This is a notice of a proposed contract action published to notify potential sources that The USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) contracting office intends to issue a sole source award to Oxitec Limited for the purchase of transgenic homozygous Mediterranean fruit fly strains. Survival, dispersal, and mating competitiveness of released fruit flies are influenced by the genetic background of the fly strain and conditions of mass-rearing, among other factors. The strains developed by Oxitec express a clearly and easily identifiable internal fluorescent marker; a stable genetic sex sorting system that eliminates greater than 95% of the females at the designated point in the rearing process; and a genetic sterilization system that kills greater than 99% of the offspring of the released males early in development. These fruit flies will be used for the Sterile Insect control program which is the central element of ongoing eradication programs for the Mediterranean fruit fly in Mexico and Guatemala, as well as for emergency programs in the United States. The Mediterranean fruit fly strains to be developed under this contract would use gene transfer technology to provide enhanced control by reducing the negative impact of several aspects of the rearing process and to improve the efficacy of the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service Mediterranean fruit fly eradication and control programs in the United States, Mexico, and Guatemala. The proposed contract action is for supplies for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 6.302-1. Numbered Note 22 applies. Therefore, this sole source award is being made pursuant to FAR 6.302-1, only one responsible source and no other company will satisfy agency requirements. APHIS intends to award a firm fixed fee award fee contract with an estimated value of $3,750,000.00. The contract period of performance will consist of a base period of 12 months with the option to extend the contract for an additional four years. Any inquires to this sole source acquisition must be submitted in writing to the attention of Corinne Nygren at USDA, APHIS Contracting, Butler Square, 5th Floor, 100 North Sixth Street, Minneapolis, MN 55403, fax 612-370-2106 or by email to
[email protected]. Requests by telephone will not be honored.