U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 26 W. Martin Luther King Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45268

B -- TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR ASSESSING AND MANAGING THE ECOLOGICAL AND HUMAN HEALTH RISKS OF TOXIC CONTAMINANTS AND MICROBIAL PATHOGENS SOL CI-97-10293 POC Nancy Muzzy (513)366-2023 WEB: Office of Acquisition Management -- Cincinnati Contracts Management Division, http://www.epa.gov/oam/cinn cmd. The Environmental Protection Agency is performing a "market search" for a contractor to provide support for the EPA Office of Water (OW), in the areas of assessing and managing the ecological and human health risks of toxic bioaccumulative contaminants in water, fish and sediments and microbial pathogens in surface waters. The EPA Standards and Applied Science Division (SASD) is in the Office of Science and Technology within the Office of Water. SASD's responsibilities under the Clean Water Act of 1987 (CWA) include directing the national program for adoption of Water Quality Standards, developing prevention and remediation strategies to reduce the risk to human health and aquatic life resulting from Contaminated Fish and Sediment and microbial pathogens in surface waters, providing technical support to the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program (section 303(d)) and technical support to the Effluent Guidelines program (section 304(m)), and preparing outreach and awareness materials including developing instructional material and presenting workshops. The successful contractor will supply all necessary labor, material, services, equipment, and facilities in support of the effort delineated by the statement of work. The successful contractor will be expected to provide technical support services to aid the Agency in the following task areas: risk-based analyses, model development, guidance and report development, compilation and analysis of national and international environmental data, methods development and validation, environmental assessments, field sampling, workshops, conferences, training and logistical support, expert/peer review support, public outreach and technology transfer, compilation, categorization, and summarization of comments received on SASD documents, preparation of presentation materials, and quality assurance/quality control. Identified needs include (1) developing methods and guidance for EPA program offices, State agencies, local governments, and nongovernmental organizations to assess, remediate or otherwise manage, and communicate the risks associated with, exposure toxic bioaccumulative contaminants in surface waters, sediments, and fish tissue as well as microbial pathogens in bathing beach surface waters, (2) conducting studies to assess the national extent and severity of sediment and fish tissue contamination in water bodies throughout the U.S. as well as water-borne pathogens present at bathing beaches, (3) providing technical support for maintaining and updating SASD's national and international environmental databases, (4) providing technical support for developing standard bioaccumulation and sediment toxicity assessment methods, (5) providing technical support for performing field sampling for benthic organisms, sediment, fish, indicators of microbial pathogens, and field sampling for toxic pollutants, (6) preparing, revising, and conducting training sessions, interactive workshops, technical assistance workshops, public fora, facilitated negotiations and conferences to support the mission of SASD programs (7) performing risk-based analyses to assess the human health and/or ecological risks associated with exposure to toxic bioaccumulative contaminants in water, sediment, and fish tissue. The EPA reserves the right to set this action aside for small businesses. The applicable SIC Code is 8731 with a size standard of 500 Employees. ALL INTERESTED SMALL BUSINESSES SHOULD FURNISH STATEMENTS REFERENCING THEIR CAPABILITIES WITHIN FIFTEEN (15) DAYS OF THE PUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE. It is anticipated that a cost plus fixed fee/level-of-effort contract will result from the award of this solicitation. The proposed contract will be a term form with a base period of 12 months and two twelve month options. The base level of effort (LOE) for each period will be approximately 22,000 hours with options for an additional LOE of up to 50% in each period, for a total potential of 99,000 direct labor hours over the 36 months. Small businesses are requested to submit appropriate documentation that demonstrates their capability to perform this effort. Supporting documentation should be submitted in duplicate to Norm White, US EPA, OSDBU, 26 W. Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, OH, 45268. It is anticipated that this solicitation will be issued on or around early July, 1997.***** (0120)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0022 19970502\B-0005.SOL)