purchase of cattle

Added: Apr 30, 2015 1:27 pm The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Food & Feed Safety Research Unit (FFSRU) in College Station, TX intends to negotiate a sole source contract with Desert Sun Dairy, LLC located in Clovis, NM for Thirty-six (36) Holstein steer calves, approximately 100 days-of-age and 250 lbs BW/hd.  These Thirty-six head of Holstein steers will be raised and pre-conditioned by a dairy in New Mexico specifically for our laboratory to meet the needs of this research.  The cattle will be utilized for research funded by a NIFSI grant and will examine the effect of chlorate on Salmonella in the peripheral lymph nodes. The cattle company will provide calves of same sex and similar age, all in excellent health.  In order to meet our animal and experimental protocol requirements, we must purchase calves from a farm that raises a large number of animals.  This contractor will provide a pre-conditioning program that will specifically address our research animal needs.  This is a notice of intent and is not a request for competitive quotations or proposals.  No solicitation is available.  Firms that believe they can provide equal or superior products are encouraged to identify themselves and provide a substantive statement with descriptive literature and any other supporting information to the Contracting Officer within 10 days of publication of this notice.  All information received within 10 days of publication of this notice will be considered by the Government to determine if more than one firm can meet the Government's requirements and is capable of providing equal or superior services.  All responses must be in writing and should be emailed to gloria.lopez@ars.usda.gov.  Questions concerning this acquisition must be directed to Gloria Lopez at the above contact information.

SAM:  Vendor must be registered in the System for Award Management prior to the award of the contract.  You may register by going to www.sam.gov.  You will need to have your Tax ID, Duns Number, Bradstreet number and banking information.

PAYMENT:  Any award made under this solicitation is subject to 31 CFR Part 208 which requires all payments made by the government to be made by electronic funds transfer.  Please note on your proposal if you will accept a government purchase (VISA) card.