Description
The Office of Research and Development's (ORD) National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) serves as the resource center for the overall process of human health and ecological risk assessment: the integration of hazard, dose-response, and exposure data and models to produce risk characterizations. The organizational structure of NCEA consists of an immediate office located in Washington, DC and three divisions (Cincinnati, OH, RTP, NC and Washington, DC). The Center occupies a critical position in ORD between (a) the researchers in other ORD components who are generating new findings and data, and (b) the regulators in the EPA program offices and regions who must make regulatory, enforcement, and remedial action decisions. NCEA-Cin, in partnership with the other two NCEA divisions, serves as a focal point for leadership in the evolution of risk assessment research by providing our clients with the highest quality information and methods, resulting in the protection of human health and preservation of ecological integrity. This contract shall provide NCEA-Cin with support for the development of methods, models, and guidance documents for human health risk assessment, and to conduct risk assessments on environmental stressors (i.e., physical, microbial and chemical). The Contractor shall provide support for research to improve the science and practice of risk assessment. NCEA-Cin focuses its work in three major areas related to human health protection: Cumulative Risk Research, Public Health Outcomes, Risk Assessment Technical Support, and Microbial Risk Research. The Contractor shall provide all technical support as described within the Statement of Work (SOW). The Contractor shall perform tasks, as specified by individual work assignments issued by the Contracting Officer, in the following program areas: Methods Development, Major Assessments and Risk Assessment Guidance and Support. The Contractor shall be capable of performing a range of risk assessment tasks involving multiple disciplines, such as, toxicology, microbiology, decision analysis, public health, biostatistics, exposure assessment, and epidemiology. The Contractor shall participate in meetings and conferences related to specific work products. This is a new requirement. The solicitation will be issued using full and open competition. EPA anticipates the award of a Cost Plus Fixed Fee, Level of Effort (LOE), term type contract. The contract will have a base period of 12 months plus three, 12-month option periods. The base LOE for each period is 4,800 hours. Each period will include an option for up to 5,400 additional hours. The total potential LOE for the entire contract, including all options years and quantity options, is 40,800 hours. Solicitation No. PR-CI-03-10013 is expected to be issued by March 15 and close 30 days thereafter. It will be available on the Internet at www.epa.gov/oam/cinn_cmd. Interested parties are expected to download the solicitation and subsequent amendments from the web site. Hard copies will not be distributed. It is the responsibility of potential offerors to frequently check the site for amendments. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which will be considered by EPA. Contract award will be made in accordance with FAR Part 15, Contracting by Negotiation. See numbered notes 1 and 26. The applicable NAICS code is 541710 with a size standard of 500 employees.