SOURCES SOUGHT
66 -- Seed Respiration Technology Equipment - Sources Sought
- Notice Date
- 9/8/2021 8:42:27 AM
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 334516
— Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- USDA ARS MWA AAO ACQ/PER PROP PEORIA IL 61604 USA
- ZIP Code
- 61604
- Solicitation Number
- 12505B21Q0183SS
- Response Due
- 9/13/2021 3:00:00 PM
- Archive Date
- 09/28/2021
- Point of Contact
- Aaron Dimeo, Phone: 6088900067
- E-Mail Address
-
aaron.dimeo@usda.gov
(aaron.dimeo@usda.gov)
- Description
- A market survey is being conducted to determine if there are adequate Small Business, SBA certified HUBZone, SBA-certified 8(a), Women-Owned, or Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) contractors available for a proposed project who meet the specific criteria outlined below. This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. This is not a solicitation Announcement or Request for Quote. It does not constitute any commitment by the Government. No award will result from this notice. The purpose is to conduct market research to gain knowledge of potentially qualified sources and to determine the capability of Small Business and/or Large Business companies to provide the supplies/services described below. Responses to this Sources Sought Notice will be used by the Government to make an appropriate acquisition decision. Department of Agriculture (ARS) requests responses from ALL socioeconomic categories in order to gain a more complete understanding of the market for these products and service. The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) will not award a contract on the basis of responses or pay for the preparation of any information submitted. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this notice. After completing an analysis of the responses, the Government will determine whether to limit competition to 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, Women-Owned, or other small business firms, or to proceed with issuing an unrestricted solicitation, inviting full and open competition. The NAICS code for the expected acquisition is 334516, with a Size Standard of 1,000 employees and the PSC Code is 6640. Any subsequent procurement will be conducted as a commercial item purchased in accordance with FAR Part 12 and as a Simplified Acquisition Procedure in accordance with FAR Part 13. The Department of Agriculture (ARS) has the need for the following products and services: 001) Seed Respiration Technology Equipment Scope of Work: � The USDA-ARS Cereal Crops Research Unit (CCRU) in Madison, WI is seeking sources for seed respiration technology equipment. Background: The USDA Cereal Crops Research Unit (CCRU) is responsible for conducting research to identify and understand the biological processes affecting the growth and development of barley and oats. Barley is utilized throughout the globe for food and for malt used in the brewing industry. The cornerstone of a quality malting variety is adequate and consistent seed germination. One of the research goals of CCRU involves evaluation of global and local populations of barley seeds to understand the environmental (heat, drought, rainfall during harvest) impact on seed germination rates. �Evaluating barley for seed germination rates requires repeated observations at regular time intervals to construct germination time courses, which is labor intensive and prone to error. Seed respiration has been linked to seed vigor and germinability. However, the high throughput and precise measurement of seed respiration is a limiting factor for adopting this trait in the repertoire of traits for evaluating malt quality. The VIM seed respiration technology instrument (or equivalent) would allow researchers at CCRU to measure and analyze the respiratory patterns of individual barley seeds, thus gaining insights into seed quality and vigor to rapidly, efficiently and precisely evaluate seed germination within and among populations. The Malt quality Lab in the Cereal Crops Research Unit is the largest public sector facility for assessing the malting quality of barley seeds that caters to the industry stake holders as well as US breeders working on improvement of barley malting quality. Seed germination is one of the most important quality trait in malt quality analysis. Though the association between seed respiration and germination was known for some time the instrumentation to measure respiration of individual seeds was not available. The malt quality lab will utilize this instrument on a daily basis for the foreseeable future. This instrument is crucial to the needs of our research projects, to fulfill the requirements outlined in our CRIS. Technical Requirements:� Below is a list of technical specifications that are best suited for our experimental needs: Assess the following parameters: Should be able to accommodate seeds of different sizes and shapes Controls required to independently regulate temperature, air volume and substrate composition Speed of germination � Measured every two hours for a duration of five days Seed quality and vigor � by plotting oxygen consumption curves or oxygen depletion curves taking measurements every two hours for five days. Oxygen measurement time should be accomplished at the rate of one second/sample. Oxygen measurement range: zero to ambient levels Seed water stress germination analysis � Conduct tests with different amount of water (100 uL to 5 mL) to analyze for water sensitivity of barley seeds an important concern for the malting industry. Water potential impacts on seed germination � Conduct germination analysis of seeds subjected to different water potentials (-0.2 Mpa to -2.0 Mpa) using chemicals like PEG on an agar medium to assess impact of drought on seed germinability. Seed temperature germination analysis � conduct germination tests for seed samples under different temperature regimes - range between 10o C to 40o C and the accuracy of temperature should be � 0.5o C Seed storage life analysis � Examine the seed germination rates of seeds stored for different periods of time ranging from a few days after harvest to several years of storage. Seed treatment analysis � Ability to examine change in germination rates of seeds treated with various chemicals such as ABA, JA, KCN, SHAM. Additional technical specifications include: At least 12 plate positions, 16 plate positions are desirable. Single seed oxygen consumption for more than 1200 (or more) different seed samples in a single run High quality scanner and reliable built-in optical sensor Fluorescence oxygen-dependent detection module Quick, reliable and automatic data collection Software that is compatible for 96 wells, 48 wells, or 24 well plates Robust software to operate the machine especially the XY robotic arm capable of precise start and stop of � 0.5mm. Easily accessible database containing different types of measurements from the various experiments User-friendly software for analyzing the collected data and plotting continuous curves predicted by fitting the appropriate population-based threshold model to the data across the temperature, water potential, chemicals etc. A tablet LCD touchscreen attached to the equipment or any PC running the 64-bit version of windows 10. With at least 8 GB of RAM, 20 GB free disk space, One free USB type A port, Wifi or Ethernet access for online support, Teamviewer installed on the PC (or any alternative remote desktop application) for remote operation, monitoring, online diagnosis and support. The instrument will be housed in the Cereal Crops Research Unit, 502 Walnut Street, Madison, WI 53726. This is a federal facility and the service specialist will have to make sure to schedule their visit during working days (Monday-Friday between 8 AM to 5PM) for the installation and setup. The service specialist will comply with any covid-related regulations (such as masking, social-distancing) during their visitation to the CCRU. Travel:� A service specialist from the company will need to travel to Madison WI to help with the setup, calibration and commissioning of the equipment and ensure the software is installed on a USDA provided computer. The expected duration of visit will be two days and the dates will be confirmed after the delivery of the equipment to CCRU. Data Rights: � The data generated from the instrument will be analyzed using the installed software.� The raw data and the analysis resulting from these experiments are the property of USDA and will be published in open access journals as deemed fit by the ARS scientists. Evaluation Factors:� Lowest price, technically acceptable. The government intends to award a firm-fixed price award based on the lowest price technically acceptable product. The lowest priced product will be evaluated first; if not found acceptable, the next lowest priced product will be evaluated, and so on until an acceptable product is identified. The government will not review higher priced products if the lowest priced product is determined to be technically acceptable. For a vendor�s products to be considered technically acceptable, they must meet all of the technical requirements identified in the solicitation. Key Deliverables: Seed respirator Starter Kit 16 Trays Delivery Calibration Installation Demonstration Software Updates Warranty Delivery: Delivery is to be made to USDA-ARS CCRU at 502 Walnut Street, Madison, WI 53726 by no later than December 1, 2021 with instillation and demonstration to occur by no later than December 16, 2021. The vendor shall provide all items F.O.B: destination. Location of the Government site is aboard USDA-ARS Madison, WI and will be identified in the contract. The Government anticipates award of a Firm Fixed Price contract. Capability Statement: Companies who have the experience, as well as an interest in doing business with ARS, should submit a Capabilities Statement which, for this notice, is not expected to be a proposal, but rather short statements regarding the company�s ability to demonstrate their expertise and experience in relation to the areas specified in this notice. Companies should also indicate whether they are a Small Business, SBA-certified HUBZone, SBA-certified 8(a), SDVOSB, or Women-Owned Small Business. To be eligible, all vendors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) with a current and active registration. A DUNS (Dun and Bradstreet) number is required in order to register in SAM. A vendor can contact SAM by calling 1-866-606-8220 or e-mail at www.sam.gov. NO EXCEPTIONS.�Vendor must include their DUNS# on their capability statements. Finally, to be eligible, all vendors must be NDAA 889 Certified. If they do not currently have a NDAA 889 Certification, then they must complete the attached NDAA 889 Certification form and submit it to aaron.dimeo@usda.gov so that they can be added to the list of NDAA 889 Certified vendors. Submitting a Capability Statements: Responses should be submitted via email to aaron.dimeo@usda.gov by Monday, September 13, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. CST. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted. Disclaimer: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate.�Respondents are also advised that under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of information or provide feedback about any of the information received.� After review of the responses received, the Government may issue a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation. No proprietary, sensitive, confidential or classified information shall be included with your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation.
- Web Link
-
SAM.gov Permalink
(https://beta.sam.gov/opp/818681d49c004672b13e7f03db1a80f9/view)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Madison, WI 53726, USA
- Zip Code: 53726
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 53726
- Record
- SN06126314-F 20210910/210908230135 (samdaily.us)
- Source
-
SAM.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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