SOURCES SOUGHT
Q -- US Army Public Health Command (USAPHC), Army Institute of Public Health (AIPH) Analytical Services Contract Sources Sought Announcement.
- Notice Date
- 7/22/2011
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541380
— Testing Laboratories
- Contracting Office
- ACC-APG SCRT - Aberdeen Installation, Directorate of Contracting, 4118 Susquehanna Avenue, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-3013
- ZIP Code
- 21005-3013
- Solicitation Number
- W91ZLK11T0265
- Response Due
- 7/28/2011
- Archive Date
- 9/26/2011
- Point of Contact
- david.wallace, 410-278-0858
- E-Mail Address
-
ACC-APG SCRT - Aberdeen Installation
(david.p.wallace6.civ@mail.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION ANNOUNCEMENT. THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS ONLY. The purpose of this sources sought notice is to gauge the level of interest and capability within the contracting community for providing the US Army Public Health Command (USAPHC), Army Institute of Public Health (AIPH) with analytical services for the analysis of water, wipes, soil, air and biological samples for various radiochemistry compounds. The period of performance will be one-year base and two one-year options. Response to this notice is strictly voluntary and will not affect any corporation's ability to submit an officer if or when a solicitation is released. The anticipated NAICS code is 541380 (Testing Laboratories), and the PSC is Q301 (Medical Services - Laboratory Testing Services). Anticipated Scope of Activities: Procedures specified in Attachment 1 shall be used in the analyses of water, wipes, soil, air and biological samples for radiochemistry compounds. If the referenced standard procedures have been modified by the laboratory in any way (extraction, analysis, types and number of QC samples employed, QC acceptance criteria, etc), these modifications must be clearly explained in the laboratory SOPs and provided to AIPH prior to contract award for approval. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS The contractor shall use quality instrumentation, technologies and methodologies to analyze samples for any of the parameters listed in Attachment 1. References for the analytical methodologies are also listed in Attachment 1. Contractor shall meet 21 calendar day STANDARD Turnaround Time. For samples designated HIGH PRIORITY the contractor shall meet 12 calendar day turnaround time requirement and for Top Priority contractor shall meet a 8 calendar day turnaround time requirement. Approximately 25% of total samples forwarded to contractor per year shall be designated HIGH PRIORITY and approximately 25% may be TOP PRIORITY. **NOTE - Turnaround time is defined as the intervening time period between the date of sample receipt in contractor laboratory to the date of receipt of a complete and technically correct data package (PDF + electronic copy) in AIPH laboratory. ** NOTE - Holidays and Weekends are considered 'calendar' days TURNAROUND TIME EXCEPTIONS- Radium and Strontium measurements will require a 35 calendar day STANDARD turnaround time; There will be no designated High Priority turnaround time for radium and strontium measurements. The contractor shall follow strict quality assurance and quality control protocol per applicable analytical methods (Attachment 1) and Attachment 2. Note that all method-specific quality assurance/quality control requirements (laboratory blanks, laboratory control samples, laboratory/method dups, method-required matrix spikes) must be included in the contractor, per field sample bid price (no additional charges for laboratory/method-required QA/QC). It is understood field QC samples (field blanks, rinse blanks, matrix spike requirements above method requirements) will be charged the field sample rate. The contractor shall submit data packages comprising documentation for sample receipt/analyses, data reduction, quality control, raw data generation and electronic data transfer (EDD) to meet APHC requirements. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS The contractor shall provide the required analytical expertise and instrumentation to obtain reporting limits equal to or lower than those specified in Attachment 1. Specifications for Reporting Uranium 235/238 Ratios and Uncertainties - AIPH requires that all uranium-235/uranium-238 ratios for all matrices by ICP-MS be performed using calibrated mass bias correction methodologies. The contactor will use standards calibrated for uranium-235/uranium-238 ratio to determine the mass bias correction. Ratio results shall include some assessment of the ratio uncertainty to include as a minimum an assessment of the instrument precision (%RSD) but AIPH would prefer a propagated standard error to include the sample preparation, calibration uncertainties as well as instrument precision in accordance with guidance provided in ANSI/NCSL Z540-2-1997 American National Standard for Expressing Uncertainty - U.S. guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement. Ratio uncertainty shall be expressed in terms of the ratio measurement. Contractor shall provide all documentation of ability to perform analysis to include calibration information as well as documentation of uncertainty assessment for AIPH technical review. Contractor shall provide whether the ratio is calculated based on an atom ratio or a mass ratio. For all non traditional counting radiochemical methodologies, an assessment of the concentration uncertainty must be performed and reported to include as a minimum an assessment of the instrument precision (%RSD) but AIPH would prefer a propagated standard error to include the sample preparation, calibration uncertainties as well as instrument precision in accordance with guidance provided in ANSI/NCSL Z540-2-1997 American National Standard for Expressing Uncertainty - U.S. guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement. Concentration uncertainty shall be expressed in terms of the concentration measurement. Contractor shall provide all documentation of uncertainty assessment for AIPH technical review. For all ICP-MS Metals methodologies, all results shall be reported under CLP reporting requirements of data flagging. Contractor Qualifications -- In order to perform the required analyses, the contract laboratory shall have at least the following instrumentation/technologies: Radiochemistry Instrumentation/Technologies - Gas Flow Proportional Counter - Liquid Scintillation Counter - Gamma Spectrometer - Scintillation Counter for Radon - Alpha Spectrometer - Inductively-Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer - Kinetic Phosphorescence analyzer NOTE: All instrumentation/technologies required in this contract shall be present and effectively operating within the contract laboratory prior to submission of the bid package for consideration. The lab MUST have at least 2 of each of the above mentioned instruments/technologies or a mitigation plan to eliminate downtime and ensure the government's turn-around times will be met. STANDING OPERATING PROCEDURES - The contractor shall maintain an SOP for every analytical method noted in the SOW. Contractor must also have an ISO 17025:2005 compliant Quality Assurance Manual, however named. CONTRACTOR CERTIFICATION. The contractor shall be accredited by the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program or the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation for all methods and matrices covered by this contract. These accreditations shall meet all the requirements of the ISO 17025:2005 standard and the methods and matrices covered by this contract must be listed on the laboratory's scope of accreditation. AIPH must be notified, in writing, within 30 days of any loss of certification for any methods noted in this SOW. Finally, the contract lab should be accredited for sample analyses governed by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act. SUBCONTRACTING Subcontracting of the analytical procedures in this Statement of Work shall ONLY be allowed if performed by ICP-MS for the following analyses: Uranium U-238water0.5 ug/L (ICP-MS, EPA 200.8) Uranium (U-238)Soil0.1 ug/g Uranium (U235/U238 Ratio)SoilNA Uranium (U-238)Filter 0.1 ug/filter Wipe0.1 ug/wipe Uranium (U-235/U238 Ratio)FilterNA WipeNA Subcontractor shall adhere to the same quality requirements as the oversight contractor throughout this SOW. It should be noted that every time the term "contractor" is used throughout this statement of work, the term "sub-contractor" is also applicable. The lab(s) used for subcontracting must first be audited and approved by AIPH prior to submitting samples. No exceptions to this requirement will be accepted. The lab bidding on this contract must identify their subcontractor(s) upon submission of bid for this analytical contract. This subcontractor(s) will be evaluated as part of the total evaluation for award of this contract. Contractor shall submit no more than 2 subcontractors for these analyses for evaluation by the AIPH. The subcontract lab(s) shall submit the same documentation for the analyses to be subcontracted as the bidding lab (i.e. SOP for the method being performed, Quality Assurance Manual, Resumes, Org Chart, PTs, Certificate and scope of accreditation, etc..) NOTE: Sending samples to any other physical location than the bidding laboratory's location (even if it is another lab within the bidding labs main network) is considered 'subcontracting'. GENERAL QUALITY CONTROL REQUIREMENTS Standard laboratory practices for laboratory cleanliness regarding glassware and apparatus must be strictly followed. Laboratory practices regarding reagents, solvents and gases must also be followed. For guidelines applicable to these general laboratory practices, please refer to "Manual for the Certification of Laboratories Analyzing Drinking Water: Criteria and Procedures, Quality Assurance, fourth edition, EPA 815-B-97-001, March 1997. Specific Quality Control Requirements Radiochemistry Measurements in Biological Samples 1-Blank Analysis - A method blank sample must be analyzed at a frequency of one per AIPH preparation batch. The blank shall contain only natural or baseline levels of radioactivity. This blank must be a true reagent blank. 2-The contract laboratory shall follow quality control guidelines described in the Health Physics Society/American National Standards Institute "Performance Criteria for Radiobioassay" (HPS N13.30-1996) Statement of Interest: Contractors are encouraged to submit a capabilities statement describing corporate experience in managing requirements similar in size and scope to the activities described above. This capabilities statement should not exceed five (5) pages in length and should focus on successful recent (within the past 5 years) and relevant past performance to this anticipated scope. Please include the following with your response: Name and address of firm Size of business Point of contact and telephone Submission Instructions: Please email your responses to Mr. David Wallace at david.p.wallace6.civ@mail.mil no later than 10:00 A.M. EST, July 28, 2011. Since this is a sources sought, DO NOT send any proposals. Requests for proposals, if or when issued, will be available on the Internet at FedBizOpps.gov. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any improperly identified propriety information of the submission of the contractor's information. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with applicable Government regulations.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/0e0da6ab29d01fec4bfb1631dc655899)
- Place of Performance
- Address: ACC-APG SCRT - Aberdeen Installation Directorate of Contracting, 4118 Susquehanna Avenue Aberdeen Proving Ground MD
- Zip Code: 21005-3013
- Zip Code: 21005-3013
- Record
- SN02507886-W 20110724/110723010940-0e0da6ab29d01fec4bfb1631dc655899 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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