Description
Project Title: Lake Trout Gillnetting on Yellowstone Lake Description of Work: The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), National Park Service (NPS), Yellowstone National Park expects to solicit for 'Lake Trout Gillnetting on Yellowstone Lake', located inside Yellowstone National Park, Lake District, in Park & Teton Counties, WY. A firm-fixed price type contract is being contemplated; however, this is subject to change. The period of performance is anticipated to be for approximately five years, including a Base Year and Four Option Years. Lake Trout Gillnetting on Yellowstone Lake: Work encompasses mobilization and on-going assistance from a professional gill net fishing operation, including all necessary personnel and gear such as boats, lines, weights, and buoys, to significantly reduce the non-native lake trout population and restore native cutthroat trout during the fishing season (ice-free) in Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, WY. The Contractor will be expected to experiment with other fishing methods (potentially to include trawling, live entrapment netting, and experimental gillnetting). Netting operations will be from 5/19/2019 through 10/25/2019, and may continue for an additional four years (Base Year and Four Option Years). Expertise Required: This work requires expertise in methods of netting lake trout to avoid mortality of a co-existing, sensitive, native trout species. The Contractor should demonstrate expertise in commercial-scale gillnetting for lake trout on large lakes; operation and maintenance of large boats; and the precise placement and efficient processing of large amounts gill nets. The Contractor will be expected to demonstrate a track record of high quality data collection, and support of fisheries research. The Contractor will be expected to provide captains and crews of size and working days/hours sufficient to meet gill net effort targets, and to provide sufficient housing for personnel at the remote Yellowstone Lake work location. Additionally, the Contractor will be expected to use at least three contractor-owned boats, along with one NPS-owned boat, compliant with Coast Guard approved safety equipment. Boats used for gill net operations must be outfitted to process 300-foot gillnets typically set in gangs of 1,800 to 18,000 feet of net between marking buoys and anchors, fishing on the bottom in water as deep as 200 feet. A hydraulic net lifter shall be an essential piece of equipment for gillnetting operation on each boat. Housing for Contractor provided personnel must be furnished by the Offeror. NPS will provide sleeping quarters for up to 5 contract employees in the Yellowstone Lake Area. The Offeror may be provided a lot/space to house one mobile home and 6 two-bedroom (>24 feet) RV travel trailers (or more) to assist in ensuring adequate housing for required crews to meet annual gill netting effort benchmarks on Yellowstone Lake. The Offeror is also expected to provide for company office space. The site for the office space/mobile home may not be larger than 14 feet by 60 feet. NPS will provide RV sites with electrical, water, and septic services at the Lake Village, Grant Village, and/or Canyon Village sites (cost of utilities will be paid by NPS). The Offeror may be required to provide additional mobile homes and/or RV units to house larger crews in the Option Year periods being contemplated. Work Restrictions: Work will occur within the highly protected environment of Yellowstone National Park. Southern areas of Yellowstone Lake lie within proposed wilderness and strict rules must be adhered to when boating in these areas. The Offeror shall be required to work closely with NPS biologists and enforcement rangers to ensure compliance with all applicable rules and regulations. NAICS: 114111 - Finfish Fishing (Trout Fishing); Size Standard, $20.5 million PSC: F020 - Fisheries Resource Management Services Set Aside: 100% small business set-aside. Project Location: Yellowstone National Park, Lake District; Park & Teton Counties, WY. Yellowstone Lake is accessible by two-lane highway May-October. The site is: * 54 miles south of Gardiner, MT via Grand Loop Road, Norris Canyon Road * 55 miles east of West Yellowstone, MT via West Entrance Road, Grand Loop Road * 99 miles north of Jackson, WY via US-89, John D Rockefeller Jr. Parkway * 77 miles west of Cody, WY via US-16, East Entrance Road * 66 miles southwest of Cooke City, MT via Northeast Entrance Road, Grand Loop Road Yellowstone Lake has a surface area of 136 square miles, a shoreline length of 148 miles, and an average depth of 140 feet. At an elevation of 7,800 feet, Yellowstone Lake is the largest high-elevation lake in North America. Unique and sensitive geothermal features are found on the bottom of the lake. Damage to these resources by gillnetting, trapnetting, or other netting strategy operations must be avoided. Pre-bid Tour: No pre-bid tour is planned; however, if interest in a pre-bid tour is expressed then one may be scheduled. Contractors are urged to inspect the site where the work will be performed. Interested parties may contact Alane Fitzpatrick, Contract Specialist, at 307-739-3669, with questions related to the project. Interested parties shall take reasonable steps to ascertain the nature and location of the project area and the work to be completed, as well as the general and local site conditions which can affect the work and cost of performance. Failure to take the actions described in this paragraph will not relieve the Contractor from the responsibility of properly estimating the difficulty and cost to successfully perform the work, or from successful completion of the work without additional expense to the Government. The solicitation will be available on approximately 26 March 2018, and can be downloaded at that time.