SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- NCEA Technical Support for Professional Services
- Notice Date
- 4/10/2007
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Bid and Proposal Room, Ariel Rios Building (3802R) 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20460
- ZIP Code
- 20460
- Solicitation Number
- PR-HQ-07-11538
- Response Due
- 4/25/2007
- Archive Date
- 5/25/2007
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Acquisition Management (OAM) intends to award a sole-source, fixed-price Purchase Order for technical support for professional services to: North Carolina State University 2406 Williams Hall Raleigh, NC 27695 This simplified acquisition is being performed in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 13.106-1(b), Soliciting Competition, for the acquisition of services to perform Interactions Among Elevated CO2, Elevated N Deposition, and Mycorrhizal Mediated N Uptake by Vegetation for EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD). North Carolina State University (NCSU) has an on-going program evaluating the impacts of mutliple and interacting air pollutants and climate/meteorological factors. The services required for this procurement build upon NCSU?s established program activities and calls for the use of their specialized laboratory facilities. Additionally, NCSU employs several uniquely trained mycologists who have specialized experience evaluating the impacts of multiple-air pollutants. Because NCSU has conducted previous work that serves as a foundation for the services required for this procurement, possess the facilities required to perform the required services, and have specially trained individuals to complete the work, contracting with any other outside firm, school, or other business would not be practicable or in the best interest of economy and efficiency. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTATION. No contract will be awarded on the basis of offers received in response to this notice. All inquiries and concerns must be addressed in writing to the Contract Specialist for this action, Jessica Gosnell, at gosnell.jessica@epa.gov no later than 04/20/07. A determination not to compete this requirement is within the discretion of the Government. Any response to this notice must show clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government for this requirement. The Statement of Work (SOW) outlining the services to be performed can be found below: Statement of Work NCEA Technical Support Services INTRODUCTION Approximately 2.8 trillion grams of nitrogen (N) are released into the atmosphere each year in the form of various nitric oxides as a by product of human activities within the U.S. Worldwide 60% of newly fixed N is delivered to Earth?s surfaces via human-derived sources. Atmospheric deposition is a major source of nitrogen to terrestrial ecosystems, comprising upwards of 30% of the entire nitrogen budget in many watersheds. Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen also contributes to nutrient loading and eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems when nitrogen runoff from land increases. Mycorrhizal fungi help retain nitrogen within ecosystems, delivering up to 86% of the total N budget for a plant and contributing to the recovery of up to 69% of applied N. Global climate change scenarios predict atmospheric concentration of CO2 to continue rising thus causing an increase in C-fixation for many plant species. The NCEA-RTP office is currently seeking to retain the professional services of scientists to conduct and investigation on the effects of elevated N and elevated CO2 on arbuscular mycorrhizal mediated uptake of nitrogen. Work derived from this contract will provide unique information on how elevated levels of N deposition caused by NOx air pollution affect the nutrient uptake and cycling by terrestrial vegetation (CWA, Section 104). Section 103 (a) (1) of the Clean Air Act authorizes the Administrator to conduct, and promote the coordination and acceleration of research, investigations, experiments, demonstrations, surveys, and studies relating to the causes, effects (including health and welfare effects), extent, prevention, and control of air pollution. Moreover, Title I, Section 112 (m) (1) (C, D, and E) of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 provide statutory authority to conduct this research. SPECIFIC TASKS The Contractor shall accomplish the following tasks and shall complete these tasks according to the estimated time schedule given below. Because of the importance of these tasks to EPA?s mandated environmental objectives, any late deliverables may negatively affect the outcome of the entire project. Task 1. Joint Quality Management/Quality Assurance Project Plan (JQM/QAPP) The Contractor shall submit a Joint Quality Management / Quality Assurance Project Plan (JQM/QAPP) for the product specified below in Task 2 within 15 days of award of the contract (see Attachment 2 for an outline of the JQM/QAPP). The JQM/QAPP shall address issues of quality assurance and quality control procedures. The JQM/QAPP must be approved by the EPA Project Officer and Quality Assurance Officer prior to initiation of other work. Task 2. Conduct Research The Contractor shall conduct research investigating the combined effects of elevated carbon dioxide, N deposition on potted vegetation in an indoor controlled environmental facility which allows manipulation of light and Carbon dioxide (e.g a Phytotron). The plant species should be a C4 grass currently under consideration for development for commercialized biofuel production. Experimental design and treatment variables The experimental design will be fully factorial to test the effects of CO2 (ambient and 1.5x atmospheric levels), Nitrogen Fertilization (ambient, ~+10 kg/ha, ~+35 kg/ha), and the presence of mycorrhizae on response variables that evaluate plant growth and mycorrhizal growth (Table 1). Table 1: Treatment variables and approximate values for the fully factorial experimental design Ambient Carbon Dioxide (~380 ppm) Elevated Carbon Dioxide (~570 ppm) N1: ~Ambient N2: ~ +10 kg/ha N3: ~+35 kg/ha N1: ~Ambient N2: ~ +10 kg/ha N3: ~+35 kg/ha +myc -myc +myc -myc +myc -myc + - + - + - The Contractor will develop the arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculums for this experiment. The taxonomic identity of the inoculums shall be identified to the level of genus. The N fertilizer shall be composed of chemical species which closely approximate those found in the wet or dry deposition resulting from NOx air pollution. Fertilizer application shall occur throughout the experimental period and be carefully recorded. Light regime shall be calculated to approximate spring/ or summer conditions in units of integrated Photon Flux Density (PFD). Carbon dioxide shall be elevated within the growth chamber by compressed gas. Daily fluctuations of carbon dioxide, relative humidity and temperature shall be monitored hourly throughout the experimental period. Progress Report: After the experiment is conducted and before the analysis of the response variables, the contractor shall submit to the EPA a brief progress report (3-5 pages) outline the tasks completed and state of the research. Response variables: 1. The contractor shall assess the impact of CO2 and Nitrogen on mycorrhizal growth and physiological activity by one or more of the following methods 1. Root Colonization 2. Extraradical hyphal length 3. Live vs. Dead hypha 2. The contractor shall assess the interactions of CO2 and N on plants with and without mycorrhizae by measuring the following variables 1. Plant growth a. Biomass of roots, leaves, stems and total 2. Nitrogen a. N content of roots, leaves, stems and total b. Nitrogen Budget i. Total amount of nitrogen in plant tissue- total amount applied 3. C content i. Biomass of roots, leaves, stems and total 4. Gas exchange a. Photosynthesis and Transpirations Task 3. Data organization After completion of the experiment outlined in Task 2, the Contractor shall organize all data on the response variables and monitored treatment variables into excel spreadsheets. These spreadsheets shall be clearly labeled with the dates and times of measurement and, when applicable, of plant/mycorrhizal fungi harvest. DELIVERABLES AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES General The Contractor shall provide data products to the EPA Project Officer as specified in the above tasks. All products must be of high quality, written in English, in a clear and concise style, with a logical organization and presentation. Products not adhering to these standards, or substantially lacking scientific quality, will not be accepted. The Contractor shall use current EPA guidelines for performance of work, unless otherwise specified. The Contractor shall provide all written materials and responses in both hard copy and electronic format. Word Processing Hard copies of all completed spreadsheets should be submitted to NCEA by the deadlines established in the scope of work. Contractors should also submit word processing disks or email electronic files. Most of NCEA?s word processing activities are performed in Microsoft (MS) Word; if Macintosh files are submitted they must be DOS formatted or they will not be accepted. Tables and Equations Spreadsheets should be prepared using MS EXCEL. Tables prepared using MS Word table boxes and equations in MS Word equation boxes are especially useful. Tables with columns aligned using spaces will not be accepted. Tab-aligned columns are acceptable. Equations prepared with other software packages often cannot be converted and usually will need to be reentered. These data tables should be submitted at the end of the project. DELIVERY AND TASK COMPLETION SCHEDULE The contractor shall be responsible for delivering all written materials and professional services in accordance with the following proposed time schedule. This time schedule is subject to change based on federal court decisions. Partial payment is authorized following completion and acceptance of each task, in accordance with the payment schedule outlined within. Task Deliverable/Meeting Anticipated Completion Date Payment for Completed Deliverables 1 Submit Joint Quality Management/Quality Assurance Project Plan (JQM/QAPP) Within 15 calendar days of contract award date TBD Upon Award 2 Mycorrhizal inoculums preparation May 25, 2007 TBD Upon Award 3 Complete Phytotron/Growth Chamber work November 15 , 2007 TBD Upon Award 4 Progress Report December 15, 2007 TBD Upon Award 5 Response variable analysis/ lab work April 15, 2008 TBD Upon Award 6 Data Organization May 30, 2008 TBD Upon Award 7 Submit data to the EPA June 15, 2008 TBD Upon Award This purchase order will be modified to reflect any such schedule changes. MANAGEMENT CONTROL PROCEDURES The EPA has determined that activities related to this contract come under the definition of advisory and assistance services and, as such, additional management controls have been added. The Project Officer is responsible for assuring compliance. 1. All clarification and technical discussion between the EPA Project Officer and the contractor will be documented with email correspondence. 2. All deliverables will be reviewed carefully by the EPA Project Officer to ensure that work conforms to the requirements of the Statement of Work. 3. Contractor deliverables will be subjected to NCEA and ORD clearance and peer-review procedures, as required. All documents will be filed in accordance with the EPA National Records Management Program. 4. All work will be performed off-site. The Contractor is required to report on prior contracts and current work that may present a conflict of interest. The above control measures will ensure that no activity is performed or products released without prior review and approval by the EPA Project Officer.
- Web Link
-
The Environmental Protection Agency
(http://www.epa.gov/oam/solicit)
- Record
- SN01270367-W 20070412/070410221430 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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