Department of Commerce, NOAA, 200 World Trade Center, Room 209, Norfolk, VA 23510-1624

W -- CHARTER VESSEL TO SUPPORT NOAA/NMFS NORTHEAST FISHERIES SCIENCE CENTER WITH A 15-DAY MARINE MAMMALS RESEARCH CRUISE (TRAWLER) Sol 51-EANA-6-00104 due 071196. Contact Ingrid Sparger, 804/441-6560/Contracting Officer, William D. Privott, 804/441-6560. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is seeking interested parties in providing a vessel for a time charter to support National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), fisheries research in the western North Atlantic Ocean August 19, 1996, through September 2, 1996. The vessel shall be delivered and redelivery shall occur in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. It will operate between 43 degrees and 44 degrees-50' north latitude, and up to 100 nautical miles off the U.S. coast. It must have minimum endurance of 10-15 days, a minimum range of 200 nautical miles and be able to accommodate up to 6 scientific personnel. It must be capable of maintaining a cruising speed of not less than 10 knots, and a trawling speed of 4 knots while towing a NEFSC standardized No. 36 Yankee bottom trawl rigged with 2.8 square meters Portuguese polyvalent trawl doors. The vessel shall be rigged for stern trawling and equipped with winches an associated deck equipment. Both exterior and interior work areas for processing the catch and conducting biological fisheries research are required. A winch and frame arrangement for conducting over the side oceanographic data collection to 200 m depth is required. The vessel is required to be equipped with either GPS or LORAN C, bottom sounder, and basic meteorological instruments (wind speed and direction, temperature, barometric pressure). All responsible sources may submit a bid which shall be considered by the agency. Copies of the solicitation will be provided in response to written or faxed requests received directly from the requestor. Telephone requests will not be honored. Requests for copies of this solicitation may be faxed to (804) 441-3786. Numbered Notes 1 and 26 apply. (149)

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