THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR QUOTES/PROPOSALS, THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS ONLY

This Sources Sought is for the purpose of identifying vendors that can meet the following United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) requirement.

An ARS Southeast Area (SEA) research site has a requirement for a corn header under NAICS 333111, Farm Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing to be used with an existing plot combine harvester Zurn 160 for research farming operations. The requested corn header must be a two-row, manufactured to work hydraulically, electronically, and mechanically with an existing Zurn 160 Plot Combine. Each row must have two picking rollers with 36” row distance that pull the corn stalks down and the cob is stripped over the split plates. Must have a reverse mechanism to allow the corn stalks to be reversed out of the header. The corn header must be manufactured to fit the quick attach on a Zurn 160 Plot Combine feeder housing.

This Sources Sought is not to be considered as a request for quote/proposal or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of the contractor submission to this Sources Sought or the Government's use of such information. The Government reserves the right to reject, in whole or in part, any contractor's input resulting from this RFI. No contract will be awarded as a result of this announcement. Data submitted in response to this RFI will not be returned.

INSTRUCTION FOR SUBMISSION:

After review of the attached documentation, interested parties may submit a response in an electronic format only via email to osvaldo.rodriguez@usda.gov no later than March 1, 2024, 10:00 AM ET.

Electronic files should be in Microsoft Office Word or PDF format. All information should be UNCLASSIFIED material only.

Respondents should include as part of their submission:

1. Capabilities statement.


2. GSA Number if applicable


3. DUNS Number


4. Firm Name


5. Firm Address


6. Business size, SDVOSB, HUBZone, or Woman owned status, as validated via the System for Award Administration (SAM). All offers must register on the SAM located at http://www.SAM.gov


7. Firm’s point of contact, phone and email address.


8. Past work experience. If you have experience working with other Federal Agencies and/or commercial businesses of similar size and scope, please include agency and/or business name contract number (if applicable), amount and type of contract (e.g. FFP, T&M, Labor hour etc).

Any proprietary information must be marked as such, the RFI information should not exceed a total of 10 one-sided 8 1/2x11 pages, with one-inch margins, and font no smaller than 12 point.