--King Rail

Notice of Intent to sole source reference FAR Clause 6.302-1. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service), Division of Migratory Bird Management has a requirement to investigate the reproductive ecology of the king rail by monitoring nests while contributing breeding habitat preference and distribution data to the National Marshbird Monitoring Program. This entails expanding king rail nest monitoring in order to estimate vital rates for population modeling in order to begin to understand king rail population dynamics within the Atlantic flyway; contribute data to update the regional adaptive management models for king rail occupancy developed based on landscape and microhabitat characteristics in support of the Services Strategic Habitat Conservation; determine causes of hatching failure; characterize population structure based on microsatellite allele frequency distributions (neutral genetic markers) to estimate inbreeding, dispersal (migratory status), and degree of mixing with other populations. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541990, All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services. This notice of Intent is not a Request for Quote for competitive proposals; however, firms with expressed interest and capability are encouraged to respond. A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Point of contact is Alvey Moore, Contract Specialist, at [email protected]. Responses are due by 5:00 p.m. (EST) September 19, 2012.