A -- Independent Assessment of the Ballast Water Exchange Screening Tool

The United States Coast Guard Research & Development Center intends to negotiate and award a sole-source, firm fixed price contract to the Smithsonian Institute (SI), Washington, DC for the development and execution of a laboratory test plan designed to quantify the performance of the ballast water exchange (BWE) screening tool by comparisons to reference testing methods under controlled laboratory conditions, the development and execution of a shipboard test plan designed to test the correlation between BWE screening tool measurements taken aboard two vessels that undergo ballast water exchange and measurements taken using reference methods, and an assessment of the stability of dissolved organic material in ballast water over time. The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), a branch of SI, will conduct the work. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 541710. Interested parties may identify their interest and capabilities in response to this requirement to the above address. The determination by the Government not to compete the proposed contract based upon response 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 future competitive procurement(s). To be eligible for award, contractors must be registered with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) at www.ccr.dlsc.dla.mil. This notice is for informational purposes for Minority, Women-Owned and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (BDEs): The Department of Transportation (DOT) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), has a program to assist minority, women-owned and disadvantaged business enterprises to acquire short term working capital assistance for transportation related contracts. Loans are available under the DOT Short Term Lending Program (STLP) at prime interest rate to provide accounts receivable financing. The maximum line of credit is $500,00.00. For further information and applicable forms concerning STLP, call the OSDBU at (800) 532-1169. For information concerning the acquisition, contact the contracting official listed above. See notes 22 and 26.