shapefiles and ORACLE attributes from those shapefiles may be queried and analyzed; 6) Develop system processes; ER diagrams complete with business rules, constraints, and relationships between entities; determine and document database size for Oracle as well as SDE database; field definitions, domains, and parameters; a data dictionary; a relational database structure in ORACLE; SDE layer definitions; a preliminary set of interface tools; and a preliminary set of SQL forms to load new data. TASK 4A -- METADATA SOURCE FILE: 1) Develop a metadata source file for all date sets; 2) Describe the origin and quality of all data and its reliability for interpreting such data; 3) Link the metadata files to a separate field, so thatthe user can make quick access to the reference. TASK 5 -- INTERPRETATION OF SEISMIC AND GEOLOGIC DATA: Review all spatial data from published and non published reports and studies beginning with all of the geohazard studies contained within the MMS vault. Compile the spatial data from the geohazard reports into ArcView shapefiles by digitizing the interpreted data and their attributes from the hard copy maps and any available digital files. Interpret all high-resolution geophysical data, including side scan sonar records and shallow core, sediment sampling, diving observations for all sub-sea environmental features. Establish database structure and define field names and field values based upon the interpreted data and other information from all known geohazard reports. ICE GOUGES: Map the location, extent, and physical characteristics of all ice gouges identified on the seismic records. The physical parameters of each scour will include but are not limited to scour depth, width, length, area, maximum age, sediment type, data quality, date, instrument, data source (accuracy of instrument), comments. STRUDEL SCOUR: The Contractor shall also: 1) Map the extent and distribution of strudel scour on the Beaufort Sea Shelf; 2) Determine the physical dimensions of these scour features; 3) Examine the seismic stratigraphic signature of these beds and determine the likely age of the scours. 4) Define the sediment characteristics and seismic signature of these deposits as best as possible interpreted from core data. OCEANOGRAPHIC/METEOROLOGICAL DATA OF BATHYMETRY AND SEA ICE SEA ICE COVERAGE: Near shore Ice Cover Conditions and Ice Motion: Provide a database of ice conditions per month that will include those years that ice gouge data had been collected. This database will distinguish if possible those areas of fast ice conditions from those areas of pack ice for any year, month, date. If possible, it will also provide all available information on the direction of ice sheet movement for month or by the highest possible temporal resolution. BATHYMETRY: Compile all bathymetric data from all available sources of information for the Beaufort Sea from Pt Barrow, Alaska to the Canadian border. This will include compiling all bathymetric data from: 1) National Ocean Services (NOS) marine hydrographic surveys in the Beaufort Sea; 2) The study titled AReference Manual and GIS Geospatial Database of Oil-Industry and other Human Activity (1979-1998) in the Beaufort Sea"; 3) Detailed Interpretation of all high-resolution seismic records in the Beaufort Sea; 4) Reported bathymetric data from all geohazard reports for the Beaufort Sea found in the MMS vault. This data will be compiled into ORACLE tables with unique ID, lat/long location, depth in meters, and source of data. All data will be quality controlled for its accuracy. Tidal correction will be applied for all bathymetric data where that information is known. SURFICIAL AND SHALLOW SUBSURFACE GEOLOGY, SHALLOW SEISMIC STRATIGRAPHY: Describe the seismic stratigraphy of at least four mapped correlatable horizons beneath the Beaufort Sea Outer Continental Shelf. Map the recent sedimentary strata to define major transgressions and regressions, coastline changes, stratigraphy, sediment thickness and type for that period. Map the stratigraphic sedimentary sequences associated with Holocene and Pleistocene age strata. Map the lateral extent and thickness of the coarse grained sedimentary sequence(s) that correlate with the outcropping of the Boulder Patch on the inner Beaufort Shelf. Compile all spatial data and their attributes including Z values within a database for query and analysis. An across shelf seismic stratigraphic profile will be completed that illustrates the succession of stratigraphic sedimentary sequences during the Late Pliocene to Holocene time period. These horizons will be isopached and shapefiles created for each isopached interval.SEAFLOOR SEDIMENT CONDITIONS: Map the distribution of sediments by sediment type on the seafloor and within the shallow sub surface. Develop a look-up table of seafloor sediment types based upon the integrating geologic sample/ core data and geophysical data. Produce a database of all seafloor sediment types for query and analysis. Produce ArcView Shapefiles of seafloor sediment types. SHALLOW STRUCTURE, FAULTS, FOLDS, AND SEISMICITY: 1) Map the shallow structure beneath the Beaufort Sea shelf between Point Barrow and the Canadian border. The shallow horizons will contain important Plio/Pleistocene and Holocene time intervals; 2) Identify the shallow faulting on the seismic records and indicate the upthrown or downthrown distance and any movement along those faults; 3) Compile the spatial locations of all faults within a database along with the attributes of depth from surface, age of movement if known; 4) Identify the seismic events, their magnitude and depth from all historical records for the study area; 5) Compile the parameters for this data into a geospatial database to be accessed against other data within this project. SHALLOW GAS: 1) Compile all spatial data of shallow gas from all digital data, maps and reports beginning with the geohazard reports in the MMS vault; 2) From the evaluation of subsurface cores, geophysical seismic records and geophysical logs, map the occurrence of shallow gas beneath the shelf; 3) Integrate the data sets from all sources of information. ARCHAEOLOGY SITE DATA COLLECTION: MAP THE SUBSURFACE EXPRESSION OF ANCIENT ARCHEOLOGICAL FEATURES : 1) River valleys in the form of shallow subsurface paleo-channels; 2) Spits, Capes and Headlands: ancient look-out Posted 03/31/99 (W-SN314932). (0090)

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