i. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial services prepared in accordance with Federal Acquisition (FAR) 12.6, and supplemental information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotations are being requested and A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. This combined synopsis/solicitation will result in a time and materials labor hour commercial services contract.

ii. Simplified procurement procedures will be used for this acquisition per Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13. The NAICS code is 561320. The small business size standard is $12.5 M sales, or less.

iii. This requirement is for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Veterinary Services (VS), National Veterinary Services Lab (NVSL), 1800 Dayton Road, Ames, Iowa.

iv. The solicitation number for this effort is 09_217905 and this combined synopsis/solicitation is issued as a request for quotation (RFQ.)

v. The provisions and clauses incorporated by reference have the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. The full text of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) may be accessed on the Internet at http://farsite.hill.af.mil/

vi. REQUIREMENTS AND QUANTITIES: This requirement consists of one (1) line item(s): CLIN 01- Provide one (1) Analytical Chemist on a temporary basis for approximately six (6) months from the date of award, approximately October 1, 2008, for Chemistry and Analytical Services Section of the NVSL for support of the Animal Care Horse Protection Program. This is a part time position of two (2) days per week; or an estimated 16 - 20 hours per week.

DUTIES:

Provide expert technical guidance, advice and services as requested in order to meet the following objectives: Develop quantitative testing methods for a variety of substances in a variety of matrices and achieve ISO 17025 accreditation for these methods.

Conduct research and development of testing in support of the Horse Protection Act.

QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor's degree in chemistry or analytical chemistry; 5 years hands-on experience with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS); at least one year of which must be ion trap GC/MS. Shall be able to demonstrate experience in development of GC/MS quantitative methods and interpretation of their results; experience handling diagnostic samples; able to demonstrate a working knowledge of chain of custody procedures; able to demonstrate a working knowledge of quality assurance practices; GC/MS experience with substances such as petroleum products, analgesics and irritants

SAFETY AND SECURITY REQUIREMENTS:

The NVSL and CVB campuses are secured facilities. The contract employee is responsible for safeguarding all government property provided for use. The contractor shall be issued a temporary visitors badge when on the premises. The contractor shall ensure the badge is not lost or misplaced or used by unauthorized persons.

In the performance of this contract the work may require the contractor to have access to classified information or highly sensitive in nature.

Any such information made available in any format shall be used only for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the agreement. Such information shall not be divulged or made known in any manner to any person. The contractor shall immediately notify the Program Manager upon discovery of any inadvertent disclosures of information. The contractor shall not retain any information regarding vulnerabilities, to include summaries, the actual vulnerability end product, etc., at the end of this contract. All information arising from this task, both hard copy and electronic, shall be returned to the Government at the conclusion of the task, and shall be the sole property of the USDA NVSL.

GOVERNMENT INFORMATION:

The contractor shall be responsible for properly protecting all information used, gathered, or developed as a result of work under this task. The contractor shall treat all information, seen, handled, or processed as a result of this Statement of Work as confidential. All information seen, handled, or otherwise processed shall be used for official use only, and may not be shared with anyone outside of the project team. Beyond protecting classified information as described above, the contractor shall protect all Government information by controlling or limiting access to the information and ensuring the data and equipment are secured within their facility.

The contractor shall supply the quantity of line items listed above, and in accordance with the technical specifications outlined in this combined synopsis/solicitation.

vii. In accordance with FAR 52.216-27, this request for quote may result in multiple contract awards and in any combination of line items. The Government reserves the right to award any combination of line items and may award multiple line items to the same offeror, and will make award decisions based on the most advantageous offer to the Government.

viii. The offerors price must include shipping to the FOB destination

ix. The provision at 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-commercial applies to this solicitation

x. The provision 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items apples to this solicitation;

Award will be made to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to this combined synopsis/solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. A trade off process will be used to evaluate quotes. The Government intends to evaluate offers and award without discussion, however, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions later if determined necessary by the Contracting Officer. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers: Technical capability; Past performance, send list of references and resumes with quote; and Price. Technical and past performance, when combined and compare to price are more important than price. Past performance is a measure of the degree to which an offeror has satisfied customers in the past, and complied with federal, state, and local laws and regulations. The assessment will consider the firms record of conforming to specifications and to standards of good workmanship, customer service, and adherence to contract schedules, terms and conditions. In accordance with FAR 52.212-1 (b) (10) regarding past performance, references are requested. Each offeror must submit three references which are either current or recent customers, and resumes of potential temporary analytical chemist for review.

xi. The provisions 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items applies to this solicitation. The contractor shall either complete the online Offeror Representations and Certifications (ORCA) at www.bpn.gov OR return a completed copy of the Offer Representations and Certifications with their quotation. A hard copy of the provision may be attained from http://www.arnet.gov/far

xii. The clause at 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items applies to this acquisition.

xiii. The clause at 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders are considered checked and are applicable to this acquisition:

52.203-6 Restrictions on Subcontractor Sales to the Government, Alternate I; 52.219-6; 52.219-8 Utilization of Small Business Concerns; 52.219-14 Limitations on Subcontracting; 52.222-3 Convict Labor; 52.222-19 Child Labor-Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies; 52.2222-21 Prohibition of Segregated Facilities; 52.222-26 Equal Opportunity; 52.222-35 Equal Opportunity for Special Disabled Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans; 52.222-36 Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities; 52.222-37 Employment Reports on Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans; 52.222-39 Notification of Employee Rights Concerning Payment of Union Dues or Fees; 52.222.50 Combating Trafficking in Persons; 52.323-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer Central Contractor Registration (CCR); 52.222-42 Service Contract Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 351); 52.204-9 Personal Identify Verification of Contractor Personnel; 52.216-31 Time and Materials/Labor Hour Proposal Requirements-Commercial Item Acquisition; 52.232-18 Availability of Funds.

xiv. To be awarded this contract, the offeror must be registered in the CCR. CCR information may be found at http://www.ccr.gov

xv. QUOTATIONS ARE DUE the United States Department of Agriculture, Minneapolis Contracting Officer, 100 North 6th Street, Butler Square 5th Floor, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403 by 4:30 PM CDT, SEPTEMBER 12, 2008

Quotes may be sent via e-mail to Joanne.Mann@aphis.usda.gov , by fax to 612 326 3550 or via mail to the above address.

xvi. The point of contact for this synopsis solicitation is Joanne Mann who may be reached at Joanne.Mann@aphis.usda.gov , or by phone at 612 336 3224.

xvii. A COMPLETE QUOTE SHALL CONSIST OF THE FOLLOWING:

1) Price for CLIN 001 - price per hour $ __________.

2) Signature of the offeror on the page which lists the price.

3) A detailed narrative address how the contractor intends to meet the requirements or specifications outlined in this combined synopsis/solicitation. Quotes should be of sufficient detail to determine their adequacy.

4) References, and resumes, as requested above

5) A completed copy of the provisions at FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items OR confirmation that this has been completed online by submitting the first page of the Online Representations and Certifications (ORCA)..

If an offerors quote does not contain all of the items listed above, the quote may be considered incomplete for evaluation purposes and no further consideration will be given to the offerors quote, thereby making an offeror ineligible for award.