SPECIAL NOTICE
R -- CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT OF SATELLITE TAGS
- Notice Date
- 7/26/2010
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 561990
— All Other Support Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Western Region Acquisition Division, 7600 Sand Point Way, Northeast, Seattle, Washington, 98115-6349
- ZIP Code
- 98115-6349
- Solicitation Number
- WAD-10-17773
- Point of Contact
- Melvin N. Fondue, Phone: (206) 526-6043
- E-Mail Address
-
melvin.n.fondue@noaa.gov
(melvin.n.fondue@noaa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This publication serves as notice of intent to procure service from Cascadia Research located in Olympia, Washington for the US Department of Commerce, NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service. Statement of Work CINMS requires a contractor to construct a pair of satellite transmitter tags and deploy those tags and other data logging tags for the purpose of tracking the movement of endangered Fin Whales in and around the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. Construction of these instruments will add additional instruments to an existing inventory of tags that are used to evaluate whale movements as part of an ongoing project that evaluates behavioral responses of these whales to the hazard of approaching large vessels. The contractor will also work collaboratively with CINMS staff to deploy the instruments during research cruises. In addition to constructing and deploying the instruments, the contractor shall provide data and reports of their findings to CINMS. 1.1 Organization The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS), of the National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce (DOC) is a government agency charged with the mission of stewardship of living marine resources. 1.2 Background and Objectives The sanctuary provides scientific and technical support to NOS, NOAA and the DOC for the management, conservation, and wise-use of the CINMS marine resources. These resources include species listed under the Endangered Species Act - whose recovery is dependent on both an improvement in the status of populations and the mitigation of threats to those populations. Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) are widely appreciated as the second largest animal that has ever lived on this planet and as a species that has undergone profound depletion as a consequence of commercial whaling and other human impacts. Current stock status off the US west coast is listed as 2,316. A recent history of low numbers globally has lead to the species' protection under the Endangered Species Act as "endangered" well as listing under the Marine Mammal Protection Act as "depleted" & "strategic". They spend a significant fraction of the year within the boundaries of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) -- approx. June-November-- feeding on vast clouds of planktonic krill that occur in and around the sanctuary over that period. As such, they are clearly a living marine resource that the National Marine Sanctuary Act was drafted to preserve and manage. The Fall of 2007 saw 5 confirmed blue whale fatalities in the Southern California Bight. Since then there has been an additional blue whale fatality and three fin whale fatalities from ship strikes. Previously, the greatest number of great whale fatalities within an entire year on the west coast was three (1988 & 2002), and these were separated by hundreds of miles (Marin to San Diego County in 2002) and several months. The events of the last 3 years across a space focused on the Northern Channel Islands are anomalous and suggestive of a problem. In 2004 the National Marine Fisheries Service determined that an acceptable level for the Potential Biological Removal of this species as 1.4 whales per year in U. S. waters based on their current, endangered population status. Thus, 2007's loss is significant and suggests the need for some degree of monitoring to evaluate the status of the great whales in the sanctuary and the patterns of habitat use with an eye toward management of whale-ship interactions. An important component of addressing this need is research to understand how the whales react to the hazard of approaching ships. Animal-based data logging and telemetric instrumentation, customized for particular data types, provides information necessary to understand and track whale movements generally and their responses to the approach of large vessels in particular. Attaching these instruments to these large animals requires specific skills to ensure the functional application of the tags as well as maintenance of safety of the animals and the human researchers. The work performed in this project will include: 1.2.1 Construction of two satellite tags to add to current tag inventory and 1.2.2 The deployment of the tags on animals in and around the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. 2.0 Technical Requirements 2.1 Specific Technical Products This project will address the objective of providing detailed location and behavior information on fin whales in and around the CINMS relative to the locations and traffic patterns of large shipping. 2.2. This order consists of tasks with the following technical specifications: 2.2.1 The vendor qualified to provide technical services must possess the following experience and training: • Applicable academic training and experience in the handling of large whales including documented experience attaching data logging and transmitting tags to great whales and managing and communicating the resulting data; • Familiarity and experience in the collection of Research and monitoring data from ocean-going platforms; • Have educational and work experience in the disciplines of Ecology, Oceanography and Conservation Biology. • Familiarity with the strengths and limitations of field data collected using the specific animal-mounted, data-logging tags. 2.2.2 The vendor must have a documented work experience analyzing field data, understanding of the limitations of different data types, performing data quality control, and designing data acquisition techniques using multiple analytical technologies. 2.2.3 The vendor shall have all necessary permits to allow close approach, contact, tagging and interaction with large whales under both the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. 3.0 DELIVERABLES The following shall be provided to the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary: The contractor will construct two satellite position monitoring tags for attachment to Fin Whales in and around the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. These tags will log time, depth and location to provide correlated animal positions and the behavioral data. Funding is provided for materials to construct the satellite tags. The contractor will be on-site during cruises performed in calendar year 2010 and 2011 with CINMS research staff to deploy and recover data logging tags and perform follow-up data analysis and communication. 3.1 Deliverables for 2.1.1: • Satellite Tags: The vendor will supply two satellite Mk10A location and TDR recording tags assembled for deployment on the animals to the field site ready for deployment. • Project Reports: Reports detailing activities conducted and preliminary results will be provided to the CINMS in Spring 2012. • Data: Contractor shall provide data on whale locations to a database accessible to CINMS. • Deployments: Contractor will collaborate with Scripps Institution of Oceanography (co-principal investigator not funded in this contract) and CINMS research staff on research cruises of the R/V Shearwater to deploy and monitor the tags. This activity will include the deployment of contractor's own soft-hulled small boat to allow close approach to the animals while maintaining the study animal's safety. Funds are identified in the budget to fund the boat time for this small boat. 4.0 PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: Date of award - Dec 31, 2011 5.0 TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS: The Contractor and their staff shall make their own travel arrangements and also pay for their own travel costs in accordance with the Federal Travel Regulations. No invitational travel orders will be issued to the Contractor or their staff. Authority for sole-source purchase is 41 USC 253 (c) (1) only one responsible source and no other source will satify agency needs. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. However, all proposals received within 15 days of this publication of this synopsis will be considered by the government. All responses must be in writing and may be faxed attention Melvin Fondue at (206) 527-7166 or email at melvin.n.fondue@noaa.gov. This is a simplified acquisition with an estimated value of less than $100,000 **** The Westren Regional Acquisition Division, requires that all contractors doing business with this Acquisition Office be registered with the Central Contractor Registey (CCR) as of October 1, 2003. After this date, NO award can be made unless the vendor is registered in CCR. For additional information and to register in CCR please access the following web site: http//www.ccr.gov. In order to register with CCR and be eligible to receive an award from this Acquisition Office, all offerors must have a Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUN). A DUN number may be acquried free of charge by contacting Dun & Bradstreet on line at www.dnb/eupdate of by phone at (800) 333-0505
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOC/NOAA/WASC/WAD-10-17773/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 1305 East-West Hwy, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910, United States
- Zip Code: 20910
- Zip Code: 20910
- Record
- SN02218161-W 20100728/100726235447-9c5675765f78ff3a69326237140c6877 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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