Intent_to_Award_Notice_1.pdf

Intent to Award Notice – DOIGFBO210070

The U.S. Geological Survey (Cooperative Research Units, Texas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research

Unit) has a requirement for a barge electrofisher system including tote barge with safety push handle, grab handles, and support brackets for livewells; necessary components for electrofishing including electrodes, poles, cables, a generator with isolated/floating neutral for use with electrofishing systems, a junction box that controls output in connection to safety handle and electrodes, and an Apex control box to set waveform, frequency, voltage, and current, that comes with a digital display to relay system information and warnings, a safety kill switch, operating lights and tonal alarms.

The USGS is aware of no other source that can provide the above. Therefore, it intends to make an award to Smith-Root unless it is contacted by any vendor who believes they have similar technical expertise and can provide the same product. Vendors are invited to contact the Contract Specialist, Leah Williams via email at lwilliams@usgs.gov no later than 09:00 AM EDT, Friday, September 17, 2021 with an affirmative answer.

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

Officer attests all appropriate signatures have been obtained.

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (FAR 13.1)

The following information is provided to demonstrate the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications:

Nature of Action Being Approved.

Procurement of barge electrofisher system with safety push handle, Apex control box, cables, and generator Smith-Root, Inc. to perform electrofishing surveys on a variety of difficult to access rivers

(components must be able to be taken apart when necessary).

Statutory Authority.

The proposed action may be awarded on a sole source basis under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) – only one source reasonably available.

Rationale Supporting Use of Citation

The equipment described above will be used as part of an existing group of electrofishing equipment for the Cooperative Research Unit in Texas. The equipment is needed to conduct sampling surveys in wadeable rivers with limited accessibility. The equipment will support research investigation on riverine ecosystems, fish species of greatest conservation need, economically important species, and invasive species. The USGS requires the following features, all of which are proprietary technology of Smith-

Root, Inc.This manufacturer and the components cited in item 3 above provide the only complete system that is modular and transposable to current electrofishing boats for continuity of data, supplies the most robust safety features, provides river accessibility without the need for a boat ramp, and meets technical requirements. The barge must be one-piece construction to provide a strong platform to handle vibrations from the generator while providing a non-conductive vessel from which to operate for safety. The push barge style with insulated push handle at the stern with two safety switches is necessary for maximum safety, and not available from other manufacturers. The accompanying control box also provides maximum safety on the market with a kill switch, and both sound and light indicators when the system is in operation to alert crew members and any surrounding persons to electrofishing activity. These systems not only indicate that the system is in operation, but act as indicators of when errors/faults/warnings occur. These errors, faults, and warnings are displayed for the operator and aid in diagnosing power mailto:lwilliams@usgs.gov settings. Lights are invaluable safety features for the control box operator in noisy situations. Together these indicators allow the operator to adjust power related settings immediately, sometimes with suggestions displayed on the control box, to operate more safely if not more efficiently for the current environmental conditions. Like all manufacturers, anode poles with safety switches are also provided.

Electrofishing is a dangerous activity, and without multiple, redundant safety measures could lead to serious injury or death.

Modularity and self-contained power are important for two main reasons. First, modularity allows the control box and generator to be transposable to existing electrofishing boats for continuity of data collection and standardization across sample sites with different environmental conditions (e.g., widths, depths, conductivities). In addition, this precludes the need to purchase additional control boxes for existing electrofishing boats, which are used in deeper and more accessible sites. Second, because data collection will be done at remote sites, where the river shoreline is not readily accessible by vehicle and no grid power is available, the barge is required for wadeable streams and rivers that are too large for backpack electrofishers, but inaccessible by trailored boats. The ability to load the barge in the bed of a pick-up truck and then take the components apart (i.e., generator, Apex control box, etc.) and carry the load to the study site are specific requirements of the research.

The equipment must be able to run multiple configurations of voltage, current, frequency, and duty cycle to be able to adjust power and waveform for a range of water conductivity and targeted fish species. The

Apex control box provides up to 24,000 Watts of pulsed DC output power and 7,200 W continuous AC power. The Apex control box covers a range of up to 1,200 V and up to 80 Amps to be able to adjust and optimize power settings for low conductivity and high conductivity waters. This feature is needed in

Texas as waterbodies span a large environmental gradient from West to East and from headwaters to coastal systems. The most versatile electrofisher is needed to cover conductivity gradients, otherwise multiple control boxes would be required. AC waveforms increase the range of conductivity than can be effectively sampled and provide the means to study invasive species control efforts. DC waveform provides a means to conduct no- take electrofishing, an important feature for working with at-risk species.

Additionally, this is the only control box to our knowledge that is capable of creating a burst waveform for sampling species in heavy cover. The control box must have active, built -in heat dissipation to keep the unit within optimal thermal parameters at high outputs and outside temperatures. Must have digital real-time displays to notify user of faults/errors/warnings and to display system information, to be able to quickly troubleshoot (through suggested settings and help files) and to select the proper waveforms, adjust frequency, duty cycle, voltage, and current for successful and efficient electrofishing. Integrated

Timer alarms and logged records of electrical input and outputs are required for rapid standardization from site-to-site to get equal effort and minimum control box settings required for successful electrofishing. Logged output settings and time records help determine capture efficiency needed for accurate data and estimation of species occurrence and abundance, especially for rare species and species of greatest conservation need.

Without a system that meets these specifications, data needed to fulfill research requirements will not be collected, early career (graduate student) projects will not be completed, and actionable information will not be provided to management authorities. Lack of these capabilities will hinder achievement of the

DOI-USGS priority of sustainable management and conservation of biological resources. The barge system design meets the safety, mobility, and electrofishing standards required.

Other vendors produce systems that meet some, but not all of the required specifications (see item 8 below). This system is needed to conduct research in riverine ecosystems and inform conservation and management of fish species of greatest conservation need, economically important species and invasive species.