68 -- Fast Antimicrobial Screen Test on Animal Tissue

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) plans to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) FSIS-03-B-08 for biological screen tests for the detection of antimicrobial residues in animal tissues. This in-plant test was developed by FSIS and is called the Fast Antimicrobial Screen Test (FAST). FAST is capable of detecting beta lactams (both penicillins and cephalosporins), aminoglycosides, macrolides, tetracyclines, fluoroquinolones and sulfas. In these tests, cotton swabs saturated with tissue fluid from a suspected carcass are placed on a culture plate whose surface has been seeded with spores of a harmless organism (Bacillus megaterium spores for the FAST test). The primary contract specialist can provide more details on FAST procedures upon an offerors request. The Government estimates 125,000 FAST tests are used annually. The contractor will be responsible for quantitative analysis that may exceed 3,000 samples per year for a given project. Offerors must provide the facilities, personnel, and the capacity to handle the volume of samples required by this effort. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 325413, In-Vitro Diagnostic Substance Manufacturing, and the small business size standard is 500 employees. This procurement will be conducted as a Commercial Item acquisition under FAR Part 12; however, the Government reserves the right to solicit as a noncommercial item if determined necessary. Offerors will be required to submit a technical and price proposal for evaluation by the Government. The period of performance will be for a 12 month base period plus four (4) additional 12 month option periods. Award will be made to the offeror who submits the proposal considered most advantageous to the Government considering price and technical evaluation factors. The offers must conform to the RFP instructions and be received by the closing date specified in the RFP. The anticipated release date of the RFP is on or about January 24, 2008, with an anticipated offer due date on or about February 21, 2008. The firm date of receipt of offers will be stated in the RFP. The solicitation will be issued electronically and will be available as an amendment to this notice. It is the offerors responsibility to monitor this site for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Interested qualified businesses are requested to submit a package delineating qualifications, capabilities, and experience for providing the supplies described herein. Samples will be requested in accordance with the RFP at no cost to the Government. The Government will not pay for any materials provided in response to the synopsis or solicitation. Offerors must demonstrate that they have actual experience in providing screening test plates, the capability to provide this supply, and qualifications in all previous work pertinent to this effort. Responses should also include the following: name and address of firm; size of business; number of years in business; and list of customers covering the past five years (highlight relevant work performed, contract numbers, contract type, dollar value of each procurement, and point of contact with address and phone number). Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. Questions may be submitted via email to Julian.McElveen@fsis.usda.gov; or by mail to Julian McElveen at USDA, FSIS, ASD, 5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Mail drop 5230, Beltsville, MD 20705-5230; or by fax to 301-504-4276. All information requests are due by 5:00 p.m. ET on January 22, 2008.