***NOAA's national Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Southwest fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) Fisheries Resources Division (FRD)  intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis, under authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), with Teledyne Oceanscience, a RapidCAST CTD automated underway profiling system.

***The sole source determination is based on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) requirement to purchase a Teledyne Oceanscience RapidCAST automated underway profiling system.  This is equivalent to our existing Teledyne / Oceanscience UCTD system purchased in FY13.   The purchase of a Teledyne Oceanscience RapidCAST automated underway profiling system will provide consistency of collected data with the NOAA Fisheries equipment which is standardized among the Fisheries Research Vessels of the North West Fisheries Science Center and South West Fisheries Science Center. The equipment standardization will also facilitate spares, repairs, loans and shared knowledge and experience. Teledyne / Oceanscience RapidCAST automated underway profiling system uses Sea Bird Electronics CTD components, which are the industry standard for CTD's..

This particular brand name is essential to the requirement and market research indicates similar products do not meet or cannot be modified to meet agency needs. This particular RapidCAST automated underway profiling system is unique to the Teledyne Oceanscience and is the predecessor to our Teledyne Oceanscience UCTD system. The entire system is designed to function with the UCTD probes we are currently using.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:  The RapidCAST automated underway profiling system must be compatible with our existing Teledyne / Oceanscience underway CTD System, purchased in FY13.

The Technical Specifications for the existing Teledyne / Oceanscience Underway CTD System are as follows:

Portable Underway CTD, davit and winch system using a Sea-Bird CTD Probe 10-400 Instrument Package with data logging

Pressure:  0 – 2000 m

Blue tooth wireless communication

1000 m maximum depth

Operational Vessel Speed 8-12 kts

Programmable Automated rewind

Power requirements: 110/220 VAC, 50/60 Hz

Measurement ranges:

Temperature  5 – 43° C

Conductivity  0 – 9 S/m

Delivery is 60 days from date of award.

***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.