United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), ARSEF (Entomopathogenic Fungal Collection) houses over 14,000 fungi isolated from insects. We serve stakeholders interested in researching these isolates to develop novel biological control or biopesticide products to control emerging insect and other invertebrate pathogens in agriculture. In the past, we have sent out approximately 200 isolates (30-50 requests) and accessioned approximately 200 new isolates to the collection annually.

A custom database (ALICE) was written in the early 2000s in the 4D language to manage information on individual isolates in the collection, including metadata such as collection location, collector, substrate and other relevant metadata, and customer information. The database also facilitates some limited queries of the collection based on fungal taxonomy, ARSEF number, insect host genera, and collection location. In the last fiscal year, the database was upgraded from V17 of 4D to V19 to allow software to continue to run on current Mac and Window operating systems in the lab. This current project will upgrade to version 20 of 4D (Project Mode), improve search options, and develop automated collections and database management tools.

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotes are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued.

The reference number for this acquisition is #1232SA23Q0143 and it is being issued as a Request for Quotes (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2023-04 (effective 02 June 2023). Please prepare a quote; include the Business Name, Business POC (name, e-mail & phone number), Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), and CAGE code.

This acquisition is small business set-aside. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541511 - Custom Computer Programming Services business size $34 million.

SOLICITATION INCORPORATES BY REFERENCE FAR 52.204-7, 52.204-13, 52.204-16, 52.204-17, 52.204-18, 52.204-20, 52.212-1, 52.212-3, 52.212-4, 52.217-5 and 52.232-39 ARE ATTACHED.

FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors – Commercial, does apply to this acquisition with no addenda to the provision.

Vendors must include a completed copy of FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications – Commercial Items, with its quote. If the vendor has up-to-date representations and certifications in the System for Award Management (SAM) website, then this completed provision is not required to be submitted with the quote.

FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions – Commercial Items, does apply to this acquisition with no addenda to the provision.

FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders – Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition.

EVALUATION: In awarding the proposed contract, The United States Department of Agriculture, (USDA) will select the contractor who presents the overall best value to the Government, considering the Offeror’s technical approach and the evaluated pricing. The quote should include a firm fixed price (FFP) format.

Quotes are requested to be sent electronically to David.Jordan@usda.gov NLT 5:00 PM EST, Wednesday, August 17, 2023.

Please direct any questions concerning this solicitation to David.Jorda@usda.gov NLT 12:00 EST (Noon), Monday, August 15, 2023.

The anticipated award date is Monday, August 21, 2023.

The Government reserves the right to cancel this combined synopsis/solicitation at any time for any reason. Any questions should be sent to David Jordan at (301) 504-1018 or at the email above.

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