NF-FR7100-23-00881 Sole Source Justification Redacted.pdf

Version 3.0

NFFR7100-23-00881

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN ACTION EXCEEDING THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD USING

SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS AUTHORITY: FAR

13.501(a), 41 U.S.C. 1901

1. Agency and contracting activity.

The Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Acquisition and Grants Office (AGO), Western Acquisition Division (WAD), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), Fisheries Resource Division (FRD).

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

This is a sole source justification for a follow-on contract to purchase order 1305M322PNFFR0329.

A firm-fixed price contract with Ocean Gold Seafoods, Inc. is contemplated for award. FAR Parts 12

– Acquisition of Commercial Products and Commercial Services and 13.5 – Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items will be used.

3. Description of supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs.

The purpose of this acquisition is to provide services to the SWFSC/FRD to conduct annual acoustic-trawl-method (ATM) surveys to estimate the biomasses and demographics of coastal pelagic fish species (CPS) in the California Current Ecosystem (CCE). The services includes sampling that was conducted nearshore in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022, concomitantly with a NOAA Fisheries Survey Vessel (FSV), and will continue to do so during summer 2023 and the survey time-series through 2028. The resulting data is then evaluated by the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Science and Statistical Committee and included in CPS stock assessments. This annual CPS stock assessment is mandated by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, and is part of ongoing research, extending historical data sets, and continued efforts to maintain sustainable fisheries. The anticipated period of performance is June 1, 2023 through May 31, 2028, with an estimated overall value of for the base period plus four one-year option periods.

4. Statutory authority permitting the sole source (including brand name) acquisition.

41 U.S.C. 1901, using SAP up to $7.5M as authorized by FAR 13.500(a) and implemented by FAR 13.501(a)

5. Demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited. The contracting officer has determined the following circumstances justify the use of a sole source as supported below:

Compatibility to Existing Studies

a) The Ocean Gold Seafoods, Inc. has completed previous research legs for the Cooperative Nearshore California Current Ecosystem Survey since 2017, alongside the NOAA Fisheries Survey Vessel (FSV) Reuben Lasker.

The continuation of the survey is critical to providing sufficient statistical samples to produce meaningful and accurate results for stock assessments for Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) in the

Version 3.0 shallow waters off the coast of Washington, Oregon, and northern California. Unlike a one-time project that may be performed by a number of vessels that have the proper technical specifications, on-going survey projects need to ensure data is collected as consistently as possible to allow for a year to year comparison and to accurately capture trends over time. The vessel provides specific compatible equipment which provides data consistency between the NOAA FSV and the industry F/V. Specifically, Ocean Gold Seafoods, Inc. uses Kongsberg equipment, SIMRAD EK80, multi frequency wideband transceivers with hull-mounting of the Kongsberg ES38-7, ES70-7C, ES120-7C, ES200-7C, transducers in a steel blister which improves operational safety and efficiency, and reduces noise in the data due to bubbles swept along the hull. This equipment is identical to the equipment installed in the NOAA FSV Reuben Lasker, which will continue to provide consistency and quality of data collection methods and data products. This acoustic equipment provides data to be used to expand the overall coverage area of the California Current Ecosystem Survey. Furthermore, multiple transceivers and transducers allow the standard multi-frequency echo-classification algorithm to be applied. The equipment and data consistency is essential to data integrity and cost-efficiency.

b) A change in vendor will result in the beginning of a completely new data time series due to the differences in fishing power and gear handling that a new vessel and crew would introduce.

Unlike other charter surveys where NMFS personnel are on-board, this survey is completely performed and managed by the vessel operator and crew. Though vessel specifications may be able to be closely matched, each fisherman has slightly different ways of baiting, setting and hauling gear that would introduce inconsistencies in the sampling, resulting in incomparable and statistically invalid data between the past six years and subsequent years of the survey. This would impede meaningful analysis and application of the survey data for stock assessments, which are a core activity supporting NMFS’ role as stewards of the nation’s ocean resources.

Data integrity across survey years is essential for capturing accurate changes to fisheries so that NMFS can properly assess and predict the status of fish stocks, set catch limits and prevent overfishing.

c) Ocean Gold Seafoods, Inc. is also well-trained in the fishing and data collection protocols of the Cooperative Nearshore California Current Ecosystem Survey, and has met with scientific experts a number of times during planning sessions for previous years of the survey. Continuing the survey with a new entity would require additional training, time, and resources the government does not have while simultaneously introducing the risk of increased error rates.

For the aforementioned reasons, it’s necessary for the Government to negotiate on a sole source basis with Ocean Gold Seafoods, Inc. for the Cooperative Nearshore California Current Ecosystem Survey.

6. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by FAR Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under FAR 5.202 applies.

In accordance with the posting requirements in FAR 5.2, a notice of intent for a single source contract action was posted on March 13, 2023 for 14 days on the Government-wide point of entry at the SAM.gov website. No responses to this notice were received. Upon award, an award notice will be transmitted to the SAM.gov website and a redacted justification will be included with this notice.

7. Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer determines that the anticipated prices will be fair and reasonable based upon a comparison with the Independent Government Estimate and market prices for similar services. Prior to the award of the proposed contract, pricing information shall be obtained from the