Notice of Intent to negotiate a sole-source contract - Nor'Eastern Trawl Systems trawl doors and rigging assemblies

NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE

NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service – Alaska Fisheries Science Center, intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis, under authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1); with Nor’Eastern Trawl Systems Inc. for midwater trawl doors and replacement Cantrawl rigging assemblies used in the deployment of research vessels performing fisheries research in the northern Bering Sea.

Sole Source Justification

The sole source determination is based on the AFSC’s deployment of groundfish and midwater fisheries surveys performed on NOAA research ships during the FY26-27 field seasons. These surveys adhere to AFSC Annual Guidance Memo priorities (e.g., recruitment, species distribution shifts, changing maturity and growth, fish condition, stock boundary changes, food availability, phenology). This supports critical data streams and time series that provide tactical and strategic information for groundfish stock assessments and supports the equipment required to collect critical samples to support age composition and stock origin analyses of salmon bycatch in the eastern Bering Sea. Use of another vendor’s equipment would require extensive refitting and reconfiguring of the trawl systems, which would greatly increase the cost and delay deployment of these critical surveys.

Special Notice

This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotes and no solicitation package is available. However, firms that believe they can provide equipment or service that fully meets the Government's requirements may submit substantiating documentation 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. Responses can be sent via e-mail to jason.jenks@noaa.gov.  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.

All responsible sources may submit a Capability Statement in accordance with this notice, which shall be considered by the agency if received on or before 1600 PM PDT on Apr 22, 2026.  The Capability Statement must contain material in sufficient detail to allow NOAA to determine if the party can meet all of the requirements. Incomplete statements do not warrant consideration. Phone calls in regard to this notice will not be accepted.

All electronic correspondence shall have the subject line read:
Announcement Number: REQUIREMENTS-26-2106
Project Title: NOAA AFSC Northern Bering Sea Ecosystem Surface Trawl survey FY26-27 equipment purchase

NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center requires that all contractors doing business with this office be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM). No award can be made to a company unless registered in SAM. For additional information and to register in SAM, please access the following web site: www.sam.gov. To register, all contractors must have a valid Tax ID number and obtain a government-provided Unique Entity Identifier, which is available through SAM.gov.