This announcement constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for the Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (EXWC) under FAR 6.102(d)(2) and 35.106. A formal Request for Proposals (RFP), other solicitation, or additional information regarding this announcement will not be issued.
FAR Part 35 restricts the use of BAAs, such as this, to the acquisition of basic and applied research and that portion of advanced technology development not related to the development of a specific system or hardware procurement. Contracts made under BAAs are for scientific study and experimentation directed towards advancing the state of the art and increasing knowledge or understanding. This announcement is not for the acquisition of technical, engineering, or other types of support services.
The EXWC, through the Living Marine Resources (LMR) program, is soliciting pre-proposals for efforts related to the need topic listed below.
Need Topic LMR-N-0291-24: PINNIPED BEHAVIORAL RESPONSE STUDY
Pinniped species inhabit the at-sea and nearshore/inshore areas where Navy sonar training and testing activities occur in both the Pacific (primarily Southern California through Alaska) and northeast Atlantic. Modeling of training and testing activities in recent environmental compliance analysis resulted in a number of behavioral takes of California sea lions, harbor seals, and northern elephant seals annually across the at-sea study areas. Given the overlap between multiple pinniped species and Navy training and testing activities, there is a need to develop an improved understanding of the impact of sonar exposure on the behavior of pinniped species.
LMR is seeking pre-proposals to study pinniped behavioral response to sonar from Navy training and testing activities. The proposed study design should focus on the behavioral response of free ranging pinnipeds, no captive animal studies at this time. Location of the study should consider relevance to Navy training and testing areas listed in Appendix D. However, species availability, experience with the animals, and support resources availability are important factors to consider in site selection and proposed study species. Proposed studies should employ current approaches and technology to study the offeror’s selected species. The Navy has developed a scaled sound source that can simulate sonar and can be operated from a small vessel. The use of this scaled source can be provided as government furnished equipment. However, the proposal should include all other costs associated with shipping and operating the source, including costs associated with securing and operating a vessel to handle the source.
Need Topic LMR-N-0292-24: improvement of sea turtle density estimates
Accurate density estimates are critical to the exposure modelling process that forms the basis for assessments of impacts from Navy training and testing activities. Sophisticated spatial density models have become the standard for estimating density of marine mammals and sea turtles, however, these models are data intensive and can be significantly biased if not properly developed and parameterized. There is a need to improve existing spatial density models for sea turtles, within Navy training and testing areas, by addressing current biases through development and application of new data and modelling frameworks. Please note proposals that focus on the collection of additional visual line transect survey data will not be considered.
SUPPORTING INFORMATION:
For more information on what is required in a pre-proposal, how to submit a pre-proposal, and how pre-proposals are evaluated, refer to Appendix A (Pre-Proposal Submission and Evaluation Guide). Offerors need to understand and adhere to the requirements outlined in Appendix B (Data Rights and Handling Procedures) and the geospatial data requirements in Appendix C (Geospatial Data Requirements). Modifications to the data rights and handling procedures agreement or geospatial data requirements should be discussed with the LMR program staff prior to proposal submission. Offerors will also need to comply with the LMR Ocean Observing Systems (OOS) Notification Procedures (Appendix D). Offerors should note, however, that locations labelled in red in Appendix D as incompatible with acoustic OOS actually overlap with some of the LMR priority geographic regions outlined in Appendix A. Strict adherence to passive acoustic monitoring site selection, passive acoustic device deployment notification and data custody guidance will be required. DoD is still finalizing their plan to meet the goals and requirements of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum titled Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research issued 2013 February 22. All projects funded by LMR would be subject to DoD policy once it is finalized.
Proposed efforts involving interaction with and contact with marine mammals or endangered species may require research permits including but not limited to a Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) Research Permit, Endangered Species Act (ESA) scientific research permit, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and/or Department of Defense Animal Care and Use authorization. It is the expectation that all offerors will complete any necessary regulatory compliance permitting/consultations, necessary to conduct the research. If the offeror currently possesses a permit or other documentation, it should be noted in the pre-proposal. If your project involves developing or demonstrating a technology, an agreement with EXWC will need to be established to describe the ownership/use of the technology. Contract award may be delayed if appropriate regulatory documentation and agreements are not in place.
SUBMISSION PROCESS:
The pre-proposal submittal process is an email-based submission. Pre-proposals should be submitted to both the TPOC ([email protected]) and Contracting Officer ([email protected]) as listed below. Please note these email addresses are different from previous solicitations. There is no specific format required for the pre-proposal, however, the pre-proposal should be consolidated into one single file (PDF) and should not exceed ten pages in length (Curriculum Vitaes [CVs] or resumes are not included in the page limit). All pre-proposal submissions must be received before the deadline.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE:
Pre-proposals in response to this solicitation must be received no later than 11:59 pm, Pacific Standard Time on 18 January 2024. Pre-proposals may be submitted at any time during this period. Offerors will receive a confirmation email message acknowledging successful submission within 1 business day. It is the responsibility of the offeror to confirm receipt of the submission.
EVALUATION PROCESS:
Following an approximately 3-month technical evaluation, offerors will be notified of the technical evaluation results. Unsuccessful pre-proposal offerors will receive an email with a disposition of “Not Approved”. However, the email will not include a detailed description of the reasons the pre-proposal was not selected, due to the anticipated volume of submissions. Some pre-proposal offerors may receive an email with a disposition of “Revised Pre-proposal Requested”, which will request additional technical information in the form of a revised pre-proposal submission. Pre-proposal offerors with favorable technical evaluation results will receive an email with a disposition of “Approved – Referred to Contracts”. The EXWC contracting office, will request submission of additional required information in order to determine whether the offeror is eligible for a contract. Awards to non-government entities (academic institutions, not-for-profit organizations, industry) will be in the form of contracts. A nominal award amount has not been provided because the scope of the need topics varies considerably. The nominal duration of a project is expected to be 1-3 years, with a maximum of 5 years.
EVALUATION CRITERIA:
The pre-proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria, of approximately equal weight.
POINTS OF CONTACT
All inquiries and submissions related to this BAA shall be directed to BOTH the technical point of contact (TPOC) and contracting officer (KO) as follows. Correspondents are advised not to include Personally Identifiable Information (PII), business proprietary, or competition-sensitive information via email.
Technical Point of Contact (TPOC): [email protected]
Contracting Officer (KO): [email protected]
NOTES:
DFARS 235.017-1 allows DOD FFRDCs which function primarily as research laboratories to apply. Naval laboratories and Warfare Centers as well as other DOD and civilian agency laboratories are not eligible to receive awards under this BAA and should not directly submit proposals in response to this BAA. If any such organization is interested in one or more of these program areas, they should contact the TPOC directly. As with the FFRDCs, these organizations may team with other responsible sources from industry and academia that are submitting proposals under the BAA. University Affiliated Research Centers (UARC) are eligible to submit proposals under this BAA unless precluded from doing so by their DOD UARC contract or an organizational conflict of interest.