Statement of Work.pdf

1. Objective The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Plant Genetics Research Unit, St. Louis, MO requires an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for equipment usage at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (DDPSC).

2. Approach A portion of the USDA ARS Plant Genetics Research Unit was Congressionally mandated to conduct research at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, located in St. Louis, MO. The USDA employees conduct research for the USDA and on a collaborative basis.

The USDA employees and other scientists who work in the DDPSC are charged for equipment usage at a reduced rate. These charges are paid on a monthly basis.

3. Technical specifications Scientists located at 975 North Warson Road, St. Louis MO perform a myriad of biochemical, molecular and physiological experiments on plants and plant tissues. To enable these experiments and produce results that are of high quality for publication and intellectual property purposes, that can provide impact for ARS, and that conform to rigorous standards of the scientific community, scientists operating at the Center need regular, flexible, iterative and timely access to a multitude of services and instruments that should be immediately proximal (i.e., within short walking distance) of the location at 975 North Warson Road. Importantly the provider must be willing to train users on instrumentation and provide self-service rates when applicable for most competitive pricing.

The types of instrumentation and services required include the following:

1. Plant growth and care: an assortment of greenhouses and growth chambers with specifications should be quoted. Include if RO water and in-line fertigation are available, as well as installation of dripper lines. Access to greenhouses with air conditioning should be an available option as well as dry down and seed storage rooms. Extended height greenhouses (15-20 ft. sidewalls) for tall plants should be a quoted option. For growth chambers, access to varied sizes and tiered shelving as specified with capacity for high light or altered CO2 levels, changes to number of shelves including 1, 2, or 3 tiers, altered temperatures including both cold and high temperature conditions, on chambers that range in size from 14 to 180 square foot capacity. Billing rates should be provided for greenhouse and growth chamber space and maintenance, as well as plant care services. Facilities should be able to accommodate USDA-APHIS/PPQ regulated materials and BSL-2P work.

Automated irrigation/fertilization system availability should also be specified and/or associated costs.

2. Phenotyping capacity: Access, training, and use for LiCor 6400-XT and 6800

Statement of Work United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service

(ARS), Plant Genetics Research, St. Louis, MO For Services at Donald Danforth Plant Science Center instruments, a Ditech Plant phenotyping system, photo booth and seed counter.

Vendor is to maintain the instrument and oversee its use. Access to a Lemnatec Scanalyzer phenotyping system for experiments including costs related to imaging loops and consumable costs per pot. Consultation and technician assistance rates on phenotyping advise and use with Licor and Scanalyzer.

3. Proteomic and Mass Spectrometry: Access and operation time is needed to run samples on the following mass spectrometer instruments housed by the vendor:

Thermo Q-Exactive and Thermo Orbitrap Lumos high resolution mass spectrometers, Thermo TSQ Altis, SCIEX QTRAP6500, and Agilent 5970 nominal mass resolution instruments. Quotes should include cost per amount of time and have rates for direct infusion when applicable. All instruments are expected to have suitable high performance chromatography systems linked to the mass spectrometers to enable separations of compounds prior to mass spectrometry. A capacity to perform, amino acid analysis, liquid chromatography separations, and gas chromatography mass spectrometry are required and should be quoted. Additional biochemical services and instruments should include gel electrophoresis, staining and imaging, protein digestion and peptide cleanup services, hormone analysis, protein identification from gel band services, protein identification from solution costs, and additional help available for sample prep that can be quoted. Instrument use should be quoted as full-service, or self-service and the facility must be willing to train users so that additional savings can be incurred through self-service use. The vendor facility is expected to maintain the instruments. The location of the instruments must be within short walking distance from the lab at 975 North Warson because experiments are not stable for long durations and many studies require iterative analyses as a part of ongoing experiments through trained self-service use and access.

4. Transformation and Tissue Culture: Scientists will need access to light rooms, hoods, and minimal cold storage to do molecular work and vendor should provide costs associated with this and the cost for transformation of various crops, with a capacity to perform additional crops at negotiable rate of time at full service cost rate. Location will need to be near greenhouse and growth chamber access described elsewhere on this technical requirement listing for immediate access.

Costs for qPCR screening services for homozygosity and copy number should also be provided.

5. Bioinformatics: vendor should provide a quoted cost for access to computing CPU, storage as a per TB per month if the agency provides equipment and if the resources are provided by the vendor, user account management, and provide consultation fee rates.

6. Microscopy: vendor should provide a quoted cost to access a multitude of microscopes that must be part of the bid including dissecting, Zeiss Axio Zoom, Widefield Nikon NiE, Zeiss PALM Laser Capture, Leica TCS Sp8 and Elyra7 Super-resolution light microscopes and electron microscope including a Thermo Scientific Talos L120C for TEM and Hitachi TM 2600 for SEM. Image processing, including but not limited to machine learning and deep learning segmentation, deconvolution, 3D visualization, 2D/3D/4D quantification. Facility should be willing to train individuals to become self-users at a reduced rate, and the facility should be within short walking distance of the lab at 975 North Warson Road so that samples can be generated quickly to avoid artifacts in transit or preparation. Facility should quote additional costs for preparation of specimens which would accommodate thin slices, freezing, sputter coating and critical point drying and use rates for microtomes and cryostats.

7. Ionomics: vendor should have capacity to perform ionomics on whole seeds, leaf samples and soil.

8. Gases and miscellaneous charges: vendor should be capable of providing gases that are standardly used by scientists, with the gases being delivered to 975 North Warson Road. Gases including UHP-300 ultra-high purity nitrogen, UHP-300 ultra-high purity helium, and breathing air AIB-300. Vendor mut also provide estimates for lab coat laundering, cost estimates to certify laminar flow hoods, and estimates of costs for pipet calibration.

4. Period of Performance

The period of performance for the contract will be January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025.

5. Place of Performance

The place of performance is the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, 975 N. Warson Road, St. Louis, MO 63132.

6. Ordering Procedures

Orders under this IDIQ contract shall be made via written task/delivery orders. Such orders may be issued at any time during the period of performance and shall be prepared by an ARS Contracting Officer of sufficient warrant authority in accordance with the terms and conditions of this IDIQ contract. A specific task/delivery order number shall be included and specify the IDIQ contract number.

The requesting office shall ensure that the requirement does not create an employer-employee relationship between the Government and the contractor’s personnel. Agencies shall not acquire personal services under this IDIQ contract. The requestor shall evaluate their requirement to ensure that a personal services contract is not contemplated in accordance with FAR 37.104.

Once a task/delivery order has been placed, any ARS employee located at the Danforth Center is authorized to determine what services and supplies are required during the period of performance specified on the task/delivery order. These same employees, along with the Contracting Officer and the location’s Administrative Officer, are responsible for monitoring the spending on the task/delivery order.

7. Funding

The IDIQ contract does not obligate any funding. All funding will be obligated via written task/delivery order issued by the individuals authorized to place calls as set out in the “Ordering Procedures” paragraph above.

8. Contract Administration

The IDIQ Contracting Officer is the only person authorized to approve changes to the IDIQ.

This authority remains solely with the IDIQ Contracting Officer. In the event the Contractor effects any changes at the direction of any person other than the IDIQ Contracting Officer, the changes will be considered to have been made WITHOUT authority and NO adjustment will be made in the contract price to cover any INCREASE incurred as a result thereof.

For each individual order placed under the IDIQ, the Contracting Officer who places the order (the order Contracting Officer) is the only person authorized to approve changes to the order. This authority remains solely with the order Contracting Officer. In the event the Contractor effects any changes at the direction of any person other than the order Contracting Officer, the changes will be considered to have been made WITHOUT authority and NO adjustment will be made I the order price to cover any INCREASE incurred as a result thereof.

IDIQ Contracting Officer

Joshua J. Dobereiner 309-403-3556 josh.dobereiner@usda.gov

Order Contracting Officer

To be identified on each order.

Location Points of Contact

Kathie Price – Administrative Officer 573-882-7573 kathie.price@usda.gov

Bruce Hibbard – Research Leader 573-882-6281 bruce.hibbard@usda.gov