SOW Cotton Analysis.pdf

CBP/LSS – Work Statement Cotton Source Attribution

STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

Geographical Source Attribution of Raw and Finished Cotton Goods by Stable Light Isotope

Analysis

1. BACKGROUND

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.

2. 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 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.

3. SPECIFIC TASKS

Throughout this document, all references to reference data shall include measured isotope data and all metadata related to the collection, transport, and storage of reference materials.

Task 1 – IP Licensing and Support The Contractor shall provide access to Contractor’s database/library and statistical methods related to the analysis of cotton for source attribution by light stable isotope analysis. The Contractor shall provide all support necessary to allow for CBP to fully utilize Contractor’s IP to analyze cotton for this purpose.

Contractor shall provide:

• Licensing of IP.

o The Contractor shall provision a mechanism to allow CBP to submit IRMS data (to

Contractor’s statistical methods in order to determine the geographical source of the analyzed cotton and associated statistical confidence levels for each determination. CBP shall have access to all statistical methods in use by the Contractor for this purpose.

Licensing terms shall be for unlimited access, i.e., full access without regard to the number of analyses performed during the period of performance. CBP expects to process 500 to 1500 samples per year for the duration of this contract.

o CBP will be provided with access to the most recent validated reference database/library and statistical models at all times for the full period of performance of this contract.

• Reference Database.

o The database referred to herein shall be consist only of those materials used to define the statistical models being offered as part of this solicitation. Materials not used for model generation shall not be considered as reference materials for the purposes of this solicitation. If collected materials have been excluded from modeling for valid statistical reasons other than outlier status, this process may be described.

o The contractor’s in-house global reference database/library shall consist of a sufficient number of representative reference specimens.

The reference library should cover not less than 95% (by weight) of the world’s commercial cotton growing regions for export.

The database population shall be statistically sufficient to produce results at greater than 95% confidence interval that single-source non-XUAR samples are correctly identified as not originating from the XUAR. Similarly, single-source samples originating from the XUAR shall be identifiable at a 95% confidence level as originating from the XUAR. Samples should be statistically identifiable as originating from their correct cotton growing regions (within China and other global cotton growing regions).

False attributions to XUAR (i.e., false positive result) for single-source cotton samples shall not exceed 5% under any circumstances.

Sufficiency of database size and coverage will be evaluated as described in the evaluation criteria.

o All reference materials shall be verified and validated prior to inclusion in the production database/library and all reference materials in the production database/library shall be accompanied by sufficient metadata to prove provenance (i.e., chain of custody). The Contractor shall affirm that all reference materials included in the database/library have attached metadata detailing their collection, including: a chain of custody documenting each person involved in the collection, transport, and analysis of the material; location of collection; and documentation detailing the means of collection, description of the collection site, and date and time of collection.

o All isotopic data from reference materials shall be referenced to international standards (e.g. VSMOW).

o All isotopic data shall account for exchangeable protons.

o All materials in database shall be described by, at minimum, δ13C, δ2H, δ18O.

• Statistical Models.

o The statistical bases and modeling approaches (e.g., PCA, SVM, etc) for Contractor’s models shall be briefly described.

o The inputs and outputs for modeling shall be described in detail.

What isotopic data is required to determine geographic source of cotton?

What statistical questions can be answered using Contractor’s statistical model(s)?

o The model(s) shall provide a probability, likelihood, or similar measure of where in the world the most likely origin is.

o Information on how Contractor’s statistical approach can assess mixed-origin samples shall be provided.

• Web Portal: The Contractor shall provide and maintain a web-portal to allow for CBP to submit data, retrieve model outputs/reports, and access contractor statistical models. The portal shall have per-user login and shall be maintained to industry standard security standards.

o Data shall be submitted as Excel (.xslx) or comma-delimited (.csv) text file.

o Model outputs shall be directly accessible as data and/or graphs, as would be used by

Contractor’s analysts and shall be downloadable.

• Technical support for isotope ratio measurements and the statistical determination of geographic source based on isotope ratio measurement.

o The Contractor shall provide technical support to CBP. The support may be via email, telephone, video call, or in-person, based on request and convenience. This support includes, but is not limited to, Contractor laboratory methods, Contractor statistical models, and result interpretation. Support shall be provided within three (3) business days of request by CBP.

• All data, metadata, statistical methods, and associated information and documentation shall be available for inspection or audit by CBP with 30-days advance notice.

• The Contractor agrees to provide all necessary support, including, but not limited to, information on reference materials, statistical models, and other necessary and relevant information for the purposes of supporting any judicial or legislative proceeding resulting from analysis of samples under this contract. This provision shall apply in perpetuity to any materials analyzed during the period of performance of this contract.

• The Contractor agrees to provide appropriate personnel for expert opinion and testimony, if requested by CBP or other U.S. federal agency acting on CBP’s behalf. This provision shall apply in perpetuity for any legal proceeding arising from materials analyzed during the period of performance of this contract.

• All Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) or similar, including physical, instrumental, and statistical, validated or in use by Contractor for the analysis of cotton by light isotope ratio analysis during the period of performance shall be provided to CBP within five (5) business days of implementation. This provision includes updates to existing SOPs. SOPs will include descriptions of all processes used during cotton and cotton-containing materials analysis.

Task 2 – Quality Control and Proficiency Testing Services The Contractor shall include CBP Laboratories in Contractor-internal quality monitoring and proficiency testing to ensure that all CBP test results are fully compatible with Contractor’s reference database/library and statistical analyses. Contractor shall provide results of quality control and proficiency testing to CBP on a regular basis.

Contractor shall:

• Quality control services o Maintain and provide IRMS statistical control (e.g., control chart) acceptance criteria.

Contractor will regularly update acceptance criteria, as per their internal quality system and provide these values to CBP for use in CBP’s internal quality tracking. The provided criteria shall include, at minimum, mean, upper control limit, and lower control limit for relevant reference materials employed by Contractor.

o The calculation of quality control acceptance criteria shall include both Contractor and CBP data. CBP will supply CBP-internal quality control for calculation.

• Proficiency testing services o Contractor shall organize an inter-laboratory proficiency testing scheme to include all

Contractor laboratories and all relevant CBP laboratories. Individual analyst participation shall be at CBP’s discretion.

o Contractor shall provide all testing materials, analyze results of the proficiency testing, and provide results to CBP.

o Proficiency testing shall occur not less that once per year.

• Support for Quality Control and Proficiency Testing Services o Contractor agrees to provide technical support in relation to Quality Control and

Proficiency Testing Services.

Task 3 – Training The Contractor shall provide training to CBP, to include training on IRMS theory and practice, reference database/library design and planning, and the design and use of statistical methods for the analysis of geographical sourcing by stable light isotope analysis. Training shall be available within sixty (60) days of a request by CBP.

CBP requires up to three (3) weeks of training per year. Training weeks may be consecutive or non-consecutive at CBP’s discretion. Trainings may occur at any CBP or contractor location or virtually, based on the topic of training and at CBP’s discretion. Trainings may include, but are not limited to:

• Annual refresher training o At CBP’s request, Contractor shall provide refresher training in IRMS theory and practice.

o This training may include theoretical topics and in-lab instruction and troubleshooting.

Individual topics for instruction and discussion shall be determined separately for each refresher training by mutual agreement.

o This training is expected to occur approximately annually, for a one-week duration, at a CBP location.

• Advanced training o At CBP’s request, Contractor shall provide advanced training to no more than five (5)

CBP analysts per training.

o This training may include the theory of geographical source attribution by stable light isotope analysis, database/library generation, statistical model construction, and result interpretation. Topics and location shall be agreed upon in advance in writing by the COR and Contractor.

o This training is expected to occur only occasionally, for a duration and at a location to be mutually agreed upon.

• Additional Training o Additional trainings shall be provided at CBP’s request and upon mutual agreement.

Training topic and location shall be agreed upon, based on the topic of requested training.

Training shall be quoted in one-week increments.

4. DELIVERABLES AND DELIVERY SCHDEULE

All deliverable and work products shall meet the following requirements. Any proprietary information provided to CBP/LSS under this contract shall remain with the federal government and will not be shared or disseminated outside the federal government unless required as part of a legal proceeding.

File editing – All text and diagrammatic files shall be editable by CBP/LSS.

Format – Deliverables and work products shall conform to CBP/LSS, CBP, and government standards for correspondence and written products. The contractor shall submit these deliverables and work products in electronic format. Soft copies shall be submitted in Microsoft Professional Office Suite. All deliverable and work products shall be labeled indicating the requirement it is to fulfill.

Timeliness – Deliverable and activities shall be submitted in accordance with the following table, except when a new delivery and work product date is established by mutual agreement between the contractor and the CBP contracting officer representative.

Deliverable Type Due Date

Task 1: Audit access Site access and documentation

Within 30 calendar days of request

Task 1: Information in support of samples analyzed

Document(s) Within 30 calendar days of request

Task 1: Updated SOPs Document(s) Within 15 calendar days of validation or use by Contractor

Task 2: Quality Control Materials

Physical material Within 30 calendar days of award or as needed

Task 2: QC – control chart or equivalent

Document Monthly, within 15 days of the beginning of each month of activity

Task 2: Interlaboratory proficiency report

Document Annual, within 30 calendar days of completion of tests

Task 2: Interlaboratory proficiency test materials

Physical material Annual

5. GOVERNMENT-FURNISHED EQUIPMENT AND INFORMATION:

No Government-furnished equipment shall be provided.

6. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

Work shall be performed at CBP laboratories, except as agreed upon in advance for the training requirement.