USDA, ARS, FMOD, BA, Contracting Section, Bldg. 003, Rm. 329, 10300 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350

R -- FOOD SAMPLE COLLECTION AND DELIVERY SOL 04-3K47-98 DUE 052798 POC Debra Kaelberer, Contract Specialist, (301) 504-5548 The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (USDA, ARS) intends to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the purpose of obtaining services to purchase, collect, and deliver individual food samples in connection with a five-year nutrition study. Identification and description of foods to be procured and the location will be determined by the government through separately issued task orders. Foods will be purchased by the contractor and shipped to a designated third party. The sampling plan may include perishable and nonperishable products, prepared or mixed dish products, raw products, canned, frozen or refrigerated products, as well as food service or restaurant items. The contractor will be responsible for purchasing these samples from grocery chains, convenience stores, restaurant or fast food chains, natural food stores, wholesale clubs, roadside stands, and ethnic markets in major metropolitan areas of the United States. Individual food samples must be labeled at the time of purchase according to government specifications and shipped on the day of purchase. Contractor must have the ability to maintain products under the appropriate conditions to prevent breakage, product deterioration or spoilage prior to shipping as well as during the course of shipping. All products must arrive at the designated location in the same condition as which it was purchased by 10:00 a.m. the next day, Monday through Friday. The contractor must have the ability to simultaneously purchase and ship products from many cities. Potential cities include Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Ft. Worth, New York, and Atlanta, however all places of performance are not known at this time and additional cities may be added. This contract is subject to the Service Contract Act and all places of performance are unknown. Wage determinations have been requested for the above cities. This solicitation is 100% set-aside for small business concerns. The applicable standard industrial classification code (SIC code) is 7389. For the purpose of this procurement, any concern submitting a proposal is classified small if its annual receipts for its preceding three fiscal years do not exceed $5 million. This is a request for proposal. Offerors are required to submit a technical and price proposal for evaluation by the Government. The anticipated contract will be an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) service contract for a 12 month base period plus four additional 12 month option periods to be awarded on a tradeoff basis. Award will be made to the responsible offeror who submits the proposal considered most advantageous to the Government considering price and technical evaluation factors. The award will contain provisions for issuance of firm fixed price task orders. Multiple awards for this procurement are possible, however, the government reserves the right to issue only one award. All responsible small business concerns may submit an offer which will be considered by the agency. Offerors desiring a copy of the RFP should submit a written request to the address above or requests may be faxed to 301/504-5009. No telephone requests for solicitation package will be accepted. Solicitation is scheduled to be issued on or about April 23, 1998, or 15 days following the date of this notice. See Numbered Note 1 and 26. (0097)

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