RFP The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Microchemistry Analysis

Proposal Submission Deadline: April 07, 2017
Tentative Award Selection: 14 business days after submission deadline
Project Initiation: Approximately May-June 2017

Request for Clarification: Contractors may submit requests for clarification via email by 03/20/2017 at 5:00 p.m., local time (PT). The CRITFC will not consider any requests submitted after the time period specified above. Questions regarding the RFP or request for clarification shall be sent, via email, to rfq@critfc.org

Award and Contract: We will notify all Contractors, whether they are disqualified, rejected, or unsuccessful although responsive. All final specifications shall be negotiated and finalized by purchase order or contract. This RFP gives rise to no contractual obligations, implied or otherwise.

Review full proposal 2017 RFP FMGT HESJ ANALYSIS I

Indian Preference Act of 1934 (Title 25, USC, Section 47)

CRITFC is a subdivision of the tribal governments of the Warm Springs, Yakama, Umatilla, and Nez Perce tribes. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, CRITFC has been active in managing fisheries and putting fish back in the rivers since 1977. For more information on CRITFC please visit our website at www.critfc.org

Background
The objective of this RFP is to locate an individual or firm to assist the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission with professional laboratory services necessary for our Pacific lamprey project.

Pacific lamprey are an imperiled species of anadromous fish that have high cultural importance to the four Columbia River Treaty tribes. Willamette Falls (near Oregon City, OR, USA) is one of the few places in which the four tribes have been able to continue their long traditional practices of harvesting these fish. Despite recent declines in abundance of the population of adults that return annually to the Columbia River Basin, there are relatively large numbers of adults that migrate through Willamette Falls. These adults represent high diversity of genetic and body traits and migration timing.

Evidence of minimal population structuring across the Columbia River Basin and a large geographic region that spans the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. supports the notion that the abundance of adult Pacific lamprey at Willamette Falls may derive from the larval production of many natal streams distributed across a wide area and across multiple broodyears. Recent studies have determined a genetic basis for body size and migration timing traits, and led to some speculation that a variety of life history strategies may be exhibited among individuals that inhabit the Columbia River.

Project Description
We would like to use statolith microchemistry analysis to better understand the life history and geographic origins of adults that return to Willamette Falls.

Specifically we have collected statoliths (stored as frozen heads), from a set of 150 adult Pacific lamprey that were migrating through Willamette Falls in the summer of 2016. We also collected a set (N~50) of known origin juvenile Pacific lamprey that were outmigrating from the Snake River basin (interior Columbia River) in 2016. These adults were divided into four different groups according to sex and body length (i.e., short and long total body lengths).

Part II – Scope of Services
Using this sample of 200 heads, we require preparation of the statoliths for analysis to address the following three objectives:

1. Based on elemental signatures, are the natal origins different among groups of adults (and do any natal origins resemble the signature of the juveniles from the Snake River)?

2. Based on elemental signatures, are the ocean distributions different among groups of adults?

3. Based on distance in statolith between the freshwater-saltwater transition (Sr spike) and the statolith base, are there discernible differences in length of time spent in the ocean among groups of adults?

In addition, any insight into the total age of each adult fish would be highly beneficial.

CRITFC would like to receive a cost estimate for per sample cost of sorting, data preparation, and analysis as specified by the services requested above. If your lab is able to provide some or all of the metrics enumerated above, we would like to know that. If your lab is able to provide other metrics or standard services at no additional cost, we would like to know that also.