The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Food and Drug Administration, through the FDA Office of Acq Grant Svcs, is conducting market research for a preventive maintenance and repair service agreement for automatic watering systems supporting the National Center for Toxicological Research in Jefferson, Arkansas. The work covers quarterly preventive maintenance and corrective repairs for the SE Labs automatic watering systems in buildings 53, 62, and 62A-177, including related components such as storage tanks, pumps, delivery and return lines, filters, UV sterilization units, and Monnit monitoring equipment. The requirement calls for all parts, labor, travel, emergency service response within 2 to 5 business days, 24/7 technical phone support, OEM-trained certified technicians, software and firmware updates, and service in occupied animal facilities with access and occupational health constraints. The contemplated contract is firm fixed price with a base period from July 24, 2026 through July 23, 2027 and four one-year options, and service would be performed at 3900 NCTR Road in Jefferson, Arkansas. Capability statements are due by email to nick.sartain@fda.hhs.gov by May 26, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. Central Time under reference NCTR-2026-134604.

**MARKET RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY**

**NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL OR SOLICITATION**

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is conducting market research to support the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR), requirement for Preventive Maintenance and Repair Service Agreement for Automatic Watering Systems B53, B62, & B62A-177.

The FDA is seeking small business sources to determine the availability and capability of small businesses capable of providing the required supplies. Other than small business concerns are also encouraged to submit capability statements. The following information is provided to assist the FDA in conducting Market Research to identify potential contractors for this effort.

The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is- 811210 - Electronic and Precision Equipment Repair and Maintenance; the applicable Small Business Size Standard is $34 million.

Statement of Work

Background

NCTR is the primary research facility within the FDA, and as such, conducts animal studies to support the mission of CBER, CDER, CTP, NTP, and CFSAN. All animals must be supplied with a readily available source of clean water. The current automatic watering system (AWS) in building 53, building 62, and building 62A-177 meet those requirements. The current automatic watering system in these buildings must be serviced regularly to maintain optimal function and to ensure clean drinking water is provided to animals in individually ventilated cages at all times. This requirement is for a Preventative Maintenance and Repair Service contract.

Objectives

To provide yearly preventive maintenance and repair services to the Automatic Watering System in Building 53, Building 62, and Building 62A-177 on a quarterly basis.

Scope

All animals must be supplied with a readily available source of clean water. The current automatic watering system in building 53, building 62, and building 62A-177 meet those requirements. The current automatic watering system must be serviced regularly to maintain optimal function and to ensure clean drinking water is provided to animals in individually ventilated cages at all times. This requirement is for a Preventative Maintenance and Repair Service contract. The SE Labs automatic watering system and its Monnit monitoring system are pre-existing in the animal facilities of building 53, building 62, and building 62A-177. The AWS is on the Product List, and it includes storage tanks, pumps, water delivery and return lines, filters, and UV sterilization units.

Tasks

* Preventive Maintenance Services for the SE Labs automatic watering system equipment in 53, 62, and 62A-177 shall be performed four timesper year. It shall include verification, calibrations, adjustments, repairs and/or replacement of worn/ defective parts.
* The service and maintenance agreement must include all parts, labor, and travel expenses.
* The interim Service visits shall be completed approximately (3) months after the previous visit.
* A Preventive Maintenance report shall be completed for each visit and presented to the COR for approval at the completion of the service visit.
* Emergency Service Calls shall be included throughout the agreement term. Service Calls must be responded to within 2-5 business days after notification during normal business hours Monday-Friday. 24/7 technical phone support must be included.
* Preventative and corrective/remedial maintenance repair service on the system shall, at a minimum, include the following:
  + Unlimited phone and email support during the contractor's normal operating hours.
  + Preventative maintenance shall include all labor, travel, and parts (except  
    consumables).
  + Unlimited corrective/remedial maintenance, service and repairs shall include all labor, travel, and parts (except consumables). Provide service response time with quote.
  + Pricing shall be inclusive of all labor, travel, replacement parts, components, subassemblies, etc.
  + Performance by formally trained and certified technicians/engineers, following Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) specifications, manuals, and service bulletins, using OEM replacement parts, components, subassemblies, etc.
  + Access by the FDA Contracting Officer's Representative (COR), Technical Representative (TR) and system operator personnel to the manufacturer's call center for technical assistance, which is staffed by senior engineers to provide a high level of expertise for troubleshooting the instrument.
  + System software and firmware updates required for reliability improvements and  
    correction of any defects.
  + Service Records and Reports: The Contractor shall, commensurate with the completion of each service call or preventative maintenance visit, provide the end-user of the equipment and the Contracting Officer with a copy of a field service report/ticket identifying the equipment name, manufacturer, model number, and serial number of the equipment being serviced/repaired and detailing the reason for the service call, a detailed description of the work performed, the test instruments or other equipment used to affect the repair or otherwise perform the service, the name(s) and contact information of the technician who performed the repair/service, and for information purposes, the on-site hours expended and parts/components replaced.
* SE Labs equipment included in this agreement includes:
  + Combo Recoil/Rackflush Part No. 01-0038, Serial No. 3230, Filter 34-0032
  + UV Sterilization Unit, Model 2011, Part No. 01-0041, Serial No. 3292, Bulb 68 0037
  + Monnit monitoring server, accessories, and any necessary updates
* Onsite preventative maintenance and repair service requires that the technician shall:
  + Participate in the NCTR Animal Exposure Program through the onsite Occupation Health Unit.
  + Complete annual fit testing for an N95 disposable respirator that is to be worn in occupied animal rooms. This can be completed on the morning of one of the quarterly maintenance visits.
  + Be a US citizen.
  + Comply with any new FDA/NCTR facility entrance requirements in place at the time of the repair/maintenance.

Delivery

The contractor shall provide all labor, travel, and parts necessary for services on a quarterly basis to ensure the AWS in buildings 53, 62, and 62A-177 remain in operational status to continue to provide clean drinking water to the research animals.

The contractor shall provide service reports identifying the equipment name, manufacturer, model number, and serial number of the equipment being serviced/repaired and detailing the reason for the service call, a detailed description of the work performed, the test instruments or other equipment used to affect the repair or otherwise perform the service, the name(s) and contact information of the technician who performed the repair/service, and for information  
purposes, the on-site hours expended and parts/components replaced.

The contractor shall provide all software and firmware updates to the AWS as needed.

Government-Furnished Property, Material, Equipment, or Information (GFP, GFM, GFE, or GFI)

SE Labs equipment government furnished property included in this agreement:

* Combo Recoil/Rackflush
* UV Sterilization Unit
* Monnit monitoring server and accessories

Security

The contractor shall ensure a government employee or Animal Care contractor is available to escort them to the Automatic Watering System’s location on NCTR property. The Monnit monitoring system for the water pressure and levels is on the Product List.

Travel

The contractor shall be required to travel on site to FDA NCTR to perform their duties in this preventative maintenance/repair contract. The contractor is responsible for paying for travel up front and may include travel costs as part of their quarterly preventative maintenance and repair costs.

Special Material Requirements

N/A

Other Unique Requirements

N/A

Place of Performance

3900 NCTR Road, Jefferson, AR 72079. The AWS main components are located Building 53B-125, building 62-140, and building 62A-177, clean side of cagewash area. The majority of PM/repair services will be in these locations. If there is an issue with the AWS delivery to each animal room outfitted with automatic watering, Contractor personnel will need to enter the following animal rooms in 53: 53A-102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, and 116; 53B-102, 103, 104, 107, 108, 109, and 110; 53C-102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 131, 132, 133; 53D-103, 104, 105, and 106. Contractor personnel will need to enter the following animal rooms in 62: 62-141, 62-142, 62-143, 62-149, 62-150, 62-151, and 62-152. Contractor personnel will need to enter the following animal rooms in 62A: 62A-177, 62A-178, 62A-184.

Period of Performance

Base contract year: 07/24/26 – 07/23/27

Option year 1: 07/24/27 – 07/23/28

option year 2: 07/24/28 – 07/23/29

option year 3: 07/24/29 – 07/23/30

option year 4: 07/24/30 – 07/23/31

FOB Point Destination. All items shall include shipping and handling to the destination identified herein.

**Holidays and Government Closures**

Service/Delivery shall not be scheduled during Federal Holidays or Federal Closures as determined by Executive Orders or opm.gov. Federal Holidays are as follows:

New Year’s Day                                       Labor Day

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday           Columbus Day

Washington’s Birthday                             Veterans Day

Memorial Day                                           Thanksgiving Day

Juneteenth Day                                        Christmas Day

Independence Day

Contract Type: Firm Fixed Price

Alternative solutions will be considered insofar as any such alternate system and/or system components meet the minimum intended use of the system and brand name or equal technical requirements.

The offeror shall furnish sufficient technical information necessary for the Government to conclusively determine that the offered products/services and components meet the technical requirements identified above. Though the target audience is small business manufacturers or small businesses capable of supplying a U.S. made product/service of a small business manufacturer or producer all interested parties may respond.  At a minimum, responses shall include the following:

* Business name, SAM Unique Entity ID number, business address, business website, business size status (i.e., SB, VOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone SB, SDB, WOSB, LB), point of contact name, mailing address (if different from business address), phone number and email address (Provide this same information if responding to provide a product manufactured by another firm);
* Sufficient descriptive literature that unequivocally demonstrates that offered products and services can meet the above requirements. All descriptive material necessary for the government to determine whether the service/product offered meets the technical requirements including: technical specifications, ISO certifications, descriptive material, literature, brochures and other information, which demonstrates the capabilities of the contractor to meet the requirement.
* Three (3) years of past performance information, where the respondent has provided same or substantially similar product/service solutions on the same or near-same requirements. For each past performance reference include the date of sale, description, dollar value, client name, client address, client point of contact name, client point of contact mailing address (if different from that provided for client), client point of contact phone number, client point of contact email address, and name of the manufacturer (to include SAM Unique Entity ID number and size status) if not the respondent.
* The offeror’s capability to initiate service on-site within the time specified above.
* Offeror shall provide estimated historical on-site response time from the initial call for service until a service technician was on-site for the brand name and model of instrument in this solicitation or a standard target time for onsite performance from initiation of service call.
* Service/repair agreement plans that are available for the Make/Model of the system described above.
* If applicable, identification of the firm's GSA Schedule contract(s) by Schedule number and SINs that are applicable to this potential requirement. Detailed list of items included and not included on the GSA contract to meet this requirement.
* If applicable, identification of Best in Class (BIC) contract information or other Government-wide or HHS-wide contracts that the equipment/service is available on.
* Identification of AbilityOne Contracts available that can meet the requirement.
* Capability and understanding of accessibility testing and customization to conform with the applicable Section 508 standards identified herein. Provide information if the respondent has an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) for the products offered for the Revised 508 Standards. The ACR should be based on the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template Version 2.0  (MS Word) provided by the Industry Technology Industry Council (ITIC).
* Provide information if any of these specifications are too restrictive. Failure to provide information indicating that the listed specifications are too restrictive will be interpreted as confirmation that the specifications are adequate for a competitive environment.
* If a large business, identify the subcontracting opportunities that would exist for small business concerns;
* Standard commercial warranty and payment terms;
* Provide place of product manufacture or service performance and any other applicable information to enable review and analysis pertaining to the Buy American statute and requirements relating to Made in America in the event a nonavailability waiver request through the MIAO Digital Waiver Portal is needed; and
* Though this is not a request for quote, informational pricing is required

The government is not responsible for locating or securing any information, not identified in the response.

The Government encourages any comments and/or suggestions from any interested party, regarding the specifications. While the Government will not respond directly to your comments and/or suggestions; we will consider them as we finalize the specifications in preparation for the forthcoming solicitation.

Interested Parties shall respond with capability statements which are due by email to the point of contact listed below on or before May 26, 2026 by 13:00 hours (Central Time in Jefferson, Arkansas) to nick.sartain@fda.hhs.gov. Reference NCTR-2026-134604.

Notice of Intent

Responses to this sources sought announcement will assist the Government in determining whether or not any future requirement similar to this one should be set aside for small business, made available to full and open competition or procure through sole-source acquisition procedures.

Disclaimer and Important Notes

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work.

Responses with weblinks will not be opened or viewed.

Responses must demonstrate capability, not merely affirm the respondent's capability (i.e. the response must go beyond the statement that, "XYZ company can provide the instrument, technical support etc.").

Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in sam.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

Confidentiality

No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).

Preventive Maintenance and Repair Service Agreement for Automatic Watering Systems

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