# Optical sorter

Canonical: https://abierto.us/opportunities/jr1151212

- Solicitation number: JR1151212
- Notice type: Presolicitation
- Status: No response deadline
- Department: Department of Agriculture
- Agency: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
- Contracting office: MRPBS Minneapolis MN (126395)
- NAICS: 334516 Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Product or service code: 6650 Optical Instruments, Test Equipment, Components and Accessories
- Set-aside: Total small business set-aside
- Place of performance: Edinburg, Texas
- County: Hidalgo County (FIPS 48215). https://abierto.us/counties/hidalgo-county-tx-48215
- City: Edinburg. https://abierto.us/cities/edinburg-tx-4822660
- First posted: April 18, 2025
- Last posted: April 18, 2025
- SAM.gov: https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/53212019754047abad9a10b722b3248a/view

## Description

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, intends to issue a request for quotes for an optical sorter.

**Background:** The Mexican Fruit Fly Rearing Facility in Edinburg, Texas, produces Anastrepha ludens, a pest of commercial citrus growing regions of the United States. The Rearing Facility uses Sterile Insect Technique to rear flies from the egg stage to the pupae stage, exposes the pupae to radiation to render the pupae sterile and unable to produce viable offspring.

Sterile pupae produced at the Rearing Facility are reared to the adult stage at the Eclosion and Release Facility and released aerially in Cameron, Hidalgo, and Willacy counties in Texas and along the Texas-Mexican border. Sterile flies mate with wild flies thereby suppressing and eradicating the wild population. The Rearing Facility is about to begin producing a new fruit fly strain, the Black Pupae Strain (BPS-10).

BPS-10 strain flies express sexually dimorphic color pigmentation, allowing for sorting and removing female flies prior to emergence and release. An automated sorting machine is required to separate male and female flies, and to process millions of male flies that are produced daily in the Rearing Facility. The NAICS code for this project is 334516 Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, with a small business size standard of 1,000 employees.

The solicitation and all other documents related to this procurement will be available on SAM on or around April 21, 2025. It is the responsibility of interested parties to monitor this site for the solicitation and amendments, if any. Questions concerning this synopsis should be directed to Jim Roloff, contracting officer, at james.g.roloff@usda.gov.

## Publications

- April 18, 2025: Presolicitation. Notice 53212019754047abad9a10b722b3248a. https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/53212019754047abad9a10b722b3248a/view

## Points of contact

- Jim Roloff, james.g.roloff@usda.gov, 6125907603

---
Source: SAM.gov Contract Opportunities bulk extract. Confirm deadlines on SAM.gov before responding. Cite https://abierto.us/opportunities/jr1151212.
