Req242036 Underwater Minicam Synopsis

This is a pre-soliication synopsis notice for Underwater Minicamera: 

Project Summary:

The Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) requires underwater imaging systems to monitor foraging behavior of marine animals through both animal-borne and fishing gear mounted systems. To understand the foraging behavior of marine animals, researchers often rely on biotelemetry devices that record the animal’s movements and dive patterns at sea. Based on changes in behavior, researchers can identify when and where feeding occurs. Depredation of target fishing species by animals feeding off longline catch negatively impacts the fishing industry. Monitoring these activities at depth is necessary to understand and possibly mitigate the impact of predator foraging behavior.

In many biotelemetry studies there has been no confirmation that the identified behavior changes are associated with foraging, and in commercial fishing there is limited knowledge about depredation behavior. The gold standard for measuring actual foraging events is through animal-borne video recorders. Similarly, video observations of animal interactions with fishing gear can provide insights not possible with other types of data collection.  However, in the past, battery and memory limitations have resulted in video cameras having insufficient recording abilities (e.g., duration, video quality) or they are too large for smaller marine species to carry or to be attached to gear without modifying how it fishes. We require a custom-designed underwater video camera system that can be used to record marine mammal foraging behavior from animal-borne deployments and through mounting on longline fishing gear systems. 

A draft Performance Work Statement (PWS) is provided for informational purposes only.

The proposed contract action is set aside 100% for small businesses (SB).  The associated NAICS code is 541330, and the business size standard for this requirement is $25,500,00.  It is highly encouraged that any small business meeting this size standard and desiring to be considered for award be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) using this NAICS code or a NAICS code with an equivalent size standard.  It should be noted that offerors must be registered in SAM prior to submission of an offer.  For additional information and to register in SAM, please access the following web site: https://sam.gov/.  In order to register with the SAM, all offerors must also have a unique entity identifier through http://sam.gov/conent/entity-registration.

Solicitation documents will be made available for download on or about August 08, 2024 at https://sam.gov/.  Paper copies of this solicitation will not be issued.  Interested parties may use the “follow” feature to monitor changes to this notice, including Request for Quote (RFQ) posting as well as all postings of information associated with this solicitation thereafter.  Each potential offeror is responsible for checking https://sam.gov/ to gain all current information related to the solicitation. The solicitation and any further announcements regarding the solicitation will be posted only at https://sam.gov/.  The date offers are due will be stated within the solicitation documents and will be adjusted based upon the actual release date of the solicitation.  All questions of any nature regarding this procurement should be sent in writing to the Contract Specialist, Rachel Karkane at Rachel.karkane@noaa.gov.

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