R--Testing and Analytical Services for Regulation of Motor Vehicles,

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Air and Radiation (OAR), Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ), Assessment and Standards Division (ASD) has a requirement for Testing and Analytical Services for Regulation of Motor Vehicles, Engines, Fuels and Fuel Additives. Support shall be provided for testing, monitoring, and analytical services for emissions characterization, technology assessment and test procedure/equipment development related to regulated/unregulated emissions, and fuel consumption for a variety of highway and non-highway vehicles and engines operating on all types of conventional, reformulated, and alternative fuels in both laboratory and real-world environments. It is anticipated that any future contract for these services will be a Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) Level-of-Effort (LOE) type contract with five one-year periods. Each period will have approximately 22,000 LOE hours including increased quantity options. The applicable NAICS code is 541330 (Environmental Engineering Services) with a size standard of $14 million. The successful contractor of any resultant contract will be expected to provide all necessary labor, materials, and facilities in support of the efforts delineated by the Performance Work Statement (PWS). The EPA has determined that actual Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCOI) exist for this requirement. The EPA has determined to exclude from consideration for award, as a prime contractor or subcontractor, any motor vehicle, aircraft, marine vessel, locomotive, and non-road equipment or engine manufacturer, fuel/fuel additive producers or distributors, and firms in the fields of emissions control or reduction. The industries named above could not avoid actual Conflict of Interest as activities included in the PWS to provide testing and analytical support for the regulation of motor vehicles, engines, fuels and fuel additives would have a significant impact on policies applicable to these industries. In addition, the EPA has determined that offerors that have business or financial relationship(s) or that directly work for motor vehicle, aircraft, marine vessel, locomotive, and non-road equipment or engine manufacturer, fuel/fuel additive producers or distributors, and firms in the fields of emissions control or reduction may also have significant actual or potential OCOI concerns. All offerors shall submit an OCOI plan that describes procedures the offeror uses to identify and report COIs. The solicitation shall include standard EPAAR provisions (EPAAR 1552.209-70 and 1552.209-72) which require that an offeror certify whether it is aware of any potential OCOI or disclose any potential OCOI, and provide disclosure statements describing such OCOI, which may impact their ability to impartially conduct work under the PWS. The standard EPAAR solicitation provision (EPAAR 1552.209-71) requiring a contractor to make full disclosure of any actual or potential conflict of interest that is discovered or arises after contract award shall also be part of the solicitation. Furthermore, the standard EPAAR clause (EPAAR 1552.20-74 ? Limitation of Future Contracting) shall also be included in the solicitation and prohibits offerors from entering into a business or financial relationship with excluded industries named above for one year past the life of the contract. A draft PWS detailing the specific technical areas, as well as required tasks, for this FBO procurement announcement is posted as an attachment on the FedConnect web portal. Notices of any modifications to this FBO procurement announcement, including Requests for Proposals and amendments, will be posted using the FedConnect web portal. FedConnect can be accessed at https://www.fedconnect.net/Fedconnect/. Questions regarding the content of the subject announcement must be submitted through the FedConnect portal. Offerors must register with FedConnect as an interested party to submit questions and to view responses. FedConnect is a web portal that connects agencies and vendors to streamline the process of doing business with the federal government. Through FedConnect contractors will be able to receive, review and respond to contract pre- and post-award actions and documents such as correspondence, request for proposals, tasking instruments and contract modifications. The use of FedConnect also furthers the EPA?s commitment to moving towards a paperless acquisition environment by reducing its carbon footprint and conducting its business in an ecologically friendly manner. There is no charge to use FedConnect. Vendors can register with FedConnect at www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/. For assistance in registering or for other FedConnect technical questions please call the FedConnect Help Desk at +1 (555) 000-0000 or email at contact@example.gov. In addition, all vendors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), as this facilitates registration for FedConnect. Please note that vendors MUST have their SAM profile set to ?public,? otherwise FedConnect will not be able to access the SAM information required to validate vendor credentials. Registration may be completed and information regarding the registration process may be obtained at http://www.sam.gov. There is no charge for registration in SAM. The solicitation is expected to be issued in April 2014 through the FedConnect portal. The EPA does not intend to mail hard copies of the solicitation. It is the responsibility of the offerors to frequently check the FedConnect portal for updates or changes.