7A--Machine Learning Assisted Electronic Monitoring

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration seeks development and implementation of machine learning-assisted electronic monitoring systems for West Coast Fixed Gear fisheries, with quotations due September 1, 2026. This is a 100% small business set-aside under NAICS 541511, Custom Computer Programming Services.

Place of performance is the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, 2725 Montlake Boulevard East, Seattle, Washington. The base period runs January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2027, with one optional extension through December 31, 2028. The pilot phase involves 3–5 Limited Entry Non-Trawl sablefish vessels operating with dual coverage from electronic monitoring systems and human observers to validate accuracy.

The contractor must deliver hardware, software, and advanced data analytics comprising 100% uninterrupted waterline-to-rail video coverage, automated GPS tracking hard-bound to video metadata, machine learning-driven species identification and length estimation for seven designated species, Pacific Halibut injury assessment categorization, and automated weight estimation using species-specific regression models. The contractor develops or implements ML models with full source code delivery and grants the government a perpetual royalty-free license, including external sharing rights. A complete annotated image library with unlimited government rights must be delivered. All raw video, images, sensor data, and metadata remain government property; data transmission prioritizes wireless delivery to NWFSC-owned cloud infrastructure with no contractor data storage. Performance standards include 100% Vessel Monitoring Plan adherence, 99% geospatial integrity, 95% waterline discard accounting accuracy, 95% deck imagery quality, 90% ML technical accuracy correlation, and API transmission within 30 days of trip completion for 95% of trips. Key deliverables are due February 15, April 1, August 1, and September 1, 2027.

Questions are due August 25, 2026. Evaluation criteria are equally weighted: personnel qualifications, technical and management approach, past performance, and price. Amendment 0001, posted August 27, addresses 95 vendor questions and updates Statement of Work requirements.