P06 12FPC423Q0058 Limited Sources Justification-CO Signed-Redacted.pdf

United States Department of Agriculture Limited Source Justification

FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) – Simplified Acquisitions Control No.

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

USDA-NRCS-Maine State Office and the Eastern Section of the FPAC-BC, Acquisition Division.

2. Description of supply or service required to meet the agency’s needs.

NRCS-Maine is proposing to purchase two new Soil Health Trailers with Rainfall Simulators to complement the existing Soil Health Trailer located at the NRCS State Office in Bangor, Maine.

3. The rationale or circumstances for limiting competition.

After research, the only vendor we have successfully located that is offering a Soil Health Trailer and Rainfall Simulator (and meeting all of the required specifications) is Conservation Demonstrations Inc.

based in Salina, Kansas.

The Soil Health Trailer and Rainfall Simulator manufacturered by Conservation Demonstrations is a truly unique item without any competitior or equal in the marketplace. No other item can effectively demonstrate how water moves through actual local soil samples, highlighting the effect of soil quality, structure and aggregation on infiltration and erosion. Additionally, the Soil Health Trailer and Rainfall Simulator gives educators a convincing and easily visualized demonstration of the effects of soil texture, organic matter, root and vegetative systems on the soil.

This same system is used by numerous public and private universities as well as research institutes and is the only product used by the USDA-NRCS nationwide, to educate and illustrate the benefits of proper soil management and erosion-preventative techniques. A list of several of the organizations that employ the Soil Health and Rainfall Demonstrator is found in the P04 Market Research document showing it is widely recognized as the premiere soil health and rainfall demonstrator.

The system was designed by a former state agronomist and is a very specialized piece of equipment offering a simple setup and tear down process and is the only one of its kind in the marketplace.

4. A description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

The SBA Dynamic Small Business Search was consulted for the state of Maine but no small businesses were located that could provide a similar or comparable item. GSA Advantage was also searched for an item that would meet the specifications but no items comparable were found. A rainfall demonstrator was found but it did not meet the specifications and the unit was manufactured outside of the United States. Extensive open market searches were performed but again, no similar or comparable items were found. You ube was even searched for alternative rainfall demonstrators but while none were identified,