SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- Agilent Array Processing Services
- Notice Date
- 8/22/2006
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- RTP Procurement Operations Division (D143-01) Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
- ZIP Code
- 27711
- Solicitation Number
- PR-NC-06-10768
- Response Due
- 9/7/2006
- Archive Date
- 10/7/2006
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL SERVICES PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN SUBPART 12.6, AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. PROPOSALS ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. The solicitation number is PR-NC-06-10768, and the solicitation is being issued as a 100% small business set-aside competition Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 05-12. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code 541710, which has a size standard of 500 employees to qualify as a small business, is applicable. This procurement is for Agilent array processing services in accordance with the Performance Work Statement. A. Background. DNA microarrays promise to be effective tools for characterizing environmental exposure to chemicals and the risk to various target tissues. EPA is applying microarrays for Xenopus laevis and Zebra fish to improve the understanding of toxicological effects. The Agilent Xenopus laevis and Zebrafish microarrays are the latest generation microarrays on the market, containing the most recent collection of predicted gene for these two species. Both microarrays contain target for >21,000 known and predicted genes. B. Contractor Requirements. The contractor shall provide Agilent microarrays and processing services. The contractor shall process two types of samples Xenopus laevis and Zebrafish. Samples will be analyzed for RNA gene expression using Agilent microarray technology. The Government will specify the Agilent microarray to be utilized for each sample analysis. The specified microarray shall be provided by the contractor. Agilent microarrays to be provided are Agilent X. laevis oligo microarray G2518A option 004, and Agilent zebrafish microarray G2518A option 002. As new Xenopus and Zebrafish arrays become available from Agilent, the contractor shall provide at the Government?s request. The Contractor shall be an approved Agilent service provider. EPA will provide batches of samples with a minimum of 2 samples and a maximum of 50 samples per batch. Samples within a batch will be of similar type and processed in identical fashion. Each batch of samples shall be processed and data submitted to EPA within 30 days of receipt of the government samples. The Government will order a minimum of 170 and a maximum of 340 microarrays and processing services, over the period of the contract as a combination of Xenopus and Zebrafish. The contractor shall provide a consultation between EPA staff and contractor staff at the finish of each batch of samples to discuss study design and outcomes. The contractor shall provide a summary and details of a quality assurance management plan for review and approval by the EPA QA manager prior to award. This QA plan must include detailed standard operating procedures for the entire sample and data handling processes. Clear progress and definite plans to achieve Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) compliance are required. For sample security, the Contractor is required to maintain a minimum of two -80deg Celsius freezers for sample storage, attached to telephone emergency-notification systems (an industry standard). For electronic data security, the contractor must include the use of secure computer storage systems which safeguard confidential or proprietary data from both loss and unapproved access. The current government guideline for IT security (National Institute for Standards and Technology) are below. The third hyperlink/website is the actual guideline. This information is provided to describe secure computer storage systems. Websites are: http://csrc.nist.gov/; http://csrc.nist.gov/sec-cert/ca-categorization.html; FIPS199 (a GUIDELINE) http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/drafts.html. C. Services provided by the contractor: The Contractor shall provide the following elements of services: Process and procedural control; For arrays, 50-250 ug of total RNA shall be used for each amplification reaction. Amplification, labeling of cRNA, hybridization, washes and scanning shall be performed according to array vendor optimization which include spike in controls to assess amplification and cRNA production efficiency. After completion of the array hybridizations, scanning and data extraction, contractor shall QC the images according to the following guidelines: Image quantitation parameters shall be identical throughout the experiment. The raw images shall be free from obvious artifacts (bright areas, dark areas, scratches, dust, intensity gradients, smudges, bright edges, streaking, uneven background) and the entire microarray surface shall be visible and in focus. The raw feature intensities shall range from just above zero to near saturation. That is, the full linear range of the scanner shall be exploited. In general, the median shall be as high as possible while simultaneously avoiding significant numbers of saturated spots. Quality scores for feature quantitation shall be provided to EPA if produced by software. The median(array wide, probe level) raw expression level and the median absolute deviation in raw expression level shall not differ more than 3 fold between any two hybridization in an experiment. D. Government Responsibilities. Tissue collection, RNA extraction and assessment of RNA quality will be performed at the EPA laboratory. The EPA will provide the samples as total RNA and RNA quality documentation will be sent to the Agilent certified lab contractor. E. Reporting Requirements. 1. The contractor shall provide to EPA the following reports with each batch of samples in electronic files on compact disc (CD), as soon as raw data is available for each batch set of samples sent by EPA. -scanner settings and image quantitation parameter used throughout experiments; -.TIFF files of array images; -spot file information with detailed annotation; -.xls files of the raw image data; -tab delimited text file shall be provided that contains all information from the analysis output file for each sample submitted. 2. Array Processing Data Summaries. Data processing and summary services that provide easy access to expression intensity results and basic statistics shall be provided. These summaries shall include conversion of the raw output files into useable formats, tabulated expression intensity estimates in text files and/or Excel formats, summarized for all samples. 3. All relevant QA/QC test results. E. Period of Performance. The period of performance will be from date of award through August 31, 2007 with one 12-month option period. The option period will be exercised at the discretion of the Government. F. Performance Standard. The contractor shall process each batch of samples and submit data within 30 days of receipt of samples. The contract shall have a failure rate of no greater than10 percent of the samples in any given batch. The following FAR provisions apply to this solicitation: 52-212-1, Instructions to Offerors?Commercial Items; 52.212-2, Evaluation--Commercial Items. Evaluation criteria to be included in paragraph (a) of provision 52.212-2 are as follows: The Government intends to award a single contract to the responsible offeror whose technically acceptable quotation represents the best overall value to the Government based on the evaluation of the technical criteria, past performance, and price. Only those offerors submitting technically acceptable quotations shall be considered for award. For the purpose of this best value evaluation of technically acceptable proposals, technical capabilities and past performance, when combined, are significantly more important than price. A. Technical Criteria: 1. Demonstrate technical approach for accomplishing the delineated tasks in the statement of work (SOW). 2. Demonstrate adequacy of Quality Assurance Management Plan. B. Past Performance. Submit a list of 3 customers for whom like or similar services have been performed within the past 3 years. Include specific points of contact and phone numbers. Past performance will be evaluated on 1) quality of product or service; 2) timeliness of performance (ability to adhere to deadlines); 3) relevance of service history; and 4) overall customer satisfaction. C. Price. Price will be evaluated inclusive of options. Award will be made to the responsible offer or whose offer is determined the best overall value to the government, price and other factors considered. All offerors are to include with their offers a completed copy of provision 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications--Commercial Items. The following FAR clauses apply to this acquisition: 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions--Commercial tems; 52.246-11, Higher-Level Contract Quality Requirement; 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders--Commercial Items and the following additional FAR clauses which are cited in Clause 52.212-5: 52.222-3 Convict Labor; 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities; 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity, 52.222-35, Affirmative Action for Special Disabled and Vietnam Era Veterans; 52.222-36 Affirmative Action for Handicapped Workers; 52.222-37, Employment Reports on Special Disabled Veterans and Veterans of the Vietnam Era; 52-232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-Central Contractor Registration. All technical questions are to be forwarded via email to the Contracting Officer at the following email address: hill.jennifer@epa.gov. Offerors should review the Statement of Work and other information posted with this Request for Quotation on EPA's website at the following address: http://www.epa.gov/oam/rtp_cmd. Click on the CURRENT SOLICITATIONS section and click on the solicitation for viewing applicable documents. Near the top of the page COMMERCIAL BUY CLAUSES AND FORMS sections are provided for your convenience. Please submit two copies of the technical proposal and price proposal to Jennifer B. Hill, Contracting Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, RTP Procurement Operations Division (D143-01), Research Triangle Park, NC 27711 if using the US Postal Service. Courier delivery address is U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Attn: Jennifer B. Hill, RTP Procurement Operations Division (D143-01), 4930 Page Road, Durham, NC 27703. All offers are due by September 7, 2006, 12:00 p.m., ET. No telephonic or faxed requests will be honored.
- Web Link
-
The Environmental Protection Agency
(http://www.epa.gov/oam/solicit)
- Record
- SN01122525-W 20060824/060822222032 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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