This is not a request for competitive proposals, but instead a market research method to determine interested sources The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ), Fruit Fly Rearing Facilities have a need for primary grown inactive dried yeast. This product will be used in the production of sterile Mexican fruit flies. Shipments shall be packaged in either bags or drums in quantities of either 50 pounds or 25kilograms. Contractor is to furnish primary grown inactive dried yeast as defined in, United States Pharmacopeia, Volume XIX (attachment 2 of this notice ). The yeast must be spray dried. Drum dried yeast will not be acceptable. Attachment 2 shall be the minimum required Government specification for the product. The yeast specifications of the United States Pharmacopeia, Volume XIX, attachment 2 , shall be evaluated on a go/ no go basis where products not meeting the yeast specifications will not be further evaluated or considered for award.. The product shall be a pure primary grown nutritional yeast produced in sterile media under conditions which permit, and controls which insure the highest quality standards. The following minimum standards will be used in assessing technical capability. Any product that produces results below the minimum standard for any of the technical considerations will be considered technically unacceptable and no further testing will be conducted. • Larval yield is the volume of larvae produced per kilogram of diet material where this shall be at least 0.13 liters of larvae per kilogram of larval diet. • Pupal weight is the weight of an individual pupae where the average shall be greater than 16.5 milligrams. • Emergence is the percentage of pupae that produces adult flies where this shall be at least 87%. • Flight ability is the percentage of pupae that produces flies capable of flying out of a 10 centimeter high flight tube and this shall be at least 84%. • Adult longevity is the percentage of the flies that survive for 72 hours with water and no food. This should be at least 55%. Specifications Nonviable, dried torula yeast (defined as not having more than nine unit forming colonies of viable yeast per gram of product), Candida utilis (Henneberg) Lodder and Kreger Van-Rij, for the APHIS mass rearing facilities in Mexico, Guatemala, Hawaii, and Texas. CHEMICAL/PHYSICAL SPRECIFICATIONS Moisture 4% Minimum, 7% Protein 45% Minimum Ash (minerals) 8% Maximum Filler (material remaining on a 200 mesh sieve) 2.5% Maximum Solubility 31% Minimum MICROBIOLOGICAL SPECIFICATIONS Viable yeast 9 UFC per gram product, maximum Fungus (other than yeast) 50 UFC per gram product, maximum Total bacteria 7500 UFC per gram product, maximum Coliform negative Fecal Coliform negative Salmonella negative Storage of Yeast Torula yeast provided under this contract shall not be warehoused or otherwise stored for more than 90 days prior to the date of consignment. Interested sources are encouraged to complete and return Attachment 1 to the contracting office. Telephonic inquiries will not be honored. Please email all questions regarding subject item(s) prior to Sources Sought closing date to
[email protected]. Small Business concerns are encouraged to participate. This is not a request for competitive proposals, but instead a market research method to determine interested sources. A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. No requests for capability briefings will be honored as a result of this notice. Interested sources who submit data are responsible for appropriately marking information if it is proprietary in nature. Please provide SAM uei Number, and point of contact information. The Government will not award a contract based on the information received, nor reimburse participants for information or samples they provide. Information or materials provided is strictly voluntary. Please Email (only) Attachment 1 to Carol Dingess at
[email protected] . Please be sure to include notice # PPQSS24Q0119 on subject line. Telephonic inquiries will not be honored. Closing date for submissions of Statement’s of Capability is April 4, 2024 at 4:00PM MT. Anyone wishing to do business with the USDA must be registered in the government’s System for Award Management Registrar now known as SAM . You may register on line with http://sam.gov In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.204-7(b)(1) A prospective awardee shall be registered in the SAM database prior to award, during performance and through final payment of any contract resulting from a solicitation. Vendors may obtain information on registration and annual confirmation requirements via the SAM database accessed through http://sam.gov or by calling the Contractors Registration hotline @ 1-866-606-8220 The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement is NAICS Code is 311999 and The Small Business Size Standard is 700 employees. The Government intends to provide all information regarding this notice via this web site . The Federal Government is not responsible for notifications to offerors regarding notices, solicitations or amendments. It is the Vendor’s responsibility to check this web site http://sam.gov periodically for updates. Telephone and email requests will not be accepted