Carcass Treatment Services

AG-6395-SS-15-0005 Sources Sought USDA, Animal Health and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS), may have an upcoming requirement for carcass treatment services. APHIS is seeking interested sources from all business concerns that are capable of providing on-farm poultry carcass treatment/disposal services to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal Plan Health Inspection Service's (APHIS), or other APHIS designated agencies during declared emergencies within the United States, and its territories. In January of 2015, the US confirmed its first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza in a commercial poultry flock in California. Between January and June of 2015, the number of affected premises expanded rapidly, affecting more than 50 million birds. During an animal disease outbreak emergency, APHIS is responsible for containing the spread of the disease, including safely disposing of infected carcasses and other related waste materials. Disposal of the poultry carcasses proved to be a significant challenge. In preparation for a possible recurrence in the fall, USDA APHIS wishes to identify performers who can provide equipment to treat carcasses on the farm to inactivate the virus so the carcasses can be disposed of as non-infected waste. Treatment can include heat, chemical, physical, or other methods of inactivating the virus. The services may be required for multiple locations around the US, day or night, any day of the week. Treatment is defined as achieving 6-log reduction in HPAI virus load. Offeror will provide a System that: 1) can be transported to a poultry farm, set up, and operated to inactivate HPAI virus in poultry weighing up to 5 lbs. each; 2) is capable of being cleaned and disinfected to prevent spread of HPAI without adverse reaction from chemical disinfectants; 3) is capable of processing up to 120 tons per 24 hours; ability to double throughput desirable; 4) minimizes generation of aerosols during operation; 5) can be loaded with heavy equipment like front end loader; 6) generates treated product suitable for composting, landfilling, incineration, and/or rendering; 7) can operate in freezing conditions. Treatment services would be expected to include: 1) Fully-trained operator(s) and a complete crew; 2) All necessary utilities (e.g., water, electrical, diesel, propane); 3) Permits for and implementation of disposal of any related waste streams such as drainage from system fluid lines, and cleaning/disinfection wastewater; 4) Treated carcass disposal will be performed by others; 5) daily reports of amount of material processed in previous 24 hours (in pounds or tons); 6) Assume others will place carcasses in treatment system under operator's guidance; 7) Assume system will deposit treated carcasses in an Offeror-provided receptacle, and others will collect treated material from the receptacle and manage separately; 8) Cleaning and disinfection of equipment prior to demobilization; 9) Capability to mobilize to anywhere in continental US, possibly multiple simultaneous locations, if offerer has multiple treatment units available; 10) Offeror is responsible for ensuring safety of their own operators and complying with all biosecurity and site security requirements. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 562211 with a small business size standard of $38.5 million. APHIS is contemplating a 3 to 5 year IDIQ type contract for this requirement and the statement of work has not been finalized. This is not a request for proposals, but instead market research to determine interested sources prior to issuing the solicitation. The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to obtain an indication of interest and to obtain capability information of those interested sources. A determination by the Government on the method of competing this requirement has not been established. The Government will not award a contract based on this Sources Sought Notice, the information received, nor reimburse participants for the information they provide. If you are an interested concern, please provide the following information: 1.) Business name and Point of Contact; 2.) DUNS number; 3.) Indication of business size (large or small), and small business status if applicable (ie. HUBZone or SDVOSB); and 4.) A Statement of Capability which demonstrates the ability to meet the all of the requirements specified in the above statement of work to include a description of the equipment and method of treatment, crew sizes, ability to mobilize, processing capabilities by volume, and disinfection capabilities. Electronic responses are preferred and telephonic requests for information will not be honored. No requests for capability briefings will be honored as a result of this notice. Information provided will not be used as a part of any subsequent solicitation requirement. Interested sources who submit data are responsible for appropriately marking information if it is proprietary in nature. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract action based on this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Responses are due no later than 1:00 p.m., Central Time, on 25 September 2015, to the attention of Patricia M. Simon, Contract Specialist, via e-mail to [email protected]