Description
THIS IS A Sources Sought Notice ONLY. The U.S. Government currently intends to award a contract for Geospatial Dataset for Federal and State, Candidate and Threatened and Endangered (T&E) Species on an SOLE SOURCE basis, but is seeking vendors that may be able to perform this requirement in order to support a competitive procurement. Accordingly, the U.S. Government highly encourages all interested businesses (large and small) to respond to this sources sought synopsis. In addition, small businesses, in all socioeconomic categories (including, 8(a) Business Development Program, Small Disadvantage Business, Historically Underutilized Business Zone, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, Women-Owned Small Business concerns), must describe their identifying capabilities in meeting the requirements at a fair market price, i.e., information which may help support a set-aside. The proposed sole source Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract to NatureServe for a dataset is as follows The dataset contains geographic coordinates as well as descriptive attributes of documented critical habitats, documented population extent, or both, for each listed and candidate species. The supply required by the U.S. Army Environmental Command (USAEC) is a dataset, to be created from the complete national dataset described above, focusing only on 15 kilometer buffer zones around 120 select Active Army and Army Reserves site boundaries across 247 counties (refer to Appendix A) in 35 states. The dataset also must be accessible by 269 individuals Army-wide (20 USAEC, 5 IMCOM G-6, and 244 installation staff end users), and NatureServe authorizes data use by the establishment of a license agreement between itself and each individual. The attainment of the T&E geospatial data is primarily required in order to directly support the USAEC Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) Program in prioritizing funding allocation and recommending parcel acquisitions for the installations it supports. Conjointly, the T&E data will enable end users (USAEC subject matter experts and installation land managers) to make more informed decisions and recommendations on a variety of initiatives that ensure Soldier readiness while preserving T&E species and their habitats. In addition, the data will be used for a Renewable Energy Viability analysis that will identify and prioritize developable lands and appropriate economic conditions for solar arrays. All of these analyses and uses require a complete, national, dataset in order to produce comparative and standardized results. Partial or patchy data will not meet USAEC needs. The statutory authority for the sole source procurement is Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR 13.106-1(b)(1). This notice does not constitute a Request for Quote (RFQ)/Invitation for Bid (IFB)/Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFQ, IFB or RFP in the future. This notice does not commit the U.S. Government to contract for any supply or service. Further, the U.S. Government is not seeking quotes, bids or proposals at this time and will not accept unsolicited proposals in response to this sources sought notice. The U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this notice. Submittals will not be returned to the responder. A determination not to compete this requirement, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government. However, if a competitive solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Governmentwide Point of Entry. It is the responsibility of potential offerors to monitor the Governmentwide Point of Entry for additional information pertaining to this requirement. The NAICS code(s) is/are: 541370-Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical with a size standard of $15 Million. This notice will close 10 June, 2015, 300 PM CST.