A -- Developing an Automatic Identification System (AIS) - based Program to Monitor Vessels in Waters off the U.S. Eastern Seaboard

NOAA intends to monitor vessel compliance with ship strike reduction measures vis a vis threatened marine mammals. Initially NOAA wishes to explore the feasability of doing so through remote sensing, specifically AIS and related technologies. Therefore, NOAA seeks to explore the feasibility of developing a unified network of receivers and centrally processed, parsed, stored, and relayed data. As such, this call for proposals is about assessing existing U.S. east coast AIS capabilities and to the extent deficiencies exist, assessing the feasibility of developing an U.S. east coast-wide AIS network. In addition, the contractor will prepare a draft plan for implementing such a system, identify any obstacles, identify the soft- and hard-ware and technical requirements, and assess the costs associated with creating such a system and implementing an AIS-based program. The p[eriod of performance for this initial phase shall not exceed one year. Evaluation using simplified acquisition procedures shall utilize technical approach, past performance and price. A time and materials order is contemplated. This is a simplified acquisition under the SAT.