Steller Sea Lion Count Program

Disclaimer: This is not a solicitation. This is not a request for quote (RFQ), invitation for bid (IFB), request for proposal (RFP), or an announcement of a solicitation, and does not assume the Government will award a contract or proceed with any of the above solicitation efforts in the near future. This Sources Sought is for information purposes only and does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that a procurement action will be issued or awarded. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect cost or charges by the Government will arise as a result of the submission of information. All information considered proprietary shall be marked accordingly. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for improperly identified proprietary information. Properly identified proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with federal regulations. The purpose of this sources sought notice is to obtain insight into the interest, capabilities, and qualifications of firms; as well as assist the Government in preparing market research and establishing an acquisition strategy in support of this effort. Any responses received will neither be considered an offer by the responding party nor returned to the responding party. No telephone inquiries will be accepted, and requests for solicitation packages will not be honored since no solicitation has been prepared. Background: The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Marine Mammal Laboratory (MML), has a requirement for a contractor to automate counts of Steller Sea Lions by age-sex class. The Marine Mammal Laboratory (MML; NOAA Fisheries) is responsible for the stewardship of certain marine mammals and their habitat, protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and for listed species, the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Under the mission of NOAA Fisheries, MML conducts important population assessments to monitor marine mammal species, and conducts research towards recovering depleted or endangered species to help inform management decisions. Population studies are necessary to discover the underlying cause for declining populations. The western Steller sea lion is listed as Endangered under the ESA and is protected under the MMPA. This population has continued to significantly decline in a portion of its range in Alaska. Aerial surveys to collect visual images are conducted every year during a narrow 3-week time window during the summer breeding season. Processing and analyzing these aerial images to collect sea lion counts is a time-consuming and costly process involving two, full-time MML personnel as independent counters. The first step involves manually puzzling together up to 100 images that comprise a site and drawing lines to exclude areas of overlap to avoid double counting sea lions. Then individual sea lions are counted and identified as one of the five age-sex classes (pup, juvenile, adult female, sub-adult male, adult males or bulls). Once counts are complete, the two independent counters reconcile their counts with each other to eliminate errors such as double counting or missing areas. In total, this process typically takes three to four months. These counts must be completed in a timely manner as they are eagerly anticipated by stakeholders, such as NOAA's Alaska Regional Office, industry, and environmental groups. Surveys to capture visual images, are conducted so there is overlap between the images to ensure that areas of the site are not missed (and potentially sea lions). For the occupied aircraft system, MML uses a 3-camera mount with a camera array of three cameras side-by-side. The center camera is downward facing while the port and starboard camera are angled at approximately 21 so there is overlap horizontally. As the plane flies forward along the flight line, MML attempts to achieve approximately 60% overlap between images. Drone surveys involve a small hexacopter mounted with a single camera in a gimbal to maintain vertical (or near-vertical) orientation. These surveys are often flown with overlap however, the amount may vary depending on the survey conditions, as these flights are flown manually. MML proposes to automate the image processing steps in order to ensure that sea lions are not double counted in areas where the images overlap. There are corresponding flight logs with location data (and altitude data) corresponding to images captured. Requirements: See the attached draft Statement of Work for requirements. Information Requested: - Capability to perform the primary functions of the draft Statement of Work: Please provide supporting information (description of capability and experience on other contracts) as briefly as possible to demonstrate your firm's capability to provide the requirements of the draft Statement of Work. Discuss your experience performing the work and provide examples. Specifically, please address your capabilities relating to program design and integration with VIAME within the anticipated timeframe. Please make sure that the information is within the last 3 years. If subcontractors will be used and are known, please provide information on what functions the prime contractor will be responsible for and their experience in those areas as well as any subcontractors. If subcontractors are known please provide (Name, Duns number, and work they will perform); - A rough order of magnitude assuming an anticipated firm-fixed price contract type; and - Any additional information needed to propose (missing information in the draft Statement of Work). In addition to addressing technical capabilities, responses must include the following: - Name and address of firm - Size of business (i.e., small, small disadvantaged business, woman owned, etc.) - Average annual revenue for the past 3 years and number of employees - Ownership - Number of years in business - Affiliate information - Parent company, joint venture partners, potential teaming partners, prime contractor (if potential subcontractor) or subcontractors (if potential prime contractor) - List of customers covering the past five years (highlighting relevant work performed, contract numbers, contract type, and dollar value of each procurement) - Point of contact - address and phone number; Submittal Requirements: Telephone responses are NOT solicited and will not be accepted. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. This Source Sought notice is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to award a contract, nor will the Government pay for the solicited information. Please submit your response via email to the attention of the Contacting Officer, Crystina Jubie (contact@example.gov) no later than July 1, 2019 at 2:00 p.m., local Seattle Time. Each response shall be no more 15 single-sided, single-spaced pages (excluding the cover page), and each page shall be separately numbered, and shall be in .pdf format.