Inactive

IAW FAR 19.502-2 this is a Sources Sought Notice to assist in the determination of Small Business interest and capability to fulfill this requirement. This synopsis is for information and planning pur... IAW FAR 19.502-2 this is a Sources Sought Notice to assist in the determination of Small Business interest and capability to fulfill this requirement. This synopsis is for information and planning purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. NO CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED AS A RESULT OF THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE. The United States Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Office of Acquisition and Grants is requesting information from qualified sources; the results of this announcement will be evaluated to determine if there are small businesses capable of fulfilling this requirement. The Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC), in collaboration with the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC), the Southeast Regional Office, North Carolina State University, and others, is engaged in a management strategy evaluation (MSE) for dolphins in the Atlantic. The previous lead MSE developer generated a base operating model (OM) and the SEFSC requires a Contractor to assume the lead analytical responsibility of carrying out the technical MSE and management procedure (MP) development, analysis and dissemination of results, and interaction with small group stakeholders, managers, and scientists. The objective of this MSE is to develop an empirical MP for dolphin in the US Atlantic that optimizes fishery management objectives and is robust to relevant system uncertainties. Importantly, the empirical MPs will be a strategic ‘proof of concept’ and would be the first empirical management procedure developed for the Southeast and one of the first nationally. This is particularly important as we are confronted with climate change that may make simple, empirical management procedures an essential tool for managing stocks in a non-stationary future. The best performing MPs identified will be voted upon by the Council members to update dolphin fishery management. The MSE must be sufficiently complex to address the complexities of the fishery and to incorporate stakeholder-defined fishery dynamics, management objectives, and system uncertainties. As such, the existing base OM is length based (to enable testing of length-based management measures), spatial (7 regions; to account for changes in fishery dynamics by region), with a seasonal (3-month) time-step (to account for intra-annual changes in movement and availability). The Contractor will expand upon the existing base OM to complete the MSE feedback loop or will convert the existing OM structure into an existing, peer-reviewed, open-source MSE package to enable forward projection. The MSE complexity must match or replicate that of the initial OM. The OM reference and/or robustness grids should consider uncertainties including: the scale of the resource; total magnitude of recreational and international removals; alternate movement patterns, climate-driven changes in availability, movement, and catchability; the magnitude of post-release mortality by region; and the potential impact of future anthropogenic actions (e.g., creation of offshore wind farms, switching to ropeless technology for lobster pot buoys), among others. A variety of candidate MPs should be developed and simulation tested. MPs will be empirical and should consider a variety of indicators available. MPs must be considerate of data availability and be able to consider length-based restrictions, trip and vessel limits, sector and regional allocations, and noncompliance or implementation error. Tasks Task 1. Develop a multi-area and multi-fleet MSE framework for dolphin in the North Atlantic. The MSE must be sufficiently complex to address the complexities of the fishery and to incorporate stakeholder-defined fishery dynamics, management objectives, and system uncertainties. Computer code to be made publicly available via Github and/or as a designated R package. Task 2. Prepare a Trial Specifications Document (TSD) or other technical user guide to document modeling decisions, assumptions, diagnostics, and methods, ensuring complete documentation of the process and reproducibility. Task 3. Finalize the OM. This may be accomplished by modifying the existing OM and/or by converting the OM into an existing, peer-reviewed, publicly available MSE package structure to include a projection and feedback-lop module. The current OM is length based (to enable testing of length-based management measures), spatial (7 regions; to account for changes in fishery dynamics by region), with a seasonal (3-month) time-step (to account for intra-annual changes in movement and availability). Task 4. Develop a reference and robustness OM grid to reflect a variety of stakeholder-, analyst-, and manager-defined uncertainties, including: the scale of the resource; uncertainty in recreational catch data, the total magnitude of international exploitation; alternate movement patterns, climate-driven changes in availability, movement, and catchability; the magnitude of post-release mortality by region; and the potential impact of future anthropogenic actions (e.g., creation of offshore wind farms, switching to ropeless technology for lobster pot buoys), among others. Task 5. Define and quantify operational management objectives and performance metrics. Work with stakeholders and managers to identify operational management objectives and allowable risk tolerance for dolphin in the US Atlantic. Develop quantitative performance metrics reflective of these operational objectives and allowable risk tolerances to judge MSE performance. Task 6. Evaluate the utility of available dolphin indices (including from US and Caribbean fishery-dependent data) to serve as the basis for an empirical MP for dolphin; develop a first, proof-of-concept MP for demonstration. Task 7. Develop a suite of candidate empirical MPs that would be implementable for dolphin relative to existing and future data availability. A variety of candidate MPs should be developed and simulation tested. MPs will be empirical and should consider a variety of indicators available. MPs should explicitly consider the variety of fishing sectors (private recreational, fore-hire, commercial), gear types used (hook and line, HMS permitted longlines, non-HMS permitted longline), and the regional dynamics of the fishery (incorporate regionally-specific management recommendations). MPs must be considerate of data availability and be able to consider length-based restrictions, trip and vessel limits, sector and regional allocations, and noncompliance or implementation error. Task 8. Refine candidate MPs to meet satisficing criteria and maximize stakeholder-defined performance metrics through iterative engagement with stakeholders, managers, and the MSE technical steering team. Task 9. Develop an online Shiny / Slick app or similar to host and present results to technical team members, stakeholders, and managers. The contractor will need to build and present results using standard MSE result plots. Plots will be used to identify short and long-term tradeoffs inherent in the dolphin fishery management process. Task 10. Outreach and presentation of results to stakeholders and managers. Contractor should be comfortable interacting with and communicating with stakeholders and managers. Through iterative interaction with the technical steering group, stakeholders, and managers, the Contractor should thereby foster transparency and stakeholder and manager buy-in to the MSE and MP. Task 12. Provide a final report, detailing project methods, key decisions, and results. The Contractor (and associated team) should hold a PhD in marine or fisheries science, statistics, or related field. The Contractor should have a demonstrated history of past experience conducting full stakeholder MSEs within a Fishery Management Council or International Fishing Commission; the contractor should be able to list at least three (3) MSEs conducted in association with fisheries governance agencies. The Contractor should be able to demonstrate a history of peer-reviewed publications related to MSE. Interested parties may submit a brief capability statement, no more than three (3) single-sided pages, demonstrating how they are capable of meeting this requirement. Capability statements should include the following: (1) Name of business. (2) Contact information (address, telephone, e-mail, website address) (3) North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) , Business size and classification e.g., Small business, 8(a), HUBZone, Small Disadvantaged business, Small Disadvantaged Veteran Owned business, and Women Owned small business; or Large Business. (4) Technical description of ability to meet the requirement. Companies shall submit electronic copies of their respective capability statements to BOTH: Sandra Caswell at sandra.caswell@noaa.gov Aakanksha Bhargava at aakanksha.bhargava@noaa.gov no later than the response date indicated on this notice.