REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) Swine Brucellosis Screening Serum Tests Veterinary Services (VS) Description The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Veterinary Services (VS), conducts ongoing domestic swine slaughter surveillance for Brucella suis and Pseudorabies exposure/ infection in U.S. domestic swine. This surveillance program involves screening testing of blood collected from swine slaughtered at selected, large cull sow and boar slaughter establishments within the U.S. In addition, blood samples from higher risk swine at small slaughter establishments, livestock markets, and swine on farms throughout the U.S. are collected and tested. The targeted population for this surveillance includes adult (cull) or other designated high risk swine slaughtered in the U.S. In addition, USDA APHIS VS collaborates with USDA APHIS Wildlife Services (WS) to conduct surveillance for brucellosis and pseudorabies in free-ranging feral swine that are captured/ depopulated by WS as part of control of this destructive, invasive species. Request For Information (RFI) Only. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes – it does not constitute as a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This request for information does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, the Government is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. The RFI responders are advised that the Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Contract Opportunities (formally FedBizOpps.gov) website: https://www.beta.SAM.gov. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this requirement. Proprietary information, if any, should be kept to minimum and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. Background The VS Brucellosis and Pseudorabies laboratory located in Frankfort, Kentucky. This lab conducts large scale swine brucellosis and swine pseudorabies screening serum tests mainly from slaughter plants, but occasionally receives samples from livestock markets and farms. The primary purpose of this testing is for “proof of freedom” from disease. VS leadership has requested information to gauge how much interest exists in contracting with a laboratory to perform this testing and to get an estimate of how much such a contract would cost the agency. This is for information gathering purposes only and this is not a solicitation of a contract or proposal. VS Swine Commodity Staff provided the following brief outline of the swine sample annual expectations as well as the attached Statement of Work: Test approximately 94,000 swine serum (submitted as whole blood in red or screw top tubes) samples per year with the BAPA and gB or Autolex. (Approximately 100 FPA tests and 950 g1 tests are performed per year based on KY RDL work.) Details on sample arrival and accompanying documentation, testing algorithms, and data reporting can be found in the enclosed Statement of Work Samples are divided into two surveillance streamsSBAS – higher risk of feral swine contact, test all samples Estimated 6,500 – 7,500 samples to test Commercial samples – each state of origin will have a weekly limit to the number of samples that can be accepted and tested (a weekly threshold), all samples over this weekly threshold must be discarded Estimated 80,000 to 88,000 samples per year to test Estimated 68,000 to 72,000 samples will be discarded and not tested per year as determined by the weekly threshold for each state Feral swine samples also will be tested Estimated 6,000 samples per year to test 3.0 Requested Information The primary objective of issuing the RFI is to seek information from vendors with the capability of providing a cost effective solution to contracting out the testing performed at the VS Brucellosis and Pseudorabies laboratory. The RFI should address the following: Would your lab potentially be interested in contracting to perform this Brucellosis and PRV testing? What do you estimate you would charge for the testing, handling of poor quality samples, disposal of untested samples, data entry, and administrative costs on a per test performed basis? BAPA (approximately 94,000 per year): FPA (approximately 100 per year): gB or Autolex (approximately 94,000 per year): g1 test (approximately 950 per year): How long would it take your lab to prepare to perform this volume of testing? Responses Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI by email only. The RFI should be delivered by email only NLT July 18, 2020, 1600 EST. All written responses must be received within 30 days of issuance of this RFI. Submissions should: (1) use Microsoft Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF); (2) be sent to the point of contact listed in this notice; (3) be minimum 11 font on 8.5 X 11 paper; (4) be complete, sufficiently detailed, and organized in a manner that tracks to the information requested in this RFI; (5) include a single company point of contact with name, title, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address(es); and (6) not exceed 10 single sided pages in total (not including cover page and cover letter). Material that is advertisement only in nature is not desired. Any questions or inquiries must be e-mailed to the Contracting Office, to the attention of the point of contact listed in this notice. Company Information. The RFI whitepaper should provide the following information: Company Information. Name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, and e-mail of designated point of contact. Any laboratory conducing official testing for bovine slaughter surveillance shall be APHIS-approved to conduct such testing per 9 CFR 71.22. 5.0 Questions Questions regarding this RFI should be submitted in writing by e-mail only to the Contracting Representative, Latisha Hollman,
[email protected]. 6.0 Summary This RFI is only intended for the Government to identify sources that accomplish the testing performed at the VS Brucellosis and Pseudorabies laboratory. The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding to the Government. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned. The Government representatives may contact the contractor to get further clarification of potential capability, especially any development and certification risks.