REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: The Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is issuing this Request For Information (RFI) to identify industry's interest either in the design and construction or lease/charter of a Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) vessel to be known as the "Coastal Mapping Vessel." NOAA may issue an RFP as early as March 2003 soliciting industry competition for acquiring a SWATH vessel to improve hydrographic and ocean mapping in the Eastern United States. If NOAA decides to procure the SWATH under a design and construction contract, the contract cost is to include logistics, i.e. spares, training and manuals. This Coastal Mapping Vessel is intended to be home-ported in New Hampshire, and will be a versatile platform enabling multi-mission capability with cutting edge research and development in hydrographic and ocean mapping techniques and technologies. A draft Coastal Mapping Vessel Requirements document is under NOAA review for possible refinement and can be found at http://www.swath.noaa.gov/pdf/attach1.pdf. If NOAA decides on the design and build approach for a SWATH vessel, the SWATH contract will be in a two (2) step format and NOAA may make multiple awards. NOAA is considering step one (1) as a preliminary design competition for the firm fixed price of $100K awarded to each successful offeror. In step one (1), the government may award up to three (3) preliminary design contracts. Step two (2) will be a down-select from step one (1) with an option for construction of one each SWATH vessel. Step one (1) has a three (3) month period of performance. Competing contractors will be responsible for producing their SWATH preliminary designs (modification of existing vessels or new designs) with drawings and data for the government's evaluation at periodic design reviews throughout this step. At the end of step one (1), projected costs for the contract design and construction price will be required from each contractor. Assuming suitable and affordable designs are developed during the first step, NOAA intends to down-select to one contractor's design and exercise the offeror's contract option for step two (2) work. This second step is expected to cover a nine (9) month performance period during which the contractor will execute the vessel's contract design work and perform model testing. NOAA will again conduct periodic progress reviews. At the conclusion of the nine (9) months, NOAA will conduct a final evaluation and if the contractor continues to demonstrate an acceptable design within the projected construction cost, NOAA may exercise the contract option for the vessel's construction. If the design is not acceptable for construction, NOAA will not exercise the option, and fund no further work. Interested firms are asked to review the following questions and provide the information requested NLT COB November 27, 2002 in the following format: 1. Name of Firm/Business 2. Address of Organization (include city, state and zip code) POC (include name, title, phone number and email address) 3. Indicated if your firm is a large or small business and provide the anticipated date of any status change. Give teaming arrangements. State the number of employees under NAICS 336611. If interested in a Design and Construction Approach: 1. Provide your firm's concurrence and/or comments on the Government's acquisition strategy/contract stated above, or give a proposal for an alternate acquisition strategy that may save the Government time, money and facilitate early delivery of the vessel. Comments on the fixed price structure for the two step SWATH procurement? 2. State your firm's intentions relative to the use of Government facilities and equipment in order to deliver the design. 3. Give a brief overview of your firm's experience designing SWATH type vessels costing in excess of $5M in the past 5 years. If none, state your firm's corporate capability relevant to overcoming this experience shortfall. 4. Does your firm have experience constructing SWATH type vessels within the past 5 years costing in excess of $5M? Give displacement and state program/ship contract. 5. Does your firm have an existing (unmodified) design that you intend to submit for consideration? Is the design currently built and operating successfully? If not, to what extent has the design been developed? Does model test data exist? 6. To what extent is the design dependent upon foreign designs or products? 7. Briefly describe your organization's subcontracting strategy including percentage and type. 8. State if your firm can certify that it has access to all data and intellectual property rights necessary to perform the work. For firms interested in Charter or Lease, please provide comments on the following business arrangements or suggest other business approaches which can meet the mission requirements at the above URL. 1. Lease with option years 2. Charter with option years 3. Modifications under a lease or charter Interested firms that responded to NOAA's previous SWATH market survey and design study, Reference Number-02-SWATH in April 2002, are required to respond again to this announcement This announcement should not be construed as a commitment or authorization to incur costs in anticipation of an award; the Government is not bound to make any awards under this announcement. All questions relating to this announcement shall be addressed to the Contracting Officer, Mr. Mike Knowles, at
+1 (555) 000-0000, ext. 111. All information required by this announcement is due in the Contracting Office by 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 27, 2002, and must be mailed to the Contracting Officer as given below: U. S. Department of Commerce/NOAA Acquisition Management Division Attn: Mike Knowles, Rm 10122 1315 East West Highway Silver Spring, MD 20910
