NFFM73202202984 Solicitation Questions and Answers.pdf

NF-FM7320-22-02984RDS Questions and Answers

1) Biggest question, will these flights and photography be conducted from a NOAA or other research vessel or do we need to provide vessel and maritime crew? If so, are they are any requirements along those lines? The vendor has to supply their own aerial platform and crew. NOAA is not supplying an aircraft. The selected vendor will need to provide their own or charter an aircraft for the surveys. Attached is the language we use for any contracts for aircraft charters, so the contractor should have these requirements for their aircraft or aircraft vendor. This language is just a suggestion. This is covered in the SOW under item 7.1: 7.1 Contractor Furnished Property, Materials, Equipment and Services (GFP/M/E/S). Contractor shall provide all assets, equipment, trained labor, materials, supervision, transportation, permits, insurance, and quality control necessary to achieve the quality performance standards of the Work in this contract. No vessels required, we are only seeking surveys with an aircraft.

2) Are the January 2023 - March 2023 dates are flexible or are those dates set in stone? We could discuss options with the selected vendor for time periods besides January 2023 - March 2023.

3) Would we use the NOAA programs for record keeping and display of tracklines? Any data recording program can be used, but the final data format must meet Right Whale Consortium data standards. We can provide those standards to the selected vendor.

4) Do we need to mark fast moving vessels in the survey area? There is no requirement to mark fast-moving vessels.

5) Will there be a NOAA boat available if an entangled whale was spotted? Vessel support for disentanglement will be on a case by case basis depending on location and nature of the entanglement. Thorough documentation of any entanglements are requested. We can provide instructions on documentation methods.