Inactive

Sources Sought Notification for Avocado Mapping Population and Avocado Clonal Collection Regeneration. This is a Sources Sought Announcement issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA... Sources Sought Notification for Avocado Mapping Population and Avocado Clonal Collection Regeneration. This is a Sources Sought Announcement issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for informational and planning purposes only. This is NOT a solicitation, nor is it an announcement for a forthcoming solicitation. Submission of any information in response to this notification is purely voluntary. The Government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred in providing a response. The USDA has a requirement for Avocado Mapping Population and Avocado Clonal Collection Regeneration Projectin accordance with the below SOW. Responses to this notification will help to determine the acquisition strategy for any future solicitation. Submission Instructions: Interested vendors are invited to submit a response to this sources sought notification by 2:00p.m. on Thursday, June 15, 2023, to the attention of Jessica Pacheco, Contract Specialist, jessica.pacheco@usda.gov. All questions are asked to be submitted in writing to the Primary Point of Contract and will be addressed accordingly. Responses should be no more than 10 pages and include the following information: Organization Name; Contract Name, e-mail address and phone number; Organizations DUNS number; Business size status for the applicable NAICS code; A statement of interest in any forthcoming acquisition. A statement of capability to perform details of the requirement. Interested vendors are instructed to provide only the data requested. No proprietary classified confidential or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any nonproprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s). Any additional information will not be reviewed by the USDA. Statement of Work for SHRS Florida Avocado Mapping Population Regeneration Project Scope: The USDA-Agricultural Research Service National Plant Germplasm System maintains collections of economically important crop accessions as well as research plantings being evaluated for segregation of important agronomic and horticultural traits. In 2007 1425 seedlings of avocado cultivars “Simmonds” (West Indian Race – “A” type flower) and “Tonnage” (Guatemalan X West Indian race hybrid – “B” type flower) were planted at SHRS. Each of the seedlings were originally from fruit obtained from a commercial orchard interplanted with both cultivars. These two cultivars were used due to the unique flowering mechanism thought to promote outcrossing and increased fruit yield. Each seedling had been verified using microsatellite markers to be either “Simmonds” X “Tonnage” or “Tonnage” X “Simmonds” hybrids. This population is one of the rarest avocado mapping populations generated between two different ecotypes (West Indian x Guatemalan, and Guatemalan x West Indian). This population will be useful for understanding genetics of multiple quantitative traits, which in turn will be useful for determining for breeding purposes. This population is under threat from diseases and therefore there is an urgent need to safeguard it by grafting it on a suitable rootstock. Project Requirements: The project would be contracted to a local reputable nursery with extensive experience in commercial avocado propagation, consistent labeling protocols, extremely high sanitation standards, facilities required to irrigate and apply chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as proficiency working with research staff. A local nursery is required to minimize the amount of possible damage in transport. To minimize the potential of using ASBVd (viroid) infected rootstock, SHRS will provide the required amount of rootstock seed for the project. The seed will be from the cultivar “Waldin” from the SHRS collection and/or a local nursery using openly pollinated seed from a single cultivar which will allow more uniformity in the new planting for data collection and grove maintenance. SHRS staff will work with the contracted nursery on budwood collection, transport of seeds and plants, and clarification on any labeling issues. The SHRS has the genetic database to verify the identification of individual clones if required. The vendor will be required to do the grafting and labeling, as well as communicate any needs such as additional budwood material of clones that were not successfully grafted (i.e. graft failure) and communicate the ongoing inventory of successful grafts. A requirement of a total of three grafts of each individual tree in the population which will amount to a total of 900 trees. Due to the size of the population and the availability of Waldin rootstock, the grafting will be done on annual intervals totaling 300 grafts. Deliverables: Number of different avocado line/variety: 300 Number of grafts per line/variety: 3 Total number of grafted trees: 900 Rootstock: Waldin Statement of Work for SHRS Avocado Clonal Collection Regeneration Project Scope: The USDA-Agricultural Research Service National Plant Germplasm System maintains collections of economically important crop accessions. The clonal collection of Persea americana, avocado, is held at the Subtropical Horticulture Research Station (SHRS) in Miami, Florida. The collection contains 168 cultivars representing the diversity of the species with representatives from each of the three avocado races Guatemalan, Mexican, and West Indian. The collection is utilized by avocado researchers and breeders worldwide through distributions of budwood and seed as well as phenotypical and genetic information accessible through the Germplasm Resource Information Network (GRIN Global). The SHRS avocado collection consists of trees varying in age from 90 to 3 years of age located in three field blocks with miscellaneous accessions scattered throughout the 220-acre site. In the collection there are 69 cultivars with only one representative. The objective of this project is to have each accession cloned into three representatives and plant out the entire collection into one field block for more consistent and efficient execution of cultural practices such as irrigation, fertilization, pathogen control, and data collection. The SHRS avocado collection eradicated the ASBVd viroid that was found in the collection in the early 1990s by removing all infected trees in 2015. Researchers are aware this pathogen is found throughout the South Florida avocado growing area. Project Requirements: The project would be contracted to a local reputable nursery with extensive experience in commercial avocado propagation, consistent labeling protocols, extremely high sanitation standards, facilities required to irrigate and apply chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as proficiency working with research staff. A local nursery is required to minimize the amount of possible damage in transport. To minimize the potential of using ASBVd infected rootstock, SHRS will test a sample of rootstock. The seed will be from the cultivar ‘Lula’ or ‘Waldin’ from the SHRS collection as well as from the ARS-Ft. Pierce station or a local nursery. Using openly pollinated seed from a single cultivar will allow more uniformity in the new collection planting for data collection and grove maintenance. SHRS staff will work with the nursery on budwood collection, planting seeds and raising plants, and clarification on any labeling issues. The SHRS has the genetic database to verify the identification of individual clones if required. The vendor will be required to do the grafting and labeling, as well as communicate any needs such as additional budwood material of clones that were not successfully grafted and communicate the ongoing inventory of successful grafts. There is less than 5% grafting failure rate, in which case at least two additional attempts will be made to graft the failed accessions either on the same rootstock or on a different rootstock. Deliverables: Number of different avocado cultivars/accessions: 150 Number of grafts per cultivar/accession: 3 Total number of grafted trees: 450 Rootstock: ‘Lula’ or ‘Waldin’ with a complete set of avocado accessions grafted on either of these two rootstocks.