42-Day Special Time Charter Cable Vessel

The Department of the Navy Military Sealift Command is seeking sources for a 42-day special time charter of a Jones Act-qualified, U.S.-flagged cable laying vessel capable of landing and laying telecommunications cable with accurate seafloor placement within 10 meters at depths up to 1,400 meters. The vessel must be USCG certified under 46 CFR Chapter 1, Subchapter I, maintain dynamic positioning capability (DP1 minimum, DP2 preferred) within 150 feet in sea state 4 conditions, and feature a minimum 10-knot transit speed, 11,000 square feet of deck storage, a 10-ton ship's crane, at least 2 tugger winches with 20-ton capability, and a linear cable engine with 20-ton lifting capability on 17mm cable. The vessel must also accommodate eight additional personnel beyond the ship's crew with appropriate berthing, meals, and communications capabilities including satellite phone service and internet-based maritime network with minimum 40-220+ Mbps download speeds. This is a sources sought notice for market research purposes, and interested parties must submit responses by email no later than February 17, 2026 at 1300 Eastern Time to Matthew Price at Matthew.R.Price40.CIV@US.Navy.mil, with contact also available at (564) 230-3782.

The procurement includes no set-aside designation and represents a spot charter for the period of February 15, 2027 through March 29, 2027, requiring sustained operations supporting an operational tempo of 15 percent underway transit, 70 percent underway cable operations, 5 percent underway loitering, and 10 percent inport/anchorage time. The Government will provide all mission equipment including 181 kilometers of trunk cable, 2 kilometers of cathode cable, umbilical systems, deployment frames, and associated hardware, while the contractor is responsible for loading, securing, and stowing this equipment during transit. Responses should include vessel specifications with photographs, certificates of insurance and documentation, daily charter rate with delivery and redelivery bonus details if applicable, fuel consumption rates, company information including CAGE code and small business status, and earliest availability for layday. The NAICS category is 483111 (Deep Sea Freight Transportation) with a small business size standard of 1,050 employees, and no specific award value or budget has been disclosed in this sources sought notice.