B--BPA--SAMPLE ANALYSIS

This Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Notice is to announce the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a requirement for a Blanket Purchase Agreement for the Colorado Water Science Center (COWSC), 201 E. 9th Street, Pueblo, CO 81003 requires the following services: 1) Process the benthic macroinvertebrate samples to the standards of the method described by Barbour and others (1999). Process Description: During the sorting process the contractor may subsample the samples using a gridded picking tray or standard picking tray. The contractor shall sort a minimum of 300 organisms from the sample from a minimum of one randomly selected cell in the grid. If necessary, additional, randomly selected, cells may need to be sorted to ensure the 300-organism minimum is reached. Once the 300 minimum is reached, the remaining debris in that cell/fraction will be sorted to completion. This approach may result in more than 300 organisms being sorted, 2) search the entire remaining sample for large/rare taxa not encountered in the subsample following the subsampling described above, 3) retain all portions of the sample (extracted organisms, sorted detritus, unsorted detritus) during sorting, 4) shall place closely related taxa (e.g., order) into vials labeled with the sample identification number, and date., and 5) preserve all midges and oligochaetes by microscope slide mounting as needed for identification, and any new taxa will be permanently mounted for the voucher collection. Acceptable performance standards for these tasks are provided in Barbour, M.T., Gerritsen, J., Snyder, B.D., and Stribling, J.B., 1999, Rapid bioassessment protocols for use in streams and wadeable rivers: Periphyton, benthic macroinvertebrates, and fish (2nd ed.): U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Report, EPA 841-B-99-002. Jaccard, P., 1912, The distribution of flora in the alpine zone: New Phytologist, v. 11, p. 37-50. Omernik, J.M., 1987, Ecoregions of the conterminous United States: Annals of the Association of American Geographers, v. 77, p.118-125. Whittaker, R.H., 1975, Communities and Ecosystems, second edition: New York, Macmillian Publishing Company, 387 p. An Estimated 40 benthic macroinvertebrate samples per year may be analyzed under this agreement. For the previous 3 years 62, 38, and 14 samples have been analyzed. Shall meet or exceed the Work Statement. The associated NAICS code is 541380 Testing Laboratories with a Small Business Size Standard of $15.0M. All requirements for preparation, submission, and receipt of offers contained in the solicitation shall be adhered to. This announcement can be found in its entirety, including attachments, at FedConnect (www.fedconnect.net). The USGS POC is Lori Lucero, contact@example.gov +1 (555) 000-0000, Ext 115.