SOURCES SOUGHT
B -- BIOLOGICAL SURVEYS USING ROV
- Notice Date
- 7/9/2014
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Western Acquisition Division-Boulder, 325 Broadway - MC3, Boulder, Colorado, 80305-3328, United States
- ZIP Code
- 80305-3328
- Solicitation Number
- NCND60211401199
- Archive Date
- 7/15/2014
- Point of Contact
- Doris P Turner, Phone: 303-497-3872
- E-Mail Address
-
doris.p.turner@noaa.gov
(doris.p.turner@noaa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This Request for Information (RFI) is for planning purposes only and is issued in accordance with FAR Provision 52.215-3 provided at: http://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/html/52_215.html#wp1144503. No solicitation document exists at this time. Issuance of this notice does not constitute any obligation on the part of the Government to procure these items or services to issue a solicitation. In addition, the Government is under no obligation to pay for information submitted in response to this RFI, and responses to this notice cannot be accepted as offers. Any information that the vendor considers proprietary should be clearly marked as such. STATEMENT OF WORK REMOTELY OPERATED VEHICLE (ROV) BIOLOGICAL SURVEY SERVICES 1. Background NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuary (ONMS), West Coast Regional Office on behalf of Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) requires the services of a contractor to provide a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) system to conduct biological surveys in sanctuary waters of California. The ROV system must be self-contained and operable off the ONMS owned research vessel R/V SHEARWATER without modification to the vessel. Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary will conduct benthic characterization work by ROV operations from R/V Shearwater to assess vulnerability of sensitive benthic resources including Lophelia coral and habitat-forming sponges to ocean acidification and other possible climate change impacts in CINMS. The project will take part in three phases: 1) Pre-cruise planning, staging, modifying and testing the ROV; 2) Conduct a 2 day cruise in the in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary; 3) Post cruise processing and delivery of final products. 2. Technical Requirements This order consists of tasks with the following technical specifications: 2.1 The contractor must be qualified to provide technical services and must possess the following experience, training and equipment: • Applicable academic training and experience in the construction, modification, maintenance, repair and operations of remotely operated vehicles rated to 1000 meters maximum depth (i.e. vehicle capacities beyond intended working depth) • Familiarity and experience in the collection of underwater research and monitoring data, particularly sample collection of deep-water corals and sponges from ocean-going platforms with the limitations of ONMS research vessel Shearwater: • Limited working space • Limited lifting capacity (not to exceed 800 pounds) • Limited power supply 8kW 220 VAC for R/V SHEARWATER • Provide maintenance and operational crew including: ROV pilot, deck officer, ROV electronics engineer, and navigator and data manager. • The ROV must be equipped with a remotely operated 5 function manipulator arm with the capacity to cut, grab and recover coral and sponge samples into a sample collection box affixed to the ROV. • The ROV must be equipped with 600 meter depth rated scaling lasers to perform size estimates on imaged biological targets. • The ROV must be equipped with the following camera systems at a minimum: 1) Forward-looking HD video camera with lasers and live feed to surface; 2) Down-looking NTSC video camera 1 lux, wide angle, color, with lasers; 3) Downward looking 5MP or greater digital still camera with through-the-lens viewfinder and strobe; 4) 8MP fixed digital still camera; 5) Rear facing black and white camera. • Audio-video format shall be digital hi-definition video (1280 x 720 resolution) with time-code. Lesser resolution video (e.g, standard definition video) is acceptable as a secondary or tertiary means of video recording. Time-code shall be recorded onto the audio track of at least one forward facing camera with lasers in frame. If time code cannot be recorded onto the audio track, time code should be present on the overlay. Video shall be delivered as either 1) uncompressed on tape (Mini-DV or DVCam tape) or 2) moderately compressed on a hard drive as digital.mov files. Digital recordings should maintain video at a high level of quality, and not suffer from signal loss as a result of the compression process. • All videotapes shall be provided by contractor and costs included in bid. • The ROV must have tracking and navigation capability to provide geo-referencing to all video and still imagery. • The ROV must have oceanographic data sensors for salinity, water temperature, depth, and dissolved oxygen. A pH sensor is also desirable. • The contractor must be able to provide back-up equipment and repairs to the ROV within a 24-hour period. • Contractor must provide two sets of umbilical control cables/tethers on board the vessel. • The contractor must provide all necessary global positioning, vessel motion sensors, navigation software and acoustic tracking equipment. This includes providing the mounting systems for temporarily installing any of the above equipment to the ONMS research vessel R/V SHEARWATER. • ONMS will not incur any costs to modify the research vessels to accommodate the ROV system including modifications to lifting equipment, hydraulics, power supplies or mounting of acoustic telemetry systems. Any request to modify the vessel systems to provide temporary services (e.g., portable power generators, alternate winches, etc.) will be entirely at the contractor's expense and subject to ONMS engineering review and approval. 2.2 The contractor must have a documented track record and experience of performing ROV operations under these conditions safely. 2.3 The contractor must have a documented work experience in performing scientific ROV surveys from vessels of opportunity of the class of ONMS research vessels. These research vessels, while appropriate to this task, presents some limitations in limited work space and power resources (see above) over a multiday period offshore. • All of the survey transects will be conducted in one cruise. The cruise will be conducted between August 17 through August 21, 2014. 2.4 The contractor must have a documented work experience analyzing field data, understanding of the limitations of different data types, performing data quality control, and designing data acquisition techniques using multiple analytical technologies, and geo-referencing video and still image data. • Have educational and work experience in the disciplines of Ocean Engineering and Biological Resource Monitoring. • Familiarity with the strengths and limitations of ecosystem field data collected using the specific water sampling equipment and the sensors for water analysis and video for enumeration of biological information. 3. Deliverables The contractor will deliver a fully functional and qualified ROV along with operating crew for the research cruise to begin in August 2014. All ROV modifications and testing, supply requisition and mobilization preparation including installing a manipulator arm will be initiated in August 2014 with consultation with CINMS staff and be concluded prior to the end of August 2014. The contractor will then mobilize and lead the data collection portion of the research cruise and conduct all demobilization of the ROV at the end of that cruise. Following the cruise, the contractor will assemble, organize, geo-reference all of the still and video imagery and provide that data along with navigation trackline information to CINMS. 3.1 Pre-cruise Planning, Staging and Vehicle Preparation The contractor will conduct in pre-cruise planning, staging and testing activities. • Participation in planning meetings and telecoms, assistance with Cruise Plan, meal planning (breakfast, lunches and dinners)and general cruise logistics. • Integration and / or modification of equipment for cruise needs, beyond normal maintenance • Install custom sampling equipment, including sample collection tray, manipulator soft grips and cutting blades • ID/specification and ordering of cruise specific equipment (i.e. video tapes, DVDs ) • Inputting of maps and planned transect lines into Hypack or equivalent navigation system as required • Coordination & logistics for equipment operations crew (pilot, navigator, deck boss etc.) • Perform a full system test of all ROV equipment prior to mobilization. 3.2 Conduct a Two (2) Day ROV Sampling Cruise in CINMS Conduct ROV sampling surveys off the ONMS Research Vessel SHEARWATER within CINMS using fine-scale transects outside the ‘Footprint' seamount area south of Santa Cruz Island. • Contractor must provide ROV and all necessary operational staff from approximately August 17 through August 21, 2014. Exact dates to be mutually determined. • Operational port will be Santa Barbara, California. Proposal shall include 1 day for mobilization of ROV, one day to de-mobilize ROV, 2 days for sampling focused on Footprint Reef Marine Reserve at Footprint and Piggybank reefs. The Footprint Reef Marine Reserve coordinates are: 33 degrees 59.300' N 119 degrees 30.965' W 33 degrees 59.300' N 119 degrees 25.987' W 33 degrees 54.119' N 119 degrees 25.987' W 33 degrees 54.119' N 119 degrees 30.965' W • • The R/V SHEARWATER will moor at appropriate anchorages in the Channel Islands. All lodging and meals, and provisioning for under way must be included in contractors' proposal. • The R/V SHEARWATER will be overnighting at the islands. On Day 1, the R/V SHEARWATER shall transit from Santa Barbara Harbor to sampling area (1.5 hr). Sampling transects will take place during daylight hours. Following the day's transects, R/V SHEARWATER will transit to a nearby anchorage to anchor for the night. On Day 2, R/V SHEARWATER shall transit from the anchorage to the sampling area. Sampling transects will take place during daylight hours. After completion of Day 2 transects, R/V SHEARWATER shall transit back to Santa Barbara Harbor (1.5 hr). Each working day shall be approximately 12 hours. 3.3 Post Cruise Processing and Delivery of Final Products Following the cruises, the vendor will assemble, organize, geo-reference all of the still and video imagery and provide that data to the GFNMS and CINMS by December 15, 2014. • Provide original master tapes of ROV video with time code on audio track in DVCam format where available • Generate four (4) digital copies of all ROV video, including all survey lines and provide a brief summary of any data issues and appropriate metadata. Includes copying of videos, photos and associated metadata, dissemination of video, photos, data and logs to partners as needed. Provide a brief ROV operations report, which includes a complete description of vehicle performance, dive activities and data collected. • Navigational information and post processing. Generate both raw and post processed GIS shapefiles of navigation and water quality information. Post-process using Trackpoint ROV position file to remove erroneous positions, fill missing positions and smooth with a 21 point running mean. Using ArcGIS and ROV's heading, remove any tracking errors that remain after smoothing. ROV sensor data will also be processed to remove any errors. • Provide MS Access database with fields for date, dive number, site, timecode, ROV Lat/Long, XY position, frame grab image, distance traveled, area covered, range from forward camera to middle of screen, ROV altitude off bottom, ROV depth, ROV heading, and water quality data (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and pH). Time interval between records should be less than 5 seconds. Also included in final data CD will be shapefiles of the ROV tracked position (both polyline and point files). • Contractor shall be available for clarification of ROV navigation data, video and photo post-processing, through August 31, 2015. 4. Period of Performance August 1, 2014 - August 31, 2015 5. IT Security Requirement The Certification and Accreditation (C&A) requirements of 48 CFR 1352.239-73 do not apply, and a Security Accreditation Package is not required. No government IT resources will be accessed during this project. Final deliverables will be provided via video tapes, DVD and may include PDF, MS Office document and other standard still and video formats. 6. Travel/Transport Requirements The contractor shall include all mobilization, direct costs for transport and direct travel costs in their bid proposal. No government invitational travel orders will be issued. All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary; the US Government will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing information provided to the US Government. Responses to the RFI are due via email to Doris Turner no later than July 14th, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. (Mtn Time). Email: doris.p.turner@noaa.gov. Contractors must provide their DUNs number, their business size, and a brief qualification statement. Provide all responses in MSWord or Adobe.pdf. Any questions should be submitted in writing to doris.p.turner@noaa.gov before July 14th, 2014.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOC/NOAA/MASC/NCND60211401199/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Channel Island National Marine Sanctuary, UC Santa Barbara, Building 514, Santa Barbara, California, 93106-6155, United States
- Zip Code: 93106-6155
- Zip Code: 93106-6155
- Record
- SN03418330-W 20140711/140710022327-925b72d56064491b78bb294c244dd614 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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