SPECIAL NOTICE
99 -- Intent to Sole Source
- Notice Date
- 7/26/2013
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 611310
— Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools
- Contracting Office
- SRRPODUS Environmental Protection AgencyAriel Rios Building1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W.Mail Code: 3805RWashingtonDC20460USA
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Posted Date: July 26, 2013 Procurement Office: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Superfund RCRA Procurement Operations Division (3805R) 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004 Response Date: August 1, 2013 NAICS 611310 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) in accordance with FAR part 6.302.1 (a) (b) ?only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements?, intends to award a sole Source purchase order to Ohio State University-Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center for the purchase of an analysis of Spring Season Honeybee Deaths in the Upper Midwest (EPA Region 5) associated with Neonicotinid Pesticide Treated Seed Plantings. EPA recognizes that honeybees are important pollinators for the production of agricultural crops and resultant food production in the United States. EPA and the State Pesticide Regulatory agencies remain concerned about bee kill incidents (BKl) and any role that agricultural pesticides may play in these losses. The Agency receives information on bee deaths through several channels, including required adverse effects reporting under FIFRA 6(a)(2), thro ugh the National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC) at http://npic.orst.edu/, through the pollinator protection web page (beekill@epa.gov), from state reports and the general public. Currently, the States of Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, New York, and Utah as well as Canadian Ministry of the Environment are investigating reports of BKl incidents. Based on preliminary information provided by beekeepers who have reported the recent BKls directly to EPA, corn was recently planted in the vicinity of the affected honeybee colonies. Some of the beekeepers who lost honeybees asserted that the corn seed planted adjacent to their colonies had been treated with neonicotinoid insecticides, specifically clothianidin (a common neonicotinoid). SPECIFIC GOALS AND APPROACH: The research goal is to determine with more certainty, based on available environmental and pesticide application data, whether neonicotinid-treated seed plantings in the Spring are responsible for BKI reported in Ca nada and Regions 2, 5 and 7. The hypothesis is that neonicotinoid in combination with as yet unknown factors such as environmental conditions or application method are responsible for the recently reported bee deaths. This hypothesis will be tested through geospatial and statistical analysis of incident investigation data collected/supplied to EPA by the State regulatory agencies, literature reviews, and publically available national and international data sources. This two-year project will be divided into two phases. Phase I will entail an analysis of incident data from the States, EPA Regional and Headquarter offices, US Department of Agriculture and Health Canada, looking for any environmental or pesticide application links to the BKIs. Phase 2 will collect environmental data (including missing data from year I) that may be associated with the losses, and setup a controlled field experiments in Region 5 States in which all parameters are measured before and after treated corn plantings nearby active, healthy, beehives. EXPECTED RESULTS AND PRODUCTS: It is anticipated that the results will be used to better forecast Spring season treated seed planting conditions that may be detrimental to nearby honeybee colonies. Suggested best management practices (BMP's) and possible mitigation efforts enacted by either the agricultural grower and/or the beekeepers will be developed to minimize colony impacts. OPP can also utilize the results to improve pesticide labels nationwide to better protect pollinators from dust-off. Lastly, the results will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal which will help inform scientists who may be developing future ecological toxicity studies. TRANSLATION, IMPLEMENTATION OR COMMUNICATION PLAN: The results of this study will be published as part of a joint EPA State/industry (beekeepers & registrant) report. This report will be communicated nationally and internationally to State regulators, State pesticide applicator trainers, corn growers, beekeepers, and others via a subsequent webinar. An EPA Press Release could also be issued for the beekeeper and grower associations, and trade magazines. A fact sheet and slide sets will be developed from the results to provide to State pesticide applicator trainers for their use in future private and commercial training sessions. The results will be provided to OPP for use in any registration review of this insecticide class for possible label improvements. The proposed contract calls for a significant range of scientific capabilities on a relatively limited budget, including microscopic and DNA skills to identify pollen sources, active management of bee hives to enable exposure studies, chemical analytical capabilities to detect trace amounts of pesticides in pollen and in hives, access to corn fields to enable dust-off experiments, and even a public outreach component. In addition, the project requires that the research must be performed in an EPA Region 5 state. Based on current market research, The Pollinator Toxicology Lab in the Entomology Department at The Ohio State University, headed by Dr. Reed Johnson, is located at the Ohio Agriculture Research and Development Center in Wooster, OH and is the only research lab in the Region 5 states that possesses all of the above capabilities required to successfully investigate the effects of corn seed-treatment dust on honey bee hives in the field. The ongoing research of the lab focuses on protecting pollinators from pesticides and toxins. They have extensive expertise in investigating the effects of pesticides on honey bees and native pollinators across multiple levels, including the genomic and sub-lethal behavioral levels, as well as the effects of multiple stressors. Based on our market research, the other bee researchers in Region 5 focus on protecting pollinators from diseases specifically or have only examined the effects of pesticides on bees from the exposure angle. Members of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center lab have the requisite practical beekeeping expertise to move, manage and assess the health of honey bee colonies placed within range of fields being planted with seed-treated corn. The lab currently manages 20 honey bee hives that are immediately available for use in field experiments. Members of the lab also have years of experience assessing pesticide concentrations in bees using analytical chemistry tools, including GC-MS, Reversed Phase HPLC and LC-MS-MS, and have access to equipment for performing these analyses within the department that are required to satisfy the statement of work. Finally a peer-reviewed publication will be submitted to an appropriate journal. The U.S. EPA\ORD\NERL\ERD-Athens Laboratory requires the use of existing portable water samplers for sampling water from rivers and streams for a new bacteriological and sediment project during baseflow and high run-off conditions. ERD currently has multiple ISCO portable samplers in use in the field and has the need to upgrade and replace some of the hardware and software on some of the existing samplers for the upcoming field project in the South Fork Broad River. NO SOLICITATION OR REQUEST FOR QUOTE (RFQ) IS AVAILABLE. Notwithstanding, any firm that believes it is capable of meeting EPA's requirement as stated herein may submit a capability statement, which if received within four (4) calendar days of the date of this announcement will be considered. Responses to this posting must be in writing and provide clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government. A determination not to compete the proposed purchase order based upon the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. All questions should be directed to Ron Bell via the e-mail link below. The point of contact for this purchase order is Ron Bell, Contract Specialist, at Bell.ron@epa.gov
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