The US Geological Survey (USGS) has a requirement for GfK Kenetec Inc's AgroTrak pesticide usage data. The USGS is aware of no other source that can provide the above. Therefore, it intends to make an award to GfK Kenetec Inc., unless it is contacted by any vendor who believes they obtained similar technical expertise and can provide the same service. Vendors are invited to contact the Contract Specialist, Bryan O'Shaughnessy (
[email protected]) no later than 12:00 PM EST, Thursday, February 16, 2012 with an affirmative answer. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) considers employee signatures to be Personal Protected Information, and therefore all employee signatures have been redacted. By posting this document, the Contract Specialist attests all appropriate signatures have been obtained. SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION STATES THE FOLLOWING PART: The following information is provided to demonstrate the proposed contractor's unique qualifications:The USGS National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program produces a national assessment of pesticides in water resources through modeling. Accomplishing this assessment and related modeling requires annual estimates of pesticide use for watersheds that are sampled, as well as all other watersheds in the nation. The use data provided by Dmrkynetec Inc. is the only source of such data on a nation-wide basis for each year. The USGS models and assessment results are provided to the public and other users through publications and web site access. The models are used by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other state and local governments to evaluate the distribution of pesticides in water resources and potential concerns for aquatic life and drinking water. GfK Kynetec, Inc. is the only provider of the required data for USGS NAWQA Program by providing use coefficients for 320 active ingredients used on 60 crops grown across the conterminous US, as well as seed trait information. Information is collected annually based on a statistical sample of 432 sub-state CRDs, which represent multi-county areas within a state that share similar crop management practices and growing conditions. GfK Kynetec, Inc.=BFs AgroTrak also provides estimates of the statistical reliability of use estimates for each active ingredient and crop. GfK Kynetec, Inc is uniquely qualified because they are the only entity, public or private, that supplies the subject data on an annual basis at the CRD spatial resolution. The data are developed from a proprietary statistical survey employing one-on-one detailed surveys of thousands of growers. No other firm provides this service, nor does any Federal agency. The program office and contracting conducted market research and was unable to identify a product or vendor, other than GfK Kenetec's ArgoTrak that could provide pesticide usage data that meets the agencies requirement.