CONTRACT OPPORTUNITIES 

Type of Notice: Sources Sought 

Title: Sources Sought Notice 12905B23SS0001 for EthosXT Base 

Description: 

This is a Sources Sought notice Only.  This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations.  This Sources Sought is issued for information and planning purposes only as part of USDA ARS market research and does not itself constitute an RFQ. This requirement is covered under NAICS code 334516. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of qualified sources; Small Businesses; HUBZone small business; service-disabled, veteran-owned small business; 8(a) small business; veteran-owned small business; woman-owned small business; or small disadvantaged businesses; Responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible.  

CONTRACT OPPORTUNITIES 

Type of Notice: Sources Sought 

Title: Sources Sought Notice 12905B22SS0065 for Field Trial Coordinator for Clonal Walnut Rootstock 

Description: 

This is a Sources Sought notice Only.  This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations.  This Sources Sought is issued for information and planning purposes only as part of USDA ARS market research and does not itself constitute an RFQ. This requirement is covered under NAICS code 541715. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of qualified sources; Small Businesses; HUBZone small business; service-disabled, veteran-owned small business; 8(a) small business; veteran-owned small business; woman-owned small business; or small disadvantaged businesses; Responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible.  

Work is in cooperation with UC/USDA researchers.  The field trial coordinator oversees existing new elite rootstock germplasm trials in the state with UCCE Walnut Advisors.   

Approach and description of work to continue work on existing trials:  

• Continue to coordinate the evaluation and collate data for 1) the four ongoing orchard rootstock 2016 June bud trials (one trial each in Glenn, Lake, Sutter, and Tulare counties) and be primary investigator at Sutter County site. J. regia ‘Chandler’ was grafted on four of the elite selections, as well as commercial standards of Paradox seedling and VX211, RX1, and Vlach clonal rootstocks and planted at the sites in 2016. Additionally, a privately patented clone was planted at two of the sites, and 2) the four field trials planted in 2022 with several 3rd generation clonal genotypes with elevated levels of disease resistance to one or more of our three target pathogens. These include an inoculation treatment (i.e. inoculated with A. tumefaciens, Phytophthora, and nematodes) at UC Davis Armstrong field station, a Phytophthora trial in San Joaquin County, a crown gall trial in Stanislaus County, and a nematode trial in Sutter County.  

• Continue to assess tree growth (i.e., annual rootstock and tree trunk circumference measurements, percent of photosynthetically active radiation intercepted by tree canopy at selected sites), yield, crown gall and other disease incidence, and rootstock suckering when noted. Crown gall incidence is visually assessed, and roots from trees that decline or die are examined to determine whether they are infected with Phytophthora spp. or lesion nematode.  
• Perform analyses of variance and regression analyses, as appropriate for tree performance data from all orchard trials. 
• Continue to manage the NIFA SCRI grant for extension as PI for the rootstock trials and write progress reports. Write reports for all funding agencies. 
• Perform extension and outreach activities to inform growers and farm advisors about recent developments in walnut rootstock research.  
• Coordination and writing for publication the results thus far on the trials planted in 2015 and 2016.   

• Continue to take end of season growth data in 2022 at rootstock trial planted in fall 2019 at cooperating nursery.  

The Government does not intend to make an award based on responses to this inquiry. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the Government. 

Capability Statement 

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. Business concerns that possess the capabilities necessary to undertake this work should submit complete documentation of their capabilities to the Contracting Officer.  Capability statements shall include the Contractors contact point to discuss their response. 

The capability statement should include: 

1)  Acknowledgement that they are able to provide the subject supplies/services being requested; 

2) Interested vendors should identify their size standards in accordance with the Small Business Administration;  

3) At least three previous requirements that are similar to the requirement include a discussion of the Contract type, delivery method, duration, etc.; 

4) Any other information considered relevant to this requirement; and 

5) The government requests that no proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in the response.  

Any vendor responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine their qualifications to perform the work.  Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted.  After review of the responses received, a combined synopsis/solicitation may be published on sam.gov depending on the responses received. 

All responses to this Sources Sought Notice must be received by the notice’s POC by the deadline in order to be considered. Responses may not be returned. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this Inquiry. Do not submit pricing information in response to this Request. 

EthosXT Base or equivalent meeting the below specifications 

The minimum requirements are as follows:

• Tracks and analyzes the movement, activity, and behavior of subjects in multiple arenas simultaneously
• Records parameters: velocity, distance, time spent on certain zones, acceleration
• Data analyses capability: data nesting based on time, zone or behavioral state, data overlay with other independent variables and parameters, etc.
• Result visualization in a time-event plot with the data tracked and video file
• Annotates behaviors during live or offline acquisition, in real-time or at a lower speed, and refine or edit scored events afterwards
• Produce visualizations such as movement tracking that show movement of the subject in the arena or heat maps that represent time spent in an area of the arena

Detailed features:

• Nose, center, and tail point detection – dependent upon body shape and size
• “Activity detection” (in addition to video tracking): pinpoints pixel changes in the arena for each frame, ideal for discriminating bursts of movements
• Batch acquisition allows you to acquire the tracks from many videos all at once.
• Automatic and batch analysis - at the push of a button, analyze your trials based on any selection of data and parameters
• Integrated visualization and built-in screen recording let you create videos clips for presentations
• All parameters (dependent variables) are available for use in the trial control
• Set an automated start or end to tracking when pre-defined temporal or spatial conditions are met
• Acquire a series of trials from a live video feed and set start and stop conditions and intertrial periods
• Minimal distance moved setting
• Manual event recorder
• Simultaneous live tracking and MPEG-4 encoding (requires appropriate hardware) allows integrated visualization of acquired tracks and the stored video file
• Built-in analysis of all parameters; trial and group statistics presented in tables and graphs
• Zones per arena can be defined to measure behavioral parameters in relation to zones of interest
• Zones can be redefined post-acquisition and used for data analysis
• Export of graphical images (heatmaps and graphs) and tables (with adjustable layouts) as raw and statistical data for further analysis
• Export of raw track data

Laptop workstation for easy mobility and convenient field-related setup: Dell Mobile Precision 3571 with all software components pre-installed on Windows 10 (64 bits) and tested by Noldus to ensure 100% compatibility. Dedicated laptop for research.

• Processor: Intel® Core i7-11850H (8 Core, 24MB Cache, 2.5GHz-4.8GHz, 45W, vPro)
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA T600 with 4GB GDDR6
• Memory: 8GB (1x8GB) DDR4 3200 MHz Non-ECC Memory, SODIMM
• Hard Drive: M.2 128GB Gen3 PCIe x4 NVMe SSD
• Additional Hard Drive: 2.5" 1TB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
• Wi-Fi & Bluetooth: Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 2x2.11ax 160MHz + Bluetooth 5.1

GigE Camera Set:

• Color and monochrome IR-sensitive cameras for video recordings – monochrome IR-sensitive and color camera with Gigabit Ethernet interface
• ½” 4.5-12.5mm F1.2 manual iris & focus lens, CS mount
• Recording and video specifications: 1280 x 1024 pixels, 60 fps
• Optional IR illuminators are included
• Network card, cables, and connectors

2 IR backlight arrays with camera gantries:

• Dimensions per array: 46 cm (W) x 66 cm (L) x 7.5 cm (H)
• 100 cm high camera gantry
• Coupler for connecting both arrays for vertical or horizontal recording

Capability Statement 

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. Business concerns that possess the capabilities necessary to undertake this work should submit complete documentation of their capabilities to the Contracting Officer.  Capability statements shall include the Contractors contact point to discuss their response. 

The capability statement should include: 

1)  Acknowledgement that they are able to provide the subject supplies/services being requested; 

2) Interested vendors should identify their size standards in accordance with the Small Business Administration;  

3) At least three previous requirements that are similar to the requirement include a discussion of the Contract type, delivery method, duration, etc.; 

4) Any other information considered relevant to this requirement; and 

5) The government requests that no proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in the response.  

Any vendor responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine their qualifications to perform the work.  Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted.  After review of the responses received, a combined synopsis/solicitation may be published on sam.gov depending on the responses received. 

All responses to this Sources Sought Notice must be received by the notice’s POC Brian Fien @ [email protected] by the deadline 11/11/2023 in order to be considered. Responses may not be returned. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this Inquiry. Do not submit pricing information in response to this Request.