NOAA/Systems Acquisition Office (SAO), 1315 E. W. Highway, Mail Code SAOX2, Silver Spring, MD 20910

B -- OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE NOAA SHIP KA'IMIMOANA IN ACCORDANCE WITH OMB CIRCULAR A-76 SOL 52-SPNA-7-00010 DUE 022798 POC Michael Knowles POC, R.N. Bennett Contracting Officer The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration intends to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to conduct a competition for the operation and support of the NOAA ship KA'IMIMOANA in accordance with OMB Circular No. A-76 (dated March 1996). In accordance with OMB Circular A-76, the successful offer from industry will be evaluated and compared to the Government's In-House Cost (IHC) estimate, culminating in a decision to award a contract or to continue Government operations. If awarded, the resulting contract will be Firm-Fixed Price with reimbursement for supplies, maintenance, and repairs. The performance periods, if awarded, will consist of an initial thirteen months with options for four (4) additional tweleve month periods. The primary mission of the KA'IMIMOANA is to maintain the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) Array which is part of the tropical Pacific Ocean observing system. The array consists of approximately 71 deep-ocean moored buoy systems. In addition to the primary mission, pigybackprojects are routinely conducted during each cruise, such as the maintenance of Haruphone moorings co-located with the TAO moorings at six sites. The ship's area of operation is in the open ocean equatorial Pacific Ocean region including passages to and from ports in the Pacific Basin. The array is maintained along 11 meridians of longitude from 95W to 137E and between latitudes 9N and 8S. Other cruises may be assigned in different ocean regions in support of the agency's commitment to oceanic and atmospheric research. Offerors are invited to make appointments to inspect the ship in Honolulu, Hawaii, between January 7, 1998 and January 8, 1998. Appointments must be made no latter than December 16, 1997, by contacting Mr. Michael Knowles at (301) 713-1341. OFFERORS WHO RESPONDED TO THE PREVIOUS SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT MUST SUBMIT A NEW REQUEST. Solicitations will be mailed on or about December 2, 1997. The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code for this acquisition is 4489. (0318)

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