Fixed-Price Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Oceanographic Monitoring Stations, Technician Services, Data Delivery, and Transportation

NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service has a requirement for sea surface temperature (SST) oceanographic monitoring stations, technician services, data delivery, and transportation. The contractor shall provide all personnel, supervision, and equipment necessary to perform the Statement of Work. Performance of work is scheduled on a task order basis. The contract is contemplated to consist of a period of performance from on or about September 9, 2011 to September 8, 2015, with a base year and three one year option periods. This procurement is a 100% small business set-aside. The NAICS code for this procurement is 334519 and the size standard is 500 employees. Background: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center has a requirement for sea surface temperature (SST) monitoring devices in support of the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED). The SST monitoring devices will be deployed in various sheltered, semi-exposed, and fully exposed locations in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), American Samoa, the Line and Phoenix Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and other atolls and islands of the Pacific. The SST monitoring devices should be capable of measuring and recording highly accurate temperature data. In addition, hourly SST data shall be provided to NOAA on a near-real-time basis. The monitoring devices shall remain operational for 24 months or longer. The major monitoring station system components (buoy, data logger, transmitter, sensors, etc.) should be re-useable for greater than three two-year deployments with routine maintenance and refurbishment between deployments. The successful return of high quality data, both telemeter and downloaded from the instrument, is a high priority. The systems shall be small and light enough to be easily deployed with the use of small boats (5-7 m) and SCUBA divers. The water depths for the deployments will be between 1 and 40 meters, with typical deployments in less than 25 meters. The stations may be deployed in protected lagoons, on reef flats, or offshore of islands or atolls. The stations may be deployed in exposed areas and must be capable of withstanding climatological weather and sea conditions for the duration of the deployments. Winds in these areas are typically moderate to strong with mean wind speeds of about 8-10 m/s. During storm events, much higher wind speeds are expected (>25 m/s). The tidal range in these areas is expected to be about 1 m. It is possible that storm surges could elevate these ranges. The moorings are likely to experience potentially strong tidal currents, surges, or currents associated with wave run-up over the reef. Exposed locations may experience 3-4 meter seas with extreme events generating swells of 8-10 meters. Attempts will be made to deploy the moorings away from any potential breaking waves, and to position the systems where mean currents are not expected to exceed 1.6 m/s. The monitoring stations may be deployed in marine protected areas (MPA) and other environmentally sensitive locations and the stations should be designed to minimize any environmental impact. The work will be described and assigned in the contract Statement of Work, any of which are subject to change at the Government's discretion upon issuance of the solicitation. Some of the potential requirements are the following: 4 estimated each year of the contract sea surface temperature (SST) oceanographic monitoring stations with data transmitting capabilities; 640 estimated hours each year of the contract technician services; 48 estimated per month of each year of the contract data delivery; and 1 estimated each year of the contract transportation. All responsible and fully responsive sources may submit a proposal which will be considered by the Agency. Any resulting contract will be awarded as an IDIQ firm-fixed price contract. Solicitation documents will be made available for download on or around June 3, 2011 at http://www.fedbizopps.gov/. Paper copies of this solicitation will not be issued. 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Please also ensure your firm registers in CCR for this solicitation's NAICS. In order to register with the CCR and to be eligible to receive an award from this acquisition office, all bidders must also have a Dun & Bradstreet Number. A Dun & Bradstreet number may be acquired free of charge by contacting Dun & Bradstreet on-line at https://www.dnb.com/product/eupdate/requestOptions.html or by phone at +1 (555) 000-0000. This procurement also requires offerors to complete the On-Line Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) at https://orca.bpn.gov/ and file veteran employment reports at https://vets100.vets.dol.gov/VETS-100.pdf.