SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- Provide cellular diagnostic analysis in support of research investigations of virulent coral diseases in US National Parks
- Notice Date
- 5/9/2005
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541710
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Central Administrative Support Center, 601 East 12th Street, Room 1756, Kansas City, MO, 64106
- ZIP Code
- 64106
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-NCNS4000-5-00150aCMM
- Response Due
- 5/25/2005
- Archive Date
- 6/9/2005
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial services prepared and processed in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 12.6 as supplemented with additional information included in this announcement. This is a Solicitation for the United States Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS), Charleston, SC to provide cellular diagnostic analysis in support of research investigations of virulent coral diseases in US National Parks for the base period of June 1, 2005 through May 31, 2006 and two (2) 12 - month option periods. This constitutes the only Request For Proposal (RFP), written offers are being requested; and a written solicitation will not be issued. This notice is hereby issued as RFP No. NCNS4000-5-00150CMM. This RFP and the incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-03. The line item(s) will be delivered or picked up in accordance with the specifications listed below. The FAR clauses incorporated into this acquisition, located in Section B, shall be: 52.203-3 Gratuities (Apr. 1984), 52.204-4 Printed or Copied Double-Sided on Recycled Paper (Aug. 1984), 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions ? Commercial Items (Oct. 2003), 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders ? Commercial Items (Apr. 2005) (Sections 1, 5, 7, 9, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 26, 27, and 31), 52.232-17 Interest (Jun. 1996), 52.217-8 Option to Extend Services (Nov. 1999), 52.217-9 Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (Mar. 2000) {If an option is exercised, the period of performance shall be extended through the end of that option period. The option periods that may be exercised are as follows: Option I ? June 1, 2006 through May 31, 2007, Option II ? June 1, 2007 through May 31, 2008.}. The following Commerce Acquisition Regulations (CAR) clauses and provisions are also incorporated into this acquisition by reference and are also located in Section B: 1352.201-70 Contracting Officer?s Authority (Feb. 2005), 1352.201-71 Contracting Officer?s Technical Representative (COTR) (Mar. 2000), 1352.208-70 Printing (Mar. 2000), 1352.209-71 Organizational Conflict of Interest (Mar. 2000), 1352.209-73 Compliance with Laws (Mar. 2000), 1352.215-70 Period of Performance (Mar. 2000) {the period of performance of this contract is from June 1, 2005 through May 31, 2006.}, 1352.216-70 Contract Type (Mar. 2000) {Firm-Fixed Price Contract for Services}, 1352.233-70 Harmless from Liability (Mar. 2000), 1352.252-70 Regulatory Notice (Mar. 2000). The FAR provisions, located in Section D, that are hereby incorporated into this acquisition shall be: 52.212-1, Instruction to Offerors ? Commercial Items (Jan. 2005), 52.212-2 Evaluation Commercial Items (Jan. 1999) {The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers: Technical capability. Provide sufficient information, and documentation that demonstrates the ability to meet or exceed the Government?s minimum general requirements as specified herein. Offeror should also provide a brief, succinct cover letter expressing interest in responding to this announcement and deliverable, a brief company overview, resume, and experience with projects like the one described herein. Resume and experience not to exceed four (4) pages. The cover letter shall include the firms contact information including address, phone and fax numbers, and email address. Past Performance. Provide list of contacts including phone numbers, of firms to whom the offeror has successfully provided services that are the same or equal to that described herein. Price. All factors other than price are equally important to one another. The proposed price will be evaluated but not scored. The price evaluation will determine whether the proposed price is realistic, complete and reasonable in relation to the solicitation requirements. Although price is the least important evaluation factor, it will not be ignored. The degree of importance of the proposed price will increase with the degree of equality of the proposals in relation to the other factors on which selection is to be based. The Government reserves the right to award to other than the lowest prices offeror or to the offeror with the highest technical score if the Contracting Officer determines that to do so would result in the best value to the Government.}, 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications ? Commercial Items (Jan 2005), 52.216-1 Type of Contract (Apr 1984) {Firm-Fixed Price contract for services}, 52.233-2 Service of Protest (Aug. 1996) { Agency protests filed with the Contracting Officer shall be sent to Ms. Jean Jennings, 601 E 12th Street, Room 1756, Kansas City, MO 64106 and Mr. Mark Langstein, 14th & Constitution Avenue NW, Room 5893, Washington, DC 20230}. The following Commerce Acquisition Regulations (CAR) clauses and provisions are also incorporated into this acquisition by reference and are located in Section D: 1352.215-71 Proposal Preparation (Mar. 2000){ (a) General Instructions: Proposals are expected to conform to solicitation provisions and be prepared in accordance with this section. To aid in evaluation, the proposal shall be clearly and concisely written as well as being neat, indexed (cross-indexed as appropriate) and logically assembled. All pages of each part shall be appropriately numbered and identified with the name of the offeror, the date, and the solicitation number. (b)Contents: The offeror?s proposal shall consist of the actual offer to enter into a contract to perform the desired work. It also includes required representations, certifications, and acknowledgments; justifications for noncompetitive proposed subcontracts; identification of technical data to be withheld; and any other administrative information. The offeror shall use the proposal form Standard Form 1449). The form must be executed fully and used as the cover sheet. The offer shall include three (3) originally signed copies of the form. The acceptance entered on the Proposal Form by the offeror shall not be less than that prescribed in the solicitation which shall apply if no other period is offered. The person signing the Proposal Form must have the authority to commit the offeror to all of the provisions of the proposal, fully recognizing that the Government has the right, by terms of the Solicitation, to make an award without further discussion if it so elects. The offeror should submit the Representations and Certifications specified herein. The technical proposal shall consist of the offeror's outline addressing the technical and management aspects of the acquisition. It should indicate your company's capabilities and the means to be used to satisfy the requirements of the Statement of Work. The proposal should be practical and be prepared simply and economically, providing straightforward, concise delineation of what it is the offeror will do to satisfy the requirements of the Statement of Work. In order that the Technical Proposal may be evaluated strictly on the merit of the material submitted, no contractual price information is to be included. The technical proposal shall not merely offer to perform work in accordance with the scope of work, but shall outline the actual work proposed as specifically as practical. The Statement of Work reflects the problems and objective of the program under consideration; therefore, repeating the Scope of Work without sufficient elaboration will not be acceptable. The technical proposal must include specific contract references and clearly address recent related experience (both Government and non-Government), contracts, subcontracts, and grants. The offeror should include the name of the customer, including contracting agency, address, and phone number; contract number, type of contract, and dollar value; date of contract, period of performance, and place of performance; and a brief description of contract work scope and responsibilities. The offerors price proposal must generally adhere to the pricing structure established in the solicitation. The price proposal must be based on the offeror?s own technical proposal, the Government?s specifications, and other contractual requirements. In order to determine the prices are fair and reasonable, the Government reserves the right to request the offeror provide cost breakdown to support proposed prices. Information to support unit prices should include, but not be limited to, the following: Salary/wage information with associated payroll expenses, for personnel to be used in performance of the contract; Cost for equipment, supplies, and consumable materials; A breakout of related support costs, such as equipment maintenance, rental, transportation, etc.; Overhead costs; General Administrative expenses and Profit. The offeror, and major subcontractors, should provide individual rates for key personnel. Designation of an individual as a key person is subject to agreement of the parties. Where no key personnel are listed, category average rates are appropriate. If rates are escalated, the degree (percent) and methodology must be shown. Escalation increases should reflect recent experience or established personnel policy. Types of salary increases given - merit, cost of living, etc. - should be discussed. A fair and reasonable provision for profit cannot be made by simply applying a certain predetermined percentage to the total estimated cost. Rather, profit should be established as a percentage/dollar amount after considering such factors as: (a) degree of risk; (b) nature of the work to be performed; (c) joint venture responsibilities; (d) extent of offeror?s investment; (e) subcontracting of work; and (f) other criteria discussed in FAR 15.404-4. Separate percentage rates for profit are also required for major subcontractors.}, 13.215-73 Inquiries (Mar. 2000), 1352.233-71 Service of Protests (Mar. 2000), 1352.252-71 Regulatory Notice (Mar. 2000). FAR clauses and provisions are available on the Interned Website http://www.arnet.gov/far. Full text of these CAR clauses and provisions are available upon written request by sending an email to carey.m.marlow@noaa.gov. Signed and dated offers must be submitted to the U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA/CRAMD, Attn: AMD/Carey Marlow, Room 1756, 601 East 12th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106. Offers must be received on or before 2:00 pm CDT, Thursday, May 25, 2005. Offers may be faxed to 816-426-5067 Attn: Carey Marlow. In addition to technical information and price, offers must include the following: 1) a completed copy of the provisions contained in FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items; 2) certification of registration in the Central Contractor Registration database; and 3) Performance references for requirements that are comparable to those stated within.. Prices shall include both the price of one (1) job and total yearly price. This is a firm fixed price solicitation. DESCRIPTION: The contractor shall provide cellular diagnostic analysis in support of research investigation of virulent coral diseases in US National Parks. The contractor shall provide the cellular diagnostic analysis per the minimum requirements shown herein. These items will be utilized by the National Ocean Service (NOS) in collaboration with the US Geologic Survey (USGS), Caribbean Field Station to determine if diagnostic biomarkers can be used to identify factors that can induce disease, specifically white plague, in corals and determine whether specific biomarkers may serve as useful indicators of healthy and stressed corals. Tasks ? Year 1 1.The contractor shall provide NOS CCEHBR with the specifications for appropriate field processing to ensure sample integrity and reduce contamination from extraneous organisms (endolithic algae) and matrices (mucus) that may compromise cellular diagnostic assays. 2.The Contractor shall conduct cellular diagnostic assays on cryomilled, frozen coral tissue samples (provided by NOS CCEHBR) to measure levels of a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 25 cellular diagnostic parameters (see Table below) based on the specific and suspected stressors affecting a given set of sites and appropriate to the specific research questions outlined in the experimental design. The sample size from time point one will be a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 200 coral tissue samples. The sample size from time point two will be a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 200 coral tissue samples. Unused portions of each sample are to be returned to NOS CCEHBR upon completion of the analyses. 3.The contractor shall conduct assays for immunocompetency of Acropora palmate. A minimum of 20 and a maximum of 100 samples will be analyzed. Tasks Option I & Option II The contract performance period is one (1) year with an option to extend for two (2) additional years at the discretion of the Government subject to the availability of funds. Tasks and deliverables in option years will be the same as base year. Deliverables 1.Representative digital images or photographs of western blot results for quality assurance of the samples and antibody specificity prior to Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) for all sample sets submitted for analysis. 2.Electronic data tables (in Excel spreadsheet) of the amount of each cellular parameter measured (i.e., pmol/ng total soluble protein), for each coral sample analyzed. In addition the data reports will also include quality assurance/control information regarding the analytical aspects of the ELISA procedure and include the percent coefficient of variation (%CV) and standard error. Assays exceeding 20% error will not be accepted. 3.A report detailing the analytical findings and providing recommendations that may lead to modifications of future sampling or experimental design and analytical procedures. REQUIREMENTS: GENERAL REQUIREMENTS: 1.The Contractor must demonstrate the ability to conduct ELISA analyses on scleractinian coral tissue and have the ability to perform ELISA analysis for the following set of cellular parameters: Cellular Symbiodinium Spec Anthozoan Spec Common Antigen/Both Plant sHsp homologue X Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase X X Mn superoxide dismutase X X Hsp 70 X X Hsp 60 X X Invertebrate sHsp homologue X Ubiquitin X Carbonyl X Hydroxynonenal X Glutathione peroxidase X X Glutathione-s-transferas X X Heme Oxygenase I (Hsp32) X Glutathione X ABC family, P-glycoprotein 140&160MDR X Metallothionein X Cytochrome P450 Class 2 X Cytochrome P450 Class 3 X Cytochrome P450 Class 6 X Ferrochelatase X 2.The Contractor must demonstrate the ability to perform the following fluorescent spectrophotometric assays: a. Assay to measure presence of antimicrobial compounds b. Measurement of prophyrinogen content 3.The Contractor shall provide a description of established quality assurance/quality control measures in place to address assay validation, assay performance assessment, and calibration procedures. As a minimum, the following quality control measures shall be taken with each batch of samples analyzed: a.Western blots run on pooled random samples from each batch of samples per antibody assay, prior to ELISA optimization to demonstrate the specificity of the antibody and the integrity of the sample preparation. b.Triplicate analyses shall be made on each sample and precision data shall be reported in a quality control report. NOTE: THE ABOVE ARE MIMUMUM REQUIREMENTS. BASE YEAR - BID FORMAT: Provide itemized pricing as follows: PER JOB PRICE TOTAL Line Item #1 ? Base year - $______________ $_______________ OPTION I - BID FORMAT PER JOB PRICE TOTAL Line Item # 1 ? Option Year I (period of performance - June 1, 2006 through May 31, 2007) $_________________ $_______________ OPTION II ? BID FORMAT PER JOB PRICE TOTAL Line Item # 1 ?Option Year II (period of performance ? June 1, 2007 through May 31, 2008) $_________________ $_______________ FOB Destination GRAND TOTAL $_________________ (Base plus 2 option periods) DOC, CASC requires that all contractors doing business with this office be registered with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR). No award can be made to a company not registered in CCR. For additional information and to register in CCR, please access the following web site: http://www.ccr.gov. In order to register, all offerors must have a Dun & Bradstreet Number. A Dun & Bradstreet number may be acquired free of charge by contacting Dun & Bradstreet on-line at https://www.dnb.com/product/eupdate/requestOptions.html or by phone at (800) 333-0505.
- Place of Performance
- Address: National Ocean Service, CFCEH, 219 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, SC
- Zip Code: 29412
- Zip Code: 29412
- Record
- SN00803127-W 20050511/050509211703 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
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