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CONTR # Spk16-51 PROJECT/EQUIPMENT: Sacramento River Bank Protection Project/ATS Acoustic Telemetry Equipment

AUTHORITY: AMOUNT:

Date: 2016.09.14 16:13:54 -07'00'

Single Source Justification US Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District

FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), Simplified Acquisitions

1. Contracting Activity: (Requestor) US Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District, Planning Division, 1325 J Street, 10th floor, Sacramento, CA 95814.

2. Description of Action.

Approval is being requested for a sole source “Firm-Fixed Price” commercial product contract. The contract entails acquisition of fish tracking acoustic telemetry equipment to support environmental compliance requirements and planning efforts for the Sacramento River Bank Protection Project (SRBPP), Sacramento River and Tributaries, California.

This equipment is necessary for a monitoring study of juvenile green sturgeon in the Sacramento River.

Monitoring by the Corps pf Engineers will be conducted in collaboration with a separate effort conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Due to their available equipment and the target size of fish, the Juvenile Salmon Acoustic Telemetry System (JSATS) was identified by as the only technology to use for monitoring of juvenile green sturgeon. This action is intended to purchase similar and compatible equipment to collect additional data for the purpose of meeting our monitoring requirements and expanding the data collection capability and results. USFWS uses equipment manufactured by Acoustic Telemetry Systems (ATS). The fish monitoring supports compliance with terms and conditions of Biological Opinions received from the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Required Specifications:

The required acoustic telemetry equipment needs to be JSATS technology so that it is compatible with the other receivers and tags utilized in this collaborative monitoring effort. There are some minimum requirements for this equipment for use in the proposed monitoring.

1) Acoustic Receivers must be autonomous, battery-operated and capable of receiving signals at

416.67 khz.

a. Due to the deployment environment and mount structure, the dimensions should not exceed 30 inches long and 6 inches diameter.

b. They also should have a minimum of 2 gigabytes of memory storage either integrated or on removable media.

c. The receiver batteries must be able to be quickly exchanged in order to minimize down time in the study to only a few minutes.

2) Acoustic receivers must also be able to integrate seamlessly with other ATS SR3000 receivers as part of an array. This integration must provide equivalent reception capability and other performance must be equivalent, such as false detection rates, battery performance, and operational software. These requirements are necessary to meet deployment challenges in very dynamic physical and acoustic environments. The study must also be able to adapt monitoring plan due to environmental challenges that may require last minute adaptation. Consistent equipment performance standards help reduce variability and uncertainty of results. This is particularly important for 2-dimensional arrays where deployment distance is critical and successful positioning requires consistency of acoustic reception range capability.

3) Acoustic receivers should be positively buoyant. While buoyancy can be adjusted with external float systems, a positively buoyant receiver will assist during deployment by helping maintain orientation and in keeping the receiver off the bottom. Positive buoyancy may also assist in recovery efforts.

4) Acoustic receivers must incorporate appropriate technology for downloading data quickly under difficult environmental conditions. Data retrieval and processing should be compatible with the ATS SR3000 acoustic receiver system due to integration with existing ATS receivers and processing of data for 2-dimensional positioning.

3. The rationale or circumstances for limiting competition.

The ATS SR3000 Acoustic Receivers have been determined to meet all of the objectives and criteria for this acquisition, while the alternative models do not meet all of these sufficiently and/or at a much higher cost. The receivers need to have the capability of maximizing detection while excluding false detections down to a minimum level.

In our market research we were provided several reports evaluating this technology and comparing the performance of the acoustic receiver equipment from the various vendors. One of them was an independent study conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service (Armann et.al. 2012). Both of these studies determined that the ATS receivers significantly outperformed the Teknologic and Lotek receivers, and in the case of filtration of false detections, the ATS receiver outperformed the Lotek receiver. Since the study, Lotek has indicated that they have improved their signal processing algorithms in the new model which reduces the incidences of false detections. I have not been provided any data to confirm this performance, but when considering the reception performance along with false detections, the ATS receivers still perform the best overall.

In terms of costs, the ATS SR 3000 acoustic receivers are $2,995.00, which is only a few hundred dollars more than the Lotek WHS 4250 acoustic receivers @ $2,450.00 each. The Teknologic SLER Acoustic Receiver performs very well but are priced at $6,750.00 each and utilize rechargeable battery system that may limit how we can utilize them during our monitoring.

Based on this market research, the Environmental POC has determined that the ATS SR3000 acoustic receivers should be purchased as sole source, since it meets all of the criteria for the project monitoring and objectives at the lowest cost.

4. The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition. (Contracting) The Services Acquisition Reform Act of 2003 (41 U.S.C.§428a) as implemented by FAR 13.106(b)(1) – Sole Source Certain Commercial Items

5. Market Research (MR) A review of currently available JSATS acoustic tagging technology has been conducted by the Environmental POC. There are only a few sources of the specific technology that might be utilized in this study besides the identified vendor, ATS, and these are the Lotek/Biosonics and Teknologic system.

The following contacts were made and internet research conducted to support the conclusions above:

JSATS Systems Researched

Advanced Telemetry Systems Reviewed Website Information at https://www.atstrack.com/tracking-systems/acoustic-fish.aspx.

Contacted Joe Allen by phone 763-444-9267, jallen@atstrack.com.

Lotek/Biosonics Reviewed Website Information at http://www.biosonicstelemetry.com/ Contacted Matt at Biosonics by phone (206-783-9356) and by email with Ryan Stock at Lotek (rstock@lotek.com, ph: (905) 836-2905).

Teknologic Reviewed Website Information at http://www.teknologic.net/marine/ Quote reviewed from Brent Smith at Teknologic, 425-771-7980 to FWS collaborator.

A technical study reporting on performance of available equipment was also reviewed (Armann et.al.

2012) .

6. Price estimate, including options, if applicable.

This request entails acquisition of JSATS equipment from the vendor ATS:

1. ATS SR3000 Trident Receiver (Total quantity of 25)

2. ATS SS300 Acoustic Tags III (Total quantity of 20)

3. ATS #17853 6-cell Battery Packs for SR 3000 (Total quantity of 38)

4. ATS #17103 Strap Wrenches (Quantity = 2)

5. ATS #17807 Pinger Dish III (for programming tags)

Total Purchase Cost including ($600.00 Freight): $90,417. USD

7. Recommended source.

Advanced Telemetry Systems 470 First Avenue North Isanti, MN 55040 Contact Phone 763-444-9267.

Website Information at https://www.atstrack.com/tracking-systems/acoustic-fish.aspx.

*8. Technical Certification:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Name: Brian Mulvey Date:___14 September 2016

*9. Requirements Certification:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

NOTE: If the technical and requirements certifiers are the same person, paragraphs 7 and 8 may be combined into one paragraph Technical and Requirements Certification, and the J&A renumbered accordingly.*

Ensure that the person signing the certification has the authority to do so, and that he is signing for himself. No one can certify for another person.

10. Contract Specialist Certification: This certification shall be made by the contract specialist who prepared this justification and approval.

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

11. Contracting Officer Certification: This certification shall be made by the contracting officer who will sign the contract resulting from this justification and approval.