Sea Grant Registration Fees

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Eastern Region Acquisitions Division-Kansas City office intends to award, on a sole source basis, under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), with the University of Rhode Island, 75 Lower College Road, Kingston, RI 02881, for registration fees for 39 staff at the National Sea Grant Office (NSGO) to attend the Sea Grant Week Conference for the Office of Atmospheric Research in Silver Spring, MD. A Sources Sought notice was posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website on July 11, 2016 and closed on July 21, 2016. No responses were received. Sole Source Justification The National Sea Grant College Program is a university-based federal-state partnership, with three leadership groups. NOAA is the Federal partner, and is represented by the National Sea Grant Office (NSGO). The State universities are represented by the Sea Grant Association, composed of the Directors of the individual Sea Grant programs. Both are advised by the legislatively-mandated, presidentially-appointed National Sea Grant Advisory Board (NSGAB), a Federal Advisory committee. These three groups meet semi-annually at the Sea Grant Association Meeting to provide a mechanism to coordinate activities, to set program priorities at both the regional and national level, and learn about and discuss issues of importance to the oceans and coasts. The meeting is sponsored by Rhode Island Sea Grant, whose fiscal host is the University of Rhode Island (URI). Thus, all payments associated with this meeting must be made to URI. There is no other vendor. Participation in this meeting is essential for the NSGO to carry out its mission of developing and communicating program and strategic planning guidance to the state Sea Grant programs under the auspices of the National Sea Grant College Act 33 U.S.C. 33 U.S.C. § 1122-1133. The conference, held every two years, is the only time the leaders from the entire Sea Grant Program gather to develop program plans and strategies for carrying out the mission of the National Sea Grant College Program. If the NSGO does not attend this conference, the opportunity for collaboration and coordination will be lost for this two year planning cycle resulting in a less efficient program plan and decreasing the likelihood of mission success.