Inactive

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT ONLY. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the Government. All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary, and the Government ... THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT ONLY. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the Government. All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary, and the Government will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing information provided to the Government. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is searching for firms who can provide: The USDA Foreign Disease Weed Science Research Unit (FDWSRU) at Frederick, MD requires a preventative maintenance, corrective repair, and certification contract for the 8 existing Getinge steam sterilizers and 2 reverse osmosis water purification systems within the research facilities to prevent accidental release of regulated biological organisms through incomplete sterilization and contamination of solutions for biological research through poor water quality. The contract shall include all parts and labor necessary to complete these functions. Preventative maintenance shall be done quarterly, at minimum, for all steam sterilizers and water systems. Corrective repair shall occur as needed and include emergency call back and 24 hour response time on emergency issues arising with the contracted equipment to minimize potential loss of research materials. Remote calibration and diagnostics will be used as needed to diagnose and assist with troubleshooting. Phone support for equipment problems, equipment manuals, and technical information about the systems will given as requested. Steam sterilizers shall be biovalidated and documented quarterly using commercially available kits, i.e. Geobacillus stearothermophilus that is rendered unviable at 121 Celsius (250 Fahrenheit). All sterilizer supplies and consumables (i.e. temperature indicator strips, biological test kits, etc.) shall be included in the contract. The FDWSRU is a secure research facility working with foreign and domestic plant diseases including economic, high-consequence, quarantine-level plant pathogens and USDA-APHIS Select Agents. Research is conducted in secure biological safety level 2 and 3 laboratories by trained and approved personnel only. Service and maintenance of the sterilizers requires access to these spaces which necessitates service personnel to be U.S. citizens and pass and maintain Level 2 security background checks. As part of its market research, USDA ARS is issuing this Sources Sought to determine if there exist an adequate number of qualified interested contractors capable of providing the requirement. The Government may use the responses to this Sources Sought for information and planning purposes. This Sources Sought is only for the purpose of identifying potential sources as part of USDA ARS market research. No Request For Quote (RFQ) exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the RFQ. Responses to this Sources Sought are not quotes on which USDA ARS can issue any contract. This Sources Sought is issued for information and planning purposes only and does not itself constitute a RFQ. The Government does not intend to award a contract or BPAs based only on responses to this Sources Sought. All information received in response to this Sources Sought marked "Proprietary" will be protected and handled accordingly. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. Responses to the Sources Sought will not be returned. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this Sources Sought. USDA ARS will not pay for information received in response to this Sources Sought. Do not submit pricing information in response to this Sources Sought. Please send responses with the subject heading Ultra Low Freezer to Michael Poole email address: Michael.Pole@usda.gov] by 19 Aug 2020 @ by noon.