Offshore RFPs

The University of Northern British Columbia's purchasing website contains some very important documents with respect to offshore oil and gas development in the Queen Charlottes. April 18th is the closing date for proposals for research that may play an important role in any offshore oil and gas development in the Queen Charlotte Basin. One, two, three, four is not a cheer but the closing times, one hour apart, on April 18th for interested bidders.

UNBC was given a $2 million grant from the Minister of Energy and Mines for a research program on offshore oil and gas exploration and development issues. The grant was announced on May 1, 2002, almost a year ago, in a news release that carried the headline "No Scientific Basis for Moratorium on Offshore Oil and Gas". Those who have read the reports know that they basically argue that engineers can do anything if they are given enough money. It is another question whether they can do offshore exploration and development in a manner that is both safe and economically feasible.

Bidding closes at 1:00 PM on April 18th for what amounts to a review of the literature and the community knowledge (oral history) on "the state of knowledge and current initiatives regarding highly valued marine and shore line areas on the Queen Charlotte Basin in relation to potential offshore oil and gas." (See http://www.unbc.ca/purchasing/pdf/RFP02-689.pdf.) The idea seems to be to identify those areas where offshore developers "shouldn't even consider going". Some might simply answer by saying all of the Basin, but the implication is that there are some particular areas that should be identified for protection.

The RFP document says that "The review must critically address the completeness and validity of inferences and conclusions of other recent reviews including the Scientific Panel Report and the BC Government Caucus Offshore Oil and Gas Task Force." Just imagine the future career prospects for a researcher that is bold enough to demolish those reports!

Bidding closes at 2:00 PM for a proposal "to prepare a review of the state of knowledge and current initiatives regarding community and socioeconomic implications of potential offshore oil and gas in the Queen Charlotte Basin". (See http://www.unbc.ca/purchasing/pdf/RFP02-690.pdf.) The successful bidder will review the economic and social costs and benefits of the "offshore play" collaboratively with the communities of the Basin, and together with community representatives will travel to one or more other coastal areas where offshore oil and gas development has taken place. Travel costs are not to be included in the bid price as UNBC will pick up those costs separately. The timeframe for completion of this monumental task is three months!

Bidding closes at 3:00 PM for a proposal "to prepare a review of the health of marine and estuarine ecosystems of the Queen Charlotte Basin". ( See http://www.unbc.ca/purchasing/pdf/RFP02-691.pdf.) The RFP document acknowledges the need for a comprehensive baseline or benchmark review of all of the Basin's ecosystems and comments that such reviews "would be an enormous undertaking". Nevertheless, the successful bidder is supposed to "create a community-friendly presentation of results to enable local people to be part on an ongoing dialogue" and then "design and recommend a course of action to significantly improve shared knowledge about the health of marine and estuarine ecosystems." As is the case for the previous studies, this enormous task is to be completed in just three months!

Last, but not least, bidding closes at 4:00 PM for a proposal "to develop a strategy and approach for a BC offshore oil and gas public information, knowledge and learning system". (See http://www.unbc.ca/purchasing/pdf/RFP02-692.pdf.) The RFP document makes it clear that this study is also to be a collaborative effort with the community leading to between 4 and 6 half day sessions in Basin communities that will be "independently organized and facilitated". The successful bidder is to prepare a report for the community meetings that discusses what data is needed, what data exists and "reviews state-of-the-art approaches to knowledge management". One source of data the researcher may find interesting is the February 2003 Speech from the Throne that stated "By 2010, your government wants to have an offshore oil and gas industry that is up and running, environmentally sound, and booming with job creation." No wonder the successful bidders are given so little time to do such enormous tasks. The decision is already made.