SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- Alternative Technologies to Airguns for Use During Seismic Surveying
- Notice Date
- 7/13/2011
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- BOEMRE Procurement Branch, HQ381 Elden Street, MS 2100HerndonVA20170-4817US
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- M11PS00085
- Response Due
- 7/28/2011
- Archive Date
- 8/27/2011
- Point of Contact
- Rebecca L. Kruse
- E-Mail Address
-
rebecca.kruse@boemre.gov
(krusere@mms.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY AS IT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY NOTICE THAT WILL BE ISSUED. This pre-solicitation notice is being issued in accordance with FAR Part 5.204. This procurement is being conducted in accordance with FAR Part 15. The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), intends to competitively award a contract entitled Alternative Technologies to Airguns for Use During Seismic Surveying of Offshore Energy Resources. The BOEMRE Procurement Operations Branch is the contracting office for this procurement and the resultant contract administration. All vendors must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (www.ccr.gov) in order to receive Government contracts. The Government intends to award a firm-fixed-price type contract for the effort described herein but may consider other proposed types if determined appropriate. The applicable NAICS Code is 541990, All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services. The period of performance of the resultant contract is anticipated to be not more than 18 months. BACKGROUND: The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), as amended by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and supporting regulations necessitate the collection of information needed to assess impacts from activities authorized by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE). The data collected during seismic surveys are used by industry and BOEMRE to locate hydrocarbon resources, site renewable and other offshore energy infrastructure, and assess potential sand and gravel resources. Where these surveys require deeper penetration into the sea floor, a higher intensity sound source, such as an airgun, is needed. Although airguns are an effective means for exploring and siting, the sound source levels and propagation characteristics of this technology can result in potentially harmful impacts to marine mammals and other marine life (e.g., fish and sea turtles). BOEMRE has developed a mitigation and monitoring strategy to reduce or eliminate potential harmful effects from airguns. These measures are also required through any authorizations issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service or Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). Further, the BOEMRE Technology and Assessment Research Program currently is investigating ways to limit the horizontal propagation of airgun noise, thus focusing the airgun sound pathway and reducing the amount of noise traveling outside of this pathway. However, it is imperative for BOEMRE to also consider ways to reduce effects through the use of alternative sound sources, either existing or currently in development (e.g., marine vibrators), which can achieve the data collection needs of BOEMRE and industry but with less of an acoustic (and resulting biological) impact on the environment. This effort will provide a thorough examination of potential non-airgun sound sources, including a better understanding of the requirements for their operation, limitations to their use, potential impacts on the environment, any further steps and time needed for their development, and the quality and value of the data collected from these alternative sound sources compared to that from airguns. Ultimately, this will provide BOEMRE and other regulatory agencies with information needed to determine the usefulness and appropriateness of these alternative technologies for a variety of mitigation and monitoring situations and will be subsumed into BOEMRE compliance efforts related to the National Environmental Policy Act, ESA and MMPA. SCOPE OF WORK: The study is expected to: (1) Review and examine recent developments in alternative technologies to airguns, whether proposed or in development, (2) Identify the requirements for operation and limitation to use for these alternative sound sources, (3) Evaluate data quality and cost-effectiveness of these alternative technologies as compared to that from airguns, (4) Examine potential environmental impacts from these alternative technologies, (5) Identify which alternative sources, if any, provide the most promise for full or partial replacement of airgun use and specify the conditions which might warrant their use (e.g., specific limitations to water depth, use in Marine Protected Areas), (6) Provide BOEMRE and industry with guidance on the applicability, feasibility and usefulness of this monitoring tool, and (7) Identify next steps, if appropriate, for the further development of these alternative sound sources. HOW TO COMPETE FOR THIS CONTRACT: If your organization is interested in participating in this acquisition, please send your organizations name, point of contact, address, telephone and fax numbers, email address, and DUNS Number via email to Rebecca.Kruse@boemre.gov at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, Herndon, VA by 9:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time (EDST) on July 28, 2011. Those organizations expressing an interest in this opportunity will receive a copy of the complete solicitation upon issuance. Reference Solicitation No. M11PS00085 on all correspondence. Inquiries must be submitted in writing to the email address referenced above. Contracting Office Address: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, 381 Elden Street, MS 2101 Herndon, VA 20170 - Point of Contact: Rebecca L. Kruse. TELEPHONE INQUIRIES ARE STRONGLY DISCOURAGED.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOI/MMS/PO/M11PS00085/listing.html)
- Record
- SN02497741-W 20110715/110713235359-3dcfe6c84c7b538dbb3855be4efc79b7 (fbodaily.com)
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