A14_Sources_Sought_Notice_1.pdf

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Colorado Water Science Center, has a requirement for the analysis of macroinvertebrate samples.

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY FOR MARKET RESEARCH PURPOSES.

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP), REQUEST FOR QUOTATIONS(RFQ) OR INVITATION

FOR BID (IFB).

NO FORMAL SOLICITATION IS BEING REQUESTED UNDER THIS NOTICE.

This Sources Sought Notice is for market research purposes to identify small businesses having an interest in and resources to support this requirement for the analysis of macroinvertebrate samples, located at the Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado.

The result of this market research will contribute to determining the method of procurement. The Government will review the information requested in this announcement based on the responses to this sources sought notice/market research, this requirement may be set-aside for small businesses or procured through full and open competition.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541990 – All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services. The size standard is $34.0 Million.

The following is a brief description of services that are required to be performed but not limited to:

Background

The USGS has collected 14 benthic macroinvertebrate samples from streams in the vicinity of Colorado Springs, Colorado and Pueblo, Colorado. These samples will be picked/analyzed, and QA/QC measures must be taken to ensure that all insects are accounted for in the samples. Work shall be completed by an individual(s) in the career field of entomology with extensive knowledge of benthic taxa occurring in the Southern Rockies and Southwestern Tablelands Level III ecoregions (Omernik, 1987), and benthic communities influenced by urbanization.

Scope

Services, non-personal, to provide all plant equipment, labor, travel, and materials (unless otherwise provided herein) necessary for sample analysis as described below.

TASK 1. The contractor shall process the benthic macroinvertebrate samples to the standards of the method described by Barbour and others (1999).

Process Description. During the sorting process the contractor may subsample the samples using a gridded picking tray or standard picking tray. The contractor shall sort a minimum of 300 organisms from the sample from a minimum of one randomly selected cell in the grid. If necessary, additional, randomly selected, cells may need to be sorted to ensure the 300-organism minimum is reached. Once the 300 minimum is reached, the remaining debris in that cell/fraction will be sorted to completion. This approach may result in more than 300 organisms being sorted.

TASK 2. The contractor shall search the entire remaining sample for large/rare taxa not encountered in the subsample following the subsampling described above.

TASK 3. The contractor shall retain all portions of the sample (extracted organisms, sorted detritus, unsorted detritus) during sorting.

TASK 4. The contractor shall place closely related taxa (e.g., order) into vials labeled with the sample identification number, and date.

TASK 5. The contractor shall preserve all midges and oligochaetes by microscope slide mounting as needed for identification, and any new taxa will be permanently mounted for the voucher collection.

THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION. ALL COST ASSOCIATED WITH PROVIDING INFORMATION AS

REQUESTED BY THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE SHALL BE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE

CONTRACTOR. SUBMISSION IS VOLUNTARY.

This is NOT a Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Quotation (RFQ) or Invitation for Bid (IFB) and does not constitute any commitment by the Government. Responses to this source sought notice will be used by the Government to make appropriate acquisition decisions. All interested sources must respond to future solicitation announcements separately from responses to this market survey. Any solicitation that may be issued will be posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website and no paper copies will be provided.

Responses to this announcement are requested from (1) SBA certified Small Business HUBZone firms; (2) Small Business firms certified by a Small Business Administration (SBA) district or regional office for participation in the 8(a) program; (3) Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned small Business firms; (4) Small Businesses.

In response to this announcement, please indicate your firm's socioeconomic status (e.g. small business, service-disabled veteran-owned, women owned, HUBZone, etc.) This information will assist the Government in determining how small businesses can fit into the acquisition strategy.

A firm is considered small under NAICS code 238220 – Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning Contractors. Any information submitted is voluntary. If sufficient interest and capability is not received from firms in categories (1) through

(4) above, any solicitation may be issued as unrestricted without further consideration.

Interested small business firms shall submit (1) NAME, ADDRESS, and PHONE NUMBER OF THE FIRM, and UEI

NUMBER.

Your company must have an active UEI number and be registered on-line at the System for Award Management (SAM).

You will also be required to provide your small business status information either via the RFQ or the On-line Representations and Certifications also located at the SAM website before an award to your company can be made. Your on-line registration will cover any/all of your offers to the Federal Government and only needs updated annually.

All responses must be submitted NLT September 11, 2026, at 12:00pm MT via e-mail to:

jennifer_rollin@ios.doi.gov. All submissions must have 140G0226Q0177 – Macroinvertebrate Analysis in the subject line.

mailto:jennifer_rollin@ios.doi.gov