Survey Support Services of Indexing Sea Turtles

THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL SERVICES PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN FAR SUBPART 12.6, AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED.
The Request for Quotation (RFQ) number is EE-133F-13-RQ-0504 . The U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, National Marine Fisheries, Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, 101 Pivers Island Road, Beaufort, NC 28516-9722 has a requirement for Survey Support services of Indexing Sea Turtles in accordance with the following Statement of Work. The period of performance is September 1, 2013, or date of award, whichever is later through a twelve (12) month period.
STATEMENT OF WORK
The NMFS/Beaufort Laboratory has the responsibility for acquiring administrative, professional, and or technical services in order to adequately provide for the protection and recovery of sea turtle species. Population assessments enable the NMFS to evaluate environmental impacts to and the general status of the population. Biological samples, necessary for determining genetic and species composition and assessing the health, growth rates and sex ratio of sea turtle populations, can be collected through long-term, in-water projects utilizing a mark-recapture methodology. Although some commercial fishing gear can be detrimental to sea turtles, other gear, in particular pound nets, enable researchers to access turtles for these long-term studies.
The contractor shall provide survey support services to include the facilitation of transportation of sea turtles incidentally captured in commercial fisherman's pound nets who shall assist research biologist with bring the turtle on board for processing utilizing the mark-recapture methodology in the Core and Pamlico Sounds in North Carolina.
A report is to be submitted with the monthly invoice, identifying the number of trips, the pound net locations. The contractor is to provide the necessary level of administrative, professional, and technical support required to provide access to sea turtles inhabiting Core and Pamlico Sounds, North Carolina so that they can be sampled. The contractor shall provide those services, personnel, materials, and related equipment to perform the work delineated herein. Specific work shall include, but not be limited to the following:
a. Set and fish commercial pound nets to incidentally capture sea turtles
b. Provide transportation to and from pound nets.
c. Assist research biologists with bringing turtles on board for processing

Sampling will be conducted in each period from September through November and again in May through July. Not to exceed 44 trips. Quote shall be submitted as pricing complete per trip.
IT SECURITY REQUIREMENTS:

The Certification and Accreditation (C&A) or Assessment and Authentication (A&A) requirements of Clause 48 CFR 1352.239-72 do not apply, and a Security Accreditation
Package is not required.

This procurement is being solicited as Small Business set- aside in full and open competition. The resulting purchase order will be negotiated as a firm-fixed price Purchase Order. Hard copies of the RFQ will not be issued. Electronic submission of the contractor's proposal is hereby authorized, but must be transmitted by the posted response date and time. It is incumbent upon contractor to monitor FEDBIZOPPS for the release of the RFQ, Statement of Work, and all subsequent amendments. To be eligible for award, offerors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) to be considered for an award of a federal contract. For information regarding registration in SAM contact the SAM website at www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/; offerors must also obtain a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and provide it with the offer. All responsible sources may submit a quote, which shall be considered by the agency.
The FSC for this is B516 and the NAICS Code is 541712, small business size standard is 500 employees. Incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-23. FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items applies. Evaluation will be in accordance with FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items. Award will be made to the responsible, responsive offeror whose offer will result in the lowest technically acceptable price and who can best meet the required location. FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items and 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items (MAR 2007) applies and the following additional FAR clauses cited in the clause at paragraph (b) are applicable to this acquisition, as such consider the following clauses checked, (12),(23), (26), (27), (28), (29), (31), (36), (38), (39), (42), (47) and (49). The following addenda or additional terms and conditions apply; None. No Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) rating is assigned. Offers must be submitted to the Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, 101 Pivers Island Road, Beaufort, NC 28516-9722 by 2:00 P.M. JULY 22, 2013. Vendors whose offer expires prior to closing date will not be accepted. Offers maybe sent via email to Lorraine.Edwards@noaa.gov. Inquiries will only be accepted via email to Lorraine.Edwards@noaa.gov.