Sole_Source_2.pdf

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION FOR ACQUISITION UNDER THE

SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD

P/R Number: 40598195 Estimated Dollar Amount:

1. Contracting Agency and Activity: The Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey, Office of Acquisition and Grants, Sacramento, plans to contract on a sole source basis. This document sets forth the justification and approval as required by FAR 13.106-1(b)(1).

2. Nature of Action Being Approved: Purchase order with Cellular Tracking Technologies

(CTT)

3. Description of Supplies or Services: USGS Western Ecological Research Center, Santa Cruz Field Station’s Seabird Studies Program requires materials from Cellular Tracking Technologies (CTT) to complete work under IAA No. M22PG00035, “Birds, Bats, and Beyond: Networked Wildlife Tracking Along the Pacific Coast of the U.S.” This project will be expanding and exploring the efficacy of the Motus Wildlife Tracking System (Motus), an international collaborative research network that uses coordinated automated radio telemetry to study wildlife, along the California coast.

CTT will provide: (25) SensorStation V3 or V2 with 16GB of storage and onboard connectivity (4G- LTE or iridium, as location of use necessitates), (25) custom NEMA waterproof casings to house the SensorStations, a CTT PowerTag and a tag activator to test constructed receiving stations for efficacy,

(75) CTT LifeTags for tracking the movements of small seabird species using automated radio telemetry,

(20) ES400 tags for tracking the movements of Western Gulls and receiving location information on other species carrying LifeTags, and the necessary data plans for the SensorStations and deployed tags.

4. Estimated Dollar Value:

5. 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.

6. Rationale Supporting Use of Citation in No. 5:

Cellular Tracking Technologies is the only company on the market with a full complement of GPS/Cellular/ARGOS/Iridium and Digitally Coded Radio products that will meet our project’s objectives.

CTT SensorStations are a unique build-out, providing the necessary Integrated Raspberry Pi CM3+ Compute Module along with a suite of integrated components (iridium or cellular connectivity, support for UHF and VHF reception, battery health monitoring, and GPS-disciplined clock) that will make our Motus receiving stations in inventory more reliable. As most of our stations will be deployed in remote areas that are difficult and expensive to access and service, reliability of the systems we install are critical.

CTT SensorStations also have the capability to remotely monitor station health, which will enable us to address issues as they arise.

CTT is the only company on the market to offer customizable, lightweight UHF tags (LifeTags) that are designed to be compatible with the Motus Wildlife Tracking system. Unlike other radio tag technologies, CTT’s UHF digital IDs cannot be confused with noise bursts and other false positives. The only other tag manufacturer on the market produces VHF tags.

CTT’s ES400 tags, integrated UHF-GSM tags, will be deployed on Western Gulls so they can act as mobile receiving stations to increase detections for small birds and bats at sea beyond the range of fixed receiving stations. CTT is the only manufacturer on the market to offer this type of tag.

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION FOR ACQUISITION UNDER THE

SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD

7. Other Information: N/A

8. The Efforts to Identify Additional Sources Including the Market Research Conducted:

Online resources, which provide extensive information on the products on the market, have been reviewed. CTT does not have any resellers. In addition, RFI 140G0323Q0005 was posted for nine days on SAM.gov with no responses received.

9. Future Plans to Permit Competition:

Future requirements will undergo market research and will be competed to the maximum extent practical.

10. Recommendation and Certification from Program Office:

Based on the above, I recommend this acquisition be conducted on a sole source basis and certify the above statements are true and accurate.

11. Certifications from the Contracting Officer:

a. 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. The Government anticipates receiving a fair and reasonable price by basing it on one or more of the allowable options indicated in FAR 13.106(a)(2).

b. This justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.