Remotely Operated Vehicle Technical Support Services for Offshore Research

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has a requirement to support offshore research using a remotely operated vehicles that gather and store high definition video and still photographs and environmental data from depths of 100 to 3500m. The remotely operated vehicles are used primarily to collect quantitative data on the distribution and abundance patterns of mid-water and benthic organisms (e.g., fishes, corals, sponges, and other invertebrates), environmental conditions at or near the seafloor (including oxygen concentration, salinity, temperature), substrate type (e.g., mud, sand, cobble, boulder, bedrock), and positional data (including altitude above seafloor, latitude, longitude, and depth). The non-destructive survey tools (NDST) program based out of the Pacific Biological Station will acquire two new remotely operated vehicles in 2024. The intent is to establish a minimum of two (2) standing offers for the services of technical consultants to assist DFO in the testing and troubleshooting of remotely operated vehicles aboard large platform such as the Canadian Coast Guard Ships J.P. Tully or Vector. Services are also requested for assistance with mobilization and demobilization of remotely operated vehicles from the vessel to DFO facilities at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, B.C. or the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, B.C.. The period of the Standing Offer will be from Standing Offer award to March 31, 2028.