SPECIAL NOTICE
99 -- Notice of Intent to Sole Source - Lichen Analysis University of Minnesota
- Notice Date
- 7/13/2011
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- Contracting Office
- ARO - AKRO ALASKA REGIONAL OFFICE 240 West 5th Avenue ANCHORAGE AK 99501
- ZIP Code
- 99501
- Archive Date
- 7/12/2012
- E-Mail Address
-
Point of Contact above, or if none listed, contact the IDEAS EC HELP DESK for assistance
(EC_helpdesk@NBC.GOV)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (or SOLE SOURCE) Background: Lichens are an extremely fragile part of the flora in the Western Alaska Network (WEAR) and face a considerable range of threats including air pollution, snowmachine use and visitor impacts in popular areas. Lichens are vulnerable to dieback from air pollution, especially acidifying sulfur and nitrogen compounds, fertilizations from nitrogen oxides, and zinc. Hundreds of papers worldwide (chronicled in the series, "Literature on air pollution and lichens" in the Lichenologist), and dozens of review papers and books published during the last century have documented declines in lichen communities from air pollution. Twenty-year trend monitoring of lichen communities in Scandinavia has revealed large scale disappearance of lichen communities in polluted areas. The Arctic Assessment and Monitoring Programme's comprehensive arctic pollution assessment documents show increasing sulfur and nitrogen pollution in arctic Alaska as a component of Arctic Haze. Locally, Noatak (NOAT) is located 6 miles from the Red Dog Mine - the largest zinc and lead mine in the world. In addition to large quantities of zinc it disperses on the landscape, the mine has an enormous power generator capacity with seven massive diesel generators running year round. Hasselbach et al. (2005) documented elevated levels of Zn, Pb and Cd through large portions of nearby Cape Krusenstern National Monument (CAKR) and it is likely that NOAT's lichen communities also are accumulating heavy metals with the potential for damage. The University of Minnesota Research Analytical Laboratory (UMN - RAL) has been integrally involved in both this project (2004 data), and the 2000 data leading to the publication of Hasselbach et al. (2005) report, "Spatial Patterns of Heavy Metal Distribution in Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Alaska". UMN - RAL analyzed both the 2000 data on mosses and soils from the Red Dog Mine Haul Road vicinity and the 2004 and 2005 data from the Noatak Lichen Inventory. 1.FAR Statutory Authority cited: 6.302-1 and 6.302-3(ii), Circumstances Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition. Reason for Authority Cited: 6.302-1. Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The University of Minnesota, located at the following address, 135 Crops Research Bldg, 1902 Dudley Avenue, Saint Paul, MN, 55108-6189, is the only vendor that can satisfy NPS requirements. The University of Minnesota has worked closely with the USDA Forest Service and the National Park Service over many years to help develop specific methodologies for analysis of lichen and moss tissue including specialized drying and grinding. This year will be the sixth year of this project and a comparison with data from Hasselbach's project from 2000, it is critical to the success of this work that the analyses be comparable. Toward this end, it is imperative that identical laboratory methodology be used and that accurate and defensible laboratory analysis of metal concentrations in lichen and moss samples be used. No other laboratory, government or non-government, will be sufficient in allowing the NPS to achieve success with this project. The National Park Service, Alaska Regional office in 2008 researched potential vendors within the US boundaries, prepared a Sources Sought notice that was posted to the DOI NBC website, and prepared a solicitation also posted to the DOI NBC website. Although there was some interest with the initial solicitation, most contact was in negative responses with the remaining as nonresponsive. The NPS contracting staff, at the request of the SBA, solicited four vendors known to the SBA for their laboratory work. We had three negative responses and one non responsive vendor. We then prepared documentation for the SBA to dissolve the small business to solicit for full and open competition. At the SBA's concurrence, we dissolved the small businesses and solicited to full and open competition. The full and open solicitation was posted to the DOI NBC website for 19 days. On 15 September, the solicitation closed and we had two responses, one was nonresponsive, the other from the University of Minnesota that was responsive. The nonresponsive vendor could not analyze the labwork in the same methods and detection levels the National Park Service was requesting. Additionally, the price was over 5 times the Government Estimate. 2. Additional Authority Cited: 6.302-3(ii): Industrial mobilization; engineering, developmental, or research capability; or expert services. The University of Minnesota is the only vendor that can perform the required labwork in 2009. As mentioned above, the National Park Service in 2008 searched for vendors beginning with a sources sought notice. That notice closed on 07/09/2008. Since that time, we found only one vendor that could satisfy the requirements of the labwork requested: the University of Minnesota. That University has been the sole contractor for this project since 2000, therefore it will be 'maintaining the essential research' as cited in FAR 6.302-3(ii) and is a Not For Profit entity. 3. Nature and description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency's needs.In order to minimize variability in the data due to the use of different laboratories and differing analytical procedures from year to year, a single source has been used since 2000. UMN has performed the labwork for Noatak (NOAT) and Cape Krusenstern National Monument (CAKR)/Red Dog Mine road vicinity and we need to complete our follow up studies on the additional Arctic Alaska Network (ARKN) parks. To maintain the same laboratory is critical because each laboratory has slightly different procedures for the following requirements: Grinding: Stainless steel grinders can contribute to trace metal content of the sample while ceramic grinders, or freeze-drying do not. Digestion and % recovery: Each laboratory has its own digestion procedure that is used to solubilize the elements of a sample in a liquid carrier before further analysis can occur. The completeness of digestion varies substantially according to the solvent used and the length of the digestion period. All digestion methods completely dissolve plant material, but not all completely dissolve the mineral matter that accumulates from windborne dust on lichen and moss surfaces. The most complete digestion, hydrofluoric acid, also poses significant environmental hazard to the laboratory personnel and to the environment as fumes are released into the air. Hydrochloric acid and nitric acid digestions are safer but do not dissolve these wind-borne mineral and rock fragments. In the study of trace metals, metals from surface dust, if digested, will contribute to the total plant content. So it is important to choose a digestion method early on in a monitoring study and stay with it. Total Nitrogen: Most laboratories offer a single procedure for nitrogen analysis such as Kjedhahl, microKjeldahl, or Leco, and may or may not include nitrate nitrogen. Each of these procedures provides slightly different results. For example LECO total nitrogen tends to be about 5% higher than Kjeldahl nitrogen; which could well be the amount of difference we are trying to detect due to changing air quality. Thus it is important to use the same total nitrogen method from year to year. Total sulfur: Many laboratories measure sulfur, a macroelement, by ICP analysis. That means that this element is measured simultaneously with a number of other elements that occur in the digestate at much lower concentrations. Therefore, in order to be strong enough to detect the trace elements, the solution is generally not dilute enough to accurately measure sulfur concentrations. Therefore, we have always requested a separate LECO procedure for sulfur analysis and not switched back and forth between ICP and LECO. Metal Detection Instrumentation: There are a multitude of instruments used to measure metals, including atomic absorption spectrometry, X-ray diffusion analysis, ICP-MS and ICP-AES. Each method is optimal for a different suite of elements but most laboratories offer only one method, or if other methods are offered, the price increases accordingly. Therefore, for consistency, it is important to have the samples analyzed on the same type of instrument each year. The University of Minnesota laboratory has provided consistent results over the past years and has proven to be a reliable, responsive contractor. Their prices remain competitive. They replicate every 10th sample at no charge to us and also routinely run multiple samples of international lichen standard reference materials and plant standard reference materials from the National Institutes of Science & Technology within each batch of 30-40 samples at no cost to the government. If any values seem questionable, they rerun these samples at no charge to us, usually within a week of the request. The University of Minnesota Research Analytical laboratory is a non-profit organization that provides teaching and learning experiences for students, and high quality analyses for university researchers, local farmers and gardeners as well as other state and federal entities. 4. A demonstration that the proposed contractor is the only source available to provide these services or goods (i.e. unique qualifications, proprietary rights etc.). In our search to find vendors that could satisfy the requirements of this requisition, we did not find a vendor other than the University of Minnesota. Additionally, UMN-RAL has developed a set of protocols to extract low levels of Pb, Cd, Cr at no additional cost in order to help us integrate the cleaner NOAT data with the polluted sites in CAKR at Red Dog Mine. No other laboratory would be able to replicate these techniques in a consistent manner. 5. A description of the market research that was conducted and the results, or a statement of the reason a market research was not conducted: Several labs were considered at the onset of the project: University of Wisconsin, USGS Labs in Denver, and the USGS Labs at the Columbia Environmental Research Center, and Batelle Marine Sciences Lab. Batelle was rejected due to excessive costs. The other three labs were considered, but UMN was chosen on the basis of QA and price. Since that initial project, UMN has worked closely with the USFS and the NPS to develop testing methodologies for these samples. The labs listed above would not now be able to replicate what UMN has analyzed on a consistent basis. 6. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition: None 7. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required. Preparer: /s/ Peter Nietlich Approved: Jordan Gunn Contracting Officer
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