The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) in Seattle, WA has a requirement for a vessel to conduct pre-spawning Sablefish collections off Kodiak, Alaska beginning on/about October 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011. The object of this requirement is to capture a range of sizes of immature and pre-spawning sablefish for gross external ovarian examination and the collection of ovaries for subsequent histological examination of the tissue.

To sustain the sablefish population, fishery managers in Alaska set over-fishing limits based, in part, on estimates of the age at which 50% of the females reach sexual maturity converted from a length-at-maturity estimate. This project, updating the sablefish maturity estimates, has been classified as a research priority by these managers, because the currently used estimates of maturity are likely to be inaccurate for several reasons. This project will improve estimates by sampling during the time period when pre-spawning females can be unambiguously distinguished from immature fish.

All operations will be conducted out of Kodiak, Alaska for a total of ten (10) days with an option of up to four (4) more days during the performance period November-December 2011. The preferred period is during December (excluding the dates December 25 or 26).

The Contractor shall supply the vessel, captain, crew, water, food (3 nutritionally balanced meals per day), and berthing for up to 2 scientists for the length of the charter period.

The vessel shall have been actively used for commercial trawling or research where trawl gear was used in the past 12 months prior to charter operations. Vessel must be completely rigged for bottom trawling operations for catching sablefish, including a net, roller gear, main wire, trawl winches, trawl net accessories, vessel GPS navigation, and vessel acoustic depth sounder. Vessel must be able to maintain a cruising speed of 7 knots. Berthing spaces including clean mattresses with fitted covers for two scientists, which may include both males and females, is required.

The proposed contract is unrestricted. The NAICS code for this procurement is 483114 and the size standard is 500 employees. Any vendor desiring to be considered for award must be registered in CCR and ORCA using this NAICS code. Any resulting contract will be awarded as a firm-fixed price contract. Solicitation documents will be made available for download on or about Monday, August 29, 2011 at http://www.fbo.gov/. Paper copies of this solicitation will not be issued. Interested parties should use the FedBizOpps [Add To Watchlist] and [Add Me To Interested Vendors] features which provide a notification when the RFP becomes available for download as well as all postings of information associated with this solicitation, thereafter. Each potential proposer is responsible for checking the FedBizOpps website to gain all current information related to the solicitation. The solicitation and any further announcements regarding the solicitation will be posted only at http://www.fbo.gov/. The estimated response due date is September 13, 2011; however, the actual 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 are to be sent to Contract Specialist, Crystina Elkins at [email protected] or via fax at (206)527-3916.

All vendors doing business with the Government are required to be registered with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR). NO award can be made unless the vendor is registered in CCR. For additional information and to register in CCR, please access the following web site: http:///www.ccr.gov/. In order to register with the CCR and to be eligible to receive an award from this acquisition office, all offerors must also 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. This procurement also requires offerors to complete the On-Line Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) at https://orca.bpn.gov/. All responsible and fully responsive sources may submit a proposal which will be considered by the Agency.