20 -- Support Vessel and Remotely Operated Vehicle for Research in Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary

The Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (OCNMS) requires a contractor to supply a support vessel and a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), with associated equipment and staff, to research and monitor benthic recovery of habitats and communities around 2 fiber optic cables installed in the northern portion of the OCNMS. The cable route of interest is approximately 30 nm between 124'40'W to 125'10'W and 48 20'N to 48 30'N in U.S. waters. Other areas to be studied are not yet determined; however, the general areas of operation will be between -125.6817, 48.5059 and -124.1839, 47.1292 in U.S. waters, in depths ranging from approximately 60m to 350m. The charter will be for 6 to 16 days in August or September 2005. The survey days will begin and end at the OCNMS northeastern boundary near Cape Flattery. The contractor shall supply a vessel, with crew, of sufficient size/tonnage to operate 24 hrs/day, for the duration of the cruise, up to 50 nm off the Washington Coast. The minimum vessel length is 80 ft. The vessel must have appropriate deck equipment (winches, metering device, A-frames, davits, etc.) & operators to deploy the ROV and oceanographic equipment and to support the operations. The vessel must accommodate at least 8 OCNMS personnel with berthing, shower & head. The vessel shall be equipped with a differential global positioning system (DGPS) and must have the necessary equipment to hold position, such as dynamic positioning or twin screws, bow thrusters and/or z-drives or equivalent of any of these systems. Previous cooperation between the vessel and the ROV operator is preferred but not required. The contractor shall provide an ROV & 2 color video cameras with at least one 3-chip broadcast quality camera. The ROV shall be capable of 24 hr operations per day with maintenance windows not more than 2 hr/12 hr or 4 hr/24 hr, operating in contact with or near the seafloor over potentially rugged substrate. The ROV must also be equipped with the capabilities for taking color still photos with a digital still camera. A cable tracking mechanism for maintaining position or course over the buried fiber optics cable must be provided (e.g., via tone sensor) externally mounted on the ROV to ensure the proper study area is evaluated. The ROV shall be outfitted with a contractor-supplied conductivity, temperature, depth & oxygen-sensing array that is linked to an operational data logging system. The ROV must be capable of collecting benthic infaunal and epifaunal organisms and undisturbed sediment samples (cores or grabs) at depths ranging between approximately 60 to 350m. Offerors must be able to launch and recover and operate the ROV in sea states of Beaufort 4 or greater or equivalent wind speed, wave height and swell conditions. Experience working off the coast Washington, Oregon, British Columbia or Alaska is required. Experience conducting scientific studies is preferred, but not required. The contract will include options to charter the vessel and ROV again for 4 additional years. Supplies and services applicable to this procurement have been identified as "Commercial Items" and a Request for Proposals (RFP) providing detailed performance requirements and proposal instructions will be prepared in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 12. Award will be made to the lowest priced, technically acceptable offeror. This solicitation is going to be made available for download from the FedBizOpps. Please register to receive notification as an interested vendor to be notified when the solicitation is available for download. All responsible responsive sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency. Anticipated issue date is March 18, 2005.