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This is a notice of intent to solicit from a single source.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), intends to award a purchase order to Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) uptake and bioaccumulation in fish in the Columbia Slough, Portland, Oregon as described in the attached Statement of Work.
Award will be made in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.106-1(b) and the procedures at FAR Part 12 entitled, Acquisition of Commercial Items and FAR Part 13 entitled, Simplified Acquisition Procedures. Oregon State University is, to the USGS' knowledge, the only source who has capacity to analyze an expanded list of compounds that are required for this project and that no other lab is able to analyze. Oregon State University faculty have extensive experience in methods development and novel analytical chemistry; they have developed methods to analyze over 240 individual PFASs in tissues and blood of fish. Target PFASs, most discovered in Oregon State University¿s laboratory only recently, include zwitterionic, cationic, and anionic classes with homologs ranging in fluorinated chain length from C2 to C14. No other lab has an established method available to analyze this list of compounds and chain lengths in tissues and blood.
The purpose of this notice is to satisfy the requirements of FAR Subpart 5.2. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotes. However, all responsible parties may submit a quotation by the closing date of this announcement which shall be considered by the agency. No solicitation will be issued. A determination not to compete this action based upon responses received is in the sole discretion of the Government.
The NAICS code for this action is 541380 Testing Laboratories and associated size standard $15.0 million annually apply to this announcement.
Responses or inquiries shall only be accepted through electronic mail addressed to nlushenko@usgs.gov and must be uploaded and received in their entirety no later than August 26, 2019 at 1700 ET. Responses submitted by hardcopy or the FedConnect web portal or the FedConnect Message Center shall not be accepted or considered.
Statement of Work
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) Uptake and Bioaccumulation in Fish in the Columbia Slough, Portland, OR
Objective
USGS shall evaluate PFASs in fish tissues and blood from Columbia Slough, which receives stormwater effluent from aqueous film forming foams (AFFF)-impacted sites at Portland International Airport (PDX) and the Portland Air National Guard (PANG) base, Oregon. USGS will analyze over 240 individual PFASs in tissues and blood of multiple fish species collected from Columbia Slough. Target PFASs, most discovered only recently, include zwitterionic, cationic, and anionic classes with homologs ranging in fluorinated chain length from C2 to C14 (Barzen-Hanson et al., 2017).
Background
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances have been produced for over 50 years and have found a wide range of consumer and industrial applications such as protective coatings for paper and textile fabrics, lubricants, and as a component of AFFF used for firefighting (Buck et al., 2011). Soil and groundwater contamination by PFASs has been detected at PDX and the PANG base (APEX, 2017). Stormwater from those facilities drains directly to Columbia Slough and PFASs have been detected in sediments from Columbia Slough (APEX, 2016). In addition, it has been very recently reported that surface water and groundwater samples collected from the PANG base had extremely high levels of PFASs (Schick, 2019). USGS shall collect aquatic organisms from Columbia Slough and analyze tissues and blood for PFASs to evaluate their uptake and bioaccumulation.
Site Description
The Columbia Slough is located south and parallel to the Columbia River and consists of approximately 19 miles of predominantly urbanized waterway. The Slough drains approximately 32,700 acres of land with industrial, commercial, residential, and agricultural uses. Much of the City of Portland's industrial and commercial land is contained within the watershed¿s boundaries. Management of the Slough system for flood control and water withdrawal supply has resulted in long residence times, causing increased algal growth, increased temperatures, and other water quality problems (Bureau of Environmental Services, 2007). Drainage from PDX is discharged to the Middle Slough through approximately nine Port-owned stormwater outfalls. The Middle Slough comprises approximately 1.8 miles, and is separated from the Lower Slough by a large levee. The watershed is at the junction of the Columbia and Willamette rivers, and is a key area along migratory routes for birds and fish. Our fish sampling would be centered on the Middle Slough reach and a reference reach in the Upper Slough that has no known upstream sources of PFASs.
Laboratory Analytical Methods
Frozen tissues will be cut into pieces and approximately 1 gm will be weighed out. Stable isotope (extraction) internal standards will be added and the sample will be vortexed and then allowed to equilibrate for 1.5 h. Basic methanol (2.5 mL of 0.01 MKOH in methanol) is added and sonicated for 30 min. The sample is then centrifuged for 5 min at 250 rpms. The supernatant is removed and the extraction is repeated one more time. The collected supernatant is evaporated to 3 mL under nitrogen at 35oC. The extract is cleaned up by passing the extract through an ENVI-Carb column, which is then eluted with methanol. The final extract is spiked with injection internal standards of PFOS and PFOA and evaporated to 1 mL prior to LC-MS/MS analysis (Reiner et al., 2012).
One gram of blood is weighed and combined with stable isotope (extraction) internal standards. The mixture is allowed to equilibrate for 1.5 h before adding 4 mL acetonitrile. Samples are sonicated for 30 min and then centrifuged for 5 min at 2500 rpms. The supernatant is removed and solvent exchanged into methanol before cleanup on ENVI-Carb columns. The sample is then treated as described above for tissue analysis prior to analysis by LC-MS/MS (Reiner et al., 2012).
PFASs are isolated from organic extracts onto ion-exchange guard columns that are then eluted onto a C18 analytical column for separation. The chromatography methodology described in Backe et al. (2013) and Barzen-Hanson et al. (2015) captures approximately 240 individual PFASs, most of which were recently discovered using non-target high resolution mass spectrometry (Barzen-Hanson et al., 2017). The expanded panel of PFASs includes zwitterionic, cationic, and anionic classes with homologs ranging in fluorinated chain length from C2 to C14. The expanded chromatography separates branched and linear isomers, so information is obtained on branching of PFCAs and PFSAs.
Task 1. Field work
Collection of fish tissue samples from Columbia Slough, OR. USGS will carry out this task using all appropriate field methods and equipment during the summer of 2019.
Milestones/Deliverables
Frozen tissue samples shipped to the contractor¿s laboratory are the deliverable for this task.
Task 2. Lab analyses
Samples will be analyzed in the contractor¿s laboratory as described above.
Milestones/Deliverables
Monthly phone calls and data spreadsheets will be the deliverable for this task. The contractor will have monthly calls to discuss the status of the laboratory analyses. Spreadsheet will be provided from the contractor to USGS as the data are completed.
Task 3. Data release
USGS will publish a data release including all of the data generated for the project following USGS Fundamental Science Practices.
Milestones/Deliverables
The USGS Data Release will be the deliverable for this task.
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