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Contract Opportunity

Background: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), Cotton and Tobacco (C&T) Program, headquartered in Memphis, TN, is one of the commodity programs within AMS. C&T facilitates marketing by providing standardization, grading, and market news services for cotton, cotton related products, and tobacco while also administering the Cotton Research and Promotion program. C&T maintains a viable and valuable relationship with all segments of the U.S. cotton and tobacco industries.

C&T consists of seven Divisions/Staffs including: Grading, Standardization & Engineering, Quality Assurance, Market News, Research & Promotion, MRP Laboratory and Scientific IT Support Division, and an Administrative Staff. The Grading and Quality Assurance Divisions provide user-fee funded services in 10 regional cotton classing offices that serve all cotton-producing states in the U.S in the following locations: Abilene, TX; Corpus Christi, TX; Dumas, AR; Florence, SC; Lamesa, TX; Lubbock, TX; Macon, GA; Memphis, TN; Rayville, LA; and Visalia, CA.

Scope of Services: AMS, C&T regional cotton classing facilities utilize complex conveyor systems that require periodic preventative maintenance and ongoing as-needed repairs during the cotton classing season, which runs roughly from the early Fall through the late Winter. AMS is seeking interested sources from small business concerns; all interested small business contractors capable of providing preventative and on-going, as-needed maintenance for complex conveyor systems are encouraged to respond to this notice.

The main North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 333922 Conveyor and Conveying Equipment Manufacturing with a small business size standard of 500 employees.

This is not a request for proposals or quotes, but instead market research to determine interest and market conditions. A determination by the Government on the method of competing this requirement has not been established. The Government will not award a contract based on this Sources Sought Notice or the information received, nor will it reimburse participants for the information they provide. If you are an interested contractor, please provide the following information:

1. Company Information

- Name of firm

- Point of contact (name, phone number, and email address)

- SAM.gov UEI number

- Business Size (Large/Small) for NAICS 333922 (Conveyor and Conveying Equipment Manufacturing, Size Standard is 500 employees)

- Socioeconomic Category(ies) (8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB)

2. Capabilities Narrative

- Please indicate if you are seeking opportunities for conveyor maintenance services.

- Are you interested in these opportunities as a prime contractor, or a Contractor Teaming Arrangement (CTA)?

- Provide information in sufficient detail regarding previous experience (indicate whether as a prime contractor or subcontractor) with conveyor maintenance services or services of a similar nature. Include information such as geographical area, a brief description of services performed, dollar value, government or commercial requirement, etc. to facilitate making a capability determination for each future requirement.

- Indicate your experience or approach to assimilating into new markets (geographical areas), including recruiting for staffing and subcontractor needs.

3. Additional Information

- Please include any other information and/or recommendations to assist USDA in its structuring of these contract requirements to facilitate competition, its approach to acquiring the services and the manner in which requirements are described for the identified items/services.

Please limit responses to no more than fifteen (15) pages and submit in either Microsoft Word or PDF file format. It is recommended to submit the information in the format as outlined above to minimize the effort of the respondent and structure the responses for ease of analysis by the Government.

All questions regarding this Sources Sought Notice must be submitted by email to the Contract Specialist, Matthew Phillips at Matthew.Phillips3@usda.gov.

All requested information must be submitted via email to the Contract Specialist, Matthew Phillips. Information provided will not be used as a part of any subsequent solicitation requirement. Interested sources who submit data are responsible for appropriately marking information if it is proprietary in nature. Responses are due no later than 3 p.m., Central Standard Time, on Monday, April 15, 2024.

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