U. S. Department of Agriculture Seeks to Lease Office and Related Space in Bedford, PA

The Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation seeks to lease general-purpose office and related space in Bedford, Pennsylvania, with proposals due July 15 (updated by Amendment No. 1 issued July 6). No set-aside applies.

Place of performance is Bedford, PA 15522. The space must accommodate the Farm Service Agency (3 personnel) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (6 personnel) in a minimum of 2,485 assignable building occupancy area (ABOA) square feet and maximum of 2,690 ABOA (not to exceed 3,193 rentable square feet). The building must be modern quality with stone, marble, brick, or equivalent facade; if not new, it must have undergone modernization or adaptive reuse. The space cannot be located in a 0.2-percent-annual-chance floodplain, within 300 feet of residential areas, or adjacent to alcohol sales, firearms operations, or drug treatment facilities. Subleases are not acceptable.

Required parking includes three reserved government vehicle spaces (one designated for a John Deere-type backhoe on trailer), five reserved producer/visitor spaces, and eight non-reserved employee spaces. The lease term is ten years full with an initial five-year firm period, followed by 120-day termination rights after the firm term expires.

The solicitation requires turnkey tenant improvements including cipher locks on multiple doors, hardened customer service counter with lockable sliding glass window, intrusion detection system, duress/panic buttons, entrance door chime, emergency lockdown capability, Category 6 ethernet cabling or higher, dedicated ADP room with 24/7 climate control, fire protection systems, and comprehensive security requirements per Facility Security Level I. The lessor must implement cybersecurity measures including DHS ICS-CERT compliance and NIST Cyber Security Framework alignment; building and access control systems are prohibited from connecting to federal IT networks.

Tenant improvement cost summary must include two independent supporting bids per cost element. Evaluation uses lowest-price-technically-acceptable methodology with present-value price evaluation across the full lease term calculated on annual cost per ABOA square foot. Offerors must register in System for Award Management (SAM) and submit proposals electronically via sam.gov. The NAICS code is 531120 (Lessors of Nonresidential Buildings); PSC is X1AA (Lease/Rental of Office Buildings). Offerors must acknowledge receipt of Amendment No. 1 by July 15 at 4:30 PM Eastern. Contact Shannon Schoening, Lease Contracting Officer, at shannon.schoening@usda.gov or 202-690-4265.