United States Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Central Region Acquisition Division, (CRAD) is soliciting sources for the refurbishment of one existing auto-buoy package and construction of an additional buoy and monitoring of both buoys while they are deployed in waters off Jacksonville, FL during November 2008 to April 2009, for the Passive Acoustic Monitoring of North Atlantic Right Whales in the Southeastern United States.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972 is responsible for the management of marine mammal population. The agency is mandated to conserve the endangered species under its jurisdiction and must undertake actions to prevent further decline of populations, facilitate their recovery and safeguard the quality of their habitat. The population of right whales in the western North Atlantic is highly endangered. NOAA Fisheries is proposing to continue a program to utilize autonomous passive monitoring devices to gather data on the presence of right whales in the southeast United States. The objectives of this project are as follows: 1. to deploy two passive acoustic auto-detection buoys near Jacksonville, FL to collect data on calving right whale vocalizations during the 2008/2009 winter calving season. 2. The buoys will be deployed during a six-month period beginning in November 2008. 3. The monitoring system will provide near real-time notification of right whale detections delivering data to land stations at least every five hours.

The passive acoustic monitoring units require the following capabilities: (1) the ability to record sounds in the frequency of right whale contact calls to digital media for underwater deployments of at least six (6) months. (2) Buoyant housings that can withstand water pressures at depths greater than 100 feet and sufficiently rugged to survive the high wave energy experienced on the Southeast Atlantic continental shelf during winter months. (3) On-board systems to automatically identify right whale acoustic calls and notify land-based stations through cellular or satellite phone communication. (4) Equipment necessary to communicate with land-based systems for display and monitoring of right whales contacts.

Historically, the equipment has been available from only one known source, Cornell University. Cornell and their subcontractor, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) has been successful in developing buoys. WHOI produces the buoys and Cornell designs, manufactures and implements an electronic instrumentation package; detection recognition software, communications hardware/software and web based detection, classification and notification systems. The Government does not have specifications for the buoys or the electronic instrumentation package. Interested firms shall provide, in writing, the company name, address, point of contact, telephone number, and business size; detailed descriptive literature of the products that it has provided previously for the same or similar effort, and a statement regarding their capabilities and qualifications to supply the required passive acoustic monitoring units and a system to archive and disseminate collected data which will be considered by the agency. Responses can be faxed to Charlene Yaple @ 816-274-6977 or sent via email to Charlene.A.Yaple@noaa.gov.

Central Region Acquisition Division, requires that all Contractors doing business with this officer be registered with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR). No award can be made to a company not registered in CCR. For additional information to register in CCR, please access the following web site: http://www.ccr.gov. In order to register, all firms must have a Dun & Bradstreet Number. A Dun & Bradstreet number may be acquired free of charge by contacting Dun & Bradstreet on-line at https://www.dnb.com/product/eupdate/requestOptions.html or by phone at (800) 333-0505. Contractors should submit their Certification and Representations thru the on-line Business Partner Network (BPN). The BPN is the single source for vendor data for the federal government. Contractors are encouraged to go on-line at www.bpn.gov to complete its representations and certifications.

Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.