Animal Feed/Bedding Procurement, Storage, & Delivery

Animal Feed/Bedding Procurement, Storage, & Delivery - 7403072 Contracting Office Address Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Office of Acquisitions, OA Office of the Director, OD 6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 537-S, Bethesda, MD, 20892. Introduction This is a notice issued on behalf of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Acquisitions, OA Office of the Director, OD, DHHS, UNITED STATES. This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this Sources Sought is to seek the availability and capability of small business concerns, including 8(a) small business and/or small qualified small business concerns [including Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDB), Woman-owned Small Businesses (WOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Small Businesses, Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSB) and Service-Disabled Veteran-owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB] that are interested in and capable of performing the work described in the statement of work. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. Small business concerns that believe they possess the capabilities necessary to undertake this work should submit complete documentation of their capabilities to the Contracting Officer. The capability statement should include 1)Name and address of the vendor, 2) Size and type of business, 3) Point of contact with the name, title, phone, fax, and email, 4) UEI number. 5) the professional qualifications of experts, and technical personnel as it relates to the above outlined requirements, any other information considered relevant to this service. The capability statement must not exceed 7 pages. Interested small business organizations are required to identify their size standards in accordance with the Small Business Administration. The government requests that no proprietary or confidential business data be submitted in a response to this notice. However, responses that indicate the information therein is proprietary will be properly safeguarded for Government use only. Capability statements must include the name and telephone numbers of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss responses with Government representatives. Capability statements in response to this market survey that do not provide sufficient information for evaluation will be considered non-responsive. When submitting this information, please reference the solicitation notice number. Purpose This Statement of Work (SOW) defines the laboratory animal feed and bedding requirements for the Building 49 Central Animal Facility (CAF) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland. The CAF maintains a dedicated feed and bedding resource to ensure these essential commodities remain available during normal operations, emergencies, disasters, and Government shutdowns, in order to support irreplaceable multidisciplinary animal research that is critical to the ongoing mission of eight NIH Institutes’ intramural research programs. ​The Government requires feed and bedding of specific quality and quantity that meet defined NIH specifications and are subject to potentially prolonged manufacturing lead times and finite shelf life. The objective of this contract is to establish a stable, cost‑effective mechanism that ensures immediate accessibility of up to a ninety (90) day supply of feed and bedding and supports continuous rotation and replacement of product throughout each twelve (12) month contract period. The initial emergency/disaster reserve volumes for feed and bedding will be determined at the time of award; reserve levels for each category and product will be adjusted monthly based on available resources and program requirements. ​The contract period shall consist of one (1) base year with four (4) one‑year option periods. In addition to establishing and maintaining a feed and bedding emergency and disaster resource, the contractor must provide high‑quality laboratory animal feed and bedding that meet the specifications in this Statement of Work and applicable NIH standards. Because both feed and bedding have definitive shelf lives and are critical research variables, the contractor shall maintain product integrity by delivering requested items from the reserve to the facility on a routine basis or upon request, and by reestablishing the reserve each month as directed by the Government. It is the contractor’s responsibility to manage the reserve to ensure continuous stock rotation and to protect the integrity of the emergency/disaster resource. ​Background Building 49, Central Animal Facility (CAF), located on the NIH Bethesda campus, advances biomedical research by providing professional and technical support services for laboratory animal care and use and by housing laboratory animals in support of eight Institutes’ intramural research programs. To support these animals and the critical research they enable, CAF must ensure a consistent supply of feed and bedding, including during emergencies, disasters, and Government shutdowns. To minimize research variables attributable to feed and bedding, CAF also must ensure the quality and consistency of these supplies; these requirements are fully integrated into both Facility‑level and Institute‑level disaster preparedness plans. ​The required feed and bedding products are highly specific to the needs of the research program, and those needs are as diverse as the scientific disciplines represented across NIH. Accurate results and meaningful conclusions can only be achieved when tight control is maintained over all materials and methods used in each study. Both feed and bedding are key environmental variables that must be controlled and managed over time; variations in diet formula…