Macroinvertebrate Sample Contract Analysis

The U.S. Geological Survey intends to award a non-competitive purchase order to Watershed Assessment Associates, located in Schenectady, New York, for Macroinvertebrate Sample Contract Analysis. The data is to be delivered to the USGS New York Water Science Center located in Troy, New York. The period of performance will be one year from the date the contractor receives the purchase order. There are two one-year option periods.

Pursuant to FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) Watershed Assessment Associates is the only source reasonable available for this requirement. The NYWSC has long standing research projects in Great Lakes' Areas of Concern (AOCs) in partnership with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. A key component of this work is benthic macroinvertebrate community assessment before and after remediation of contaminated sediments.

Because taxonomic identification of small invertebrates is nuanced and comes with an expected error rate, maintaining continuity with the same taxonomic lab is critical to ensure data comparability between past and future data. Switching to a new taxonomic lab in the middle of this ongoing effort would increase the potential for human-driven differences in datasets and could lead to incorrect conclusions about the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of multimillion dollar remediation/restoration projects.

In accordance with FAR 5.207, all responsible sources may submit a quotation which shall be considered by the agency, however, THIS NOTICE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE QUOTATIONS. The Government intends to award this requirement noncompetitively in accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b)(1). Responses must be emailed to Roberto (Rob) Sepulveda at rsepulveda@usgs.gov. The NAICS code is 541380 Testing Laboratories and Services. The size standard is $19 million.

The anticipated award date of the contract is 01/29/2025. The anticipated contract will be firm fixed-price. A vendor must be registered at https://sam.gov/content/home to be awarded the purchase order.