Bottomfish Assessments in the Pacific Islands Region

The National Marine Fisheries Service, Fish Biology and Stock Assessment Division in Honolulu, Hawaii with the following: 1) Contract fishing vessels to conduct fishing operations for up to 45 days each quarter at selected sites in waters around Oahu and Maui to assess the feasibility of implementing a fishery independent survey for Hawaii deepslope bottomfish. 2) Contract additional fisherman to tag and release bottomfish during regular fishing operations following standardized protocols, and establish a network of bottomfish landing ports and fisherman in the Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) to conduct length and weight sampling of landed bottomfish. 3) Periodically conduct meetings to discuss progress of the projects with local constituents. The purpose of this requirement is to develop a Pacific Islands Region fishery independent bottomfish survey, assess bottomfish populations, and collect biological samples to update live history parameters. The required research and activities are recommendations from recent workshops on Hawaiian bottomfish stock assessment methodologies and ecosystem science and management planning, both aimed at advancing bottomfish stock assessments in the Pacific Islands Region. The North American Industry Classification Code (NAICS) is 813312 with a size standard of $7 million. A Request for Proposal (RFP) solicitation may be available on or about July 12, 2010 at http://www.fedbizopps.gov/. The proposed contract is available to all business concerns. The estimated response due date is August 12, 2010; however, the actual date offers are due will be stated within the solicitation documents. Paper copies of this solicitation will not be issued. Interested parties should use the FedBizOpps [Add To Watchlist] and [Add Me To Interested Vendors] features which provide a notification when the RFP becomes available for download as well as all postings of information associated with this solicitation, thereafter. Each potential contractor is responsible for checking the FedBizOpps website to gain all current information related to the solicitation. The solicitation and any further announcements regarding the solicitation will be posted only at http://www.fedbizopps.gov/. All questions of any nature regarding this procurement are to be sent to Contract Specialist, Mona Ash at [email protected].