R--Analytical Chemistry Laboratory Services Supporting the Fifth Unregulated Conta

Analytical Chemistry Laboratory Services Supporting the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5)SynopsisEPA’s Office of Water (OW), Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW), Technical Support Center requires contractor support for analytical laboratory services for small public water systems in conjunction with implementation of the fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5). EPA-OW-OGWDW is responsible for implementing the provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) section 1445(a)(2), “Monitoring Program for Unregulated Contaminants.” This section, as amended in 1996, requires that once every five years, EPA issue a new list of unregulated contaminants to be monitored by public water systems (hereby referred to as ‘systems’). This Unregulated Monitoring Rule (UCMR) requires systems to collect occurrence data for contaminants that may be present in drinking water but are not yet subject to EPA’s drinking water standards set under SDWA. This

rule benefits public health by providing EPA and other interested parties with scientifically valid data on the national occurrence of selected contaminants in drinking water. This dataset is one of the primary sources of information on occurrence, levels of exposure and population exposure EPA uses to develop regulatory decisions for contaminants in the public drinking water supply.The SDWA, as amended by Section 2021 of America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA) (Public Law 115-270), specifies that, subject to the availability of EPA appropriations for such purpose and appropriate laboratory capacity, EPA’s UCMR program must require all small public water systems serving between 3,300 and 10,000 people to monitor for the contaminants in a particular UCMR cycle, and ensure that only a nationally representative sample of small public water systems serving fewer than 3,300 people are required to monitor for those contaminants. Consistent with AWIA, EPA will require monitoring at as many public water systems serving between 3,300 and 10,000 persons as appropriations will support. EPA will notify the included small public water systems of their requirement to monitor based on available funding for each monitoring year. The program would continue to ensure that large public water systems serving a population larger than 10,000 people are required to monitor for the contaminants in a particular UCMR cycle (not part of the scope of work).SDWA also requires that EPA enter the monitoring data into the Agency's publicly available National Contaminant Occurrence Database, and fund analytical and shipping costs for small public water systems. EPA must also vary the frequency and schedule for monitoring based on the number of persons served, the source of supply and the contaminants likely to be found. EPA manages the program in partnership with the states.The UCMR 5 final rule was published on December 27, 2021 (86 FR 73131) (https://www.epa.gov/dwucmr/fifth-unregulated-contaminant-monitoring-rule). The rule identifies analytical methods to support public water system monitoring for a total of 30 chemical contaminants, consisting of 29 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and lithium. Laboratories must successfully complete the UCMR 5 Laboratory Approval Program prior to analyzing UCMR 5 samples. Laboratories that have received EPA approval for all UCMR 5 methods (i.e., EPA Methods 200.7 Rev. 4.4, 533, and 537.1), will be considered for this award. Information concerning the UCMR 5 Laboratory Approval Program can be obtained at https://www.epa.gov/dwucmr/laboratory-approval-program-unregulated-contaminant-monitoring-rule-ucmr-5.CONTRACT AWARD INFORMATIONIt is anticipated that the resulting multiple award contracts will be indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contracts with firm fixed price task orders with an ordering period of five (5) years. Approximately 103,086 analyses are anticipated for the contract ordering period. The applicable NAICS code is 541380 – “Testing Laboratories” with a size standard of $16.5 million in average annual receipts.EPA expects to award up to seven (7) contracts from this solicitation, with approximately half of the awards being reserved for small businesses. EPA reserves the right to award more or fewer than seven contracts. EPA also reserves the right to reserve more or less than half of the awards to small businesses. Flexibility in the total number of awards and the number reserved for small businesses is necessary because the number of contract awards EPA ultimately makes depends on two factors: 1) the capacity of the offerors that submit proposals; and 2) EPA’s ability to administer multiple awards.With respect to the first factor, the capacity for individual offerors to perform each of the required UCMR 5 laboratory analyses may vary greatly. However, EPA will not know the capacities of offerors to perform each analysis/method until proposals are received and EPA evaluates offerors’ responses to the Technical Evaluation Criteria listed in the solicitation. Moreover, because the source selection approach is based on a best value tradeoff analysis, the actual capacity available to EPA to perform each test method will depend on offerors’ rankings in the best value analysis.Regarding EPA’s ability to effectively manage anticipated capacity, large businesses typically have greater capacity to analyze samples than small businesses. Historically, EPA has had at least one large business contractor in prior UCMR contracts. EPA expects the number of total analyses required to be higher under UCMR 5 than under prior UCMR testing contracts. Accordingly, EPA will likely need to award at least two of the UCMR 5 contracts to large businesses to ensure that EPA has the capacity to effectively manage testing capacity needs.Finally, EPA has limited resources and ability to administer multiple awards under the UCMR 5 contract. Therefore, EPA intends to award as few contracts as possible, while still meeting EPA’s total capacity needs and small business reserve target.In order to achieve these goals, EPA intends to use the following approach in making awards for this requirement. First, EPA will rank all technically acceptable proposals in terms of which proposals offer the best value. Second, EPA will consider the testing capacities of the highest-ranked proposals to determine how many awards EPA would need to make in order to meet EPA’s total anticipated capacity. This will be referred to as the Prospective Award Pool. Third, EPA will consider whether the proposals in the Prospective Award Pool meet EPA’s small business reserve target of approximately fifty percent (50%) of awards being made to small businesses. If they do, then EPA will make awards to the offerors in the Prospective Award Pool. If, however, the proposals in the Prospective Award Pool do not meet EPA’s small business reserve target, then EPA may substitute one or more of the lowest-ranked large business proposals included in the Prospective Award Pool, for one or more of the highest-ranked small business proposals that were not initially included in the Prospective Award Pool.For example, if the Prospective Award Pool consists of seven proposals, four of which are large businesses and three of which are small businesses, EPA will make award to all the proposals in the Prospective Award Pool. EPA’s anticipated capacity needs would be met with the fewest number of awards, and EPA’s reserve target of approximately 50% would be met with the three small business proposals. If, however, the Prospective Award Pool consists of seven proposals, five of which are large businesses and two of which are small businesses, then EPA would be below its small business reserve target if EPA awarded to the proposals included in the Prospective Award Pool. In that situation, EPA may substitute the lowest-ranked large business proposal included in the Prospective Award Pool with one or more of the highest-ranked small business proposals (if there are any) that were not initially included in the Prospective Award Pool, to achieve EPA’s capacity needs with the lowest total number of contract awards.ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTERESTThe Contractor must be capable of providing support for the required services in an unbiased and objective manner. Because of the nature of the PWS requirements, it is anticipated that an offeror with the expertise to perform these requirements could also have relationships (e.g., a parent/subsidiary/sister company affiliation, or an existing contractual relationship) which present the potential for significant Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCOI). It is the EPA’s contention that a significant potential OCOI may exist if award were to be made to offerors within the following groups:• Entities that own/operate/construct/ manufacture Public Water Systems and/or sell/import drinking water to Public Water Systems (including Community Water Systems [CWSs] and Non-Transient Non-Community Water Systems [NTNCWSs]) serving a population 10,000 people or less.• Entities that develop/manufacture/sell/import water treatment chemicals and/or equipment to Public Water Systems, CWSs and NTCWSs.• Entities that act in a consulting, advisory, or legal capacity with, or for, entities trying to overturn or avoid application of guidelines or regulations related to the unregulated contaminants within the scope of this Performance Work Statement.• Entities that are developers, suppliers, or manufacturers of the unregulated contaminants contained in the scope of this Performance Work Statement.Therefore, all offerors will be required to submit an OCOI plan identifying the projects they are working on and explain how potential or actual OCOI can be mitigated, avoided, or neutralized. In order to be considered for award, a determination must be made that the proposed plan adequately protects the Government’s interest.All offerors shall submit an OCOI plan that describes procedures the offeror uses to identify and report COIs. The solicitation shall include standard EPAAR provisions (EPAAR 1552.209-70 and 1552.209-72) which require that an offeror certify whether it is aware of any potential OCOI or disclose any potential OCOI, and provide disclosure statements describing such OCOI, which may impact their ability to impartially conduct work under the PWS. The standard EPAAR solicitation provision (EPAAR 1552.209-71) requiring a contractor to make full disclosure of any actual or potential conflict of interest that is discovered or arises after contract award shall also be part of the solicitation. Furthermore, the EPAAR clause (EPAAR 1552.209-74, Alternate V, Limitation of Future Contracting) shall also be included in the solicitation and prohibits the contractor, without the approval of the Contracting Officer, from entering into contracts with an individual, organizations, or their consultants, to provide services on or in support of the specific remediation equipment, technology, or process identified in a task order. This restriction applies during the life of the contract and through completion of all task orders.The anticipated solicitation release date is on or about February 17, 2022, and the close date shall be approximately 30 days thereafter. The solicitation will be issued under full and open competition with a small business reserve, using a Best Value source selection approach, price and other factors considered, where all non-price criteria, when combined, are significantly more important than price. Notices of any modifications to this SAM.GOV procurement announcement, including Requests for Proposals and amendments, will be posted using both the FedConnect web portal and SAM.GOV. FedConnect can be accessed at https://www.fedconnect.net/Fedconnect/. Interested parties are expected to download the solicitation and any subsequent amendments from the website and to monitor the status of the solicitation. All responsible sources may submit a proposal. Contract award will be made in accordance with FAR Part 15.You must register with FedConnect to submit documents, questions, and to view responses. FedConnect can be accessed at https://www.fedconnect.net/Fedconnect/. FedConnect is a web portal that connects agencies and vendors to streamline the process of doing business with the federal government. Through FedConnect contractors will be able to receive, review and respond to contract pre- and post-award actions and documents such as correspondence, request for proposals, tasking instruments and contract modifications. The use of FedConnect also furthers the EPA's commitment to moving towards a paperless acquisition environment by reducing its carbon footprint and conducting its business in an ecologically friendly manner. There is no charge to use FedConnect. Vendors can register with FedConnect at www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/. For assistance in registering, or for other FedConnect technical questions, please call the FedConnect Help Desk at (800) 899-6665 or email at support@fedconnect.net. In addition, all vendors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), as this facilitates registration for FedConnect. Please note that vendors MUST have their SAM profile set to "public" otherwise FedConnect will not be able to access the SAM information required to validate vendor credentials. Registration may be completed and information regarding the registration process may be obtained at http://www.sam.gov. There is no charge for registration in SAM.