Animal Husbandry

Sources Sought Notice October 25, 2013 NIEHS The mission of the NIEHS is to discover how the environment affects people in order to promote healthy lives. As such, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is seeking capability statements from qualified 8(a) Small businesses Set Aside for an anticipated requirement for Animal Husbandry Support Services to be conducted at Research Triangle Park, (Durham), North Carolina. The performance of this requirement will be conducted in Government owned or leased facilities with the designated contract service area(s). This requirement will be conducted under the Comparative Medicine Branch (CMB), Animal Resources Section (ARS) at the NIEHS. Goals: The Animal Husbandry Support Contract for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences provides care and maintenance for laboratory animals, seven (7) days per week including weekends and holidays for a 57,000 square foot laboratory animal facility with a daily inventory of 30,000 animals. The contractor will be responsible for establishing pedigreed rodent breeding colonies, performing complicated surgical techniques, and diagnostic evaluation of laboratory animals in support of research programs and objectives. The contract will be responsible for the breeding, perpetuation, and potential expansion of the various strains of research colony rodents, which includes over 300 transgenic knock-out/knock-in and mutant mouse lines. The contractor will also evaluate the reproductive efficiency of all in-house rodent breeding colonies including transgenic colonies, and identify reproductive problems and make recommendations for improvement. Prepare working protocols for each breeding colony, to include determination of strain viability, production rate, data collection and data assimilation. This must be accomplished by establishing and maintaining excellent working relationships with the principle investigators. The contractor is also charged with the production, husbandry, sample collection of an in-house sentinel program; to include maintenance of a specific pathogen free gnotobiotic colony of rodents. The contractor will also be responsible for all aspects of husbandry and animal care which includes feeding and watering animals; animal health surveillance; monitoring room environment conditions; sanitation and cleaning of cages and rooms. The contract is also responsible for any aquatic research animals. This includes, but is not limited to the care and husbandry of various species and strains of aquatic animals, water testing and monitoring to maintain acceptable variables, health assessments and medical treatments. The contractor will also identify animals by performing ear punch; tail, toe or foot pad tattoos; or microchip implantations as directed. Collection of tissue samples for rodent genotyping, performing anesthesia for procedures, and humane euthanasia as dictated by the regulatory committees overseeing animal research. Administer routine treatments to animals when prescribed by veterinary staff. Maintain animal room equipment and inventory. Order, receive, inspect, and inventory deliveries of feed, bedding, equipment and supplies. Receive, inspect, deliver shipments of in-house animals within a 25 mile radius of NIEHS, and prepare animals for both intra and intercontinental shipments. Operate and monitor performance of autoclaves, cage washers, rack washers, bedding dispensers, bottle washers and bottle fillers, vacuum cleaners, and floor scrubbers. Provide housekeeping to entire animal facility and support areas. Provide around the clock coverage for routine scheduled maintenance outages as well as coverage for unforeseen outages as needed. Perform the data management of animal inventory, cost accounting, and the animal study proposals using Sirius animal facility management software. Perform necropsies and records findings on Animal Health Report. Perform sample collection (urine, feces, tissues, whole blood and/or blood products, parasites, microbiological cultures) fixation and/or freezing of samples. The Contractor will be responsible for training all new employees as well as providing an on-going training for entire staff. The NIEHS shall provide animal holding and procedures, space, cage wash facilities, office and laboratory space, and other support space to conduct the requirement of this anticipated procurement. All contractors shall have a minimum of 5 years specialized experience providing laboratory animal husbandry to biomedical research facilities, specializing in transgenic breeding. All practices and procedures of husbandry, care and maintenance of animals used in the performance of this contract shall be in accordance with the latest issue in effect of the Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals as well as NIEHS standard operating procedures. The intended procurement will be classified under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541990 as all OTHER Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services with a size standard $14M. The Government anticipates that this proposed requirement will be a hybrid type acquisition (Labor Hour with fixed priced components) with the option to exercise optional labor hours/categories during performance. Specifically, a base award period of one year, with four one-year options and one additional 6 month option in the fifth year if needed........not to exceed 5 years and 6 months duration cumulative (is anticipated). The proposed services will be obtained through the issuance of individual, fixed-price delivery orders. The planned release date of the solicitation document is on or about January 20, 2014 with a due date of February 21, 2014. The anticipated contract award date is September 23, 2014. This SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE is open to 8(a) Small Business Set-asides ONLY. The following denotes information/input requested: Company Information Vendors shall provide a summary about their company. Included in the summary will be: a. Company name and address b. Years in business c. Type of company d. Point of contact, including telephone number and email address, for representative of the interested firm e. A brief overview of your firm's capabilities f. A list of clients or experience in the areas described above g. Do you have a GSA vehicle that could be utilized for these services? If yes, please provide the contract number and point of contact information. Deadline for response(s) Responses are requested by 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, November 12, 2013. Responses must be in PDF format and submitted to graydi@niehs.nih.gov Primary Point of Contact: Dianne M. Gray, Contract Specialist, NIEHS, OM, Office of Acquisitions graydi@niehs.nih.gov Page Limitation: 20 pages, Times New Roman Font 12 Pre-created marketing literature may be submitted in addition to the 20-page limitation requirement IMPORTANT NOTATION: This Sources Sought Notice (SSN) is not a request for proposal, request for quotation, or an offer or an Invitation for bid, nor does its issuance restrict the Government on its eventual disposition activities. This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY, and all information received will be used for planning and market research purposes only. Information received will not be published. Your response(s) may be releasable to the public under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. . If you wish for NIEHS to consider any portion of your response exempt from disclosure under the FOIA, your respective organization/agency should clearly mark that portion as "confidential commercial information." The procedures for such markings are clearly defined in Title 45, Volume 1, Subtitle A - Department of Health and Human Services, Part 5 - Freedom of Information Regulations, Subpart F (Reasons for Withholding Some Records); 5.65 (Exemption four: Trade Secrets and confidential commercial or financial information.) Respondents will not be notified of any results derived from a review of the information provided. This SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE should not be construed as a commitment by the Government, and no Contracting Officer intends to award a contract based on your responses. All information contained in the SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE is preliminary and is subject to modification and is no way binding on the Government. The Government will not pay for information received in response to this SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE. All responders to this SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE. The Government will NOT respond to electronic inquiries regarding the successful or unsuccessful electronic submission of capability statements submitted as a result of this posted FBO notice. ALL RESPONSES SHOULD CONTAIN THE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER NIHES2013185.