Fortune Bay Acoustic Herring Tagging Project

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this project is to conduct herring tagging and deploy acoustic receivers to obtain data on herring spatial distribution and migration patterns in Fortune Bay. The results will be used to better inform stock assessments. SCOPE OF WORK: The work will involve searching Fortune Bay for aggregations of herring, loosely catching herring in a purse, bar or tuck seine in order for DFO staff to dipnet around 250 live herring into large containers on board the vessel. DFO staff will then conduct acoustic tagging on a subset of the catch and release all fish back into the ocean. The work will also involve assisting in the deployment of 5-10 acoustic receivers in Fortune Bay (the work is planned in the area of Long Harbour in Fortune Bay). The vessel crew will be responsible for operating the trap hauler/winch during deployment and retrieval of acoustic receivers and their moorings. Conditional Set-Aside under the Federal Government Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (PSIB) This is an open tender. However, it will be conditionally set-aside under the Government of Canada’s Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (PSIB) if two or more bids have been received by Indigenous businesses who are certified under the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (PSIB) criteria and who may be listed in the Government of Canada’s Indigenous Business Directory (https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1100100033057/1610797769658). If your Indigenous business is not yet registered in the Indigenous Business Directory, please do so at the link provided above. If bids from two or more Indigenous businesses are compliant with the terms of the Request for Proposal, the contracting authority will limit the competition to those Indigenous businesses and will not consider bids from any non-Indigenous businesses that may have been submitted. If the bids from the Indigenous businesses are found to be non-compliant or non-responsive or are withdrawn, such that fewer than two compliant bids from Indigenous businesses remain, bids from all of the non-Indigenous businesses that had submitted bids will then be considered by the contracting authority.