Qualification Requirement Notice FAR 9.205

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Veterinary Services (VS), Animal Disease Traceability Program (ADT) has determined that a qualification requirement is necessary for the procurement of USDA Approved Animal Identification Number (AIN) low frequency RFID cattle ear tags in support of the ADT program. Due to the length of time to go through the approval process, and the immediate need for the approved AIN RFID Tags, it is not possible to give sufficient time to arrange for qualification before the 2020 award. USDA APHIS urges all potential manufactures to review the approval process and, if applicable, submit tags for approval. Future procurement requirements will be for approved AIN devices. This notice is posted in compliance with FAR 9.205. The USDA APHIS intends to establish a qualification requirement and has completed the written justification in compliance with FAR 9.202. Name of Product required: USDA approved, AIN compliant, Half Duplex (HDX) Low Frequency (LF) RFID button ear tags All Requests for information regarding this and future opportunities can be submitted to: Jeremy Pouliot, USDA APHIS Contracting Officer, 250 Marquette Ave, Suite 410, Minneapolis, MN 55401, [email protected], 612-336-3204 The USDA anticipates issuing awards for the current requirement on or around May 11, 2020. When a product is submitted for qualification testing, the applicant must furnish any specific information that may be requested of the manufacturer before testing will begin. Please see the specific testing requirements and minimum requirements for approval at https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/SA_Traceability. Full approval can take upwards of 24-30 months from the start of a new submittal for approval. Laboratory testing alone takes between 6-8 weeks. It take an additional 12 months of field trial data to obtain a conditional approval. Conditional approval allows for a specific number of tags to be manufactured and sold. Then, after another 12 months of selling tags without issues in the market, full approval can be obtained for unlimited numbers of tags. Fast tracked approval can be obtained for tags approved in other countries that meet international standards. These fast tracked approvals are done on an individual basis by the ADT Program based on various information such as country tags are approved in, that country’s standards for testing, length of time tag has been approved and sold in country, etc. Please contact the traceability team if you have an approved tag in another country you would like fast tracked for approval by USDA at [email protected].