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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS N CJl 0> w This report is submitted pursuant to Public Law 104-20 of July 28, 1995, an act to amend the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act of 1974, This amendment requires the Secretary of the Interior to submit a planning report to the appropriate committees of Congress concerning the new, basinwide approach to salinity control established by section 202(a)(6) of the Act, Reclamation may not expend funds until the expiration of a 30-day period beginning on the date the Secretary of the Interior submits such report, This report is intended to meet that requirement, Reclamation plans to administer its basinwide program established by P,L, 104-20 through existing procurement techniques and established regulations, As an alternative to adopting new regulations, Reclamation will solicit proposals and award funding through a formal RFP process. This is a competitive, negotiated procurement process with established rules and regulations, A conceptual example of an RFP is appended to this report, Essentially, the RFP would request proposals from the public and private sector to control salinity, The proposals would be ranked based on their cost to prevent salt from entering the river system, The ranking would also consider risk factors that might affect the project's performance, Cost effectiveness will be computed on a cost-per-ton basis and include all potential costs to the program, Risk factors will evaluate performance risks to the program and be used to adjust the ranking of projects, The proposals will be ranked by a ranking committee, Committee members will be selected to avoid any conflict of interest that would bias their choices, The ranking committee members will individually and collectively evaluate and rank the proposals, The ranking committee will include representatives from the Federal Government and the Basin States, Finally, Reclamation will attempt to negotiate the final terms of an agreement with the highest ranked proponents, This agreement may be a grant, cooperative agreement, or formal contract depending upon the circumstances and judgment of the contracting officer, Negotiations may be terminated if the final terms are not acceptable to Reclamation, Reclamation will conduct a limited test of the ranking portion of the process and award fiscal year 1996 funds to sponsors of projects that are ready for implementation, Funding commitments under this test will be limited to those funds available in FY 1996, No commitments will be made for out- year funding until the full RFP process is completed later in 1996. Small projects will be selected from alternatives that are ready for implementation and can be completed within the 1996 timeframe, This test will be used to refine ranking procedures included in the RFP, As appropriate, 24