Notice of Intent to Sole Source - Research Cattle

This special notice is issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Services (USDA-ARS) in accordance with FAR 5.2, Synopses of Proposed Contract Action. The intent of this special notice is for informational purposes only. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct a competitive procurement.

This is a Notice of Intent to Sole Source only. This is not a Solicitation Announcement, Request for Quotations (RFQ), Request for Proposals (RFP), or Invitation for Bid (IFB). It is also not an announcement for a forthcoming solicitation announcement, RFQ, RFP, or IFB nor does it restrict the Government as to its ultimate acquisition approach. No pre-solicitation synopsis followed by a solicitation, combined synopsis/solicitation, solicitation, or solicitation package is expected to be is-sued for this procurement at this time. This special notice does not constitute any commitment by the Government.

The Government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred in providing a response to this special notice. The Government will provide no reimbursement for any costs associated with the preparation or submission of any information that is received in response to this special notice. The USDA-ARS will not make an award on the basis of any responses received to this special notice. Responses will be used by the Government to help determine the appropriate acquisition strategy decision for this and any future requirements similar to this one. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this special notice.

The USDA-ARS Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory: Kerrville, TX has a requirement for 87 heads of cattle (calves). The Government is aware of only one contractor that is capable of meeting the specifications of this requirement. Were a request for competitive quotations issued it is anticipated that only a single technically acceptable quote would be received. As such, the USDA-ARS Contracting Operations Branch (Acquisition and Property Division) intends to make a firm fixed price, sole source award to:

Gillespie Livestock Company
621 Longhorn St.
Fredericksburg, TX 78624

The objective of the intended sole source award is to acquire:

87 heads of Cattle (calves) between 300-450 pounds, steers and heifers, between 6-24 months. Preferred breed: Hereford (only if Hereford are unavailable will Black Angus or Charolais be acceptable to fulfill quantity; mix of the 3 breeds acceptable). Cattle must have no prior exposure to cattle fever ticks or exposure to locations with cattle fever ticks. Cattle must come from within a 60-mile radius of Kerrville, TX, to ensure no previous possibility of encountering cattle fever ticks.

The anticipated delivery within 60 days of award.

The associated NAICS is 112111 (“Beef Cattle Ranching and Farming”) with a small business size standard of under $3 million in annual receipts. The applicable PSC is 8820 (“Live Animals, Not Raised for Food”).

The proposed award will be made using Simplified Acquisition and Sole Source Justification (SSJ) procedures citing the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.106-1(b)(1) for purchases not exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT). (i) Contracting Officers may solicit from one source if the contracting officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deems only one source reasonably available.

It is anticipated that the award will be made no later than Monday, November 3, 2025, if a contractor believes they can provide the cattle they must provide the information by 11:00 am MDST on Wednesday, October 29, 2025.

Any interested and responsible sources that regard themselves as capable of providing products with all of the technical capabilities/features on the requirements document are invited to identify their interests and capability by submitting substantiating documentation in response to this special notice. Any submission in response to this special notice must show clear and convincing evidence as well as be in sufficient enough detail to show that they can provide products capable of meeting the Government’s needs and that competition would be advantageous to the Government.

To be considered eligible, any who responds to this special notice must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) with a current and active registration at the time of their response. A Unique Entity Identifier number (UEI#) is required in order to register in SAM. You can contact SAM by calling 1-866-606-8220. NO EXCEPTIONS. Respondents must include their UEI# on their response. Respondents should also include their SAM status as well as the business size and socioeconomic status(es) for the applicable NAICS.

Responses must be submitted in writing via email to the point of contact listed in the “Primary Point of Contact” field and be received by or before the close date/time/time zone stated in the “Response Date” field relative to this notice with all of the requested and required documentation. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this special no-tice. Only electronic submissions made via email will be accepted. Verbal responses made by phone call (including voicemail) and submissions by USPS mail may not be accepted. Failure to submit all of the re-quired information/documentation on time(defined as past the “Response Date” stated in this notice) or meet all of the submission requirements may result in a response being deemed nonresponsive and disqualified from being put into consideration as a potential source.

The subject line of all emails related to this special notice shall include the notice ID number. The notice ID number corresponds to the “Notice ID” field. It is recommended that the subject includes the special notice title as well. Failure to do so may result in any capabilities statement submitted being deemed nonresponsive and disqualified from being put into consideration as a potential source.

Inquiries concerning this special notice are to be submitted in writing via email only to the point of contact listed in the “Primary Point of Contact” field. All inquiries regarding requirements or clarifications will be allowed up to 72-hours prior to the close date/time/time zone listed in the “Response Date” field. No phone inquiries or requests for return phone calls will be accepted. No questions will be accepted or answered after this deadline unless determined to be in the best interest of the Government. Any inquiry responses or clarifications not already documented in the special notice posting information will be added as an amendment for all to access. This information will be noted in the “Description” field of the public posting at least 48 hours prior to the “Response Date”.

This special notice does not obligate the Government to make an award or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Respondents are also advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of information or provide feedback to the respondents about any of the information received. No proprietary, sensitive, confidential, and/or classified information should be included with your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non proprietary technical information if it is determined that competing the procurement is in the best interest of the Government.

Any responses received by or before the deadline shall be considered by the Government. After completing a review and analysis of any responses that are received, the Government will determine whether to compete the procurement or proceed with making a sole source award to a single source. However, a determination by the Government whether or not to compete this proposed award based on responses to this special notice is solely at the discretion of the Government. If no responses are received by the date and time specified in the “Response Date” field, an award will be made without any further notice.