HSRP Review of NOAA’s Mapping and Charting

Contracting Strategy

Brian Greenawalt, Office of Coast Survey

0102030405060708090

100110120130140150

FY

94F

Y95

FY

96

FY

97F

Y98

FY

99F

Y00

FY

01F

Y02

FY

03F

Y04

FY

05F

Y06*

Mapping & Charting, Geodesy, Tides & Currents

($ millions)

* FY06 President’s Request

Navigation Services Budget History

Contract Award History

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

*200

420

05

In Millions

Data for NGS/OCS

*Time Charter funds expended

Report on Strategy to Expand Contracting for Mapping and Charting

Requested in House FY05 Appropriations Committee Report

The Committee expects NOAA to work with the private mapping community to develop a strategy for expanding contracting with private entities to minimize duplication and take maximum advantage of private sector capabilities in fulfillment of NOAA's mapping and charting responsibilities.

1996 National Ocean Service

Contracting Policy

• NOS established contracting policy for mapping and charting services in 1996 that NOAA Navigation Services has essentially followed since that time

• Policy states that contracts for surveying and mapping services will be awarded to qualified commercial sources in accordance with Title IX of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 USC § 541 et seq.), commonly known as the "Brooks Act.“

• Reiterated by the 1998 Hydro Services Improvement Act, which authorized contracting to the greatest extent practicable and cost-effective, and the use of Brooks Act service contracts for hydrographic surveys.

1996 National Ocean Service Contracting Policy

• NOS will procure surveying and mapping services from qualified commercial sources when such procurement is the most cost effective source, unless:

• a product or service is inherently governmental in nature;• there is no commercial source capable of providing a needed

product or service to NOS at the required standard of performance, and at a price equal to or less than existing government services;

• Government production, manufacture, or provision of a product or service is necessary for national defense; or,

• the procured services cannot reasonably be quality controlled to ensure safety of navigation in the national coastal waters.

Brooks Act Contracting

• Brooks Architect-Engineer Act • Qualifications-based selection process on the

basis of competence and qualification for the type of professional service

• Price quotations are not a consideration in the selection process, unlike the normal procurement process with price competition

• Part 36.6 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)

Brooks Act Contracting

• NOAA’s Source Evaluation Board (SEB) evaluates each potential contractor in terms of:

• Professional qualifications necessary for satisfactory performance of required services;

• Specialized experience and technical competence in the type of work required;

• Capacity to accomplish the work in the required time;• Past performance on contracts with government agencies and

private industry in terms of cost control, quality of work, and compliance with performance schedules;

• Location in general geographical area of the project and knowledge of the locality of the project; and

• acceptability under other appropriate evaluation criteria.

Brooks Act Contracting

• SEB provides the selecting official with a ranked list of most highly qualified firms.

• Request for proposals (RFP) sent to the first selected contractor with technical specifications and a detailed statement of work.

• NOAA contracting officer then negotiates a fair and reasonable price to award a contract.

• If a fair and reasonable price cannot be negotiated with this contractor, NOAA terminates negotiations and issues an RFP to the next firm on the selection list.

Brooks Act Contracting

NOAA opinion of Brooks Act:• Initially greeted process with some reluctance• Unfamiliar procurement process• More costly than standard procurements• But NOAA has come to realize that process has

proven successful• Methods of doing work negotiated in advance• Produces good data • Contractors must provide quality product

Contracting Areas and Mechanisms

• Brooks Act req’d by HSIA 1998 to contract “for the acquisition of hydrographic data”

• Hydrographic data defined in HSIA as “information acquired through hydrographic or bathymetric surveying, photogrammetry, geodetic, geospatial, or geomagnetic measurements, tide and current observations, or other methods, that is used in providing hydrographic services.”

• Brooks Act thus also used for Shoreline, Height Mod/Geodetic activities

• NOAA uses Standard Contracting Procedures with Price Competition for:

Cartographic support on ENCs and raster charts Tide Gauge installation/maintenance Current meter deployment/retrieval

NOAA Core Capability

• 1998 HSIA Section 303 (b) provides that :…to fulfill the data gathering and dissemination duties of the Administration under the Act of 1947, and subject to the availability of appropriations, the Administrator—

1) may procure, lease, evaluate, test, develop, and operate vessels, equipment, and technologies necessary to ensure safe navigation and maintain operational expertise (i.e., core capability) in hydrographic data acquisition and hydrographic services;

• No official determination of what NOAA Core Capability should be, however…

Since 1998, Congress has appropriated additional data acquisition funds to NMAO to support 5 NOAA survey vessels (RA, FA, RU, TJ, BH)

Also new funds for vessel/equipment replacement (sonars/SWATH) Recognition of role in Homeland Security with $20M authorization Significant increases for NWLON/PORTS and Geodesy Height Mod

work with states

NOAA Core Capability

• To meet U.S. requirements for high-accuracy navigation data to support safe marine operations and Maritime Domain Awareness

• Continued investment in NOAA fleet survey capabilities to maintain expertise and acquire more effective and comprehensive coverage for navigation products and services

• Core capability and expertise are critical component of NOAA’s mission to establish standards and ensure the quality of data obtained by a multitude of sources – contract, 3rd party, etc…

NOAA Core Capability

NOAA perspective on general components of core capability…

In the interest of safety, NOAA should maintain: Federal expertise in shoreline/hydro data acquisition and continued

R&D for efficiency gains and technology improvements E.g., up to 6 hydrographic survey platforms, including an R&D

platform (BH) Personnel/equipment to operate those platforms and most efficiently

maximize data collection Federal expertise in data processing/analysis to quality control

NOAA and contract data acquired Federal expertise in electronic nautical chart database maintenance

to quality assure NOAA/contract cartographic work Federal expertise in Tides/Currents data collection and maintenance

of the National Water Level Observation Network Federal expertise in Geodetic reference systems to support

state/national needs for a positioning framework

Charge to the Panel

• Review NOAA’s current contracting strategy and means to achieve expansion of contracting opportunities with the private sector

• Re-examine and validate the process by which NOAA procures mapping and charting support

• Recommend Core Capability level for NOAA

• Additional areas of focus: Better coordination with other agencies Minimization of duplication How best to work with the private sector on

improving NOAA’s contracting strategy

Contracting Strategy Review Schedule

• HSRP adopts NOAA’s mapping and charting contracting strategy for reviewPublic discussion at March 31, 2005 HSRP Meeting,

San Diego, CA

• Federal Register notice for comments on NOAA’s current policy by public/private sectors will be published post-HSRP meeting

• HSRP will provide draft recommendations within 6 months

• NOAA will draft revised policy and publish for comment, giving public 90 days to comment on proposed new contracting policy

• NOAA will publish final, updated contracting policy by March 2006