R--Sources Sought Notice for UCMR 5

Title: Analytical Chemistry Laboratory Services Supporting the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5)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. 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 United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is performing market research for large and small businesses in preparation for a future procurement. EPA¿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 persons 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 persons are required to monitor for those contaminants. If Congress does not provide adequate resources necessary to support the expanded monitoring described by the AWIA, EPA will not implement a final rule that requires all small public water systems serving between 3,300 and 10,000 persons to monitor. EPA will instead implement the traditional approach (i.e., used for UCMR 4) and for prior cycles which includes 800 representative small public water systems serving fewer than or equal to 10,000 in the UCMR program (versus ~6,000 small public water systems with AWIA). The program would continue to ensure that large systems serving a population larger than 10,000 people are required to monitor for the contaminants in a particular UCMR cycle.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 proposal that was published on March 11, 2021 (86 FR 13846) (https://www.epa.gov/dwucmr/fifth-unregulated-contaminant-monitoring-rule) identifies analytical methods to support water system monitoring for a total of 30 chemical contaminants, consisting of 29 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and lithium (see Table 1 in the Draft Performance Work Statement).Any interested laboratories must successfully complete the UCMR 5 Laboratory Approval Program for all UCMR 5 methods (i.e., EPA Methods 200.7 Rev. 4.4, 533, and 537.1) prior to any potential contract 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.To be considered a potential source, a firm must demonstrate it is able to provide the necessary personnel and services to support the effort delineated by the draft Performance Work Statement (PWS). Tasks anticipated under this procurement will include support in the following areas: (1) laboratory analyses; (2) logistical support; (3) data reporting requirements; and (4) monthly progress reports and invoicing.A draft PWS is attached. To ensure sufficient laboratory capacity, it is anticipated that this requirement will be met through multiple-award, indefinite delivery / indefinite quantity type services contracts. The contracts are anticipated to be fixed rate / firm fixed price for each field sample/method analysis. The anticipated contract(s) will have an ordering period of five years with one additional year for task order completion. The anticipated contract will also include an option to extend services for up to six months. Specific task orders will be competed among the laboratories awarded one of these contracts. These task orders will specify the number of field samples to be analyzed by method. The successful offeror(s) shall be responsible for all activities described in the Draft Performance Work Statement. The total combined number of analyses for all anticipated awards under this acquisition is estimated to be approximately 97,000 analyses.Interested parties are hereby invited to submit a capabilities statement of no more than fifteen (15) pages, and no smaller than 12-point font. The Government will evaluate each capability statement based on the interested party¿s demonstrated capabilities to complete the tasks described in Draft Performance Work Statement. Capability Statements should also include an interested party¿s experience or past performance related to completing the tasks of the draft PWS, Interested parties should describe their ability to provide all necessary labor, materials, services, equipment, and facilities to support the tasked analytical services included in the Draft Performance Work Statement. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement is 541380 ¿ Testing Laboratories with a size standard of $16.5 million. 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 all or part of this action aside for small businesses. The Incumbent contracts for UCMR 4 are EP-C-18-002, EP-C-18-003, and EP-C-18-004. The incumbent contractors include two small businesses and one large business. In addition, with the potential for AWIA to increase the scope/size of work for UCMR 5, EPA anticipates the number of awardees to also increase. EPA hopes to have a high response rate to this Sources Sought from the small business community to support the increase in work. As a reminder, small businesses are required to perform at least 50 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.Capabilities statements in response to this Sources Sought Synopsis must be submitted through the FedConnect portal by 4:30p.m. EST, on Friday, July 2, 2021. Any questions regarding the content of this sources sought synopsis announcement must be submitted through the FedConnect portal (https://www.fedconnect.net/Fedconnect/). 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 source synopsis.