OPEN RIVERS FISH PASSAGE IMPLEMENTATION AND EFFECTIVENESS MONITORING IN NORTHERN COASTAL CALIFORNIA

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial service prepared and processed in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 12.6 as supplemented with additional information included in this announcement. This is a Solicitation for the United States Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Office of Habitat Conservation, located in Silver Spring, MD is seeking services for Open Rivers Fish Passage Implementation and Effectiveness Monitoring in Northern Coastal California. The Government intends to issue a fixed price purchase order for this requirement. This is a total Small Business Set Aside utilizing NAICS code 541690 for Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services. The Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Office of Habitat Conservation (OHC) interacts with NOAA/NMFS regional offices to manage, conserve and enhance habitats for fishery resources, protected species and other living marine resources, and is the focal point for marine and estuarine habitat restoration within NOAA. The Restoration Center (RC), a division of OHC, performs coastal habitat restoration pursuant to federal legislation and improves the state of restoration ecology and habitat management, and is responsible for restoring degraded habitats, advancing the science of coastal habitat restoration, transferring restoration technologies to other agencies and practitioners, and fostering habitat stewardship and a conservation ethic. In support of these responsibilities, OHC ensures that NOAA's resources are protected and restored in accordance with appropriate Acts and mandates. NOAA NMFS and others are addressing anadromous salmonid habitat conservation and restoration by improving access to blocked salmon spawning and rearing habitat throughout California. Many salmonid recovery efforts are focused on removing or altering these migration barriers to increase access to potential habitat. The goal of these barrier removals is to make culverts and dams invisible to fish and other aquatic organisms during their migrations. The NOAA Restoration Center's Open Rivers Initiative has recently developed monitoring protocols for evaluating and reporting on the effectiveness of its fish passage restoration projects on fisheries resources. The monitoring protocols include two levels of monitoring, Tier 1 and Tier 2. A minimum level (Tier 1) of monitoring will occur on all funded Open Rivers projects, while a higher level of monitoring (Tier 2) will be done for a subset of the Open Rivers projects, and will evaluate local fisheries population response to barrier removal. Restoration Center staff has been working with grantees to conduct minimum monitoring on projects, and some grantees have already incorporated the higher level monitoring into their individual project plans. However, some grantees do not have the technical resources (such as fish identification skills and fish passage analysis experience) to conduct fisheries presence/absence surveys and population monitoring and collect stream channel response data related to "passability" of the target species. SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS: See attached solicitation and attachment for submittal requirements. To be considered, interested firms must submit the following no later than 2:00 p.m. CDT on September 1, 2009 to the following: One (1) electronic submittal package to email address pamela.l.stichweh@noaa.gov; Submissions may be faxed if email submission is not feasible. Fax to: 816-274-6967. Hard copy submissions are not required. Quoting firms are responsible for supplying information concerning each evaluation factor, including copies of any required professional certifications or licenses. See Section D of the attached request for proposal for specific submission requirements. To be eligible for contract award, a firm must be registered in the Central Contractors Registration (CCR) database. Register via the CCR Internet site at http://www.ccr.gov or by contacting CCR at: Federal Service Desk (8am - 8pm Eastern Time) at 866-606-8220 or 334-206-7828. In order to register with the CCR, all firms must have a Dun & Bradstreet number. A Dun & Bradstreet number may be acquired free of charge by contacting Dun & Bradstreet on-line at: https://eupdate.dnb.com/requestoptions.asp or by phone at (888) 814-1435. The Federal Integrated Acquisition Environment (IAE) initiative called Online Representations and Certifications application (ORCA). ORCA is a web-based system that centralizes and standardizes the collection, storage, and viewing of many of the representations and certifications required by the Federal Acquisition Regulations and previously found in solicitations. According to the language in FAR case 2002-024, vendors are required to use ORCA beginning 01 January 2005. Detailed information can be found by visiting the Help section of the ORCA website at http://orca.bpn.gov. VETS-100 Requirement: Per Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) part 22.1303 all firms meeting yearly Government contracting thresholds must complete their VETS-100 report via the Department of Labor website at https://vets100.vets.dol.gov/ to be eligible for award. QUESTIONS: All questions must be directed, via email, to: Pam Stichweh, Contracting Officer pamela.l.stichweh@noaa.gov . Any official communications shall be published in FedBizOpps. Vendors should register as Interested Vendors to ensure receipt of updated information.