SSJ 143040260019.pdf

Version 2.0 19Aug2020

SINGLE SOURCE DETERMINATION USING

SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES (SAP)

FOR AN ACTION NOT EXCEEDING THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD

(AUTHORITY: FAR 13.106-1(b)(1))

IATTC-WCPFC NC Working Group on Pacific Bluefin Tuna, Newport Beach, CA

1. Agency and contracting activity. Department of Commerce, NOAA Acquisition and Grants Office

(AGO), and NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region (WCR)

Description of supplies or services required to meet agency needs (including the estimated value). The requirement is for rooms and services for the IATTC-WCPFC Joint Working Group on Pacific Bluefin Tuna meeting to be held March 11-13, 2026. This purchase includes 3 meeting room rentals for 3 days, projector equipment, AV equipment and support.

Planned Contract Type: Firm-Fixed Price Period of Performance: Upon award through March 13, 2026

2. Identification of the single source or the brand name to be solicited.

Hyatt Regency Newport Beach 1107 Jamboree Road Newport Beach, CA 92660

3. Supporting rationale. Only one source or brand name is reasonably available as detailed below:

The United States has offered to host this meeting of the Joint Inter-American Tropical Tuna Convention (IATTC) - Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) Working Group on Pacific Bluefin Tuna (PBF) in Newport Beach, CA. The Joint IATTC-WCPFC PBF Working Group brings together the two International Commissions that manage the highly migratory Pacific bluefin tuna stock. The working group coordinates conservation measures, sets catch limits based on ISC (International Scientific Committee) assessments, and implements catch documentation schemes to ensure sustainable, science-based management across the Pacific. This Working Group meeting is critical to decide on a long-term harvest strategy for Pacific bluefin tuna that will then be implemented across the Pacific through both the IATTC and WCPFC. The agreement at this meeting will then be adopted by both Commissions at their meetings later this year. That long term harvest strategy will then go into force beginning January 1, 2027 and last in perpetuity. From that point forward, it will be the binding international agreement that governs catch reductions or increases across the Pacific Ocean for bluefin tuna and contains key benchmarks and triggers to ensure the stock does not ever become overfished. In addition, the working group will be discussing a detailed catch documentation scheme that will track all catches of bluefin tuna from the point they harvested by a vessel to the country and port that imports or lands them and sends them to market. Finally, the working group will also agree on any additional monitoring, control and surveillance measures to ensure no illegal, unreported or unregulated (IUU) fishing occurs.

Combating IUU fishing and ensuring a long-term harvest strategy that prevents overfishing and

143040-26-0019 increased U.S. fishing opportunities are key outcomes the United States is hoping for this meeting.

Having this meeting in Newport Beach, CA ensures our key bluefin tuna industry, and other stakeholders, will be able to be there in person as part of the U.S. Delegation, which should also help us reach agreement.

The meeting set up has unique requirements that this venue is in sole position to meet. Currently, all delegations have already booked rooms at this hotel and most have set up their own delegation breakout rooms at this venue for bilateral meetings in the margins on the plenary session. It is critical for a successful meeting for us to be able to also host the meeting at this venue to facilitate the ability for bilaterals to happen in the brief coffee breaks and still allow for the meeting agenda not to be delayed due to having to travel to different venues for those important discussions.

In addition, this meeting will be a live-streamed hybrid interactive meeting, which will require a complicated set up of in room microphones for the delegations (both plenary and breakout rooms) while also having the ability for virtual participants to follow in real time and intervene remotely as well. In order to have 14 countries and over 75 participants able to interact in real time, we need a venue that can allow for presentations to be shown simultaneously both in the room and on computer screens, documents to be presented and edited in real time fashion on screens in the room and online, and also allow for interventions to be made over microphones that can be heard in the room as well as online. This includes being able to monitor and manage real time interpretation for some countries based on that audio visual (A/V) set up. Thus, technicians will not only have to set up all the A/V needs but someone present in the room to work those 3 days to actively tend all of that to support the complex hybrid format.

NMFS WCR has enquired at other nearby hotels in Newport Beach and Irvine, CA and this is the only hotel that has the availability, space and size for our meeting room requirements, and meets the intricate needs for A/V technical support conducting the meeting.

143040-26-0019