B--NOI - Malheur Lake samples - phytoplankton

The USGS, Oregon Water Science Center has a requirement for Phytoplankton Identification, Enumeration and Biovolume for environmental water samples. The Government intends to award this requirement noncompetitively IAW FAR 12 and 13.106-1(b)(1) to Phycotech, Inc. PhycoTech Inc. has performed all the analyses since 1990 on samples collected for from Upper Klamath Lake, another lake in south-central Oregon located about 260 miles from the MNWR. Both lakes are located in basin-and-range topography with similar land use characteristics and have many similarities including being large shallow lakes. These lakes experience similar weather patterns and, on a longer time scale, similar climate cycles. Comparison of the phytoplankton communities between the two is of the utmost importance to the mission of the Oregon Water Science Center. Methodology is less standardized for phytoplankton enumeration samples (see item number 8) than it is for chemical constituents, and therefore if datasets are to be compared, the choice of laboratory is more critical than it is for many chemical constituents (nutrients, for example). This is recognized in the USGS National Field Manual (Chapter 7.5, Cyanobacteria in lakes and reservoirs: toxin and taste-and-odor sampling guidelines) where it is stated in the Quality Control section (7.5.5E) that ¿use of a single laboratory throughout the study is recommended¿ for phytoplankton analyses because taxonomic identification and enumeration are often inconsistent among laboratories. Therefore, laboratory consistency between projects and continuity through time is required. The Government anticipates award of a Firm-Fixed Price type contract. All firms must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database at www.sam.gov. Please contact the Contracting Officer, in writing, by email at contact@example.gov, with any questions.