SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Atlantic Ocean LFDCS Analyses
- Notice Date
- 9/2/2014
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541690
— Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Eastern Region Acquisition Division, Norfolk Federal Building, 200 Granby Street, Norfolk, Virginia, 23510, United States
- ZIP Code
- 23510
- Solicitation Number
- NFFM7320-14-03470
- Archive Date
- 9/23/2014
- Point of Contact
- Kelly A. Taranto, Phone: 508-495-2312
- E-Mail Address
-
kelly.taranto@noaa.gov
(kelly.taranto@noaa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY - Solicitations are not available at this time. Requests for a solicitation will not receive a response. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the United States Government. The intent of this announcement and the information provided in response to this notice will assist the Government in identify ALL potential sources to include small businesses and socio-economic sources that are capable and qualified to furnish the required products and services as identified in the Requirements section of this announcement. The North American Industry Classification system (NAICS) Code is 541690. Please include your company's size classification in any response to this notice. The Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) in Woods Hole, MA is soliciting information, on behalf of the Protected Species Branch. The Protected Species Branch requires the processing, validation and statistical evaluation of Western Atlantic passive acoustic data using the Low Frequency Detection and Classification System (LFDCS). All tasks require highly specialized and specific knowledge of one custom built software package, the Low Frequency Detector and Classification software (LFDCS; Baumgarner & Mussoline 2011). It requires the contractor to have proficient knowledge and experience with using the LFDCS software and be able to validate and statistically evaluate the software. The contractor shall also be an expert in marine mammal population and conservation ecology with a strong statistical back ground. The LFDCS shall be used for this requirement as it is best suited to the task of extracting North Atlantic right whale, sei, fin, humpback and blue whale species calls from long term passive acoustic analysis from the extensive data set provided to the Northeast Fisheries Science Centers passive acoustic research program (PARP). It is the tool of choice for PARP in understanding large scale movements and occurrence of the endangered right whale and other baleen whale species. BACKGROUND Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Acts, the National Marine Fisheries Service is required to assess the status of marine mammal populations found in U.S. waters. The PSB carries out the responsibilities of the NMFS in the northeast region with the PSB responsible for regular abundance estimates of protected species. The NMFS is also charged with reducing the amount of anthropogenic mortality of protected species occurring within the US EEZ. The NEFSC PSB has an active passive acoustic research program (PARP) investigating how marine animals use sound, the importance thereof and the impacts on human made noise on protected and/or endangered marine mammals and other acoustically-sensitive marine animals (e.g., fishes, sharks and sea turtles). The PARP's role is to provide big picture products aimed at improving the understanding of baleen whale movements throughout the Western Atlantic Ocean. As a result of this goal the PARP undertakes large scale multi collaborative projects aimed at accessing and analyzing all existing passive acoustic data records across the Western Atlantic Ocean. The data is housed primarily at PARP in data archives for the purpose of the analysis. Data provided ranges from 2002 to the present and covers a few days to 12 continuous months of data in the form of single acoustic recorders, lines or multiple recorders arranged in an array. REQUIREMENTS: The following tasks shall be completed under this Atlantic Ocean LFDCS Analyses project. TASK 1 - Validation and Statistical Evaluation of North Atlantic right whale products · The contractor shall further develop a methodology for validating and statistically evaluating the output information on North Atlantic right whale detections from the LFDCS software for all acoustic recordings available for the Western Atlantic Ocean project. · The contractor shall develop robust methods to determine the accuracy of the LFDCS performance for right whales and the optimal number of calls needed to produce a robust result. · The contractor shall work and consult closely with the NEFSC PARP algorithms in order to meet the desired level of accuracy for monitoring and management needs. TASK 2 - Product representation and spatial representation · The contractor shall undertake to produce figures of the evaluated data that represent the information both temporally and spatially using R as a primary module. · The contractor shall work closely with the NEFSC PARP to ensure that the products produced in TASK 1 are adequately represented for monitoring and management needs. TASK 3 - Validation and Statistical Evaluation of other baleen whale species products · The contractor shall further develop a methodology for validating and statistically evaluating the output information of sei, fin, and potentially blue and humpback whale detections from the LFDCS software for all acoustic recordings available for the Western Atlantic Ocean project. · The contractor shall develop robust methods to determine the accuracy of the LFDCS performance for the other baleen whale species listed above as well as the optimal number of calls needed to produce a robust result. · The contractor shall work and consult closely with the NEFSC PARP algorithms in order to meet the desired level of accuracy for monitoring and management needs. TASK 4 - Product representation and spatial representation of other baleen whale species · The contractor shall undertake to produce figures of the evaluated data that represent the information both temporally and spatially using R as a primary module. · The contractor shall work closely with the NEFSC PARP to ensure that the products produced in TASK 3 are adequately represented for monitoring and management needs. Period of performance is two (2) years, from date of award through August 30, 2016. CAPABILITIES PACKAGE: All interested parties shall submit a capabilities package explicitly demonstrate the ability to provide the requirements as specified in this announcement. The capabilities package shall be emailed to kelly.taranto@noaa.gov no later than the response date for this sources sought notice. The package must include achievable specifications and any other information relevant to your product or capabilities as it directly applies to this requirement. All response and response contents to this notice will be considered information only and will not be binding on the parties. All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary; the United States Government will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing information provided to the United States government. Responses to this notice are due via email to kelly.taranto@noaa.gov no later than September 8, 2014 at 4:00 p.m (Eastern Time). Only electronic submissions will be allowed or by the below fax number. Point of Contact is Kelly Taranto, Contracting Officer at (508) 495-2004 or kelly.taranto@noaa.gov. Alternate point of contact is Susan Henderson, Contracting Officer at susan.henderson@noaa.gov. No telephone responses will be accepted.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOC/NOAA/EASC/NFFM7320-14-03470/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 166 Water Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 02543, United States
- Zip Code: 02543
- Zip Code: 02543
- Record
- SN03491141-W 20140904/140902234653-c6295c71830d5fc37f96d7b9f176297f (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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