Charter for the Gulf of Alaska Bottom Trawl Survey

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Fisheries division, seeks a commercial vessel charter with crew and associated services to conduct the Biennial Bottom Trawl Survey of Alaska Groundfish in the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands, with quotations due August 28, 2026. The procurement is a 100% small business set-aside under NAICS 483114, with a small business size standard of 550 employees.

Place of performance includes the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands, with port calls in Dutch Harbor, Adak, Sand Point, Kodiak, Seward, Ketchikan, and Juneau. The base charter spans 55 days with optional extensions up to 35 additional days across four option periods from April 2027 through March 2032. Survey operations occur May through August in alternating years, with the Aleutian Islands surveyed in 2028 and 2030, and the Gulf of Alaska in 2027, 2029, and 2031.

The vessel must be a bottom trawler with minimum overall length of 36.5 meters, 1,000 horsepower main engine, split trawl winches with minimum 1,463 meters of trawl cable per drum, two net reels, stern ramp with gallows or gantry, hydraulic crane rated for 5.4 metric tons, and deck work space of at least 55.7 square meters. The vessel must accommodate six to eight Government Scientists plus crew with separate male and female berthing, potable water for 11 people for 25+ days, and full sanitary facilities. The contractor must provide a minimum crew of five: a vessel captain with three years bottom trawl master experience in Alaska waters, a lead-fisher with five years otter trawl experience, an engineer-fisher, general-fisher, and cook with three years trawl fishing experience. A mate is required if mandated by law.

Pricing includes daily charter rates (CLIN 0001), moorage and communications with a $15,000 not-to-exceed cap (CLIN 0002), government equipment transportation as firm-fixed (CLIN 0003), fuel with a $100,000 not-to-exceed cap (CLIN 0004), and optional additional charter days (CLIN 0005). Daily charter pricing shall include all vessel transit costs to and from survey ports, with no separate mobilization/demobilization charges. Fuel costs will be managed under existing CLINs with the Government increasing the cap if needed for optional days; fuel is primarily purchased via the SEACARD government contract. The Government provides all trawls, doors, bridles, scientific equipment, survival suits, and computer systems. Questions are due August 21 at 2 PM EDT.

Past performance references must be submitted by the due date via email to Amanda Rossiter and Novelle Key, with evaluations covering quality of product or service, schedule, cost control, business relations, management of key personnel, and utilization of small business (not required for small businesses). References should be drawn from projects completed or in progress within the past five years. Current, valid USCG-approved Stability Letters or those from recognized classification societies are acceptable without new stability analyses.