IDIQ Contract for Fishery Observer Support Services for the Pacific Islands Regional Program

NOAA's Western Acquisition Division (WAD) requires services for the recruitment, selection, supervision and outfitting of sea-going personnel (observers) needed to fulfill Federal fisheries obligations of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Pacific Islands Region, Pacific Islands Region Observer Program (PIROP). The PIROP currently includes the Hawaii deep-set tuna and shallow-set swordfish longline fleets and longline fleets of American Samoa. Observers collect required information to assess the involvement of sea turtles, sea birds, marine mammals, other protected species, and other by-catch species in the pelagic longline fisheries along with acquired biological information for population and life history studies. Observers will collect marine mammal, sea turtle, and sea bird specimen parts as well as the entire animal carcass. The contractor shall maintain a qualified pool of available observers to obtain, a minimum of 20% observer coverage, of the total fleet effort for the Hawaii Tuna Longline fishery and 100% observer coverage for the swordfish fishery. The contractor shall manage the contract to meet this minimum coverage. Observer coverage must occur throughout the calendar year proportionate to the amount of overall fishing effort. The Government intends to award an Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) type contract under which fixed-price task order(s) will be issued. The period of performance shall include one base period with options for four additional one-year periods. The procurement is a 100% Small Business Set-Aside. The anticipated response due date is June 20, 2013; however, the actual due date of offers may be adjusted based upon the actual posting date of the solicitation. The actual response date will be stated within the solicitation document. The NAICS Code is 541990 with the small business size standard of $14.0 million. Technical questions regarding this solicitation should be in writing and addressed to Stephanie.M.Garnett@noaa.gov. All responsible, responsive sources may submit an offer, which will be considered by the Agency. Solicitation documents will be made available electronically and no paper copies will be issued. Interested parties should use the FedBizOpps [Add to Watch list] and [Add Me to Interested Vendors] features which provide a notification when the RFP becomes available for download, as well as all postings of information associated with this solicitation, thereafter. Each potential offeror is responsible for checking the FedBizOpps website to gain all current information related to the solicitation. The solicitation and any further announcements regarding the solicitation will be posted only at http://www.fedbizopps.gov. All vendors doing business with the Government are required to be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM) database prior to the award of a contract. Vendors may register with SAM by calling 1-866-606-8220 or online at https://www.SAM.gov. In order to be eligible to receive an award from this acquisition office, offerors must also have a Dun & Bradstreet Number. A Dun & Bradstreet number may be acquired free of charge by contacting Dun & Bradstreet on-line at https://www.dnb.com/product/eupdate/requestOptions.html.