THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS FOR WRITTEN INFORMATION ONLY. THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION ANNOUNCEMENT FOR PROPOSALS AND NO CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED FROM THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is performing "market research" for businesses in preparation for a future procurement. Information submitted in response to this notice is merely used for internal market research purposes and no feedback will be offered to the interested parties that submit capability statements. Water is essential for life and plays a vital role in the proper functioning of the Earth's ecosystems. Water pollution has a serious impact on all living creatures, and can negatively affect the use of water for drinking, household needs, recreation, fishing, transportation and commerce. EPA's Pacific Southwest Water Division (Region 9) has the responsibility of implementing the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Marine Research Sanctuary Act in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Pacific Islands, and 148 Tribal Nations. The EPA is performing market research to provide Mission Support for the Region 9 Water Division, as well as for water related activities within the Enforcement and Superfund Divisions. The contractor shall provide technical, regulatory, analytical, logistical, and administrative support to the EPA Region 9 in its efforts in implementing the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Marine Research Sanctuary Act. The contractors submitting capability statements should expect that they would be required to provide all necessary labor, materials, and services in support of the proposed DRAFT performance work statement which has been provided as an attachment to this announcement.EPA anticipates a multiple-award IDIQ contract with primarily firm fixed price task orders with a base period of 12 months and four 12-month option periods. The applicable NAICS code is 541620 and a size standard of $15,000,000.00. If a Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued, a separate synopsis will be posted. Significant potential exists for an organization conflict of interest (COI) under any resulting procurement. Therefore, for informational purposes areas of concerns are identified in the Attachment "Draft COI." Be Advised, at this time the above mentioned requirement for a draft COI is not required, the details of the COI will be expanded on during the solicitation phase of this project. Any interested firm should submit a maximum of five (5) pages, Microsoft Word format, 1" margins, 11 point font; demonstrating the firm's ability to perform the key requirements described in the attached draft Performance Work Statement (PWS). The current draft PWS is broken into three separate modules: Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Water Act, and Infrastructure. When responding with a capability statement, interested firms shall indicate which specific modules they believe they are capable of performing and demonstrate their experience for the cited modules. Firms are not required to be able to provide services in all three modules. Standard company brochures and literature alone will not be considered a sufficient response to this Sources Sought Synopsis. Submissions must respond to directly to the required services identified in the draft PWS. Capability statements submitted shall also include information on the firm such as: size status for the above referenced NAIC S code (i.e. large, small) and whether or not they are a certified Hubzone, 8(a), women-owned, small disadvantaged and/or service disabled veteran owned small business concern, GSA (General Services Administration) schedule (if applicable), point of contact, telephone number, and email address. One of the primary purposes of this market research is to determine the number of small business firms capable of performing the required services. The EPA reserves the right to set this action or specific modules within the PWS aside for small businesses if it determines that there are sufficient small businesses capable of providing the needed services. If set aside, a small business would be required to perform at least 50 percent of the direct labor costs incurred under the contract with its own personnel (FAR 52.219-14). Capability statements from small businesses should address their ability to meet this requirement. Responses to this sources sought are due Oct 23, 2014, 6:00PM PST and must be submitted through the FedConnect portal. Any questions regarding the content of this sources sought synopsis announcement must be submitted through the FedConnect portal. You must register with FedConnect to submit documents, questions, and to view responses. If, despite registering with FedConnect, you are unable to view and/or download the PWS and supporting documents, please send a request to the contract specialist at
[email protected]. Notices of any modification to the FBO procurement announcement, including Requests for Proposals and amendments, will be posted using the FedConnect web portal. Fed Connect can be accessed at https://www.fedconnect.net/Fedconnect/. FedConnect is a web portal that connects agencies and vendors to streamline the process of doing business with the federal government. Through FedConnect contractors will be able to receive, review and respond to contract pre-and post-award actions and documents such as correspondence, request for proposals, tasking instruments and contract modifications. The use of FedConnect also furthers the EPA's commitment to moving towards a paperless acquisition environment by reducing its carbon footprint and conducting its business in an ecologically friendly manner. There is no charge to use FedConnect. Vendors can register with FedConnect a www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/. For assistance in registering or for other FedConnect technical questions, please call the FedConnect Help Desk at (800) 899-6665 or email at
[email protected]. In addition, all vendors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), as this facilities registration for FedConnect. Please note that vendors MUST have their SAM profile set to "public" otherwise FedConnect will not be able to access the SAM information required to validate vendor credentials. Registration may be completed and information regarding the registration process may be obtained at http://www.sam.gov. There is no charge for registration in SAM.