G
SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE (SSN)
Provision of Barrier Reared and Maintained Rabbits, Rats, Mice, Hamsters, Gerbils and Specialized Animal Services
Agency: NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Office: Office of Acquisitions (OA)
SSN Document #: HHS-NIH-NIEHS-SS-23-1CMB
NAICS: 112990
Product or Service Code: 88
PURPOSE
This announcement constitutes a Sources Sought Notice (SSN) in accordance with FAR Part 15.201(e) – Exchanges with Industry. THIS SSN DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION (e.g., Invitation for Bids (IFB), Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Quotation (RFQ), etc.) nor is it to be construed as a commitment by the Government. The information requested may be used as market research for planning purposes and to facilitate decision making (i.e., acquisition strategy determinations, availability of capable small business concerns, etc.). The information submitted will not be disclosed outside the Government. Proprietary information submitted shall be appropriately marked (see Other SSN Administrative Information for additional information relating to Contractor proprietary information).
NOTE: The Government will not be responsible for any costs incurred by interested parties in responding to this SSN (or any possible Government follow-up questions / meetings relating to this SSN).
Not responding to this SSN does not preclude participation in any potential future solicitation.
DESCRIPTION
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is conducting a market survey to determine the availability and potential technical capability of small businesses, 8A, HUBZone, SDVOSB, etc. to supply barrier reared and maintained rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils, and specialized animal services to the Comparative Medicine Branch (CMB), Animal Resources Section (ARS) at the NIEHS.
The intended procurement will be classified under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 112990, All Other Animal Production, with a size standard of $2.75M.
The purpose of the procurement is to: Provide an efficient and cost effective centralized purchasing mechanism that can maintain uninterrupted support of the research animal needs of the NIEHS intramural investigators; maintain compliance with various federal, state, local laws and NIH regulations affecting the use of laboratory animals; assure the authorized placement of individual animal orders; and provide monitoring and oversight of the genetic quality and health status of research animals introduced into the NIEHS animal facilities.
Successful offerors shall furnish the following: (1) Various strains and stocks of barrier-reared and maintained rats, mice, hamsters, and/or gerbils, which meet the specific genotype, health status, sex, age, weight, and/or pregnancy requirements and surgical manipulations, as included in the vendors’ commercial catalogues, websites, or notifications of availability; (2) Specialized Animal services including, but not limited to: rederivation, cryopreservation, cryopreservation storage, quarantine, customized breeding, colony development, production and maintenance, animal health surveillance and diagnostic testing; genetic monitoring, diagnostic, and testing services, veterinary services, customized research protocols, and rodent export and import services, as included in the vendor’s commercial catalogues, websites, or notifications of availability; and (3) regularly engage in the breeding, raising, and shipping of the animals described. The animals, tissues, organs, and blood or serum supplied under this contract shall be maintained and collected in the Contractor’s facilities.
All contractors shall have a minimum of 5 years’ experience providing laboratory animals to biomedical research facilities and be accredited by the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International regulated species under this contract. The contractor shall be registered with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (if proposing to provide regulated species). The Contractor shall be regularly engaged in the breeding, raising, and shipping of the animals described. The animals, tissues, organs, and blood or serum supplied under this contract shall be maintained and collected in the Contractor's facilities. The Contractor shall operate any and all proposed facilities for services related to rederivation of animal models for the elimination of the vertical and horizontal transfer of pathogens, parasites and other undesired organisms, and the cryopreservation of mouse and/or rat embryos.
The Government anticipates that there will be multiple Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts awarded for this requirement. A one-year base period of performance, with four, one year option periods is anticipated. The planned release date of the solicitation document is on or about August 2023. The planned contract award date is April 1, 2024.
REQUESTED INFORMATION
Interested Parties in assisting NIEHS with this market research are requested to submit the following information outlined below. The response should be concise (no more than 20 pages), 11 pt Calibri font, and address only the information requested below. Bulleted lists and summaries are acceptable. (Note: title pages, cover letters, etc., will not count against the total page limit).
Generic capability statements will not be provided to the requirements team for review.
Interested Parties shall provide the following information:
I. COMPANY INFORMATION
a. Company Name
b. Unique Entity ID (UEI)
c. Point of Contact Name, Phone Number, and E-mail Address
d. Company Website
e. ALL government contract vehicles under which the Company holds contracts (e.g., GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS), NITAAC, OASIS, etc.)
II. BUSINESS SIZE
a. The anticipated NAICS for this effort is 112990. The Small Business Administration (SBA) small business size standard for this NAICS code is $2.75 Million.
b. Based on the NAICS 112990, identify your business size as Small or Large.
c. If a small business concern, identify which, if any, of the below small business socio-economic categories are applicable:
d. If your company is an Other Than Small Business (OTSB) concern (i.e., large business), have you partnered or subcontracted with small business concerns to provide the same or similar services as this requirement?
e. Additionally, qualifications packages must also include business size, annual receipts (average gross revenue) for the last three (3) fiscal years, and whether or not the firm has been approved as a small business by the SBA under NAICS code 112990. Indicate any teaming arrangements in your response.
Interested firms must provide qualifications package that includes a comprehensive listing of the animal species/strains available to the Government. Inclusion of a copy of the firm's current commercial catalog should meet this requirement.
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
Questions
Questions regarding this SSN shall be received no later than 3 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on June 9, 2023. Questions received by the due date/time will be answered and provided to all respondents in the form of an SSN Amendment. Questions received after the due date/time may not be answered.
Questions shall be submitted in writing via e-mail to Kristina Filardo at [email protected] and shall reference this SSN. Telephone inquiries will NOT be accepted.
SSN Responses
Responses to this SSN shall be received no later than 3 PM EST on June 15, 2023, as identified the SSN’s online SAM.gov posting. (If there is a difference in SSN response date/time between this document and the online posting, the online posting shall take precedence.)
Responses shall be submitted electronically via e-mail to Kristina Filardo at [email protected] and shall reference this Notice. Telephone responses will NOT be accepted.
All SSN responses will be reviewed and utilized for market research.
SSN Points of Contact
Contract Specialist: Kristina Filardo
Contracting Officer: Julie Bardo
OTHER SSN ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
All information received in response to this notice that is marked “Proprietary” will be handled accordingly. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary information submitted by, or obtained from, a Respondent in any manner NIEHS determines is appropriate including, but not limited to, the creation of a competitive solicitation. Any proprietary data that is included in the response must be marked appropriately at the paragraph level (or at a more granular level as required; page level is acceptable for full page table, graphs, etc.). Any response marked proprietary at the document level will not be considered.
NIEHS personnel may contact any company responding to this SSN to clarify its capabilities/product/ other matters as part of its market research.
Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to Responders with respect to any information submitted. Responses to this notice will not be returned.
ATTACHMENTS/REFERENCES
Attachment 1: DRAFT Statement of Work (SOW), June 1, 2023