INTENT TO AWARD TO A SINGLE SOURCE, NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM (NEAQ)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Acquisition & Grants Office (AGO), Western Acquisition Division-Boulder (WAD), Management and Budget Acquisition Office, intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis, under authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), with New England Aquarium Corporation located in Boston, MA for services to assess, stabilize, and provide medical care for turtles in order to reduce mortality of listed species.

The service required for this acquisition is a sea turtle rehabilitation facility that is capable of admitting, triaging, and stabilizing multiple hundreds of cold-stunned sea turtles in Massachusetts. This facility must be able to accommodate over 400 sea turtles each fall and provide high quality care to these animals.

In some cases, once stabilized, cold-stunned sea turtles will be transported to other long-term care facilities and in some cases, they will stay at the triage facility for their entire rehabilitation. In either case, the ultimate goal of returning them to health and releasing them back into the wild.

The New England Aquarium (NEAQ) is a federally-permitted member of the Greater Atlantic Region Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network, and is the only rehabilitation facility in Massachusetts with the capacity and expertise to triage cold-stunned turtles in the quantity and frequency in which they strand. Annual numbers of cold-stunned strandings in Massachusetts have increased sharply in the last decade.

The five-year (2018-2022) annual average of cold-stunned strandings in the state is 770 turtles, most of which strand along the beaches of Cape Cod. Of these strandings, 68.3% were alive when they were first documented. Some of the live turtles do not survive long enough to be admitted into rehabilitation or die soon after admission. However, even with this mortality, hundreds of debilitated sea turtles still need medical care each fall.

NEAQ is the only facility geographically situated to reduce the mortality of the listed species. Performing this task requires extensive and first-hand knowledge of sea turtle biology and sea turtle rehabilitation techniques, particularly for the unique effects of severe cold-stunning in this region.

In addition, as cold-stunned strandings have increased in the last decade, NEAQ is the only rehabilitation facility in Massachusetts with the capacity, i.e. having the tank space, medication and supplies, and staff resources, to admit multiple hundreds of sea turtles each fall. Sea turtles are all listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act; these species’ recovery plans include rescue and rehabilitation as a recovery priority.

The New England Aquarium (NEAQ) is the primary cold-stunned sea turtle rehabilitation facility in Massachusetts, admitting the majority of stranded cold-stunned turtles for triage, stabilization, and warming. Once the turtles are stabilized, many are sent out to secondary rehabilitation facilities in the Greater Atlantic, Southeast, and beyond, while the rest continue their care at the NEAQ until they are ready for release back into the wild. NEAQ tasks include:

Coordinate with Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary for the transfer of live cold-stunned sea turtles from Wellfleet, MA to NEAQ’s Sea Turtle Hospital; Undertake triage, stabilization, and initial treatment of cold-stunned sea turtles.

This includes, but is not limited to, maintaining the rehabilitation facility, water quality, diagnostic equipment and services, medications, highly-trained staff, and access to veterinary care; Coordinate with network partners, including other rehabilitation facilities, as well as state and Federal agencies, and aviation partners to facilitate sea turtle transports; and Communicate regularly with GARFO regarding capacity, transport planning, data, and other issues.

The sole source determination is based on NOAA’s requirement that New England Aquarium Corporation is the only vendor that provides this service. The Period of Performance will be from September 11, 2024 through September 10, 2025, with four additional option years.

This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals and no solicitation package is available. However, firms that believe they can fully meet the government's requirements may submit substantiating documentation in writing to the identified point of contact within 15 days after publication of this synopsis. Such documentation will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. A determination by the government not to conduct a competitive procurement, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the government. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice.