Inactive Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)

This is a notice of intent to solicit from a single source. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), intends to negotiate a purchase order with the Northern Research Technical Assistance Center (NORTAC) of ... This is a notice of intent to solicit from a single source. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), intends to negotiate a purchase order with the Northern Research Technical Assistance Center (NORTAC) of Roxborough, CA. The DOI USGS Alaska Science Center (ASC) requires seabird population and productivity data to continue long-term monitoring data in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska. Monitoring of seabird populations in potential oil and gas lease areas has been a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) priority for decades, both to mitigate impacts of development and to assess the impact of potential oil spills. Planning for resilience of seabird populations to development or spills in the future will be enhanced by knowledge of current foraging distributions at sea and aggregation behavior in feeding hotspots. This work will provide information to BOEM managers to mitigate potential environmental impacts from oil and gas activities under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The vendor will conduct cliff plot counts for 2 species of seabirds at different stages of the breeding cycle to assess population change over time, conduct blind observations to provide an index of production and estimate of nest attendance, and capture birds to obtain morphometric information, biotoxin data, samples for stress hormone analysis, and to attach transmitters to monitor foraging behavior and locations. These data will be consistent with USGS data collections in the past. It is critical to maintain consistency in data collection methods over time. This vendor has previously collected data for us under contracts in 2019 and 2020 and maintained high performance standards. Additionally, this vendor is in the unique situation of residing at a remote cabin adjacent to Chisik Island (more than 60 miles from the nearest population center) during the summer, enabling local, frequent visits to the study site for routine data collection. As in previous years, it would simply not be feasible logistically or financially for USGS to collect these data without hiring multiple people with specialty skill sets and building and maintaining a field base camp of our own near Chisik Island. Furthermore, this vendor has extensive experience in collecting all the types of data we require at Chisik and Duck islands, having conducted similar research on seabirds in Alaska, Greenland, and Svalbard. Finding a more qualified vendor that has local access (which is free of cost to us) and is proficient at conducting the work is not reasonable. Award will be made in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.106-1(b) and the procedures at FAR Part 12 entitled, Acquisition of Commercial Items and FAR Part 13 entitled, Simplified Acquisition Procedures, Subpart 13.5. NORTAC is, to the USGS¿ knowledge, the only source who can provide this service. The purpose of this notice is to satisfy the requirements of FAR Subpart 5.2. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotes. However, all responsible parties may submit a quotation by the closing date of this announcement which shall be considered by the agency. Said submission must be a detailed technical specification outlining how you will meet the requirements as listed in the first paragraph of this notice. No solicitation will be issued. A determination not to compete this action based upon responses received is in the sole discretion of the Government. The NAICS code for this action is 541380. Responses or inquiries shall only be accepted through electronic mail addressed to jriccomini@usgs.gov and must be uploaded and received in their entirety no later than 1200 hours, 1 Jun 2022.