***NOAA's Acquisition & Grants Office, Western Acquisition Division-Boulder, intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis, under authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), with Juan De Fuca Express, a Canadian sole proprietor, in support of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for providing gray whale and stellar sea lion survey photo/identification.

***The sole source determination is based on the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) mission of stewardship of living marine resources. The purpose of this requirement is to collect photographs of gray whales and stellar sea lions and ancillary data to be used in photo-identification analyses to estimate abundance of the gray whale feeding aggregation along the west coast of the US and Canada. The vessel's operator photo log and a CD disk with digital photographs of all the branded sea lions encountered during the surveys each year will be sent to Marine Mammal Laboratory.

***This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals and no solicitation package is available. However, firms that believe they can fully meet the Government's requirements may submit substantiating documentation in writing to the identified point of contact within 15 days after publication of this synopsis. Such documentation will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. A determination by the Government not to conduct a competitive procurement, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the government. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice.