NOAA Fisheries preparing to issue USD 75 million contract for habitat conservation and oil spill support

NOAA Fisheries is preparing to issue a contract worth up to USD 74.5 million (EUR 68.1 million) for support for its Office of Habitat Conservation, which oversees NOAA’s efforts to conserve habitat for managed fisheries and restore fisheries impacted by oil spills.

Under the solicitation, a contractor would oversee some of the office’s core responsibilities and manage the agency’s preparations for an oil spill on the scale of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The contractor would “coordinate and manage coastal and marine habitat management” on behalf of OHC and assist the office in developing national fisheries protection policy.

The selected company would also be charged with retrieving, downloading, and processing data needed for the agency’s fisheries programs; would provide services to the Restoration Center – overseeing complex fisheries restoration strategies and monitoring those projects to determine the environmental consequences of those efforts; and would provide engineering services, such as designing fish passages and using advanced survey technology.

Finally, the contractor would provide strategic planning, coordination, and technical support for restoration projects responding to major environmental disasters on the scale of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. NOAA responds to up to 150 oil spills or hazardous substance releases every year.

NOAA Fisheries plans to issue a five-year indefinite delivery / indefinite quantity contract for the work, with a USD 74.5 million (EUR 68.1 million) ceiling for orders under the award.

Similar services are currently being provided to the Office of Habitat Conservation by Earth Resources Technology – a major government contractor that works with NOAA, NASA, and the U.S. Air Force – under three ProTech 1.0 task orders issued in 2021. With a combined value of USD 24.2 million (EUR 22.1 million), those contracts are set to wrap up in 2026.

ProTech is NOAA’s strategic sourcing program for professional, scientific, and technical services. With the window closing on the original ProTech task order periods, NOAA is issuing new contracts under ProTech 2.0. The program has a USD 8 billion (EUR 7.3 billion) ceiling across the entire agency, which includes fisheries, satellite, weather, and oceans. ProTech 2.0 awards will have a five-year base ordering period with a government option to extend the contracts another five years. Phase two of the ProTech Fisheries 2.0 Domain solicitation closed in May, and the agency expects to announce contract awards in the second quarter of fiscal 2024.

NOAA Fisheries told SeafoodSource the Office of Habitat Conservation contract is not a ProTech solicitation. Proposals are due 28 August, with performance on the contract set to begin on 31 October.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock / Breck P. Kent