99 -- Stainless Steel Fish Hooks

The U. S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Pascagoula, MS intends to purchase 48,000 fish hooks. The hooks are to be used for the Northeast Distant waters longline sea turtle mitigation experiments beginning June 16, 2003. The following is a list of hooks needed: (1) 10,000 each Lindgren-Pittman 18/0 stainless steel Circle Hooks, No Offset , Part # LF-CIR-HOOK-18-S, (2) 13,000 each Lindgren-Pitman 18/0 Stainless Steel Circle Hooks, 10 Degree Offset, Part #LF-CIR-HOOK-18-0, The Lindgren-Pitman 18/0 hooks were chosen from among 18/0 hooks currently on the market by the longline sea turtle mitigation working group which consists of NMFS gear specialists, industry experts, and university researchers. The experimental design protocol requires all vessels participating in the experiments to use the same 18/0 hook design and there can be no substitution. (3) 25,000 each Lindgren-Pitman 20/0 Stainless Steel Circle Hooks, 10 Degree Offset Part #LP-CIR-HOOK-20-0. These are also to be used in this year's experiments. While the experimental design does not state specifically that the Lindgren-Pitman hook must be used, it meets all size, strength, and design criteria for the experiments. If other 20/0 SS circle hooks with 10 degree offset are offered, samples are required before acceptance of offer. A sample of equal to or better must accompany the offer for the 20/0 hooks. This is a small business set-aside. The NAICS code is 339920. The small business size standard is 500 employees. The Request for Quotation will be available on or about March 24, 2003. Firms interested in receiving a copy of the solicitation shall submit a request in writing to the attention Sharon Walker. Facsimile requests will be accepted at (816) 426-7530.