Cotton Analysis RFI.pdf

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

Office of International Affairs, Laboratories & Scientific Services (LSS)

NAICS 541990 All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Release Date: 11/14/2024

Response Date:11/25/2024

Purpose:

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Operations Support, Laboratories and Scientific Services (CBP/LSS) is the scientific and technical arm of CBP. CBP/LSS provides scientific services to the Office of Trade (OT) and Office of Field Operations (OFO) in support of trade priority issues such as Country of Origin (COO), Antidumping/Countervailing Duty (AD/CVD), and Intellectual Property Rights. CBP/LSS has been collaborating with OT Trade Remedy Law Enforcement, Forced Labor Division, to address forced labor in supply chains entering the United States.

In December 2021, President Biden signed into law the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). The Act prohibits, through Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930, goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of the People’s Republic of China from importation into the United States. UFLPA went into effect on 21 June, 2022 and established a rebuttable assumption that goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the XUAR or by an entity on the UFLPA Entity List are prohibited from U.S.

importation under 19 U.S.C. § 1307. The People’s Republic of China is one of the top producers of raw cotton, has one of the largest textile industries, and is one of the most important textile exporting countries.

Textiles remain designated as a Priority Trade Issue (PTI) with CBP. The combination of high duty rates and complex laws and regulations make textile imports susceptible to trade fraud. In December 2020, CBP issued a Withhold Release Order against cotton products produced in XUAR, China based on information that reasonably indicates situations of forced labor. CBP identified forced labor indicators, such as debt bondage, restriction of movement, isolation, withholding wages, through the course of its investigation. CBP’s efforts on the textile industry issues focuses on high-risk areas that can cause significant revenue loss, harm the U.S. economy, threaten the health and safety of the American people, and lead to human rights violations against inhabitants of the XUAR.

Scope:

CBP/LSS has chosen a light stable isotope analysis technical approach to addressing this issue and requires ongoing technical support for determining geographic origin of agricultural products. CBP/LSS is seeking services for light element stable isotopic fingerprinting of cotton for determination of geographic origin. CBP/LSS requires a service provider who has the capability to enable CBP to isotopically fingerprint cotton, compare analytical data against a global reference database/library, and ascertain the https://www.naics.com/naics-code-description/?v=2022&code=541990 https://www.naics.com/naics-code-description/?v=2022&code=541990 region or country of origin, as appropriate, to assist CBP/LSS and CBP in detecting illegal goods, as well as provide technical support in this effort.

CBP/LSS has built an internal capability for analyzing finished cotton goods for geographical attribution by Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) analysis. CBP/LSS is seeking services for specialized IRMS testing methods, IRMS analytical training, access to validated statistical models, and access to a global reference database/library of known cotton to include regions subject to forced labor and other trade priority issues.

Requirements:

All questions relate to the use of light stable isotope ratio analysis for the prediction of cotton origin. All references to reference libraries and statistical models should be taken to describe those things as they are expected to exist on January 31 2025.

• What is the state of ISO 17025 accreditation for your laboratories and relevant methods?

• Briefly describe your approach to library building. Include:

o The total number of cotton references used to generate your statistical model(s) [if non-cotton references are also used, please specify and list separately];

o Metadata types collected for all members of the reference database;

o The period of time over which materials in your reference library been collected;

o Approximate rate of new material addition to database (per annum).

• Are all members of your reference library fully analyzed and vouchered in-house?

• Were all members of your reference library collected by your personnel or contractors under your direct control?

• Barring unusual circumstances, can full statistical analysis of CBP-generated IRMS data be performed without the intervention of any Vendor personnel?

• Please provide an example output of your model(s), in the form that is returned to your analysts upon use of the model(s) during analysis.

Schedule:

CBP anticipates awarding a new contract near the end of January, 2025.

Response Requested:

In an effort to assist CBP in developing and further refining our requirements, please provide responses to the above requirements and the questions provided above. CBP understands that some responses may be conceptual, while others are limited to the type(s) of technologies being considered.

Instructions and Response Guidelines:

RFI responses are due by 10:00 am Eastern Time on Monday, November 25, 2024 and shall be limited to a total of 5 pages not including foldouts and full size page charts. Page size is limited to 8.5 x 11 inches, 12-point font, with 1-inch margins in Microsoft Word format. Both sides of the paper may be used but each side shall be included in the page count unless intentionally left blank. Responses shall be submitted electronically via email to the Contracting Officer The subject line shall read: “CBP/LSS RFI”.

NO SOLICITATION EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

Please provide the information you deem relevant in order to respond to the specific inquiries of the RFI.

To support budget and planning purposes you may also include rough cost estimates for the proposed assessments. Information provided will be used solely by CBP as market research and will not be released outside of the CBP/LSS This RFI does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Invitation for Bid, or Request for Quotation, and it is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to enter into a contract, nor will the Government pay for the information submitted in response to this request. All information contained in this RFI is preliminary as well as subject to modification and is in no way binding on the Government.

Contact Information:

Richard Kirby, Contracting Officer Email: richard.m.kirby@cbp.dhs.gov

The Government is not required to respond to any information provided in response to this RFI. It is the responsibility of the interested parties to monitor SAM.gov for additional information pertaining to this

RFI.

Thank You

Richard Kirby Contracting Officer U.S. Customs and Border Protection mailto:richard.m.kirby@cbp.dhs.gov