At-Sea Monitor Services for National Marine Fisheries Service

The Acquisition and Grants Office, Eastern Acquisition Division, Norfolk, VA on behalf of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) in Woods Hole, MA has a requirement for at-sea monitors to collect information on marine fish. The Contractor shall collect scientific, management, regulatory compliance and economic data for fisheries by placing at-sea monitors aboard U. S. domestic fishing vessels participating in the groundfish multispecies Fisheries Management Plan. This information is required in response to the implementation of Amendment 16 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (NEFMP). The at-sea monitors collect scientific, management, compliance, and other data at sea through interviews of vessel captains and crew, observations of fishing operations, photographing catch, and measurements of selected portions of the catch and fishing gear. The primary responsibilities of the at-sea monitor will be to collect accurate weights on the discard portion of the catch as well as account for all catch (kept and discarded) on each tow. The work requires deploying trained at-sea monitors to meet coverage levels required by NMFS. NEFSC will train the contractor's monitors once the contract is awarded, as needed and at the Government's expense. The Contractor shall support, as specified, the at-sea monitors during each phase of their employment period, including training, briefing, travel, accomplishing requisite land duties, data collection on fishing vessels, and debriefings. The Contractor shall provide all necessary logistical and administrative support to deploy at-sea monitors on board vessels, normally out of ports from New York to Maine. This includes making travel arrangements, providing travel advances for monitors, and reimbursing for travel expenses. Vessels operate out of ports from New York to Maine in ocean waters, 3-200 miles offshore in all weather conditions. Typically, trips are 1- 14 days in duration. Vessels are generally 30-150 feet in length. Crew members and at-sea monitors live and sleep in cramped quarters, often in damp conditions and share common facilities. At-sea monitors must be willing to travel occasionally to cover locations other than their primary ports. Food is provided on multiday trips for the at-sea monitor and must be equal to the food being served to the rest of the crew. On single day trips, at-sea monitors must bring their own food and water. This is a 100% Total Small Business Set-aside. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the acquisition is 541712 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences. The small business size standard is 500 employees. The solicitation and proposed fixed-price contract will be issued utilizing FAR Parts 12 and 15. The Government anticipates awarding one or more fixed price Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract awards as a result of the solicitation and will be made to the offeror(s) whose proposal meets all Performance Work Statement (PWS) and solicitation requirements and is judged to be the best value, by an integrated assessment of price and other evaluation factors listed in the Request for Proposal (RFP). The awarded contract(s) will be for a base period of one year with a one year option period. The anticipated award date is September 2015. Hard copies of the RFP will not be issued. The solicitation will be available electronically on or about January 22, 2015 via FedBizOpps at www.fedbizopps.gov. It is incumbent upon contractors to monitor FEDBIZOPPS for the release of the RFP, Statement of Work, and all subsequent amendments. To be eligible for award, offeror(s) must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database at www.sam.gov; offeror(s) must also obtain a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and provide it with the proposal. All responsible sources may submit a proposal, which shall be considered by the agency. For information concerning this acquisition, please forward inquiries via e-mail to Roberta Smith, Contract Specialist, at Roberta.H.Smith@noaa.gov. Proposals will be accepted electronically at the following email address: Roberta.H.Smith@noaa.gov and via facsimile at (757) 664-3648.