The Government intends to negotiate two (2) contracts for the Cooperative Gulf of Maine (GOM) Bottom Longline Survey on a sole source basis.  One (1) Contract will be awarded to Tenacious Marine of West Barnstable, MA and one (1) Contract will be awarded to the Fishing Vessel (F/V) Mary Elizabeth of Scituate, MA.  The sole source environment will allow the longline survey to use the same Contractors to ensure consistency in fishing practices throughout the time series.  Consistency between years is critical to the quality and reliability of the GOM Bottom Longline Survey data.  Maintaining consistent survey platforms ensures that the data collected during the survey accurately represents spatial and temporal trends in resource and protected species.  The work performed under this requirement is also completed concurrently with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s bottom trawl survey, performed on the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow.  Achieving concurrent sampling between the GOM Bottom Longline Survey and the bottom trawl survey is critical to application and interpretation of survey data for stock assessments and fisheries management.  To ensure that all GOM Bottom Longline Survey stations are sampled concurrently with the NEFSC bottom trawl survey, two (2) Sole Source Contracts are needed to perform this survey.  The period of performance will be a base period of one (1) year with one (1) one (1) year option period.  A Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition will be posted at a later date.

This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals; however, all submittals received by the due date set forth in this notice will be considered by the Government.  A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement is based on upon responses to this notice within the discretion of the Government.