SS-2025023552_2024.12.20.pdf

Sources Sought Notice No. SS-2025023552

“Agricultural Expert/Consultant” December 20, 2024

Background:

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a national laboratory owned by the U.S.

Department of Energy (DOE). NREL is the only federal laboratory dedicated to research, development, commercialization, and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. NREL is managed and operated for DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy by The Alliance for Sustainable Energy (Alliance), the “M&O Contractor”.

The NREL Systems Integration group supports the DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) by providing independent technical review and feedback of BETO funded projects through the “verification” process. The verification process is led by the NREL Systems Integration group and consists of a subject matter experts (SMEs), techno-economic experts, and life-cycle experts that provide feedback to DOE BETO technology managers about projects they manage. The outcome of the verification process is technical reports and go/no-go documentation highlighting recommendations for DOE BETO technology managers to consider for project that they manage.

The NREL Systems Integration group is responsible for identifying subject matter experts, techno-economic experts, and lifecycle experts for BETO projects being evaluated by the verification process. Historically, the NREL Systems Integration group has identified NREL-internal experts to support the verification process. However, BETO has recently funded agricultural related projects for which NREL has limited internal expertise. The lack of NREL internal agricultural expertise has led to the creation of this sources sought notice.

Objective:

The objective of this Sources Sought is to identify potential subcontracting companies or individuals that are qualified and capable of meeting the project objectives. The project objective, at a high level, is to provide agricultural expertise in support of the NREL Systems Integration verification team and their review of DOE-BETO funded projects. In detail, the objective of this work effort is to provide independent agricultural expertise related to technical scope, research methodology, and research direction of DOE FOA funded projects to ensure that projects successfully meet funding objectives.

Project Details:

In the event a solicitation is released, NREL is seeking information from sources that may be capable of providing a solution that meets or exceeds the following minimum capabilities:

• Participate in approximately four technical advisory meetings and provide feedback on research direction/scope.

• Review and provide feedback on agricultural research & development plans for energy crop production

• Support writing and editing of reports documenting technical R&D recommendations

• Support limited travel as needed to support technical advisory meetings (limited to no more than 4 trips within the first two years)

Request Details:

The Alliance intends to competitively solicit for Agricultural Expert/Consultant dependent on the volume of qualified responses received.

Step 1 - Sourcing (SSN): Parties that meet the minimum criteria outlined herein are encouraged to submit their capabilities statements. Submitted capabilities statements that meet the Alliance’s stated criteria will be considered for inclusion in the source list to receive notice of the planned RFP. The Alliance reserves the right to add additional sources to the source list at its discretion.

Step 2: Qualifying (RFQ): Once the source list is compiled (the Alliance reserves the right to add additional sources to the source list at its discretion), the Alliance will send each qualified source the solicitation document [choose: Request for Qualification (RFQ) or Request for Proposals (RFP)]. Sources will then be asked to submit in accordance with that formal solicitation document. The Alliance will then evaluate the submitted qualifications against the selection criteria.

Small-Business Requirements: Sufficient, qualified responses to this SSN will determine if a total small business set aside is appropriate for a resultant RFP. The NAICS code applicable to this SSN is 541690 (other scientific and technical consulting services).

The following links are being provided for convenience:

• https://www.sba.gov/document/support--table-size-standards

• https://www.sba.gov/size-standards

Period of Performance: This project is anticipated to have a base period of performance totaling twelve (12) months or 365 days, plus four one-year option periods totaling twelve (12) months of 365 days. The total Period of Performance, if all options are exercised, shall not exceed sixty (60) months.

Submission Requirements:

For companies interested in competing for the “Agricultural Expert/Consultant” RFP, please submit the following to Alex Joseph at ASP.Responses@NREL.gov on or before 5:00 p.m. (MST), 01/17/2025 Your submission response is limited to 3 pages:

1. Company Name, Address, and Company URL (include bona-fide location as stated above).

https://www.sba.gov/document/support--table-size-standards https://www.sba.gov/size-standards mailto:ASP.Responses@NREL.gov

2. Point of Contact Information (Email, Direct Phone Number).

3. Company’s Capability Statement that provides a narrative of the Offeror’s expertise with projects of similar scope, size, and complexity as identified below:

Equipment/Services Capability: Alliance is seeking a subcontractor that has demonstrated success with similar projects, has experience with federally funded projects, is knowledgeable with challenging schedules on project delivery, and is well versed and skilled in effectively integrating with all project team stakeholders.

Please complete the following table.

Required Capabilities Experience:

Yes/No Years Experience (if applicable)

1.1 Expertise in agricultural/farming best practice with specific interest in energy crops.

1.2

Specific knowledge in agricultural practices including the following crops: switchgrass, miscanthus, sorghum, willow, oilseed, wheat-camelina system, camelina- soybean, carinita cover crops.

1.3

Expertise in carbon intensity characterization, climate impacts and soil impacts related to the agricultural practices of the crops listed above.

1.4

Expertise in the evaluation of soil health, biodiversity, water quality, water usage, crop production, and biomass composition related to the crops listed above.

1.5

Technoeconomic and lifecycle analysis expertise as related to agricultural/crop growth practices.

4. Rough Order of Magnitude Estimate (ROM Estimate)

5. Estimated Lead Times

Disclaimer: Responding to this request identifies your company as an interested candidate only.

Your submittal is not in response to a Request for Proposals (RFP). This is an SSN, not a Request for Proposal. Verbal replies will not be accepted. All inquiries must be in writing via email. Project related questions will not be entertained at this point in the procurement process. This document represents a market research effort. Any costs associated with the development of a response to this request will not be reimbursed by NREL and submission does not guarantee or otherwise promise inclusion in any forthcoming RFP. In the event a solicitation results from this SSN, NREL reserves the right to set aside in total or in part any resultant award. No award will be made to any subcontractor/vendor that is not registered or in the process of registering with the System for Award Management (SAM). Please visit the SAM website at https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration for instructions on how to register.

If a solicitation is conducted and an award is resulting, a SAM registration is required to be active at time of award.

https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration