Planned Sole Source Follow-on contract to provide auditing service of in-depth assessing of federal regulatory food testing labs

Sources Sought - Planned Sole Source Follow-on contract to provide auditing service of in-depth assessing of federal regulatory food testing labs to the ISO/IEC 17025 and ALACC requirements. The contractor shall identify non-conformances to the requirements found in ISO/IEC Standard 17025, ALACC and FSIS Laboratory Management System. The auditors shall have in depth training in ISO/IEC 17025, ALACC and federal food standards. The desk audit shall be performed and include a review of requested FSIS Laboratory Management System. Background - The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is responsible for the inspection of meat, poultry, and egg products to assure that they are safe, wholesome, unadulterated, and properly labeled to conduct analyses to determine the presence of pathogenic organisms, veterinary drug residues, environmental contaminants, microbial toxins and food ingredients. The Government intends to award a sole source, indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract. The period of performance will be for a 12 month base period plus four (4) additional 12 month option periods for acquiring the continuation of service in accordance to the statement of work (SOW). As described in FAR 6.302 1(a)(2)(ii)(A), the services being planned are available only from the original source. This follow-on contract for this service will allow A2LA to continue supporting FSIS Field Service Laboratories to retain these specialized services to current operations and requirements for the project. The contractor onsite shall performed, but not be limited to, entry and exit briefings, review of quality documentation records, qualified in handling food samples, interviews of technical and management staff, examination of equipment and calibration records. The contractor will provide the laboratory a checklist containing their audit criteria to assist the labs in preparing for accreditation. The plan and auditor(s) must be acceptable to the FSIS laboratory management and must meet requirements for maintaining uninterrupted accreditation. The Government has determined that procurement by other than full and open competition is necessary because procurement from any other source than A2LA would result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition and/or would potentially cause unacceptable delays in fulfilling of services. Please submit your interest in response to this sources sought notice, and a description of your capabilities and past experiences to perform these requirements. This is not a request for quotations or an announcement of a forthcoming solicitation. The Government does not intend to pay for information received. All interested parties must respond within fifteen (15) days from the date of this notice. Written responses must provide clear and concise documentation indicating your firm's capability to provide the required services. Verbal responses are not acceptable and will not be considered. When responding to this announcement, respondents should refer to Announcement FSIS-04-B-14. If after January 31, 2014, no viable responses have been received in response to this announcement; USDA/FSIS shall negotiate solely with American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA).