Underwater Salvage and Cargo Recovery

This RFI and sources sought synopsis is for planning purposes ONLY. The government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred associated with the preparation of responses submitted as a result of this notice. The result of this market research will contribute to determining the method of procurement, such as small business set-aside, large business, unrestricted, etc. The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), Office of Ship Disposal (OSD), is issuing this synopsis as a means of conducting market research to identify parties that have an interest in, and the resources, capabilities, expertise to perform deep-water salvage operations on shipwrecked vessels. The shipwreck of interest is the U.S. Government owned vessel S.S. John Barry, a Liberty Ship torpedoed and sunk by a German U-Boat in 1944 during a voyage from the U.S. to the Persian Gulf. The wreck is located in the Arabian Sea, approximately 100 nautical miles south of the Sultanate of Oman coast at 15.10'N Latitude and 55.18'E Longitude, at a depth of 8500 feet. It is located outside the territorial waters of Oman, but within their Exclusive Economic Zone. The manifested cargo aboard the SS John Barry at the time of sinking consisted of 750 boxes, containing 3 million silver one-riyal coins minted by the U.S. Treasury for Saudi Arabia, of which 1.4 million were recovered during a previous salvage operation. The silver content of the 1.6 million unrecovered coins is 550,400 ounces (.344 ounces per coin). It has also been suggested that there may be silver bullion on board, but the presence of any bullion has not been verified. MARAD makes no guarantee or warranty of the existence of the rumored silver bars onboard the vessel. Please provide a written response consisting of no more than 5 single-sided pages, using single-spaced lines, and a 12 point font. Please provide general descriptions of the following in your response: 1. Experience in underwater salvage and cargo recovery operations in similar water depths. 2. Approach to conducting cargo recovery operations in similar water depths. 3. Experience with foreign Government agencies when conducting cargo recovery operations. 4. Foreseeable obstacles and potential risks in cargo recovery on the John Barry. 5. Security considerations during cargo recovery, transport and transfer activities. Submission Instructions: Interested parties, who consider themselves qualified to perform the above-listed services are invited to submit a response to this Notice by 4:00 PM (EST) MARCH 15, 2013. All responses under this Notice must be emailed to alfredia.rich-murphy@dot.gov .