Technical Support for Peer Review Services

Added: Jan 18, 2012 12:27 pm Modified: Jan 23, 2012 1:12 pmTrack Changes This is an administrative modification.

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS FOR WRITTEN INFORMATION ONLY. THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION ANNOUNCEMENT FOR PROPOSALS AND NO CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED FROM THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Water (OW); Office of Science and Technology (OST) has a requirement for peer review consultation and support. All peer review procedures, products and responsibilities shall be per the U.S. EPA Peer Review Handbook. The purpose of peer review is to uncover any technical problems or unresolved issues for use in revising a preliminary product so that the final work product will reflect sound technical information and analyses. These processes enhance the quality of, and provide for, objective review and evaluation of scientific or technical work by knowledgeable experts who have no vested interest in related policy or implementation issues.

The successful contractor will supply all necessary labor, material, services, equipment, and facilities in support of the effort delineated by the performance work statement. Scientific and technical work products identified for peer review may address one or more of the following: Selection/coordination of peer reviewers; Preparation of peer review reports, including uncovering any technical problems or unresolved issues and incorporating comments into a report so that the final work product will reflect sound technical information and analysis; Coordination of peer review meetings, workshops, conferences, scientific meetings, and public forums including facilitating, recording, and reporting on results as necessary, and logistical meeting support as needed.

General categories of scientific and technical work products which are subject to peer review includes: Criteria methodologies/criteria and advisories; Engineering and technical studies; Reports to Congress; Technical guidance and methodologies; Economic evaluations; Statistical analyses; Environmental models; Technical publications, products and approaches; Analytical methods; and Policies and strategies.

The standard EPAAR solicitation provisions (EPAAR 1552.209-70 and 1552.209-72) require and offeror certify that it is unaware of any potential conflict of interest or disclose any potential conflict of interest which may impact their ability to impartially conduct work under the solicitation. The standard EPAAR solicitation provision (EPAAR 1552.209-71) requiring a contractor to make full disclosure of any actual or potential conflict of interest discovered after contract award will also be a part of the resultant solicitation.

The RFP will be competed with the NAICS code designation for the acquisition being 541611, with an applicable size standard of $ 7.0M. The EPA anticipates awarding a Cost Plus Fixed Fee, Level-of-Effort contract. It will comprise of a 12-month base period, four 12-month option periods of 3, 500 hours each and 3,500 optional quantity hours each year. The potential hours for the base, option periods, and optional quantity hours total 35,000 hours. The solicitation is expected to be issued in March 2012 on EPA?s website: http://www.epa.gov/oam/cinn_cmd. The office does not intend to mail hard copies of the solicitation. It is the responsibility of the offerors to frequently check the EPA website for updates or changes.



Interested parties should provide their size status for the above referenced NAICS code, (i.e. large, small) and whether or not they are a certified hubzone, 8(a), women-owned, small disadvantaged and/or disabled veteran owned concern. As a reminder, small businesses are required to perform at least 50 percent of the costs of the contract performance with their own personnel (FAR 52.219-14). The EPA reserves the right to set this action aside for small businesses. Responses to the above should be submitted to (Katie Rechenberg, USEPA, 26 West Martin Luther King Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45268, or rechenberg.kathleen@epa.gov) no later than 15 calendar days from date of posting. A separate synopsis will be issued for the Request for Proposal (RFP) resulting from this sources source synopsis.