B13 Brand Name Seabird.doc

BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION

1. Contracting Agency and Activity. The Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey plans to contract by means other than full and open competition. This document sets forth the justification and approval for award of a Sea-Bird SBE-19 Water Profiling Instrument on a limited source basis as required by FAR 13.106.1.

2. Nature of Action Being Approved. This a new order to purchase a Sea-Bird water profiling instrument.

3. Description of Supplies or Services. The instrumentation sought for purchase is essential for recording water profile data (temperature, light, chlorophyll, turbidity, pH) during USGS Great Lakes Science Center long-term fisheries surveys in the Great Lakes. Water profile data are used by scientists to identify sampling strata during surveys and understand long term changes in fisheries and the ecosystem by monitoring change in conditions through time.

4. Statutory Authority. The proposed action may be awarded on a sole source basis under the authority of Section 201 of the Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 USC 501) and FAR 13.106-1.

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Citation in No. 5. Using Seabird SBE-19 Water Profiling Instrument as the sole source is justified for several reasons. First, this request is a replacement for an existing old unit. Replacing the aging piece of equipment with a new version of that accomplishes the same task and produces the same quality of data is essential to maintain the integrity of the data time series. Second, data files generated from Seabird profiles are stored in machine-readable format, meeting requires of USGS data management policy. Third, the rate at which data is collected is essential to completing our surveys. Seabird profilers capture multiple readings per second, which allows for the unit to be deployed at high speed to profile the water column while obtaining fine-scale depth measurement that are critical for defining layers in our survey. Fourth, the combination of different sensors in one relatively small unit is critical because space aboard our large or small vessels when doing field work is always a limitation. Seabird profilers are stand alone units that allow us to store data from an entire survey right on the unit’s internal memory, which is extremely useful for inclement weather operations when bring a field laptop for download is impractical.

6. Other Information. N/A

7. The Efforts to Identify Additional Sources Including the Market Research Conducted. Products from other sources of water profiling units were evaluated and no other products meet the Government’s minimum technical specifications or the need for data continuity. Competition will be sought among Sea-Bird resellers.

8. Actions to Overcome Barriers to Competition. Future requirements will undergo market research and be competed to the maximum extent practical.

9. Recommendation and Certification from Program Office. Based on the above, I recommend this acquisition be conducted on a limited source basis. I certify that technical data which form a basis for this justification, that are the responsibility of technical or requirements personnel are complete and accurate.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) considers employee signatures to be Personal Information, and therefore all employee signatures have been redacted. By posting this document, the Contracting Officer attests all appropriate signatures have been obtained.

PAGE