GLERL Innovasea Acoustic Releases & Accessories

***The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Acquisition & Grants Office (AGO), Western Acquisition Division-Boulder (WAD), Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab (GLERL), intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis, under authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), with INNOVASEA MARINE SYSTEMS CANADA INC located in Bedford, NS for acoustic releases and accessories to be delivered to Ann Arbor, MI.

***The sole source determination is based on NOAA’s requirement that INNOVASEA MARINE SYSTEMS CANADA INC is the only vendor that manufactures and distributes these acoustic releases. Innovasea is the provider of acoustic receivers and tags used by nearly all other such research projects in the Great Lakes, organized as part of the Great Lakes Acoustic Telemetry Observing System (GLATOS, https://glatos.glos.us/;).

In order to be compatible with this other equipment and gain a greatly enhanced amount of information from the items in this purchase, we much use this vendor. The products of this vendor are the only such equipment that is compatible with the other tags and receivers deployed throughout the region as part of GLATOS. Other instrumentation in this environment would basically be useless due to not being able to connect to the GLATOS network. GLATOS informed us that their system will not recognize other networks on the Great Lakes, thus rendering them useless.

Delivery date is 8/1/2025.

***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.