This request is for information only. No contracts will be awarded solely on the bases of the responses to this synopsis. All commodities must be 100% domestic origin. The USDA, Farm Service Agency, Kansas City Commodity Office (KCCO) procures domestic origin food commodities for use in various foreign food assistance programs administered by the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Kansas City Commodity Office – International Procurement Division intends to issue solicitations for procurement under sealed bid contracts. The solicitations are intended to be issued based on the Fiscal Year 2008 Procurement Schedule located at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=coop&topic=pas-ex-si The solicitations will be distributed solely through the FSA Home/Commodity Operations/Procurement and Sales/Export Operations website at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=coop&topic=pas-ex-si All future information concerning these acquisitions, including solicitation amendments and commodity requirements will be distributed and accessed solely through the aforementioned website. Interested parties are responsible for monitoring this site to ensure you have the most up-to-date information about these acquisitions. The solicitations may have a partial set-aside for small business concerns, 8(a) concerns, SDVO, and/or SDB concerns. Small businesses are encouraged to participate. Additionally, interested parties may subscribe to the Commodity Operations Newsletter to receive Solicitations, Amendments to Solicitations, Contract Award Notices, Purchase and Sales Reports by going to the following link: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/subscriptions?area=newsroom&subject=landing&topic=subscriptions All contractors doing business with the Federal Government shall be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database. The website for registration is www.ccr.gov. In addition, all bidders must comply with KCCO vendor qualification requirements, as required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 9.202(f). The qualification requirements are available at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=coop&topic=pas-vr The following commodities are classified under the NAICS code referenced above and are purchased by the International Procurement Division, KCCO. Technical staff contact information for each product can be found at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/eodstaff.pdf SOURCES ARE SOUGHT FOR THE FOLLOWING: MID-OLEIC SUNFLOWER SEED OIL (NUSUN): Mid-Oleice Oil shall be fully refined, bleached, deodorized, and pure. It shall be produced from fair average quality crude mid-oleic sunflower seed oil from which essentially all of the free fatty acids and non-oil substances have been removed by chemical treatments and by mechanical or physical separation. Sunflower seed oil shall be fortified with vitamin A (retinol palimtate) at a rate of 60-75 IU/g. Sunflower seed oil shall be clear and brilliant. The commodity shall be packaged in either 6/4 liter cylindrical-style steel cans; 20 liter pails; or 208 liter steel drums. CRUDE SUNFLOWER SEED OIL (BOT): The quality of the crude sunflower seed oil shall correspond to the specifications contained in the American Fats and Oils Association Inc. Rulebook for Vegetable Oils (Export Contract), Rule 14. The crude sunflower seed oil (including Nusun) shall be pure and produced only from sunflower seeds of fair average quality by hydraulic, expeller or solvent extraction process. The product will be purchased in bulk, f.o.b. vessel. The contractor shall be responsible for providing continuous pumping of the bulk oil at a rate not less than 150 tons per running hour, per weather working day, Sundays and holidays included.