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A market survey is being conducted to determine if there are adequate Small Business, SBA certified HUBZone, SBA-certified 8(a), Women-Owned, or Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) contractors available for a proposed project who meet the specific criteria outlined below.

This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. This is not a solicitation Announcement, Request for Quote, or Invitation for Bid. It does not constitute any commitment by the Government. No award will result from this notice. The purpose is to conduct market research to gain knowledge of potentially qualified sources and to determine the capability of Small Business and/or Large Business companies to provide the supplies/services described below. Responses to this Sources Sought Notice will be used by the Government to make an appropriate acquisition decision. Department of Agriculture requests responses from ALL socioeconomic categories in order to gain a more complete understanding of the market for these products and service.

The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) will not award a contract on the basis of responses or pay for the preparation of any information submitted. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this notice. After completing an analysis of the responses, the Government will determine whether to limit competition to 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, Women-Owned, or other small business firms, or to proceed with issuing an unrestricted solicitation, inviting full and open competition.

The NAICS code for the expected acquisition is 333111 (Farm Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing), with a Size Standard of 1,250 Employees and the PSC Code is 5220.

Any subsequent procurement will be conducted as a commercial item purchased in accordance with FAR Part 12 and as a Simplified Acquisition Procedure in accordance with FAR Part 13.

The project requirement is a field phenotyping rover/robot that can be driven through corn Fields with row spacing of 25-30 inches and record video/images of the corn plants from the front, both sides, and the top of the rover looking upward. The rover must also be capable of recording LIDAR data that captures the plants on both sides of the rover starting from the ground to the height of the plants. The rover must be programed to be driven by someone walking behind, but not attached to it, as well as to drive itself semi-autonomously for a single pass in the field (with someone following it and stopping it in case of emergency). The rover must have onboard integrated GPS with RTK compatibility, and this data must be recorded to tag the imagery and LIDAR data taken. The rover must have 4-wheel drive and the wheels, as well as the whole rover, must be rugged enough to withstand the conditions of a crop field (crop residue, dust, mud, bumps, high temperatures and humidity, sunlight). The software for running the rover and uploading data from the rover to the cloud must be included and fully functional. Support services and warranty for at least one year must be included. The company must also be able to demonstrate that comparable data from the rover can be processed to extract meaningful results, although the actual costs of processing of the data do not have to be included in the purchase. The field phenotyping rover/robot for agricultural row crops needs to be manufactured by EarthSense, Inc and be the 2023 model TerraSentia Robot in order to be compatible with another TerraSentia robot that has already been purchased. Location: Columbia, MO. See attached Statement of Work (SOW).

Capability Statement:

Companies who have the experience, as well as an interest in doing business with ARS, should submit a Capabilities Statement which, for this notice, is not expected to be a proposal, but rather short statements regarding the company’s ability to demonstrate their expertise and experience in relation to the areas specified in this notice.

In addition to the Capabilities Statement, companies should complete the attached Sources Sought Response Form and indicate whether they are a Small Business, SBA-certified HUBZone, SBA-certified 8(a), SDVOSB, or Women-Owned Small Business.

To be eligible, all vendors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) with a current and active registration. A SAM UEI number is required in order to register in SAM. A vendor can contact SAM by calling 1-866-606-8220 or e-mail at www.sam.gov. NO EXCEPTIONS. Vendor must include their UEI# on their capability statements.

To be eligible, all vendors must also be registered in SAM under the specific NAICS code listed as part of this sources sought. If a prospective vendor is not registered under the specified NAICS code and would qualify to be registered under it then they must update their SAM registration prior to providing a capabilities statement.

Finally, to be eligible, all vendors must be NDAA 889 Certified. If they do not currently have a NDAA 889 Certification, then they must complete the attached NDAA 889 Certification form and submit it to joel.maas@usda.gov so that they can be added to the list of NDAA 889 Certified vendors.

Submitting a Capability Statements:

Responses should be submitted via email by June 20, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). Telephone inquiries will not be accepted. Questions should be directed to Joel Maas at joel.maas@usda.gov.

Disclaimer:

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. Respondents are also advised that under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of information or provide feedback about any of the information received. After review of the responses received, the Government may issue a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation. No proprietary, sensitive, confidential or classified information shall be included with your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation.

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