THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the Government. 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.

USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, MD requires a field-ready, hyperspectral spectrometer capable of sufficiently high spectral resolution to acquire solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence and sequentially measuring six or more targets. USDA is seeking a contractor that will be able to meet the following specifications for items 0001 and 0002 below.

Item 0001 -

Rugged, field-ready hyperspectral spectrometer capable of sufficiently high spectral

resolution to acquire solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence and sequentially measuring six or more targets. Only minor follow-on work (firmware updates) are expected. Product must be equivalent to the OCTO-FloX produced by JB Hyperspectral Devices GmbH.

Salient characteristics for Item 0001:

• Spectral resolution fine enough to retrieve solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) from telluric and solar absorption features (< 1 nm FWHM).
• Wavelength range wide enough to cover 500 – 900 nm to enable simultaneous acquisition of red SIF at 687 nm; far-red SIF at 760 nm; photochemical reflectance index (PRI) at 530 nm and 570 nm; normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and near-infrared reflectance of vegetation (NIRv) at 650 nm and 860 nm.
• Capable of rapid acquisition across multiple (at least 6) vegetative targets in different plots or growth chambers using fixed fiber optics.
• Capable of both hemispherical-conical or bi-hemispherical configurations, adjustable by user through removable cosine correctors designed for outdoor use.
• Weatherproof (IP67 rated) to allow deployment of unit in variable outdoor environments.
• Integrated thermal regulation to maintain spectrometer temperature consistently at 20 degrees Celsius. Intelligent temperature management modes for power saving. Heating for cold conditions.
• System operational temperature range from -10 to 50 degrees Celsius.
• Automatic optimization of integration time to maximize spectrometer dynamic range across 0-2000 PPFD.
• Correction for dark current and detector nonlinearity.
• Wavelength calibration and optimization of spectral shift.
• Radiometric calibration for both bare fiber and cosine corrected fiber configurations.

Item 0002 –

JB COS Cosine Receptor for the measurement of solar irradiance. Must be equivalent to the JB COS produced by JB Hyperspectral.

Salient Characteristics for Item 0002:

• Must be 100 percent compatible with the other item(s) described in this notice (see Item 0001).
• Cosine error of < 10% at 80 degrees
• Spectral range of 400 nm - 1000 nm

This Sources Sought is only for the purpose of identifying potential sources as part of USDA’s market research. No Request for Quote (RFQ) exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the RFQ. Responses to this Sources Sought are not quotes on which USDA can issue any contract. This Sources Sought is issued for information and planning purposes only and does not itself constitute an RFQ. The Government does not intend to award a contract or BPA based only on responses to this Sources Sought. All information received in response to this Sources Sought marked "Proprietary" will be protected and handled accordingly. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response.

In response to this source sought, please provide:

1. Name of the firm, point of contact, phone number, email address, SAM Unique Entity Identification Number (UEI), CAGE code, a statement regarding business status indicating rather large or small (including small business type(s)/certifications(s) such as SDB, 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB, etc.) and the corresponding NAICS code for your business.

2. Information whether your firm has the capability to provide the products listed and provide descriptive literature on the items your firm can provide to fulfill the requirements described.

3. Identify whether your firm is interested in competing for this requirement and providing the described products.

4. Identify if you are an authorized distributor of the manufacturer of the products described, or of their equivalent products.

5. Provide any Information to help determine if the requirement is commercially available, delivery schedules, customary terms and conditions, warranties, proprietary information, etc.

6. Provide any recommendations to improve the approach/specifications to acquiring the identified item.

Responses to this Sources Sought will not be returned. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this Sources Sought.

USDA ARS will not pay for information received in response to this Sources Sought. Please send responses with the subject heading USDA Octo Flox Units to Brandon Lewis’s email address: BRANDON.LEWIS@USDA.GOV by January 2, 2024 at 5:00 pm Eastern Time.

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