50-Foot Ethernet Cable for Mooring Buoy

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Eastern Region Acquisitions Division-Kansas City office intends to award, on a sole source basis, under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), with EOM Offshore LLC for four (4) 50-foot Ethernet-capable hoses/cables for mooring buoys for the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, MI. A Special Notice was posted on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website on December 31, 2014 and closed on January 12, 2015. No responses were received. The hoses/cables shall have the following specifications: • Shall have eight #22 gauge conductive wires for use with data transfer and power transfer on each end of the cable • Shall be able to stretch 2.5 times its length • Shall have four unshielded twisted pairs for Ethernet speed capability • Shall have mechanical flanges to mate the top and bottom end of the mooring cable to allow for connection to surface buoy and bottom weight/instrument package • Shall be in 50 foot length • Shall have four #24AWG unshielded twist pairs • Shall be shipped in secure prefabricated wooden or plastic container This is a 50-foot stretch hose with two flange adapters. This is a bungee-like cord with electrical wires coiled inside and designed to moor meteorological buoys and allow information and power to be transferred from the top of the buoy to instruments down below. Cables shall be attached to an internally designed meteorological buoy (1.4 meters in size), connecting a conductivity, temperature and depth instrument and video feed, along with acoustic sensors and fish finders, providing the ability to monitor below and have flexibility with the data gathered. This method is much safer than the previous chain mooring methods, which put the scientist in harm's way dealing with rapidly descending chain. The reinforced rubber stretch hose was developed for mooring systems that require a stable platform for sensors or acoustics. It can stretch to two and a half times its original length and serves as a highly effective and robust mechanical isolator between the surface buoy and the quiet lower mooring section. The cable shall have eight -#22 gage conductive wires for use with data transfer and power transfer and four #24 unshielded twisted pairs for Ethernet speed capability. These specifications are due to having two separate cable types, Ethernet (CAT 5) and copper (data and power). This is not a common design or demand. The hose construction makes use of elastomeric-synthetic composite technology for elasticity and strength and also has eight number 22AWG conductors and four 24AWG twisted pairs built into it to allow signals and power to be transmitted along its length. All mooring connections are bolted flanges to minimize other sources of mechanical noise and to enable a modular approach to mooring design. A 50-foot cable is required in order to reach 125-foot depths within the Great Lakes. At this time there are no other known vendors that supply this type of mooring. EOM Offshore is a company spawned from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and have developed this method of mooring buoys/instrumentation and coupling them to seabed instrumentation.