Contract

USS Monitor Artifact Conservation

Agency: COMMERCE, DEPARTMENT OF / NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
Location: NORFOLK, VA
Amount: Amount not listed
Deadline: Closes in 2 days (Jul 20, 2026)
Posted: Jul 15, 2026
Set-aside: None (open competition)
NAICS code: 541690

What this contract is for

SOLICITATION 1305M226Q0135 The Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Eastern Acquisition Division, on behalf of the National Ocean Service (NOS), Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS), Monitor National Marine Sanctuary (MNMS), has a requirement for professional conservation services for the ongoing active and preventative conservation care of the USS Monitor Collection. The Government intends to award a Firm-Fixed-Price contract to The Mariners' Museum and Park (TMMP) utilizing the policies and procedures in the Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul (RFO) 12.202-1. The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is RFO 6.302-1. The Notice of Intent to award a Sole Source procurement was posted on April 27, 2026, under Notice ID REQUIREMENTS-26-1909. The MNMS possesses over 210 tons of archaeological materials from the wreck site of the Civil War Ironclad USS Monitor, which was lost at sea in 1862 following the largest metal shipwreck excavation and recovery effort ever undertaken. Artifacts (the “Collection”) were recovered from the seabed over the course of several years of research. This federally owned collection (NOAA Heritage Assets) contains over 5,000 individual artifacts made of a wide variety of materials—primarily iron and ferrous materials, but also including wood, leather, textiles, rubber, and various other organic and inorganic artifacts. This requires an intensely diverse and complex approach to materials conservation to ensure each different type and size of material is appropriately treated to ensure long-term stability for research, interpretation, and display. The USS Monitor artifacts now reside at The Mariners’ Museum and Park (TMMP) within the U.S.S. Monitor Ce...

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