Independent External Peer Reviews for the US Army Corps of Engineers

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT INDEPENDENT EXTERNAL PEER REVIEWS FOR US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS 1 Introduction The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) requires professional technical services in support of independent external peer reviews (IEPR) for its water resources projects. The Institute for Water Resources (IWR) and Humphreys Engineer Center Support Activity (HECSA) will administer blanket purchase agreements (BPA) on behalf of USACE to obtain these services. These BPAs will serve the needs of the entire USACE consistent with the general scope of work outlined below. The purpose of this BPA is to provide IEPR services to USACE for scientific assessments and water resource projects. The Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Bulletin M-05-03, “Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review,” (2004) and the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (WRDA 2007), as amended, mandate that certain scientific assessments and project studies conducted by USACE shall be subject to peer review by an independent panel of experts. In addition, these authorities and directives and related USACE guidance on review processes allow that USACE may choose to perform IEPR on certain work products. 1.1 Scope This PWS requires the Contractor to provide management and/or technical services in support of IEPR’s for water resources projects, scientific assessments and related work products consistent with OMB Bulletin M-05-03 and WRDA 2007, as amended, and related USACE guidance. For each order under this BPA, the Contractor will be required to establish a panel of experts, typically in accordance with the National Academy of Science’s (NAS) policy for selecting committee members, and manage peer reviews for project studies, scientific assessments and/or related work products. Specific requirements will be detailed in each order, but typically will include developing a work plan in coordination with USACE, establishing a panel of experts in accordance with specified requirements for expertise and applicable conflict of interest criteria, facilitating meetings among the panel and USACE staff, assessing the adequacy and acceptability of the methods used by USACE, considering any public comments submitted to USACE, submitting a final report that includes the panel’s full analysis of the project study, scientific assessment or work product, and managing and documenting the panel’s evaluation of USACE responses to the panel’s comments. Individual reviews may also include requirements for site visits and briefings to senior USACE officials as specified in each order. Specific types of project studies, scientific assessments and work products requiring IEPR services under this BPA are expected to include, but are not limited to the following: a. Reviews of specific project studies. Project studies typically requiring reviews include, but are not limited to feasibility studies, post-authorization change studies and dam safety modification studies. These reviews are sometimes referred to as “Type 1 IEPRs” to distinguish them from “Type 2 IEPRs” which are typically performed after the project study phase, during design and construction. The scope of information provided for Type 1 IEPRs will typically include, but is not limited to analyses and assumptions related to plan formulation, economics, biology and other environmental disciplines, hydrology, hydraulics, geotechnical, structural and other engineering disciplines, as well as the draft National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documentation and any public comments received by USACE. Expertise related to other scientific and engineering disciplines may be required as specified in individual calls. Specific USACE guidance related to reviews of project studies currently includes Engineering Circular (EC) 1165-2-217 and the USACE National Planning Centers of Expertise Type 1 IEPR Process Standard Operating Procedure (see 4.3, Applicable Directives). b. Reviews of specific project studies, scientific assessments and/or related work products by the Louisiana Water Resources Council (LWRC). Section 7009 of WRDA 2007 states that the LWRC: “shall serve as the exclusive peer review panel for activities conducted by the Corps of Engineers in the areas in the State of Louisiana declared as major disaster areas in accordance with section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170) in response to Hurricane Katrina or Rita of 2005.” Requirements for LWRC peer reviews are expected to be rare, but the requirement is still in force. USACE will provide the Contractor with the names of current LWRC members. As of 2026, it has been several years since USACE required an IEPR by the LWRC and the availability of the current members to participate in future reviews is unknown. Panels of experts established for LWRC reviews must be staffed from the current LWRC members, or as otherwise agreed to by USACE. Requirements under this BPA may also include selection of different experts to change the membership of the LWRC. Selection of new LWRC members may require coordination with USACE and the State of Louisiana. c. Reviews of models. Model reviews may be required at different stages of model development and usage. Specific requirements will be detailed in each order but will generally be similar to reviews of project studies as described above. Model reviews may require evaluation of code and model testing and typically require, but are not limited to evaluation of technical quality, system quality and usability. Technical quality criteria generally reflect the accuracy and precision with which the system and relevant science and theory are represented by the model code. System quality criteria generally reflect hardware and software considerations related to development, use and support of the model. Usability criteria generally reflect the ability of users to access the model, receive appropriate training, secu…