RFQ No. 140M0122R0009 - Evaluate the Effectiveness

PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY AS IT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY NOTICE THAT WILL BE ISSUED. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), on behalf of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), has a requirement for contractor support to ¿Evaluate the Effectiveness of Nature Inclusive Design Materials (AT-22-09)¿. This acquisition is being conducted in accordance with FAR Part 15, Contracting by Negotiation. This is not a small business set-aside. The solicitation number is 140M0122R0009 and the solicitation will be issued as a Request for Proposal (RFP) via SAM.GOV 15 days after issuance of this pre-solicitation notice.

The Government anticipates awarding a time-and-materials (T&M) type contract as a result of this solicitation. The period of performance is anticipated to be 36 months from date of award. The North American Industrial Classification Systems (NAICS) code is 541990 All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, with small business size representation of $16.5M. All potential offerors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) (www.sam.gov) in order to receive Government contracts.

BOEM has an obligation to ensure that the wind energy facilities it authorizes uses the best available information and technologically feasible methods of reducing negative environmental effects from offshore wind energy. This information is especially needed as part of assessments to essential fish habitat pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Current studies (e.g., RODEO, https://www.boem.gov/rodeo) have shown that cable protection materials may inhibit marine growth and may not provide habitat benefits generally associated with the introduction of hard substate (e.g., artificial reef programs). This study will evaluate the effectiveness of different materials used for cable protection and scour protection in enhancing hard bottom fisheries habitat.

BOEM monitoring studies at the Block Island Wind Farm indicate that standard cable protection concrete mattresses inhibit marine growth. Materials used in offshore infrastructure should provide conservation benefits to the maximum extent practicable. This concept has significant development in the North Sea where the Dutch have developed a Nature Inclusive Design (NID) catalog for use by regulators and the offshore wind industry. A similar catalog is being developed by The Nature Conservancy in the U.S. This study would evaluate the effectiveness of materials included in NID catalog under development in the U.S. Furthermore, this study would be able to evaluate the use of various materials by non-native species (e.g., Didemnum vexillum), which is commonly found on the northeast shelf to better understand trade-offs of promoting habitat utilization.

This study will include the procurement and deployment of various cable protection and scour protection materials on the seafloor, where they would be monitored for marine growth and habitat utilization by not only commercially or ecologically important species, but by non-native species as well. It may be carried out directly with a lessee implementing such measures, or independently. Results should be compared with completed and ongoing monitoring programs at the Block Island Wind Farm and the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind facility.