The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Eastern Region Acquisitions Division-Kansas City office intends to award, on a sole source basis, under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), with Floy Tag and Manufacturing Inc for 5,000 BFIM-96 large Billfish tags and 5,000 FIM-96 small Billfish tags for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Miami, FL.

The NAICS code for this action is 541712.

A sources sought notice was posted to FedBizOpps on July 1, 2011 and closed on July 14, 2011. No responses were received.

The Southeast Fisheries Science Center is collaborating with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) relative to conventional tagging of juvenile Bluefin tuna in the western North Atlantic. ICCAT is also conducting the same experiment in the eastern North Atlantic. It is imperative that both organizations use identical conventional tagging equipment in order to make appropriate comparisons of tag performance, shredding, and survival of these size categories while analyzing the results. For consistency between the SEFSC conventional tagging effort in the western North Atlantic and ICCT in the eastern North Atlantic, all tag types must be the same.

The conventional tags are to be used on school sized western North Atlantic Bluefin tuna. The National Marine Fisheries Services' tagging program has done considerable research in the past on developing a conventional tag with enhanced retention properties. The preferred design is made out of medical grade nylon and has double barbs. This tag was designed to be deployed as an intermuscular tag. The streamer portion of the tag with the tag legend is maintained with a mechanical attachment using shrink tubing. This tag has provided superior retention qualities.

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