Marine Services to Support the Maintenance of the National Data Buoy Center Ocean Observation System of Systems

Pre-Solicitation Notice Marine Services to Support the Maintenance of the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) Ocean Observation System of Systems This is not a Request for Proposal The Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Acquisition and Grants Office, Eastern Acquisition Division (EAD) on behalf of the National Weather Service, NDBC, has a requirement for Marine Services to Support the Maintenance of the NDBC Ocean Observation System of Systems.

It is the Government’s intent to award multiple (approximately three) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts that allow for issuance of Firm-Fixed-Price Task Orders with Cost Reimbursable line items only for Other Direct Costs. The number of awards may change based on the quantity and quality of offers received. IDIQs lifecycles shall consist of five one-year ordering periods from December 4, 2025 through December 3, 2030. The total value over the course of the five-year term is $49,990,822.79.

This amount will be a shared capacity between all IDIQ contract holders. The anticipated date of award is in or around October 2025. This requirement will be issued as a Total Small Business Set-Aside. The North American Industry Classification System code associated with this procurement is 483111, Deep Sea Freight Transportation, with a size standard of 1,050 employees.

This procurement will be competitive, utilizing the acquisition procedures in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 12, Acquisition of Commercial Products and Commercial Services, in conjunction with FAR 15, Contracting by Negotiation. The anticipated award will go to responsible offerors whose offers conform to the terms and conditions of the solicitation and will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. Award will be based on the lowest price technically acceptable submissions.

EAD anticipates publishing the solicitation and supporting documentation on or about May 21, 2025. The solicitation will be made available electronically at the System for Award Management (SAM) website, http://www.sam.gov. Paper copies, faxes, or emails of the solicitation will not be issued. Please register as an interested source to be notified of amendments, clarifications, or other changes. Entities are responsible for checking the SAM.gov website frequently to ensure they have all available information.

It is required that all prospective contractors are registered with SAM and maintain an active registration during the life of the IDIQ and subsequent Task Orders. SAM registration is required for award.

Description of the Requirement: The NDBC requires commercially available marine vessels to deploy, service, and repair ocean observing stations in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific Ocean. The primary intention of this procurement is to support maintenance of the Deep-Ocean Reporting and Assessment of Tsunamis (DART) network, Weather and Ocean Platform (WxOP) Network, and selected Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) buoys and moorings.

The NDBC maintains the DART network of 39 stations that are positioned to provide adequate warning time to the US and US territories in the event of a tsunami. Of the 39 DART stations, 32 are located in the Pacific Ocean and the remaining seven are in the Atlantic basin. The NDBC maintains over 100 moored buoys in their WxOP Network. The US Coast Guard buoy tenders provide vessel support for servicing much of the NDBC WxOP Network within or near the boundaries of the US Exclusive Economic Zone.

Weather buoys are typically serviced every two years, and exchanged (refurbished) every three years. Their moorings are typically inspected every two years and replaced every four to five years. The NDBC charters a vessel each spring to maintain WxOP buoys located in the Bay of Campeche, Caribbean Sea, and South Atlantic. The NDBC may charter a vessel to perform services for any WxOP buoy at any time, depending on availability of a US Coast Guard vessel and funding.

The NDBC maintains 55 TAO buoys and moorings and four Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler moorings along the equatorial Pacific Ocean region. The buoys are configured for ocean climate studies of the El Nino Southern Oscillation. Maintenance of the TAO array is expected to be supported by a mix of NOAA research vessels and commercial vessels via this marine services acquisition.

The NDBC manages the acquisition, assembly, testing, deployment, operations, and maintenance of moored buoys, drifting or robotic platforms, and fixed stations in its ocean observing network. Most of the buoys and other stations are deployed in harsh marine environments and require scheduled services visits for upkeep. In order to effectively operate and maintain these vital stations, it is critical that the NDBC continue to have long-term, reliable marine transportation from the commercial sector.

The contractor must furnish the vessel, crew, material, equipment, services, and facilities to permit Government field service personnel to perform that buoy maintenance specific in each Task Order Request for Quote. Vessels must be able to lift the buoy onto the deck, secure the mooring to the deck, hold position over the mooring while the buoy is being serviced or exchanged, and deploy the buoy back in the water.

The vessel must also be able to retrieve entire moorings that are freed from their anchors by acoustic releases or pressure-activated line cutters. The vessels must be outfitted to support the specialized crews and instrumentation needed to deploy, repair, and retrieve buoys, as well as support marine research. These specialized requirements and scientific instruments are to be utilized while at sea by the crew of the vessel as well as the NOAA crew that might be aboard the vessel. The information pertaining to the specialized requirements will be provided with the solicitation.