R--Ecological and Human Health Risks of Contaminants in Water, Fish and Sediments

Ecological and Human Health Risks of Contaminants in Water, Fish and Sediments and of Microbial Pathogens in Surface WatersTHIS 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. NO REIMBURSEMENT WILL BE MADE FOR ANY COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH PROVIDING INFORMATION IN RESPONSE TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND ANY FOLLOW-UP REQUESTS. NO TELEPHONE CALLS REQUESTING A SOLICITATION WILL BE ACCEPTED OR ACKNOWLEDGED.The Standards and Health Protection Division (SHPD), which is under the Office of Science and Technology (OST) and within EPA's Office of Water (OW) requires contractor support to provide technical support for assessing, managing, and communicating the ecological and human health risks of contaminants in water, fish, and sediment of Microbial Pathogens in surface waters.The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water (OW) has responsibilities under the Clean Water Act of

1987 (CWA) and EPA’s Strategic Plan include directing the national program for adoption of Water Quality Standards (WQS), developing prevention and remediation strategies to reduce the risk to human health and aquatic life resulting from contaminated fish and sediment, conducting a program for beach monitoring and advisories relating to microbial pathogens in surface waters, and preparing outreach and awareness materials, including developing instructional materials and presenting workshops. Contaminants in surface waters, sediments, fish tissue and other aquatic organisms pose threats to ecological and human health. Microbial pathogens in surface waters also pose threats to human health through bathing beach exposure. OW is developing methods and guidance for EPA’s program offices, state agencies, local governments, and nongovernmental organizations to assess, remediate, or otherwise manage, and communicate the risks associated with exposure to these contaminants and microbial pathogens. OW is also conducting studies to assess the national extent and severity of sediments and fish tissue contamination, as well as water-borne pathogens present at bathing beaches. The National Water Quality Standards Program provides support for the development, implementation and evaluation of WQS by identifying, assessing and controlling risks to aquatic ecosystems. This support encompasses a broad range of activities, including the following: regulation, policy, and guidance development; technical support to states/tribes/territories (e.g., modeling, use attainability analyses, and economic and benefits analyses); establishment of national WQS priorities; coordination of WQS reviews and national WQS promulgations; WQS outreach and training; and management of cross-media and multi-Agency policies for attainment of standards and exposure goals.The purpose of this contract is to provide technical support to the Agency in addressing the following task areas:• Risk-based analyses;• Economic and statistical analyses;• Technical guidance, report development, and general program analysis;• Compilation and analysis of national and international environmental data;• Development and application of methods;• Environmental assessments;• Field sampling;• Laboratory analysis;• Workshops, conferences, training, and logistical support;• Expert/peer review support;• Public outreach and technology transfer;• Compilation, categorization, and summarization of comments; and• Preparation of presentation materialsIt is anticipated that the proposed contract will be a single award IDIQ contract with a five-year ordering period with one additional year for task completion. The anticipated contract will also include an option to extend services for up to six months. The government is contemplating firm fixed price and cost plus fixed-fee task orders. Anticipated total maximum level of effort for this requirement is 110,000 hours over the five-year ordering period of the contract. The applicable NAICS code is 541620 with a size standard of $19 million in average annual receipts. In the capabilities statements, contractors must provide their size status for the above referenced NAICS code, (i.e. large, small) and whether or not they are a certified hub zone, 8(a), women owned, small disadvantaged and/or service disabled veteran owned concern. The EPA reserves the right to set this action aside for small businesses. As a reminder, small businesses are required to perform at least 51 percent of the costs of the contract performance with their own personnel (See FAR 52.219 14) under a procurement set aside for small businesses.A draft copy of the performance work statement (PWS) is included as an attachment. Significant potential exists for an organizational conflict of interest (COI) under any resulting procurement. Therefore, for informational purposes areas of concerns are identified in the Attachment “Draft COI Requirements”. Interested parties with the capability of providing any of the services described in the draft PWS posted at the FedConnect website: https://www.fedconnect.net/ are invited to submit a ten (10) page document, in writing, sufficient information that clearly demonstrates their ability to provide the services described in the draft PWS, including personnel, experience and qualifications. A description of similar services previously or currently provided shall be provided. Additionally, interested parties should include a discussion of the capability of their accounting system or ability to implement a cost accounting system required of a cost-type contract. Previous experience with cost-type government contracts should be discussed. Standard company brochures will not be considered a sufficient response to this Sources Sought Synopsis.Capabilities Statements in response to this Sources Sought Synopsis MUST BE SUBMITTED THROUGH THE FEDCONNECT PORTAL by 4:00 p.m. EST, on March 20 2024. Any questions regarding the content of this sources sought synopsis announcement must be submitted through the FedConnect portal. 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.A separate synopsis will be issued for the Request for Proposal (RFP) resulting from this sources sought synopsis. The resulting contract will be a follow-on to contract 68HERC20D0016 with Tetra Tech Inc.