Notice ID 12505B21Q0064

 Notice ID
12505B21Q0064SS
Related Notice
Department/Ind. Agency
AGRICULTURE, DEPARTMENT OF
Sub-tier
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE
Office
USDA ARS MWA AAO ACQ/PER PROP
 
General Information
Contract Opportunity Type: Sources Sought (Original)
All Dates/Times are: (UTC-05:00) CENTRAL STANDARD TIME, CHICAGO, USA
Original Published Date: May 11, 2021 10:55 am CDT
Original Response Date: May 18, 2021 04:00 pm CDT
Inactive Policy: 15 days after response date
Original Inactive Date: Jun 02, 2021
Initiative: None

Classification
Original Set Aside:
Product Service Code: 5220 - INSPECTION GAGES AND PRECISION LAYOUT TOOLS
NAICS Code: 333111 - Farm Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing
Place of Performance: Columbia , MO 65211
USA

Description
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 or Request for Quote. 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 (ARS) 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, 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 Department of Agriculture (ARS) has the need for the following products:

001) Fully Integrated Phenotyping Field Rover

Scope of Work:

The USDA-ARS Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research Unit in Columbia, MO will be requesting quotes for the purchase of a new, fully integrated phenotyping field rover to quickly and accurately phenotype corn plants in the field in order better understand their growth under different agronomic and environmental variables.

Background:  

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.

Technical Requirements:

The phenotyping rover must be fully integrated, including appropriate software, and functional upon delivery. No assembly or engineering should be needed to make the rover functional. The rover must include the following specifications and sensors:

4-wheel drive body no wider than 20 inches. The rover must be 4-wheel drive and capable of maneuvering in dirty, dusty, muddy environments.
Onboard integrated computer that controls the movement of the rover and controls and receives data from the attached accessories described below.  Rover must be capable of storing the data gathered from accessories and uploading that data to cloud computing resources over wi-fi or ethernet cable.
At least 3 Gimbal Stabilized UHD (or higher quality) cameras with LED illumination (for dark understory imaging). The three cameras must be positioned so as to record data from the front and both sides of the rover and at variable angles (-30 degrees to +60 degrees relative to the plane of the ground the rover is driving on).
2 or more LIDAR sensors.  One sensor must be mounted to capture data in front of and on both sides of the rover on the same angle as the plane of the ground. The second must be mounted to capture data on both sides and above the rover at a 90-degree angle to the plane of the ground.
Upward facing fisheye camera for recording videos of the underside of the canopy.
Integrated GPS with RTK capability for use in tagging video and LIDAR data GPS points.
All accessories described above must be mounted and integrated with rover body as well as the computational systems of the rover.
Handheld tablet or other means for controlling the rover while driving it in the field.
Software for controlling the rover, driving it through the field and recording data at the same time (in an autonomous or semi-autonomous way), and recording metadata manually.
Software and Technical Support for minimum of 1 year
Minimum 1-year warranty
Delivery by June 15, 2021
Key Deliverables:

Fully Integrated Phenotyping Field Rover
Handheld Tablet
Case
Software
Unlimited Cloud Data Storage
100GB Data Analytics
Software and Technical Support
Warranty
Data Rights:

USDA-ARS retains all rights to data generated by the rover. Company may use data provided to them by the rover for internal improvement of its products and services.

Delivery: 

Delivery to the Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research Unit 1406 E Rollins Street University of Missouri, Room 269, Ag Engineering Building, Columbia, MO 65211 by or before June 15, 2021.

The vendor shall provide all items F.O.B: destination. Location of the Government site is aboard USDA-ARS Columbia, MO and will be identified in the contract. The Government anticipates award of a Firm Fixed Price contract.

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.

Companies should also 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 DUNS (Dun and Bradstreet) 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 DUNS# 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 [email protected] so that they can be added to the list of NDAA 889 Certified vendors.

Submitting a Capability Statements:

Responses should be submitted via email to [email protected] by Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. CST. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted. Questions should be directed to Aaron Dimeo at [email protected] by no later than Friday, May 14, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. (CST).

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.

Contact Information
Contracting Office Address

1815 N UNIVERSITY STREET
PEORIA , IL 61604
USA

Primary Point of Contact

Aaron Dimeo
[email protected]
Phone Number 6088900067