This is a Sources Sought Notice only.  This Sources Sought Notice does not constitute an Invitation for Bids, Request for Proposals, or a Request for Quotations, and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue an order or otherwise pay for the information solicited, nor is it a guarantee of a forthcoming solicitation or contract.  The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is for market research purposes only.  Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation.

The USDA/Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is conducting market research to support the USDA/ARS/SEA, Genetics and Sustainable Agriculture Research Unit, Mississippi State, MS location.

Seeking Contractor to provide:

• 200 sample Shallow Shotgun Sequencing which includes Library preparation and sequencing on the llumina Next Seq (2X 150 BP) targeting an average of 0.5-2 million reads per sample.
• QC Report – Deliverables:  Raw FASTQ data (2x150 bp), Trimmed, host DNA-depleted, adaptor-removed FASTQ data.
• Relative abundance tables generated via mapping to a curated reference database; species and genus assignments where available.
• Functional profiling reported as KEGG orthology groups, modules, and pathways where available, or SEED Subsystems.
• Approach must allow for a metagenomic approach to sequencing “all” the DNA in the environmental sample at a lower cost for a more thorough sequencing approach with rapid fully publishable results.  
• Approach must use a coverage of 5x over environmental DNA to conduct this service as opposed to a more thorough 8 or 1Ox approach which is far more costlyApproach must use a coverage of 5x over environmental DNA to conduct this service as opposed to a more thorough 8 or 1Ox approach which is far more costly.
• Approach to allow to quickly screen treatment effects at the DNA level and thus allows research location to decide if they need to further the investigation and use a more costly approach, focusing on fewer samples, rather than a more costly approach of sequencing all samples.                                                     

Responses should include:

• Organization Name, address, contact phone number and e-mail address, and web site address.
• Business size with regard to North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 621511 per the standard described in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 19.102.
• DUNS number.  (Small business versus large business), other socio-economic categories such as Section 8(a), Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUB-Zone), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB), and Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB).
• Tailored capability statements addressing the salient characteristics listed, with appropriate documentation supporting capability.

Responses to this Notice must be in writing.  Telephone inquiries will not be accepted.  Interested parties should e-mail responses to [email protected] on or before Thursday, June 25, 2020 no later than 3:00 pm CDT.  Hard copies of the responses are not required and will not be accepted.