Page 5: of Marine Technology Magazine (March 2006)

NOAA Awards Hydrographic

Survey Contracts

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in late

Februray awarded five-year contracts, with a total ceiling of $50 million each, to five hydrographic services providers including: C&C Technologies

Inc. of Lafayette, La.; SAIC of Newport, R.I.; David Evans and Associates of Portland, Ore.; TerraSond Ltd. of Palmer, Alaska; and Fugro Pelagos of

San Diego, Calif. All five contracts are subject to available budget funding and are national in scope covering all waters for which NOAA has nautical charting responsibility. Specific locations for work will be established once survey needs and priorities are determined. Two projects, the Approaches to Port Fourchon, La., and survey work in the Gulf of Mexico to support

U.S. interests defined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the

Sea, will be carried out by C&C Technologies Inc. The 2005 hurricane sea- son, which released debris and other possible obstructions to navigation into the Gulf, makes survey updates of this region a top priority. The con- tracts were awarded in August 2005, after a solicitation process that fol- lowed Architect Engineering (Brooks Act) Qualification Based Selection procedures. The contracts will expire August 31, 2010. "Addressing the hydrographic needs of this nation is critical to the safety and prosperity of the U.S. marine transportation system which in 2004 moved more than 2.5 billion tons of domestic and international freight at a value of more that $2 trillion," said Capt. Roger Parsons, director of

NOAA's Office of Coast Survey. "These contracts will allow us to better meet the demand for accurate hydrographic information to maintain and produce up to date and reliable navigational charts. One of NOAA's mis- sions is to support the nation's commerce with information for safe, effi- cient, and environmentally sound transportation."

Visit www.maritimeequipment.com/mt & Click No. 215

Left: Chris Coombs, VP Marketing of

JW Fishers takes a moment to thumb through the pages of MTR while tend- ing to his booth at UI '06 in Tampa,

Fla. (Photo credit: Maggie L. Merrill)

Right: Seimac President, Jim Hanlon takes a break while promoting the new

Seimac rescue locator now being uti- lized in many search and rescue opera- tions. (Photo Credit: Maggie L. Merrill, MTR)

Seen at UI 2006

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