MARKET RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY
NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL OR SOLICITATION
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is conducting market research to support the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) requirement for animal feed and bedding.
The FDA is seeking small business sources to determine the availability and capability of small businesses capable of providing the required supplies. Other than small business concerns are also encouraged to submit capability statements. The following information is provided to assist the FDA in conducting Market Research to identify potential contractors for this effort.
The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is- 311119 - Other Animal Food Manufacturing; the applicable Small Business Size Standard is 650 employees.
Statement of Work
Background:
The FDA CVM Office of Applied Science (OAS) conducts animal research studies in our mission to protect human and animal health. The research animals must be cared for in accordance with federal laws, regulations, current veterinary standards which includes the provision of wholesome and nutritious food. By purchasing animal food under contract OAS will be able to timely provide wholesome and nutritious food for our research animals.
CVM/OAS performs research studies using a variety of livestock species to accomplish the goals of regulatory research studies. The holding and care of research animals at the OAS Mod-2 animal facility that are not currently assigned to an approved research study are provided for under the protocol 413.06. This protocol holds animals with different nutritional requirements such as growth and maintenance. Feed (select stock feed, mineral blocks, poultry feed), forage (alfalfa and hay) and bedding (straw) of good quality are needed for the care of the animals as required by the current animal welfare guides (The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, Guide for the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Research and Teaching). Purchasing animal feed and forage under contract will offer nutrients timely and consistently, providing value and palatable feed and forage will cover nutrition requirements.
Studies supported under this contract include but not limited to:
- 413.06 Holding and Care of Terrestrial Animals Not Assigned to an Approved Research Study
- 407.12 Incursion of Drug Residues in Food Animal Tissues
- 513.05 Training Protocol for Terrestrial Species
- Other studies with terrestrial animals may be approved by the IACUC in the future and may include pheasant and sheep feed and bedding.
Objective
This requirement is for the establishment of a five-year IDIQ contract for the purchase of specific animal feed. Specific quantities and list of feed will be defined at the delivery order level.
Minimum Required Salient Characteristics:
The following is a list of the animal feed and husbandry related products required, but may not be limited to, under this IDIQ contract:
- Select stock bags Multi-species feed (50 lb. bag). for the maintenance needs of mature cattle, goats and sheep. Crude protein 12 %. Crude fat 3 %. Crude fiber 22%
- 12% Multi-Species Sweet Feed Pellet 50-lb bag. A feed for the maintenance needs of mature cattle, goats and sheep. Crude protein 12 %. Crude fat 3 %. Crude fiber 22%
- Alfalfa bales 70 lbs. 21 x 17 x 17 inches. Compressed- Premium quality
- Hay – Timothy Grass- 55 lbs. 21x17x17. Compressed - Premium Quality
- Berry Bush Goat Mineral Block, Sku 48766, 4-lb block
- Goat feed – Oat 17% textured, 50-lb bag
- Sheep mineral with Zinpro, 50-lb bag
- Straw bales 36 lbs. 34 x 17 x 17 inches.
- Trace Mineral Salt 26106, Block, 4-lb
- Mineral tubs: Energilass Rumen Booster Tub 33lb tub
- Poultry feed – Broiler Mash 50lb. bags
- Poultry feed – Layer Pellet, 50-lb bag
- Poultry feed – Start/Grow Non-Medicated Chicken Feed (Birth-22 weeks) 50-lb bag
- Poultry feed – Turkey Pellet 21% protein 50-lb bag
- Poultry feed – Turkey Starter 28% Crumbles 50-lb bag
- Poultry feed – Poultry 22% Crumbles 50-lb bag
- Sheep feed – Sheep pellets, 16% crude protein, crude fat 3%, crude fiber 12%, 50-lb bag
- Poultry bedding – Flake Poultry Bedding, 4.5 cu ft
- Poultry bedding – Canola Bedding Pellets, 26-lb bag
- Pine Shavings 3.2 cu ft compressed, expands to 7.5cu ft. Weight – 32 lb/bale
- Barn Grip, 50 lb bag
Additional Requirements:
- Food products shall be generally free of antibiotics and chemical contaminants
- Feed shall meet quality criteria or may be rejected. Examples for what constitutes a rejection is specified in the acceptance section below.
- Additional animal feed or husbandry related products may be added to this list under a contract modification.
Shipment/Destination
The contractor will be required to deliver, unload, and haul the deliveries to specified locations as defined in the delivery orders. The contractor is required to bring the necessary equipment to unload and haul the delivery which may involve delivery inside animal research facilities.
Location:
Deliveries will occur at the CVM/OAS Muirkirk Complex which will include deliveries at a loading dock or at animal research buildings as designated on the delivery order level. For location/tracking purposes the shipping address is:
8401 Muirkirk Rd
Bldg Mod 2
Laurel, MD 20708
Acceptance:
The animal food and/or bedding will be delivered to the OAS research facility in individual bags or bales to the OAS loading dock or to the designated feed storage facility within the Mod-2 animal facilities as specified in each order and delivered. On arrival, the Animal Care Staff member or another FDA CVM OAS employee will inspect the bags and bales upon delivery. Shipments will be inspected by the OAS Attending Veterinarians (or their designee), and they will determine if the shipment will be rejected or accepted. The following defines criteria that would result in a rejection. The contractor is expected to replace rejected shipments within 3 business days:
- Any bales that have evidence of mold, insect infestation (may vary by type of insect), desiccation (old feed), excessive weeds (greater than 10%), poisonous plants (such as, but not limited to: poison hemlock, water hemlock), minimal presence of any non-food stuff (such as trash; more than 1%), toxic pesticides, or anything that compromises the wholesomeness or palatability.
- Any bags that are under specified weight, torn, wet/excessive moisture, moldy, stained packaging (such as oil), and/or opened packaging will be rejected. Any feed bags with an expired date or expiration date within 90 days of delivery will be rejected.
Following delivery, products are subject to third-party feed analysis for quality and testing for contaminants to ensure the product has the protein, forage and mineral content and also to ensure there are no ingredients that may affect the research, i.e., penicillin in the grain that may compromise the research protocol. Unfavorable testing results on more than two shipments may result in non-compliance of contract.
Task Orders/Delivery Schedule:
Particular delivery details will be provided in the delivery order, such as the delivery address, point of contact information, the feed required and delivery schedule and any specific local delivery requirements for security or loading dock delivery requirements. Changes to the delivery schedule may occur after issuance of the delivery order at the request of the FDA as long as adequate notice (minimum of two weeks) is given to the contractor and as long as the changes are within the period of performance of the delivery order. Any changes that fall outside the period of performance of the delivery order will require the Contracting Officer to modify the delivery order. No one other than the Contracting Officer is authorized to change the terms and conditions of the Delivery Order.
Contract Period of Performance
The period of performance for this IDIQ contract shall consist of five (5), one-year ordering periods estimated to be:
Ordering period 1: November 1, 2025 through October 31, 2026
Ordering period 2: November 1, 2026 through October 31, 2027
Ordering period 3: November 1, 2027 through October 31, 2028
Ordering period 4: November 1, 2028 through October 31, 2029
Ordering period 5: November 1, 2029 through October 31, 2030
FOB Point Destination. All items shall include shipping and handling to the destination identified herein.
MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM QUANTITIES
The contract guaranteed minimum will be $10,000.
The contract maximum of all orders issued over five (5) years and awarded under this contract is estimated not to exceed $249,000 including any shipping costs.
Alternative solutions will be considered insofar as any such alternate system and/or system components meet the minimum intended use of the system and brand name or equal technical requirements.
The offeror shall furnish sufficient technical information necessary for the Government to conclusively determine that the offered products/services and components meet the technical requirements identified above. Though the target audience is small business manufacturers or small businesses capable of supplying a U.S. made product/service of a small business manufacturer or producer all interested parties may respond. At a minimum, responses shall include the following:
- Business name, SAM Unique Entity ID number, business address, business website, business size status (i.e., SB, VOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone SB, SDB, WOSB, LB), point of contact name, mailing address (if different from business address), phone number and email address (Provide this same information if responding to provide a product manufactured by another firm);
- Sufficient descriptive literature that unequivocally demonstrates that offered products and services can meet the above requirements. All descriptive material necessary for the government to determine whether the service/product offered meets the technical requirements including: technical specifications, ISO certifications, descriptive material, literature, brochures and other information, which demonstrates the capabilities of the contractor to meet the requirement.
- Technical specification shall be included for each listed item in the minimum required salient characteristics section above.
- Three (3) years of past performance service information, if not the manufacturer of the equipment identified herein, where the respondent has provided same or substantially similar service solutions on the same or near-same brand name equipment. For each past performance reference include the date of sale, description, dollar value, client name, client address, client point of contact name, client point of contact mailing address (if different from that provided for client), client point of contact phone number, client point of contact email address, and name of the manufacturer (to include SAM Unique Entity ID number and size status) if not the respondent.
- If applicable, identification of the firm's GSA Schedule contract(s) by Schedule number and SINs that are applicable to this potential requirement. Detailed list of items included and not included on the GSA contract to meet this requirement.
- If applicable, identification of Best in Class (BIC) contract information or other Government-wide or HHS-wide contracts that the equipment/service is available on.
- Capability and understanding of accessibility testing and customization to conform with the applicable Section 508 standards identified herein. Provide information if the respondent has an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) for the products offered for the Revised 508 Standards. The ACR should be based on the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template Version 2.0 (MS Word) provided by the Industry Technology Industry Council (ITIC).
- Provide information if any of these specifications are too restrictive. No response will be considered that the listed specifications are adequate in a competitive environment.
- If a large business, identify the subcontracting opportunities that would exist for small business concerns;
- Standard commercial warranty and payment terms;
- Provide place of product manufacture or service performance and any other applicable information to enable review and analysis pertaining to the Buy American statute and requirements relating to Made in America in the event a nonavailability waiver request through the MIAO Digital Waiver Portal is needed; and
- Though this is not a request for quote, informational pricing is required
The government is not responsible for locating or securing any information, not identified in the response.
The Government encourages any comments and/or suggestions from any interested party, regarding the specifications. While the Government will not respond directly to your comments and/or suggestions; we will consider them as we finalize the specifications in preparation for the forthcoming solicitation.
Interested Parties shall respond with capability statements which are due by email to the point of contact listed below on or before June 23, 2025 by 13:00 hours (Central Time in Jefferson, Arkansas) to nick.sartain@fda.hhs.gov. Reference CVM-2025-129516.
Notice of Intent
Responses to this sources sought announcement will assist the Government in determining whether or not any future requirement similar to this one should be set aside for small business, made available to full and open competition or procure through sole-source acquisition procedures.
Disclaimer and Important Notes
This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work.
Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in sam.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.
Confidentiality
No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).
