This is a Notice of Intent to Award Sole Source Purchase of Collars for Feral Swine The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) Wildlife, intends to issue a Firm Fixed Price noncompetitive contract to VECTRONIC AEROSPACE INC, for the purchase of Collars for Feral Swine. This purchase will be under the statutory authority permitting Other than Full and Open Competition, accordance with FAR 6.302-1 which states; The property or services are available from only one responsible qualified source at this time and no other type of property or services will satisfy these needs of the executive agency. The MUDD Project has previously and is currently using Vectronic GPS collars on feral swine and had very good success. The MUDD project also currently has equipment that can be used with these new collars, resulting in cost savings for the Project. Vectronic is a well-known and proven GPS collar company producing and managing high quality GPS collars for many years. Vectronic has developed rugged GPS collars specific to feral swine. These animals are extremely tough on collars and their products have worked well on previous deployments. Each collar is tested in an environmental chamber as well as on a vibration jig to ensure no loose components or cold solder joints. The Vectronic collar is designed to eliminate any external source for water and moisture penetration. The Vectronic user replaceable battery pack has an integrated drop-off release mechanism. The Vectronic drop-off is the most reliable drop-off on the market with a failure rate of 1 release for every 1,000 collar deployments. The user replaceable battery pack is a completely sealed unit. It does not require the housing to be opened in order to replace the batteries and thus expose the components to moisture. Vectronic manages collar communications and has software that allows users to connect to collars and data from office environments. Vectronic offers a 2 year warranty on the electronic components of all collars Specifically: • 44 2-D cell GPS collars with the following options: o Unique VHF beacons o Iridium bi-directional communications o Mortality loggers o Radio (remote) and pre-programmable drop-off mechanisms o Virtual fence o Temperature sensor o Activity sensor o Collar material collar specified by MUDD project o Collar circumference: • 44 collars to fit feral swine neck (TBD when ordering) Other Requirements - • Collars must be designed for use on feral swine of 45-100 kg in size • Complete feral swine collar must be no more than 500 grams • Belting material must be high visibility (bright orange) and have label plates attached to belting material informing of study director contact information • Collars must have user replaceable batteries • Must provide > 1 year of life, based on 1 location recorded per hour, 4 locations transmitted per Iridium message, and VHF transmitter on 12 hrs per day. • Point of contact information if contact changes – will be notified of new point of contact This notice of intent is NOT a request for proposals or competitive quotations. Request for copies of a solicitation in response to this notice will not be honored or acknowledged. A determination not to compete this proposed action is solely within the discretion of the Government. However, if a firm believes it can meet the requirements, an interested party may submit capability information which shall be considered by the agency in its sole source determination. Responses must be submitted by e-mail to: Latisha Hollman at
[email protected] no later than February 28, 2022. All information submitted should support the capability to provide the items required, and the information shall be furnished at no cost or obligation to the Government. Respondents should ensure the information provided is detailed, current, accurate and complete. The primary North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 517919 All Other Telecommunications with a standard size of $35.0 Million Dollars. Responses received after the response date or without the required information will not be considered. Capability statements may be sent to: Latisha Hollman,
[email protected]