A market survey is being conducted to determine if there are adequate Small Business, SBA certified HUBZone, SBA-certified 8(a), Women-Owned, or Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) contractors available for a proposed project who meet the specific criteria outlined below.

This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. This is not a solicitation Announcement or Request for Quote. It does not constitute any commitment by the Government. No award will result from this notice. The purpose is to conduct market research to gain knowledge of potentially qualified sources and to determine the capability of Small Business and/or Large Business companies to provide the supplies/services described below. Responses to this Sources Sought Notice will be used by the Government to make an appropriate acquisition decision. Department of Agriculture (ARS) requests responses from ALL socioeconomic categories in order to gain a more complete understanding of the market for these products and service.

The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) will not award a contract on the basis of responses or pay for the preparation of any information submitted. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this notice. After completing an analysis of the responses, the Government will determine whether to limit competition to 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, Women-Owned, or other small business firms, or to proceed with issuing an unrestricted solicitation, inviting full and open competition.

The NAICS code for the expected acquisition is 334516, with a Size Standard of 1,000 employees and the PSC Code is 6630. Any subsequent procurement will be conducted as a commercial item purchased in accordance with FAR Part 12 and as a Simplified Acquisition Procedure in accordance with FAR Part 13.

The Department of Agriculture (ARS) has the need for the following products:

001) Dual-Pump Ion Chromatograph

Scope of Work:

The USDA-ARS Cell Wall Biology and Utilization Research Unit (CWBURU) in Madison, WI is seeking sources for the purchase of a dual-pump ion chromatograph.

Background:

Characterization of a wide array of compounds can be achieved via ion chromatography including identification and quantification of individual amino acids and simple carbohydrates from mixed samples. Identification and quantification of amino acids and carbohydrates in feed, forages, and fermented forages are necessary for accurate, in-depth determination of feed quality and precision animal nutrition. Amino acid and carbohydrate analyses are commonly performed on forages and feeds in the dairy industry, but simultaneous and efficient quantification is challenging due to cross interference between each class of compounds. Most methods suffer from at least one of three major limitations: 1) carbohydrates and amino acids are assayed with different equipment (LC, HPLC); 2) Amino acids are quantified, but not individually without costly and time-consuming derivatization; 3) sample throughput is low and analysis cost prohibits meaningful sample sizes for dairy industry feed research. The desired instrument will utilize a sophisticated dual pump, sequential ion chromatography method with detection via pulse amplitude, and use Windows 10 compatible software. This equipment will replace, and add significant functionality over, an old instrument that, for IT reasons, cannot run on a Windows 10 operating system.

Technical Requirements: 

Contractor must provide a unit with the specifications below and at least 2 days training in the use of the instrument. The instrument must feature a dual pump high-performance ion chromatography unit with pulse amplitude detection with sufficient columns necessary for sequential identification and quantification of carbohydrates and amino acids.

• Pump Dual-piston (in series), microprocessor controlled, constant stroke, variable speed, Isokinetic Eluent Precompression, chemically inert, metal-free PEEK pump heads and flow path; compatible with aqueous eluents from pH 0–14 and reversed-phase solvents
• Amino acid analysis
  • Carbohydrate trap column
  • Amino acid separation column
• Carbohydrate analysis
  • Amino acid trap column
  • Carbohydrate separation column
• Pressure Analytical: 0–35 MPa (0–5000 psi) | Capillary: 0–41 MPa (0–6000 psi)
• Flow Rate Range Analytical: 0.000–10.000 mL/min + 0.001 mL/min. Capillary: 0.001–0.100 mL/min flow rate and up to 3.000 mL/min for pump priming
• mL/min + 0.001 mL/min
• Flow Rate Precision (Analytical and Capillary) < 0.1%
• Flow Rate Accuracy < 0.1%
• Vacuum Degasser Integrated, optional 1 channel for isocratic pump or 4 channel for quaternary pump
• Gradient Profiles Any combination of an unlimited number of linear, convex, and concave positive and negative gradient profiles
• Gradient Proportioning Accuracy and Precision ±0.5 at 2 mL/min
• Gradient Mixing Passive mixers for 2 mm and 4 mm i.d. columns, optional
• System Software supporting Windows 10
• Flow Path: All polymeric (PEEK), anion or cation configuration
• Electrochemical Detector
  • Electronics Type Microprocessor controlled digital signal processing
  • Electronic Noise (Wet Noise) (Analytical and Capillary) IPAD (Au electrode) < 30 pC at 10 mM KOH, DC Amperometry (GC) < 5 pA at catecholamine eluent
  • Potential Range -2.0 to 2.0 V in 0.001 V increments
  • Signal Range (Digital and Analog) Integrated Amperometry: 0.0008 pC to 200 μC
  • DC Amperometry: 0.00008 pA to 74 μA
  • Cell Body Titanium body with narrow-bore PEEK inlet tubing for capillary format, titanium inlettubing for analytical format. Compatible with 0.2–0.6 mm i.d. columns (PEEK inlet), 2–7 mm i.d. columns (Ti inlet)
  • Working Electrodes: gold, glassy carbon, platinum, and silver
  • Reference Electrode pH-Ag/AgCl combination, one piece design (Analytical and Capillary)
  • PdH, one piece design (Capillary Only)
  • Autoranging Yes
  • Analog Output User selectable full scale of 10, 100, or 1000 mV
  • Cell Volume at Working Electrode < 0.2 μL
  • Maximum Cell Operating Pressure 0.7 MPa (100 psi)
  • Detection Modes DC amperometry, pulsed amperometry, and integrated amperometry. Detection modes include use of multiple waveforms and multiple integration times to optimize detection conditions for individual analytes. Integrated amperometry mode—unlimited changes to the waveform profile’s number of segments, duration of each segment, and voltage applied at each segment.

Government Furnished:

Per IT policy, government to furnish a Windows 10 PC if required.

Evaluation Factors: 

Lowest price, technically acceptable. The government intends to award a firm-fixed price award based on the lowest price technically acceptable product. The lowest priced product will be evaluated first; if not found acceptable, the next lowest priced product will be evaluated, and so on until an acceptable product is identified. The government will not review higher priced products if the lowest priced product is determined to be technically acceptable. For a vendor’s products to be considered technically acceptable, they must meet all of the technical requirements identified in the solicitation.

Key Deliverables:

• Dual Pump Analytical Gradient w/ Degassing unit
• Autosampler w/ sample and tray temp control
• Ion Chromotograph w/ Pulse Amplitude Detector
• Eluent Organizer (Set of 2)
• Regulator unit
• Pump Maintenance Kit
• Titanium Inert Valve
• Microbore Tubing
• Kit, Viper Tubing
• Kit, Viper ICS
• Temperature Stabilizer
• Electrochemical Detector (Set of 2)
• Carbohydrate Removal Trap
• Electrochemical Detector Cells (Set of 2)
• pH Electrode (set of 2)
• 2 days on-site setup and support
• Power Cord
• Chromeleon Software License
• Instrument Control and Operation Software
• Valve Assembly
• Vial Rack (Set of 3)
• USB Hub
• Amino Acid Guard Column
• Carbohydrate Analytical Column
• Carbohydrate Guard Column
• Borate Trap Column
• Dionex Amino Trap Column

Delivery: 

Delivery is to be made to USDA-ARS CWBURU located at 1925 Linden Drive, Madison WI 53706 within 30 days of order. Training in the use of the instrument to be provided within 60 days of instrument receipt.

The vendor shall provide all items F.O.B: destination. Location of the Government site is aboard USDA-ARS Madison, WI and will be identified in the contract. The Government anticipates award of a Firm Fixed Price contract.

Capability Statement:

Companies who have the experience, as well as an interest in doing business with ARS, should submit a Capabilities Statement which, for this notice, is not expected to be a proposal, but rather short statements regarding the company’s ability to demonstrate their expertise and experience in relation to the areas specified in this notice.

Companies should also indicate whether they are a Small Business, SBA-certified HUBZone, SBA-certified 8(a), SDVOSB, or Women-Owned Small Business.

To be eligible, all vendors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) with a current and active registration. A DUNS (Dun and Bradstreet) number is required in order to register in SAM. A vendor can contact SAM by calling 1-866-606-8220 or e-mail at www.sam.gov. NO EXCEPTIONS. Vendor must include their DUNS# on their capability statements.

Finally, to be eligible, all vendors must be NDAA 889 Certified. If they do not currently have a NDAA 889 Certification, then they must complete the attached NDAA 889 Certification form and submit it to [email protected] so that they can be added to the list of NDAA 889 Certified vendors.

Submitting a Capability Statements:

Responses should be submitted via email to [email protected] by Monday, September 13, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. CST. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted.

Disclaimer:

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Respondents are also advised that under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of information or provide feedback about any of the information received.  After review of the responses received, the Government may issue a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation. No proprietary, sensitive, confidential or classified information shall be included with your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation.