NF-FP7100-23-01310 Sole Source FE_Redacted.pdf

Version 3.0

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN ACTION EXCEEDING THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD

USING SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS

AUTHORITY: FAR 13.501(a) and 41 U.S.C. 1901

PR NF-FP7100-23-01310

1. Agency and contracting activity. Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Acquisition and Grants Office (AGO), Western Acquisition Division (WAD) and Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) Conservation Biology Division

(CBD).

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

This a sole source justification for a follow-on to Contract 1305M318DNFFP0011. NOAA intends to issue an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) firm fixed price type contract, for commercial services to The Whale Museum (UEI: HNBPNVX9A7A5).

3. Description of supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the total estimated value).

NMFS requires data and services related to the Southern Resident killer whale database, including vessel activity monitoring, soundwatch boater education, support for field studies, maintain and compile data on its hydrophone network. The anticipated IDIQ contract will have a five (5) year ordering period with an overall estimated value of $ . These required services allow NWFSC to provide scientific and technical support to NOAA Fisheries for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Northwest region's marine and anadromous resources. Specifically, the Marine Mammal Program of the NWFSC is responsible for research on the ecology, distribution, abundance, and threats to marine mammal species in the northwest, primarily endangered Southern Resident killer whales. The information collected through this effort allows NOAA to meet its mandate to Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery under the Endangered Species Act, and to other marine mammals under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

The requirement is to: (1) collect, compile and archive all sighting data of killer whales, particularly Southern Residents, from all available data sources throughout the entire contract; (2) maintain a centralized database of these data that is compatible with and includes previously collected data and is formatted for GIS analyses; (3) conduct on-water boater education and vessel data collection; (4) conduct vessel-based behavioral surveys of killer whales and vessels; (5) maintain existing site in the SeaSound hydrophone network and deploy additional sites as feasible, (6) develop outreach/education exhibits/programs; and (7) review available long-term data sets on killer whale sightings, vessel activities and ambient/anthropogenic sound around killer whales to conduct trend analyses for the purposes of generating data trends reports suitable for publication.

An IDIQ is required as the timeline for recovery actions on this population is a long-term effort and multi-year data, collected utilizing the same techniques, are required to build upon the existing multi-decadal database to meet the agency’s needs.

NF-FP7100-23-01310 Sole Source Justification

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

X 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:

Only one source: The Whale Museum, a nonprofit organization, has developed and maintains different databases for whale sightings, and the information is utilized by several Government agencies, both state and federal, to assess needed protection for the Southern Resident Orcas. First, the whale sightings database, particularly for endangered Southern Resident killer whales, focuses on the inland waters of Washington and British Columbia (BC) from a public reporting network that has been in existence for 40 years. It is the only such database in existence and has been used extensively in the past by NMFS for analysis of potential impacts of proposed management actions. Second, the Whale Museum created the Soundwatch Boater Education Program in 1993 for boaters involved in whale watching in the inland waters of Washington and BC. It has pioneered a number of unique approaches, materials, and specialized programs that it carries out each summer to educate, monitor, and assess the potential impacts of vessels on marine mammals in the local area. Third, the Whale Museum has developed a hydrophone network in the inland waters of Washington. Suitable sites for the hydrophone deployments are extremely limited and the Whale Museum has taken advantage of key sites. A disclaimer from The Whale Museum website is attached confirming all recordings and other data from the hydrophones are owned and maintained by The Whale Museum and their partner, SMRU Consulting. Data protection is under a Creative Common Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, which requires prior written agreements for database utilization for research purposes. Without a contractual agreement, NOAA would not have utilization of the data for research purposes.

In 2005, Southern Resident killer whales were listed under the Endangered Species Act, which caused NOAA to increase efforts for research and conservation. As such, the unique long-term database The Whale Museum and its partners own quickly became mission critical for NOAA’s efforts. Since 2007, NOAA has leveraged The Whale Museum, and without this relationship, NOAA’s mission to monitor the habitat use of the endangered Southern Resident killer whales would be negatively impacted. Continuing this contractual relationship is an important component of assessing the viability of Recovery Plan actions.

The Whale Museum’s combined extensive databases, outreach and educational programs and hydrophone network make it a unique source for the government’s requirement. There are no known vendors capable of providing all of the Whale Museum’s unique capabilities, including the 40+ years of database research, outreach and education programs, and the hydrophone network specialized for the inland waters of Washington.

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.

A source sought notice was posted on SAM.gov on May 2, 2023 for a period of 15 days to determine whether any other source could meet the Government’s needs. The Technical Review Team determined Lynker Corporation and Simple Machines Research did not demonstrate capability for the key criteria of this effort. Documentation of this determination is attached in the Market Research Report and further mentioned in Section 8, below.

The notice of intent to issue a sole source solicitation to The Whale Museum will be posted on SAM.gov website along with this Sole Source Justification after the contract is awarded.

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

The contracting officer will utilize the techniques in FAR 13.106-3 to determine that proposed pricing is fair and reasonable. In addition, the task orders will have fixed unit rates. These will be reviewed and evaluated to determine a fair and reasonable price for both the IDIQ and the associated task orders.

8. Description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

In accordance with Acquisition Alert 23-02 Subcontracting with AbilityOne, “killer whale research” on AbilityOne.gov was searched for potential subcontracting opportunities and no results were found.

On May 3, 2023 the Dynamic Small Business Search tool was searched for NAICS 541715 and the key word “Whale”. One (1) Veteran Owned Small Business vendor surfaced, Robert Kenny. He is a recognized expert on North American Right Whales and other marine mammals. He specialized in ecology and field identification and skilled at database management, statistical analysis and technical writing and editing. However, Robert does not have access to the long-term databases. As a result, he is not determined capable of performing this requirement.

On May 3, 2023 SAM.gov was searched with the key words “killer whale”. One (1) large business surfaced, Killer Whale Tales. It was quickly noted that this vendor could not meet the requirements because they specialized promoting environmental science through storytelling and field-based science programs to students.

A source sought was issued on SAM.gov on May 2, 2023 for 15 days. Two (2) vendors expressed interest; Lynker Corporation and Simple Machines Research.

Lynker Corporation responded to the sources sought on May 16, 2023. They are a large business that specializes in fisheries science, coastal monitoring, marine mammal and turtle research, bioacoustics, fisheries and protected species observing and geospatial services.

Lynker provided a thorough capabilities statement submission, that detailed their passive acoustic monitoring, acoustic outreach program, and multi-year data compilation capabilities.

However, Lynker does not have access to the long-term databases. As a result, they are not determined capable.

Simple Machines Research responded to the sources sought on May 4, 2023. They are a small business that specialized in building interactive website applications. They stated they could build on the whale sightings database but did not respond to the other sources sought criteria (e.g. Soundwatch boater education, support for field studies, hydrophone network and acoustic outreach). Furthermore, this vendor mentioned that they are new wildlife surveys and thus don't have the unique and specialized long-term knowledge required to complete all tasks. As a result, they are not determined to be capable.

This effort is extremely specialized requiring not only the use of the data the vendor previously collected, but staff with long-term knowledge and highly specialized skills to carry out this work. NOAA uses historical data along with newly acquired information to track trends and inform its plans for conservation efforts. NWFSC publishes status reviews under the Endangered Species Act. Without access to the historical information, NWFSC cannot accurately assess the impact with current efforts. Due to NWFSC’s high degree of research involvement in the whale population, they are in contact with all organizations involved with this research, and to date, no other capable vendors exist.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of a sole source (including brand name), such as:

All supporting facts have been documented herein.

10. List of the sources that expressed a written interest in the acquisition.

There were two (2) vendors that expressed interest; Lynker Corporation and Simple Machines Research (SMR). The capability assessment is contained in Section 8 of this document.

11. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required.

Competition for future acquisitions will continue to be carefully evaluated. An effort will be made to determine whether any small businesses possess the necessary capabilities and ability to provide any components of this requirement. Given the highly specialized and unique methods for data collection, summary, and interpretation, building on data held by the vendor, feasible actions are not envisioned that would allow future competition. Currently, NOAA is procuring access to the database for research purposes, therefore, until the database is open source, NOAA will continue to adhere to The Whale Museum’s requirements for access.