SOLICITATION NOTICE
D -- Marine Mammal response hotline - RFQ
- Notice Date
- 7/10/2013
- Notice Type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- NAICS
- 561421
— Telephone Answering Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service, James J. Howard Marine Sciences Lab, 74 Magruder Road, Highlands, New Jersey, 07732, United States
- ZIP Code
- 07732
- Solicitation Number
- PIRO-13-03568
- Archive Date
- 8/7/2013
- Point of Contact
- Denise Rogers, Phone: 808-944-2208
- E-Mail Address
-
DENISE.ROGERS@NOAA.GOV
(DENISE.ROGERS@NOAA.GOV)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Provide an answering service for the main Hawaiian Islands marine mammal response network. Project: Answering service for marine mammal response hotline, NOAA Fisheries, Pacific Islands Regional Office STATEMENT OF WORK Background or Problem Statement The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO), Protected Resources Division, manages the main Hawaiian Islands Marine Mammal Response Network (MMRN) and operates under the authority of Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The National Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP) was formalized by the 1992 Amendments to the MMPA and NMFS was designated as the lead agency to coordinate related activities. Under the MMHSRP, NMFS is responsible for collecting, investigating and monitoring the health of marine mammals and coordinates emergency responses to assist stranded or distressed dolphins, whales and seals. The MMRN also plays a large role in the protection and recovery of the Hawaiian monk seals as mandated by the MMPA as well as the Endangered Species Act. Hawaiian monk seals are one of the most endangered animal species in the world. The prolonged and steep decline of the Hawaiian monk seal population has occurred more or less continuously since the 1950's. The overall decline has been moderated by the increasing population of seals in the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI). This increase is due in part to intrinsic population growth, and also to the increased monitoring effort identifying individual seals. The small but increasing population of seals in the MHI is perhaps the most promising aspect for Hawaiian monk seal recovery, but this growing seal population in areas that are heavily populated by humans is creating a new set of recovery challenges. Monk seal response programs exist to collect information about individual seals and minimize disturbance to seals hauled out on crowded beaches and mother and pup pairs. PIRO manages the MMRN in partnership with coordinators employed by NMFS, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, University of Hawaii at Hilo and NGO partners. Coordinators on Kauai, Oahu, Maui and the Big Island, with some coverage on Molokai and Lanai, manage responses to strandings and haul-outs of all marine mammals, including Hawaiian monk seals, in the MHI. In 2003, a hotline number, 888-256-9840, and answering service was established by PIRO in an effort to enhance the level of reporting and response. The MMRN relies on the public to report monk seal haul outs and marine mammals in distress in order to gain valuable population data as well as information about potentially sick, injured or dead marine mammals. Answering service operators are available 24/7, 365 days a year and ensure that authorized island coordinators are notified in a timely manner of any marine mammal strandings. A communication tree was established to provide operators with additional MMRN contact information in the event the primary coordinator could not be reached. Goals and Objectives The goal of this project is to provide an answering service for the main Hawaiian Islands marine mammal response network. The answering service will serve as the primary initial dispatch service to take calls from the public and relay specified information to NMFS in a timely manner for NMFS to then take appropriate action. Specific Tasks The contractor will be responsible for performing the following tasks: 1. Provide a live operator to receive hotline calls on a 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year basis. 2. Relay messages, verbally via telephone and via email, containing specific information to designated NMFS island coordinators utilizing the communication tree provided. 3. Ensure that specified information is correctly recorded and successfully relayed to appropriate NMFS coordinators via telephone within 15 minutes of receiving each call. Email reports containing the same information previously provided via telephone shall be sent to a specified NMFS email address no later than 24 hours after the initial report. 4. Provide follow up information via telephone to callers reporting incidents in some cases as directed by NMFS coordinators, e.g., information regarding estimated time of arrival of response personnel on scene. Deliverables Answering service coverage shall be provided on a 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year basis. The contractor shall provide designated NMFS coordinators with verbal reports via telephone and text reports via email detailing the description of incoming calls as specified in the above tasks. Reports provided to NMFS coordinators shall include the following: 1. Date and time of the call received via the hotline. 2. Date and time that caller observed the incident being reported. 3. Location of the incident being reported, including island, nearest city or town, and local beach name and/or any other place name used by the caller. 4. Message for NMFS coordinator: Description of report from caller, including as much of the following information as can be provided by the caller: species of animal involved, condition of the animal, and description of any known government personnel already on-scene. 5. Caller's name. 6. Caller's best contact information for a NMFS follow up call, including telephone number, if the caller will voluntarily provide it. 7. In some cases, the NMFS coordinator will request the operator to call back the caller reporting the incident to provide more information (such as ETA of response personnel) and/or to request that the caller directly call the NMFS coordinator. 8. In the case of calls received regarding incident reports that have already been previously relayed by the contractor to NMFS coordinators, the answering service will thank the caller and indicate that NMFS has already been notified. To be Provided by the Contractor The contractor shall be responsible for providing all labor, equipment, supplies, etc., necessary to successfully accomplish the specified tasks and provide the specified deliverables. The contractor shall provide a toll-free telephone number, to which all calls received via the NMFS hotline number (888-256-9840) will be forwarded. The contractor shall be responsible for all costs associated with this forwarding toll-free number provided by the contactor. The estimated average number of minutes required to provide the entire service (to receive all the inbound reports and provide all the outbound calls to relay information to NMFS coordinators and reporting callers) is approximately 300 minutes per month, although the actual number of minutes per month may vary substantially. To be Provided by the Government NMFS will be the subscriber of the NMFS hotline toll-free hotline number (888-256-9840) and will ensure all calls to the hotline number are routed (or forwarded) to the answering service contractor via a separate toll-free number provided by the contractor. NMFS will be responsible for all costs associated with subscribing to the NMFS hotline toll-free hotline number (888-256-9840). NMFS will provide to the contractor a "phone tree" or contact list of telephone numbers and backup numbers for NMFS coordinators on each island so that the contractor will always know where to relay the report information. NMFS will ensure that coordinators are always available to take the reports from the contractor. NMFS will provide an initial orientation to the contractor personnel via conference call or video conference to help familiarize the contractor operators with the types of calls that are typically received, types of incidents that are typically reported, etc. Period of Performance The period of performance for this project is 365 days from contract issuance. Information Security in Acquisitions Data supplied for and produced by this contract is not privileged and the level of security required is low. The C&A requirements of clause 73 do not apply and a Security Accreditation Package is not required. Contact Denise Rogers Contracting Officer 808-944-2208 Denise.rogers@noaa.gov Technical Contact Jeff Walters, Marine Mammal Branch Chief Protected Resources Division Pacific Islands Regional Office National Marine Fisheries Service 1601 Kapiolani Blvd., Ste. 1110 Honolulu, HI 96814 Tel: (808) 944-2235 Fax: (808) 944-2142 Email: jeff.walters@noaa.gov
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