NOAA Office of Habitat Conservation (OHC) Professional, Scientific and Technical Services

This is a Sources Sought Notice. In preparation for an upcoming procurement, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Western Acquisition Division located in Boulder, CO on behalf of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Office of Habitat Conservation (OHC) is conducting market research to determine potential sources to provide Scientific, Technical, and Program Support (STPS) services. Collectively, this procurement will support the offices of OHC, the Restoration Center (RC), and the Deep Water Horizon (DWH) Damage Assessment Remediation and Restoration (DARRP) Projects. NOAA has conducted extensive analysis and determined that this requirement cannot and shall not be divided into smaller discrete components. As a follow-up to the market research that was conducted in April 2019, additional market research and information is needed to determine specific capabilities and relevant experience for the following components taken from the three draft Statements of Work (SOW) attached. All types of business concerns are encouraged to submit a brief, typed Capability Statement (no more than 15 pages) in response to this sources sought announcement. When submitting a response, be concise and provide relevant examples. Standard brochures will not be considered a sufficient response to this notice. Interested firms are encouraged to complete the following market research survey in addition to submitting a capability statement. Please note the market research survey contains an area for file uploading in which firms can transmit their capability statement. Market Research Survey : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeMVzFqkHI49ULLVXwzJnSHodLOK6OHmR_iXEhlX4o8g5_Ojw/viewform Submitted Capability Statements shall include the following: (1) Company name and address (2) DUNS number (3) Type of business (e.g., large business, small business, 8(a), veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and/or women owned small business) as validated via the System for Award Management (SAM) (4) Company point of contact - name, phone, and e-mail address (5) Demonstrated capabilities for meeting the following requirements: 1. Using specific and direct relevant examples, the Contractor shall demonstrate the following capabilities for the following SOW components: a. OHC SOW: i. Coordinate and manage coastal and marine habitat management and planning in support of fisheries mandates and initiatives in compliance with primary legislation (i.e. Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act; Essential Fish Habitat; and National Environmental Policy Act) ii. Assist in developing national policy to improve effectiveness of fisheries protection activities, and expand the scale of protection planning and implementation. iii. Provide remote sensing operational readiness by maintaining marine instrumentation and retrieving, downloading, and processing satellite, acoustic, and oceanographic data in support of Fisheries programs. b. RC SOW: i. Provide project development, implementation, management, permitting, monitoring and oversight of complex fisheries restoration strategies to ensure project success while maintaining compliance with legislative mandates especially, but not limited to, events surrounding marine resources that have been injured due oil spills, toxic releases, or ship groundings. ii. Assist with research, implementation and effective monitoring of projects to investigate the environmental consequences of restoration techniques, strategies, or activities. iii. Provide engineering services (e.g., fish passage, hydrology, advanced survey technology) to include design, drawings and schematics for a specified fishery management, resource protection, or habitat conservation project or a specified scientific research project. c. DWH SOW: i. Provide restoration project management and services, including technical support, strategic planning experience, as a result of incidents causing environmental damage similar in scale to the DWH spill. ii. Provide strategic planning, Trustee coordination, and program analysis capability to support the DWH Restoration Program similar in scale to the DWH spill using research and data to improve results and effectiveness of protection and restoration efforts to meet goals and objectives of Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan / Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PDARP/PEIS). iii. Develop and maintain technical databases and information systems to provide detailed project information to improve restoration methods, provide information for reports, track performance measures, and assist in allocating resources. 2. Capability to provide and maintain continuation of services and ability to transition and/or retain personnel for a substantial amount of contractor support. This includes the capability to provide surge capacity as needed in order to prevent disruption or loss of continuity of service. 3. Capability to provide properly trained response personnel to support large-scale spill events both CONUS and OCONUS without any loss of, or impact to, other operational support services. 4. Capability demonstrating the use of a robust Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) approved auditing system, or similar, that can hold up to litigation and third-party audit scrutiny, and ISO approved quality processes and experience in automated systems work. The contractor shall explain their current financial system and if they are able to update or modify in order to track and provide cost documentation for various types of funds and projects and provide on an as needed basis (i.e audits). Examples of spend planning tools and experience using them on complex federal contracts shall be provided. The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code is 541620, Environmental Consulting Services. The small business size standard for this NAICS code is $16.5 million. Interested sources shall submit an electronic copy of their Capability Statement to Alex Williams, Contracting Officer, via email at alex.williams@noaa.gov and Nick Brown, Contract Specialist at nicholas.g.brown@noaa.gov no later than 12:00 PM ET on Thursday, December 29th, 2022. This is not a request for technical or cost proposals. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this Notice or reimburse for costs incurred by interested parties providing the information requested herein. Information received will be considered solely to make an informed decision regarding a potential procurement. Any questions or responses to this Sources Sought announcement shall be directed to Alex Williams and Nick Brown via the email addresses above. Responses to the Sources Sought announcement are not offers and cannot be accepted by NOAA to form a binding contract.