SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Technical Evaluation and Market Assessment Support for the Water Efficiency Program
- Notice Date
- 4/17/2008
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541611
— Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Acquisition Management, EPA/Ohio, Cincinnati Procurement Operations Division 26 W. Martin Luther King Drive Cincinnati, OH 45268
- ZIP Code
- 45268
- Solicitation Number
- PR-CI-08-10633
- Response Due
- 5/1/2008
- Point of Contact
- ANGELA M. SCHOPLER, Contract Specialist, Phone: 513-487-2036, E-Mail: schopler.angela@epa.gov
- Description
- THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS FOR WRITTEN INFORMATION ONLY. THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION ANNOUNCEMENT FOR PROPOSALS AND NO CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED FROM THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is performing a "market search" for large and small businesses in preparation for a future procurement. The EPA has need for a contractor to provide support to the EPA's Office of Water, Office of Wastewater Management (OWM), in supporting the implementation of water-efficiency programs. In 2006, EPA launched a voluntary public-private partnership program that seeks to protect the future of the nation's water supply by promoting water efficiency and enhancing the market for water-efficient products, services, systems, and practices. This market-enhancement program helps end-users identify water-efficient products and programs. The WaterSense? label indicates that these products and programs meet water-efficiency and performance criteria. WaterSense labeled products perform well, help save money, and encourages innovation in manufacturing. The contractor's efforts will broadly support the EPA's efforts to increase water efficiency in the U.S. The successful contractor will be expected to provide technical support services to aid the Agency in the following task areas primarily in the water efficiency arena: market transformation strategy development; technical analysis of programs and products; voluntary specification development for products, programs, and/or services; general voluntary program support; market/industry analysis; partnership development; product certification and conformity assessment; tracking, evaluation & analysis; marketing and outreach; consumer education; customer service/relationship management; recognition; website development and maintenance; and general outreach materials development such as, case studies, newsletters, slide shows, brochures, videos, public displays, etc. Potential organizations must possess: 1) thorough understanding of sustainable infrastructure principles, 2) thorough understanding of EPA voluntary partnership programs, 3) thorough understanding of green building principles and specifically water-efficiency technologies, practices and procedures, demonstrated experience conducting analysis and program evaluation, 4) demonstrated ability to develop and implement market transformation strategies, 5) the ability to effectively communicate with a wide variety of stakeholders. In keeping with the potential tasks, contractors submitting capabilities statements should address their ability to provide, or have access to, senior technical experts in: water efficiency, market transformation approaches, engineering & technical services, primary and secondary market research, green building industry, home construction, energy & energy efficiency, plumbing industry, irrigation industry, new homes industry, commercial building industry, medical equipment industry, food service industry, national standards for certification, water utilities, electric utilities, web development, electronic/web tools development, data management, account management, program participant recruiting, marketing, outreach, social marketing, consumer education, graphic design, video production, conference support, meeting facilitation, recognition programs and tracking & measurement. The successful contractor shall provide all necessary labor, materials, facilities, and services in support of the efforts. A draft PWS can be obtained from the OAM website, http://www.epa.gov/oam/cinn_cmd/. It is anticipated that the contract will be a Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) Level of Effort (LOE) starting in February 2009 with a one year Base Period and four Optional Periods of 12 months each. Approximately 32,500 LOE hours are anticipated for each contract period with contractor's needing to provide as much as an additional 15,000 hours for a total of 237,500 hours in total for all periods if all the potential LOE hours are realized. The applicable NAICS code is 541611with a size standard of $6,500,000. Under previous acquisitions for effort to support similar requirements the EPA has restricted specific types of firms from receiving a contract award due to an inherent conflict of interest. The conflict of interest stems from an offeror's involvement in developing product specifications or managing the product certification process under which the products are certified to receive the WaterSense label. The specific types of firms are: Firms that own, operate, consult for or invest in companies that make or sell products that are eligible to earn or have earned the WaterSense label; and firms involved in the testing and certification of products to the WaterSense specifications (licensed certifying bodies). The types of firms in these categories may include: plumbing product manufacturing plants, irrigation product manufacturing plants, water-using medical devices manufacturing plants, retailers or wholesalers of water-using medical devises, manufacturers of water-using food service industry devices, manufacturers of water reuse systems, and manufacturers of cooling equipment. A firm supporting the EPA's WaterSense program could become biased in its performance if it had any of the attributes or associations described above. Furthermore, the WaterSense label which is issued by EPA may give a firm that manufactures or sells WaterSense labeled products a marketing advantage. Any interested firm should submit information which demonstrates the firm's ability to perform the key requirements described above. Standard company brochures alone will not be considered a sufficient response to this Sources Sought Synopsis. The information should include: size status for the above referenced NAICS code, (i.e. large, small) and whether or not they are a certified Hubzone, 8(a), women-owned, small disadvantaged and/or service disabled veteran owned small business concern, point of contact, telephone number, email and interest in proposing on the solicitation when issued. The EPA reserves the right to set this action aside for small businesses if it determines that there are two or more small businesses able to compete in terms of market prices, quality, and delivery. If set aside, a small business would be required to perform at least 50 percent of the direct labor costs incurred under the contract with its own personnel (FAR 52.219-14). Capability statements from small businesses should address their ability to meet this requirement. Responses to the above should be submitted to Angela Schopler, USEPA, 26 West Martin Luther King Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45268, or schopler.angela@epa.gov, no later than May 1, 2008. A separate synopsis will be issued for the Request for Proposal (RFP) resulting from this sources sought synopsis.
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