The Agricultural Research Service, Northeast Area Administrative office, Acquisition and Personal Property office intends to solicit and award a single firm-fixed-price contract for using next generation sequencing (NGS) to identify differentially expressed genes and methylated regions between males and females during gonad development. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6 – Streamlined Procedures for Evaluation and Solicitation for Commercial Items along with FAR subpart 13.5 – Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items and supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; offers are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This combined synopsis/solicitation is issued under Request for Quotation (RFQ) number 12305B22Q0079.

This requirement is being solicited under NAICS code 541990 for a 100% total small business set-aside. 

All FAR references are based off FAC 2022-06, Effective 1 May 2022.

This firm-fixed-priced award for sequencing and analysis for the Shellfish Genetics Lab is for a period of performance of 60 days after award.

FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial, is applicable to this acquisition. An addendum is added and must be signed and returned (Page 11).

FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation of Offerors, is applicable to this acquisition.

The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. FAR Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures utilizing Lowest Priced Technically Acceptable (LPTA) factors will be used for the evaluation process. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers:

             Technical Factor #1. Offeror must submit a Transmittal Summary Letter that addresses all the items listed in   the instructions. Failure to address any of the two items will result in the offeror being technically unacceptable.

           Technical Factor #2. Offeror must submit a pricing document that prices all items identified within FAR 52.212-1 Addendum. Failure to submit pricing for both items will result in the offeror being technically unacceptable.

If an offeror receives an adjectival rating of “unacceptable” in any factor they will not be eligible for contract award.

Offeror must sign and date the 52.212-1 Addendum found of page 11, along with all amendments posted to beta.sam.gov for 12305B22Q0079.

All offerors are advised to submit a copy of their FAR Reps and Certs Report out of sam.gov in lieu of filling out and submitting the provisions listed in this synopsis/solicitation to meet the requirements of FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items. See 52.212-1 Addendum for additional information. Directions for doing this. From your company’s home within sam.gov, click on Reps and Certs. Under the company info box, you’ll see a ‘Download Report’ drop-down. Select ‘FAR’. You can then save a pdf of all your reps and certs.

FAR Clause 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition and no addendum has been added.

FAR Clause 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition and applicable clauses within 52.212-5 to this acquisition have been marked with three X’s.

Other additional FAR Clauses have been added to this synopsis/solicitation. If they are incorporated by reference in this synopsis/solicitation, use acquisition.gov to read them in their entirety.

Submittals Formats: Only Electronic submissions via email will be accepted due to Contract Specialist working remotely.

Offers are due to the Contract Specialist, Mr. David Hildebrand, at [email protected] by 5:00 PM (EST) 3 June 2022.

For information regarding this synopsis/solicitation, please contact Mr. David Hildebrand at [email protected]. Only written submitted questions will be given a response. They will be answered via a Questions from Industry posting to sam.gov. Due to USDA-ARS operating remotely, Mr. Hildebrand is only available via email.

Notice to Offeror(s): The Government reserves the right to cancel this solicitation, either before or after the closing date. In the event the Government cancels this solicitation, the Government has no obligation to reimburse an offeror for any costs incurred.

Site Visit: Not required.

Questions must be submitted in writing via email to [email protected]. Questions received after May 31st may not receive a response. Responses will be posted to sam.gov in a document titled Questions from Industry.

You will not receive a direct response.