SPECIAL NOTICE
66 -- Soil Moisture Probes
- Notice Date
- 7/27/2017
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 334516
— Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Agricultural Research Service - Eastern Business Service Center
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- 866914
- Archive Date
- 8/29/2017
- Point of Contact
- John C. Wilkinson, Phone: 301-504-1731
- E-Mail Address
-
john.wilkinson@ars.usda.gov
(john.wilkinson@ars.usda.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- Referencing Solicitation Number: 866914, The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service, intends to award a Sole Source Procurement to the following vendor: Hydroinnova, located at 1316 Wellesley NE in Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106-1134. The following requirement, is for a quantity of four each of: Model CRS2000/B Soil Moisture Probe with one moderated detector, data logger, pulse analyzer, satellite and GSM Modem. Delivery will be to USDA, ARS, in Beltsville Maryland 20705: Required Delivery Date: September 20, 2017. This requirement is reserved exclusively for small businesses under NAICS Code 334516 with a small business size standard of 1,000 employees. Minimum requirements for the above instrument: USDA, ARS, requires the following: a set of four soil moisture sensor which can be deployed within an agricultural field setting with minimal interference in the cropped portion of the field, to produce hourly estimates of volumetric soil moisture for the top ~thirty cm of soil. Each singular sensor should include a datalogger for logging the data and a satellite/GSM modem for data transfers. The sensing area of the probe should be on the order of five-hundred meter in diameter. These stations will be periodically deployed to existing soil moisture stations which have been deployed around the country to provide an independent estimate of soil moisture in the active soil layer (zero-thirty cm) for the surrounding region (~five-hundred meter) without requiring extensive deployment of equipment throughout the domain, as property ownership is not guaranteed for the domain. Thus, proximal sensing from a singular central station is a requirement. The permanent stations, which are currently deployed, require an estimate of ‘representativeness' of their data signal, therefore an independent sensor technology with large spatial coverage and easy installation are desired. The four stations are required for multiple deployments throughout the country. The following statement explains and elaborates on the above requirement of the required: COSMOS style Soil Moisture Sensor: There are many watershed networks which monitor soil moisture throughout the US, and each of these networks is composed of stations which monitor soil moisture, soil temperature, and precipitation at a minimum. The sampling footprint of these stations is approximately two meter by two meter, and a persistent challenge. is whether the soil moisture data is representative of the larger field in which it is installed. These stations are located on private lands which are commonly in some sort of agricultural use, whether it is row crop or pasture, so the stations are located on the edge of the field, out of the way. It is necessary to provide for these singular stations a validation of the soil moisture time series which has a low impact on the field operations, easy to maintain, accurate and cost effective. COSMOS style soil moisture probes are the only solution for this set of criteria, as follows: A COSMOS style probe is a single unit which only takes ( one foot by one foot ) of space on the ground which is one of the most compact solutions available, and would not be in the way of field operations or subject to damage by cattle in a pasture, as it is co-located in the permanent station enclosure (if there is one). The ease of maintenance is ideal as this can be installed and data remotely retrieved at any time via modem. There are no moving parts and it can be powered via solar panel. It has been shown to be an accurate sensor once calibrated to its installation and the calibration can be done on a single day which contributes to a low impact on the agricultural operations. Lastly it is cost effective as it only requires a single install with no revisits by scientists and its cost is reasonable in relation to other methods. Other methods of performing this type of scaling activity at permanent sites fail some or all parts of these requirements. Small scale soil moisture stations which replicate the permanent site can be deployed in AG fields, but this requires regular oversight and is at risk for damage by ag operations. Thirty stations would be required to adequately measure the variability in the field. In addition, permission to enter a sufficient number of fields and install is not always possible, whereas a COSMOS style probe can monitor this space without intrusion/permission, because it is a proximal sensor. Another method is drone monitoring, if a sufficient sensor existed to measure soil moisture on a small platform, however it does not exist accept for larger planes (manned). Tower based systems also have this challenge of cost and permission, with the added cost of maintenance and safety. Satellite remote sensing of soil moisture does exist but operates on a scale of many kilometers - nine kilometers, and these permanent stations regularly serve as a ground truth for those satellites, hence it is not reasonable to use satellites for this type of research. Lastly, field samplers can collect soil moisture scaling data like the COSMOS system, but not at the temporal resolution (hourly), Also, field permissions for samplers to enter all these fields that frequently would be difficult to obtain. For all above stated reasons, USDA has concluded, that for this study (scaling/representativeness of permanent stations), COSMOS style sensors are the only sensor package which meets all of USDA's requirements. Required Delivery Date: September 20, 2017. The following Purchase Order Terms & Conditions are applicable for the above requirement and Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-95 is applicable. Clauses/Provisions Incorporated by Reference: This order incorporates one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. Also, the full text of a clause may be accessed electronically at the following address: https://www.acquisition.gov/far. 52.212-5 - Commercial Items (Feb. 2016 ) 52.204-7 System for Award Management (Jul 2013) 52.204-13 System for System for Award Management Maintenance (Jan 2014) 52.204-16 Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting (July 2015) 52.204-18 Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance (July 2015) 52.209-2 Prohibition On Contracting With Inverted Domestic Corporations--Representation (Nov 2015) 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors Commercial Items (Oct 2015) 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items (nov 2015) 52.223-1 Bio-based Product Certification (MAY 2012). 52.223-2 Affirmative Procurement of Bio-based Products Under Service and Construction Contracts (Sep 2013). 52.232-39 Unenforceability of Unauthorized Obligations (Jun 2013) 52.232-40 Providing Accelerated Payments to Small Business Subcontractors (Dec 2013) 52.237-2 -- Protection of Government Buildings, Equipment, and Vegetation (Apr 1984) THIS NOTICE INTENT IS NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTATIONS. A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The purchase made will be made under simplified acquisition procedures, other than Full and Open Competition authorized by FAR 6.302-1, and Statutory Authority: 10 USC 2304 (C ) ( 1) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1. via email to John.Wilkinson@ars.usda.gov by no later than August 14, 2017 e.s.t. Oral Communications are not acceptable responses to this notice. This notice is for informational purposes only and is not to construed a commitment by the Government. Anticipated Award Date August 20, 2017
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/3746ca3115e1d10dc22f1db794486003)
- Place of Performance
- Address: USDA, ARS, NEA, HRSL, 10300 BALTIMORE AVE., BLDG. 007, RM. 104, BARC-WEST, Beltsville, Maryland, 20705, United States
- Zip Code: 20705
- Zip Code: 20705
- Record
- SN04600725-W 20170729/170727232314-3746ca3115e1d10dc22f1db794486003 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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