SPECIAL NOTICE
B -- Notice of Intent to Negotiate a Sole Source Contract With Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
- Notice Date
- 5/8/2009
- Notice Type
- Synopsis
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- 7600 Sand Point Way, Northeast Seattle WA 98115-6349
- ZIP Code
- 98115-6349
- Solicitation Number
- AB133F-09-RP-0103
- Response Due
- 6/23/2009
- Point of Contact
- Crystina R Elkins, Phone (206) 526-6036
- E-Mail Address
-
crystina.r.elkins@noaa.gov
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This publication serves as a notice of intent to negotiate a sole source contract with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) for a comprehensive study of North Pacific right whales. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Marine Mammal Laboratory has a requirement for a comprehensive study of North Pacific right whales as follows: Right whales (Eubalaena japonica) in the eastern North Pacific rank as the world’s smallest and most critically endangered whale population. Following intensive historical whaling and large illegal catches by the USSR in the 1960's, it is likely that eastern North Pacific right whales now number in the tens of animals, and their conservation is a high priority for NMFS. Research to assess abundance, trend, vital rates and feeding ecology is urgently needed, since very little is known about this population. In 2004, tracking of a satellite-tagged right whale together with acoustic detections led to the discovery of a concentration of an estimated 23 right whales, the largest such aggregation observed since the Soviet catches of the 1960's. Work by AFSC and others has focused on attempting to gather basic data on right whales, using a combination of photo-identification and genetic sampling methods. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute will perform basic oceanographic sampling for habitat characterization focusing on the foraging ecology study of right whales utilizing the Realtime Acoustic Tracking System (RATS), the custom-designed acoustic tag and accompanying integrative protocols have been developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. There is presently no other way to collect accurate positions of the tagged whale and transmit those positions in real time (other than the RATS system), which facilitates environmental sampling very close to the tagged whale, and proximate acoustic observations to allow recording of both the tagged whale's vocalizations as well as nearby whales. This system has been used with great success in very similar studies of North Atlantic right whales, which are regarded as a direct proxy for right whales in the North Pacific. As a result, WHOI alone possesses the equipment, the approach and the taxon-specific experience to successfully conduct the study NMML/AFSC proposed. The only other method available in marine mammal science to estimate movement data while simultaneously collecting acoustic data is a digital acoustic recording tag with integrated accelerometers. For the NP Right Whale study, this type of tag will not allow us to achieve our objectives because (1) it cannot transmit whale positions in real time, therefore it is impossible to track the whale close enough to do the required environmental sampling that will allow us to determine what the whale is feeding on and how its dive behavior is influenced by oceanographic conditions, and (2) on-animal acoustic recordings are adversely affected by flow noise such that recordings can only be made of the tagged whale and whales that are within a few hundred meters of the tagged whales. One of the hypotheses that we want to test is that the whales communicate over several kilometers to advertise food resources, therefore the acoustic recording system must be able to record animal vocalizations from several kilometers away. Digital recording tags cannot do this, whereas the RATS was designed specifically to do this. The Government intends to negotiate a firm fixed price contract with the period of performance commencing approximately July 1, 2009 and includes two (2) option periods. The NAICS code for this procurement is 541990 with a corresponding size standard of $6.5M. This notice represents the only official notice of this solicitation. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals; however, all submittals received by the due set forth in this notice will be considered by the Government. A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. It is the Government’s belief that only Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI)can provide these services. However, other potential sources with the expertise and required capabilities to provide these services may submit such data which demonstrates the technical requirements stated above in duplicate no later than 10 calendar days from the date of the posting of this announcement. This data must include sufficient information to allow NOAA to evaluate the proposal relative to the technical requirements stated above. Offerors should include a description of significant collaboration and subcontracting that will be required to provide technically acceptable deliverables. No cost or pricing data is required. Responses shall be faxed to Crystina Elkins at (206)526-6036 or provided by e-mail to Crystina.R.Elkins@noaa.gov. THIS NOT A SOLICITATION. All contractors doing business with the Government are now required to be registered in CCR please access the following web site:http//www.ccr.gov. In order to register with the CCR and to be eligible to receive an award, all offerors must have a Dunn & Bradstreet Number. A Dunn & Bradstreet number may be acquired free of charge by contacting Dunn & Bradstreet on-line at https://www.dnb.com/product/eupdate/requestOptions.html or by phone at (800) 333-0505. This procurement also requires offerors to complete the On-Line Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) at https://orca.bpn.gov/. NOTE: THIS NOTICE WAS NOT POSTED TO FEDBIZOPPS ON THE DATE INDICATED IN THE NOTICE ITSELF (08-MAY-2009); HOWEVER, IT DID APPEAR IN THE FEDBIZOPPS FTP FEED ON THIS DATE. PLEASE CONTACT 877-472-3779 or fbo.support@gsa.gov REGARDING THIS ISSUE.
- Web Link
-
Link To Document
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOC/NOAA/WASC/AB133F-09-RP-0103/listing.html)
- Record
- SN01812634-F 20090510/090509165653 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |