Notice of intent to issue a sole source contract

NOTICE OF INTENT TO ISSUE A SOLE SOURCE CONTRACT FOR REGIONAL WILDLIFE SCIENCE COLLABORATIVE (RWSC) OCEAN PORTAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1(a)(2), intends to issue a sole source contract to the Coastal States Stewardship Foundation (CSSF), for Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative (RWSC) Ocean Portal Products and Services.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) on behalf of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Office of Renewable Energy Programs has a need to better coordinate science priorities and research objectives to better understand stakeholder concerns and coordinate with researchers to understand the potential behavioral, physical, and physiological impacts to marine protected species from offshore wind construction. An effective means to accomplish these goals is to leverage the existing structure of the Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative (RWSC) and its coordination with subject matter subcommittees to identify priorities and coordination with the ocean data portals to create the necessary products and tools to facilitate better regional science. This information in turn will aid in environmental impact analyses for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) compliance.

In July 2021, the Northeast Regional Ocean Council, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean, and the Coastal States Stewardship Foundation were selected to host the newly established RWSC. The RWSC governance structure is dependent upon financial contributions from participating sectors for continued support of costs and needs of the RWSC. There are many overlapping goals BOEM shares with the RWSC that can provide support to develop products and tools to assist BOEM in its mission to manage development of U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) energy and mineral resources in an environmentally and economically responsible way. BOEM has already begun to work collaboratively with NOAA, States, and the RWSC to create an ocean data portal mapping tool to facilitate planning and research discussions with stakeholders and has held workshops in support of RWSC efforts.

BOEM seeks to provide resources to RWSC to support coordination with stakeholders, creation of ocean data portal products and tools to support regional science collaboration and make ocean data products associated with research and monitoring of wildlife and offshore wind publicly available. The RWSC has become an essential resource for BOEM to engage stakeholders in critical science questions related to wildlife and offshore wind and developing research plans to coordinate science efforts to provide data and information on this critical science questions. The expected products will be used by BOEM in its environmental analyses and will provide a central location to share data products with all BOEM stakeholders, including the results on BOEM-funded science.

The Coastal States Stewardship Foundation (CSSF) is a partner, facilitator, and designated fiscal agent for the RWSC. The organization/institution that the RWSC has funds management partnership with, is by default, the recipient of the funding. Therefore, this acquisition will result in a sole source contract to CSSF in accordance with FAR Part 6.302-1, Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

PLEASE NOTE: This notice is not a request for proposal (RFP). However, any firm that believes itself capable of meeting the requirement described herein may submit a capability statement or quotation which may be considered if received by the agency by 5:00pm Eastern Time on 5 June 2023. All submissions in response to this notice must be submitted in writing via email to the Contracting Officer at david.villani@bsee.gov reference Solicitation 140M0123Q0029 on the subject line. A determination by the Government not to compete the Government¿s requirements described in this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.