Master Plan (MP) Reach Back Support at NBAF

Notice of Intent to award a sole source purchase order under FAR 13.106-1(b)(1). The United States Department of Agriculture intends to contract with Merrick & Company, on a sole source basis for Master Plan (MP) Reach Back Support at the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) with confidential information not available to the public. This will be for one (1) base year and one (1) option year.

NBAF is a large and immensely complex campus setting; designed for operating and supporting high containment research whose mission is safeguarding the world’s food supply and preventing Ag diseases. The containment facility includes numerous BSL- 2, BSL-3, BSL-3AG, BSL-4 and BSL-4AG laboratories. Merrick is the only firm that currently has the expertise and access to plans of the NBAF campus facilities and complex facility systems.

The information contained in the current work products are confidential and not available to disclose to the public domain. Those work plans were used to develop the required Master Plan, and the proposed follow-on contract will provide Reach Back Support for the maintenance of the MP Dashboard in Power BI. Support will include continued assistance and guidance on updates for the dashboard, training new users, and implementing escalation rate adjustments.

While it is the intent of the Government to transition this work to Federal employees in the near future, this short-term contract is needed in the interim. No other contractor can perform this work due to the proprietary nature of the software involved and the confidentiality of the work products. Therefore, the scope of this requirement has been limited, as it is only intended as an extension of certain functions of the current contract used to develop the Master Plan Power BI dashboard.

Any response to this notice must show clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government. In doing so, interested sources must submit technical capabilities, pricing, and other information that demonstrates their ability to meet the Governments needs no later than response time provided. Detailed capabilities must be submitted to attached POC. This synopsis is not considered a request for bid/quote/proposal.

No solicitation document is available and telephone requests for technical information will not be honored. No contract will be awarded on a basis of offers received in response to this notice, but offers will be used to determine if a comparable source is available and more adventageous to the Government.