Microbiome analysis using plant tissues as the starting material

Sources Sought Notification for microbiome analysis using plant tissues as the starting material.

This is a Sources Sought Announcement issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for informational and planning purposes only. This is NOT a solicitation, nor is it an announcement for a forthcoming solicitation. Submission of any information in response to this notification is purely voluntary. The Government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred in providing a response.

The USDA has a requirement for a microbiome core facility capable of extracting bacterial and fungal DNA from plant seed tissue, preparing libraries for amplicon and next generation metagenomic sequencing, and sequencing those samples for fungal and bacterial taxa. Specifically, the requirement has to produce quality microbial DNA extracted given the high prevalence of plant DNA present in each sample. The DNA extracted from samples designated for amplicon sequencing must be able to be aliquoted for both 16S rRNA and ITS sampling, that is, these sequencing types must occur on material from the same sample.in accordance with the attached SOW.

Responses to this notification will help to determine the acquisition strategy for any future solicitation.

Submission Instructions: Interested vendors are invited to submit a response to this sources sought notification by 10 a.m. on March 19th, 2022, to the attention of Richard Hawthorne, Purchasing Agent, richard.hawthorne@usda.gov.  All questions are asked to be submitted in writing to the Primary Point of Contract and will be addressed accordingly.

Responses should be no more than 10 pages and include the following information:

1. 1. Organization Name;
   2. Contract Name, e-mail address and phone number;
   3. Organizations DUNS number;
   4. Business size status for the applicable NAICS code;
   5. A statement of interest in any forthcoming acquisition.
   6. A statement of capability to perform details of the requirement.

Interested vendors are instructed to provide only the data requested. No proprietary classified confidential or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any nonproprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s). Any additional information will not be reviewed by the USDA.