Supply and deliver water monitoring equipment to the National Park Service, Alaska Region.

NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD SOLE SOURCE: The National Park Service, Alaska Region intends to award a sole source purchase order to YSI, Inc, 9940 Summers Ridge Road, San Diego, CA 92121 for the following items: 1. SonTek RiverSurveyor M9. Portable nine-beam 3.0 MHz/1.0 MHZ/0.5 MHz acoustic Doppler profiler/discharge measurement system, dual Janus configuration with four 3.0 MHz and four 1.0 MHz transducers for velocity measurement PART#RS-M9 2. Bluetooth Telemetry Module which consists of Rover Unit in a waterproof enclosure containing a Bluetooth modem, differential GPS receiver/antenna, 2 rechargeable battery packs. a 1-m processing cable for connection to M9 unit; and a base station with a Bluetooth USB antena and battery charger PART#28-0003. 3. SonTek RiverSurveyor S5 and M9 systems, 36-in (91-cm) PART#28-0058 JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (or SOLE SOURCE) Background: The National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program was established to provide robust scientific information regarding the status and trends of critical natural resources in the National Parks. There are 32 multi-park networks in the I&M Program. The Central Alaska Network (CAKN) consists of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Denali National Park and Preserve, and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and covers 22 million acres, or 25% of all land administered by the National Park Service nationwide. In order to track the condition of our parks, Central Alaska Network scientists have chosen 37 key indicators, or "Vital Signs," to represent the overall health of the network. Each Vital Sign falls into one of 4 categories: physical environment, plant life, animal life, or human use. 15 vital signs relate to animal life, 12 relate to the physical environment, 4 relate to human use, and 6 relate to plant life. Underlying these 4 vital sign categories is a focus on habitat change. This focus allows us to predict and possibly model future variations on the landscape. With some idea about predicted change, managers can develop better strategies for resource protection. Natural resource monitoring is conducted primarily for two purposes: (1) to detect significant changes in resource abundance, condition, population structure, or ecological processes; or (2) to evaluate the effects of some management action on population or community dynamics or ecological processes. Monitoring data are most useful when the same methods are used to collect data at the same locations over a long time period (e.g. more than 10-12 years). The CAKN Inventory and Monitoring Program is being designed to last for well beyond this time frame. Three of the CAKN Vital Signs relate directly to rivers and streams, and include water quality, stream and river flow, and the distribution and abundance of freshwater fishes. These three Vital Signs are interrelated and represent different ways of examining change in these important ecosystems. To measure and monitor stream and river flow accurately and rapidly in a large variety of streams and rivers, from small wadeable streams to large, turbulent glacial rivers, the CAKN requires an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), which uses ultrasound to generate a 2-dimensional map of water velocity and automatically calculates instantaneous discharge. Other agencies and organizations that rely on ADCP for river discharge measurements include the NPS Southwest Alaska Network, the USGS, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the BLM, the Yukon Intertribal Watershed Council, and researchers at the University of Alaska. All of these organizations are using the SonTek RiverSurveyor M9, which is specifically designed to be used in streams and rivers ranging in size from small wadeable streams to large rivers. FAR Statutory Authority cited: 6.302, Circumstances Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition. Per FAR 6.302-1(B)(1)(i) the SonTek RiverSurveyor M9, manufactured and sold by SonTek/YSI, Inc. (9940 Summers Ridge Road, San Diego, CA 92121) is the only Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler that meets the needs of the CAKN stream monitoring program. Nature and description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency's needs. The CAKN requires the following specifications for an ADCP: - Ability to measure depth to 0.2 meters - Ability to measure velocity in 0.3 meters of water - Dedicated vertical beam for depth measurement - Internal discharge calculation, data processing and data storage in the ADCP head - Dynamic multifrequency velocity measurement - Ability to dynamically optimize the acoustic pulsing scheme between broadband, pulse-coherent and narrowband, depending on river velocity and depth - Ability to be operated using a handheld PDA - In-person training The RiverSurveyor M9 is able to measure depth in shallower water (0.2 meters minimum depth) and deeper water (80 meters maximum depth) and is also able to measure velocity in shallower water (0.3 meters minimum depth). With dGPS, the RiverSurveyor can effectively measure discharge in a system that goes from 0.2 m all the way to 80 m. The RiverSurveyor M9 has a vertical beam for accurate depth/ bathymetry measurements. Other units do not have a vertical beam, so it has to rely on an average mean depth based on the slanted beams. This results in the RiverSurveyor having more resolution related to the depth profile and therefore a more accurate depth/ area measurement. The RiverSurveyor also collects depths with its angled bottom tracking/ velocity beams and therefore has some redundancy/ QC for the depth measurements. The RiverSurveyorM9, with the SmartPulseHD feature, will dynamically optimize the acoustic pulsing scheme for each sample between broadband, pulse-coherent or narrowband, depending on the river velocity and depth. This insures the most accurate velocity data for each sample and the highest number of cells/resolution. RiverSurveyor M9 has internal discharge calculation/processing and data storage in the ADCP head, and so a continuous link with a computer running peripheral software is not required and no data will be lost should the communications link be interrupted for any reason. The user only needs to talk with the system at the beginning and end of the measurement. The RiverSurveyor can be operated using a handheld PDA, whereas other units require a connection to a laptop computer. This purchase will be made under FAR Part 12 "Acquisition of Commercial Item" and FAR Part 15, " Other Than Full and Open Competition is authorized by FAR 6.302-1. The anticipated award date is 15 June 2012. Please note that this is not a request for competitive proposals. However, all interested parties who believe they can meet the requirement are invited to submit in writing complete information describing their ability to provide the product/services listed above. Deadline date for the submittals is 11 June 2012 at 12 pm Alaska Standard Time. A determination by the government not to compete this requirement based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. For information regarding this purchase, contact Deryl Morse at (907) 644-3313 or [email protected].