U. S. Department Of Commerce, NOAA, Central Administrative Support Center, 601 East 12th St., CC31, Rm. 1756, Kansas City, Missouri 64106

B -- PILOT ECONOMIC (COST AND RETURNS) SURVEYS IN NORTH CAROLINA AND LOUISIANA OF BOATS THAT FISH COMMERCIALLY FOR KING AND/OR SPANISH MACKEREL SOL NFFN5010900001 POC Sheila Anderson, Contract Specialist, 816-426-7267, ext. 240 The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), NOAA, has a requirement to obtain pilot economic (cost and returns) surveys in North Carolina and Louisiana of boats that fish commercially for king and/or Spanish mackerel for the National Marine Fisheries Service, Fisheries Economics Office, located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The objective is to collect economic data to better estimate the effects of regulations which may be proposed in the future for the commercial fisheries for king and Spanish mackerel and to provide a better basis for designing statistically random surveys for other strata of the population of boats that engage in these and other fisheries in a seasonally complex round of economic activity throughout the southeast (coastal states of North Carolina to Texas). The proposed contractor shall: (1) hire, train and supervise interviewers; (2) pretest a draft questionnaire developed by economists in the NMFS Southeast Regional Office, make final revisions to the questionnaire based on the results of the pretest and on the need to coordinate data file structure with NMFS economists to obtain Office of Management and Budget approval of the final survey questionnaire; (3) schedule and conduct personal interviews with commercial king and Spanish mackerel fishermen to collect information about their fishing activities, catches, revenue, fixed and variable harvesting costs, and participation in other fisheries or land-based occupations; (4) enter the data in computer files that can be read (preferably in SAS or in ASCII, DOS-text, fixed field format) and used by NMFS economists on desktop computers with Microsoft Windows operating systems; (5) prepare a final report that describes the training, pretest, and interview procedures, documents any problems that were encountered, and describes variable formats and the definition of codes used in the data files; and (6) submit the final report, computer files, and original, completed questionnaires to NMFS economists for future analysis of regulatory proposals. It is required that the proposed contractor work with NMFS economists when making revisions to the questionnaire, when planning file structure, and when defining variable codes, but contractor personnel will not be subject to the supervision and control of Government employees. The period of performance is not to exceed one year from the date of award. This requirement is not set-aside for small business. SIC code 8732 applies. These services will be purchased under the guidelines of FAR Part 13, Simplified Acquisitions Procedures. A Request for Quotation (RFQ) will be issued on or about August 11, 1999. All requests for the RFQ must be in writing. Facsimile requests will be accepted at (816)426-7530. Receipt of the fax by the Government is the responsibility of the sender. All responsible sources may submit an offer which will be considered by the agency. Posted 07/27/99 (W-SN359421). (0208)

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