2023 Living Marine Resources (LMR) Program General Environmental Needs   4

Background
The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAC EXWC) is responsible for environmental compliance and has awarded a modification to an ongoing research contract with the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC).

This modification is necessary due to an out-of-scope change in terms, primarily driven by a significant increase in the agreed firm-fixed-price for supplemental work. The justification and approvals documentation is made public to provide transparency regarding this decision.

Work Details
The Living Marine Resources (LMR) program requires specialized research on pinniped hearing, focusing on the effects of masking on seals, sea lions, and walruses. The tasks include:
- Participation in a UCSC/Navy criteria and thresholds working group to align research with Navy needs and schedule.
- Conducting animal training and data collection related to high- and low-frequency hearing, including assessments near frequency limits and comparative data on sensitivity ranges.
- Evaluating non-linearities at the edges of functional hearing ranges by analyzing frequency discrimination abilities from collected data.

This work will utilize UCSC's unique facilities, including sound dampening pools and trained captive species.

Period of Performance
The current contract is set to end on April 15, 2027, but the requested modification will extend the period of performance until December 31, 2028.

Place of Performance
Port Hueneme CBC Base CA 93043 UNITED STATES

Bidder Requirements
Only the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) can fulfill the requirements due to their unique combination of facilities, trained animals, and specialized expertise. No other sources possess the necessary combination of captive pinnipeds, sound-attenuating pool facilities suitable for precise measurements, and institutional knowledge required for this specific research.

Incumbent Analysis (see Incumbents section for more detail)
This opportunity appears to have a confirmed incumbent, as NAVFAC EXWC has awarded a modification to an ongoing research contract with the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) under contract N3943024C2007 (Santa Cruz University of California), valued at $640,802 for 03/15/24–04/15/27. The prior work (“MASKING PARAMETERS FOR PINNIPEDS”) aligns with the current LMR general environmental needs effort focused on pinniped hearing and masking effects, and the requested modification extends the performance period through 12/31/2028, indicating continuity of the same specialized research activities and facilities.