Operations Support Services for EPA-Cincinnati Test and Evaluation Facility and Other NRMRL Facilities

The U.S. EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) has a requirement for research support at its T&E (Test and Evaluation) Facility located in Cincinnati, OH; for facility operations and other support for the T&E facility, and for support to other NRMRL Cincinnati satellite facilities located in Cincinnati and in Milford, OH. NRMRL is responsible for conducting environmental research, testing, evaluation, development and demonstration verification studies related to water monitoring, contaminant warning systems, water contamination detection research with various sensors, water infrastructure decontamination, water security experiments, drinking water treatment, infrastructure, source water treatment, watershed management, storm water, bio-sentinel urban water cycles, climate change, solids management, nano-technology and hazardous waste treatment. In addition to research support, facility operations and support for the T&E facility and finally, support to other NRMRL Cincinnati satellite facilities will also be performed by the contractor. The T&E facility holds a State of Ohio EPA Director's Exemption under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). This categorizes the T&E as a Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility (TSDF). It permits the Facility to accept, store, and treat a wide variety of hazardous wastes in a wide variety of unit processes. The objective of this solicitation is to provide research support for the numerous research activities conducted at the T&E facility, to provide facility operations and support for the T&E facility, and to support the other NRMRL Cincinnati Satellite Facilities in their research projects at the Center Hill facility in Cincinnati, the Experimental Streams Research Facility in Milford, Ohio, and a small laboratory annex to the main Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center (AWBERC-Cincinnati). Interested parties should reference the - draft Performance Work Statement and its attachments for specific requirements. The - Standard Operating Procedures Manual (SOP) referenced in the - draft PWS will be made available upon the issuance of the Solicitation. Significant potential exists for an organizational conflict of interest under this procurement, due to the monitoring requirements and the nature of the other work activities to be performed. Therefore, offerors will be required to submit a COI Plan with their proposal, in response to the Solicitation, requiring them to identify the projects they are working on and to explain how potential or actual organizational conflicts of interest can be mitigated, avoided or neutralized. The government anticipates award of a cost-plus-fixed-fee, term, Level of Effort (LOE) contract. The estimated LOE includes one, 12-month base period of 7,980 hours, and 71,415 hours for the base period quantity option. In addition, four, 12-month option periods of 10,230 hours each are anticipated. Finally, quantity options totaling 126,935 hours for each contract period will be included. The total potential LOE for the base period is 79,395 hours and 137,165 hours for the other four option periods. The maximum total LOE for all periods (five years) on the contract is 628,055 hours. The NAICS code is 541712, Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences. The applicable size standard is 500 employees. The solicitation will be issued on a full and open competitive basis; it will not be a small business set-aside. Copies of the solicitation will be available to all offerors on the Internet at the following website: www.epa.gov/oam/cinn_cmd. Interested parties are expected to download the solicitation and subsequent amendments from the website and to monitor the status of the RFP. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which will be considered by EPA. The anticipated release date is late November and the close date is approximately 30 days thereafter. Contract award will be made in accordance with Far Part 15, Contracting by Negotiation. See Note 26. The incumbent contract is EP-C-04-034 with Shaw. It is scheduled to expire on 05/31/09.