Support for the Chemicals, Coatings and Commerce Sector

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to negotiate on a sole source basis, under the authority of FAR 6.302-2(a)(2) with Eastern Research Group, Inc., to provide support services to the EPA, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) under contract titled "Support for Chemicals, Coatings and Commerce Sector, EP-W-12-006 for an additional 5,400 level of effort labor hours to be utilized to extend the contract which expires August 31, 2019 by one (1) month with three (1) month option, until December 31, 2019. The EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards requires the contractor to provide support for studies, standards development, and/or guidance preparation that focus primarily on the chemicals, coating, and commerce sector. Some examples within this sector include the manufacturing and use of chemicals, solvents, coating and agricultural operations. The primary purpose of this contract is to provide support for the first component, source specific regulatory programs. The source specific regulatory component of EPA'S air toxics program includes the development of technology-based standards for major and area sources, residual risk standards, as well as, other standards development activities. As stated above, EPA has completed the last set of MACT standards under section 112(d). These standards regulate emissions primarily from major stationary sources. Section 112(k) requires the development of standards for area sources, which account for 90% of the emissions in urban areas of the 33 Urban Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) listed in the Integrated Urban Air Toxics Strategy. These area source standards can require control levels which are equivalent to either MACT or GACT, as defined in section 112. Residual risk standards, required by section 112(f), cover the same sources as the technology based standards developed under any section of the CAA and are required if EPA determines, by conducting a source specific risk assessment, that the public's health is not protected with an ample margin of safety with the technology based standard. In addition to developing standards that regulate the emissions of air toxics from stationary sources, the SPPD is responsible for developing stationary source criteria pollutant standards. These Standards may take the form of either a New Source Performance Standard (NSPS), as defined in Section 111 of the CAA, or a standard based on "best available controls" (BAC), as defined in section 183 (e) of the CAA. The purpose of section 183(e) is to limit the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted into the air from a wide variety of consumer and commercial products. In some instances, the CAA gives EPA the authority to develop a guidance document, such as a Control Techniques Guideline (CTG) document, in lieu of a standard. This contract is also intended to provide support for all of these source specific criteria pollutant standards development and guidance document activities. EPA believes that Eastern Research Group, Inc., with its experience and support provided in many ongoing work assignments possesses the institutional knowledge,processes and tools that are not readily transferable to a new contractor. All the aforementioned components are essential in the meeting of EPA's critical deadlines. THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. However, any firm believing itself capable of meeting the aforementioned requirement must submit technical documentation to establish its assertion. This documentation must be submitted to Natalia Fisher-Jackson([email protected]) within 15 days of the electronic posting of this notice. Telephone requests will not be honored. A determination not to compete the proposed requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the EPA. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement or to proceed on a sole source basis. The anticipated award date for this modification to the existing contract is August 26, 2019.