Question Contracting Opportunity - NMNH Entomology Lepidoptera Contract (now 2 awards)

=12.0pt**Please distribute to any potential contractors that may be interested in submitting bids for these contracts.**=12.0ptThe National Museum of Natural History Department of Entomology is seeking two contractors to inventory, generate and place new data labels on the Janzen Area Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG) macro moths. One contract will focus on the Geometroidea while the other will focus on the Noctuoidea.  The estimated duration of each contract will be 6 months, but with option for no-cost extension to accommodate unpaid time off requests.  It is anticipated that these two contracts would be concurrent not consecutive (i.e., two contractors working separately at the same time doing similar work but on different taxa). This work must be conducted onsite at the NMNH in Washington, DC.=12.0ptProject Overview:=12.0ptIn the last decade, NMNH has absorbed and labeled most if not all of the material resulting from Dr. Dan Janzen’s long term study of moth diversity in the Area Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG) region of Costa Rica. Janzen has a longstanding agreement to deposit ACG material at NMNH, but recently donated material (roughly 400 Schmidt boxes) cannot be incorporated until proper specimen labels have been generated and affixed to the specimens. The specimens have already been databased at the specimen level so this is not a cataloguing project but does require extraction of data from Janzen’s research database to generate complete archival labels, adding USNMENT barcode labels and recording those numbers, submitting the data in Entomology’s EMu batch upload template file format, and finally incorporation into the collection. Although most of the material is sorted to species, morphospecies, or barcospecies (“BINs”), the contractor will generate and affix new data labels as needed (some already bear complete archival labels but most do not), affix USNMENT barcode labels, provide the data and barcode numbers to the Entomology Collections Information Manager using the aforementioned template, and incorporate all of the ACG material into the collection. Project oversight by NMNH staff will include the Entomology Collections Manager Floyd Shockley to serve as the COTR for the contracts and day-to-day activities will be supervised by USDA scientist and Curator-in-charge of Noctuoidea Paul Goldstein. See attached RFQ and SOW for more details and instructions on how to generate and submit a bid for one of these two contracts.=12.0ptDesirable skills:

• =12.0ptExperience working with databases to generate data labels
• =12.0ptFamiliarity with biological nomenclature or taxonomy
• =12.0ptExperience handling and labeling Lepidoptera specimens
• =12.0ptStrong organizational and communication skills

=12.0ptProposals will be accepted until 5:00 PM EDT, Friday, May 12, 2023. Proposals will be reviewed on the basis of best value for the money. Submit bids or questions about this bid solicitation to Floyd Shockley via e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.=12.0pt. Follow the format set forth in section 4 of the attached Requests for Quote (RFQ) below “Information to be submitted with quotes.”  Make sure that you address each item fully in your bid submission.=12.0ptThere are no benefits, tax or social security withholding associated with this contract.=12.0ptThe contractor must pass a background investigation before work can begin.=12.0ptThank you,=12.0ptFloyd 

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Floyd W. Shockley, Ph.D., F.R.E.S.
Collections Manager, Entomology
Tel: 202-633-0982
Cell: 703-789-4924
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  Mailing Address (USPS):Department of EntomologyNational Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian InstitutionP.O. Box 37012, MRC 165
Washington, DC 20013-7012 Shipping Address (UPS, FedEx, DHL and other couriers):Department of EntomologyNational Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution1000 Constitution Ave., NWWashington, DC 20560-0165 The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) complies with all U.S. export and sanctions laws, as well as fish, wildlife and other regulations applicable to the importation and exportation of specimens and research materials. Please consider the country of origin and nature of any specimen, sample, object or material shipped to NMNH, and if applicable, ensure that it is properly licensed and otherwise compliant with U.S. law prior to shipment.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY  From: Shockley, Floyd
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2023 11:52 PM
Subject: Contracting Opportunity - NMNH Entomology Lepidoptera Contract =12.0pt**Please distribute to any potential contractors that may be interested in submitting bids for this contract.**=12.0ptThe National Museum of Natural History Department of Entomology is seeking a contractor to inventory, generate and place new data labels on the Janzen Area Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG) macro moths, with an estimated duration of 12 months, but with option for no-cost extension or additional option years provided additional funding is secured.  =12.0ptIn the last decade, NMNH has absorbed and labeled most if not all of the material resulting from Dr. Dan Janzen’s long term study of moth diversity in the Area Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG) region of Costa Rica. Janzen has a longstanding agreement to deposit ACG material at NMNH, but recently donated material (roughly 400 Schmidt boxes) cannot be incorporated until proper specimen labels have been generated and affixed to the specimens. The specimens have already been databased at the specimen level so this is not a cataloguing project but does require extraction of data from Janzen’s research database to generate complete archival labels, adding USNMENT barcode labels and recording those numbers, submitting the data in Entomology’s EMu batch upload template file format, and finally incorporation into the collection. Although most of the material is sorted to species, morphospecies, or barcospecies (“BINs”), the contractor will generate and affix new data labels as needed (some already bear complete archival labels but most do not), affix USNMENT barcode labels, provide the data and barcode numbers to the Entomology Collections Information Manager using the aforementioned template, and incorporate all of the ACG material into the collection. Project oversight by NMNH staff will include the Entomology Collections Manager Floyd Shockley to serve as the COTR for the contract and day-to-day activities will be supervised by USDA scientist and Curator-in-charge of Noctuoidea Paul Goldstein. See attached RFQ and SOW for more details and instructions on how to generate and submit a bid for this contract.=12.0ptDesirable skills:

• =12.0ptExperience working with databases to generate data labels
• =12.0ptFamiliarity with biological nomenclature or taxonomy
• =12.0ptExperience handling and labeling Lepidoptera specimens
• =12.0ptStrong organizational and communication skills

=12.0ptProposals will be accepted until 5:00 PM EDT, Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Proposals will be reviewed on the basis of best value for the money. Submit bids or questions about this bid solicitation to Floyd Shockley via e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.=12.0pt. Follow the format set forth in section 4 of the attached Requests for Quote (RFQ) below “Information to be submitted with quotes.”  Make sure that you address each item fully in your bid submission.=12.0ptThere are no benefits, tax or social security withholding associated with this contract.=12.0ptThe contractor must pass a background investigation before work can begin.=12.0ptThank you,=12.0ptFloyd 

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Floyd W. Shockley, Ph.D., F.R.E.S.
Collections Manager, Entomology
Tel: 202-633-0982
Cell: 703-789-4924
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  Mailing Address (USPS):Department of EntomologyNational Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian InstitutionP.O. Box 37012, MRC 165
Washington, DC 20013-7012 Shipping Address (UPS, FedEx, DHL and other couriers):Department of EntomologyNational Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution1000 Constitution Ave., NWWashington, DC 20560-0165 The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) complies with all U.S. export and sanctions laws, as well as fish, wildlife and other regulations applicable to the importation and exportation of specimens and research materials. Please consider the country of origin and nature of any specimen, sample, object or material shipped to NMNH, and if applicable, ensure that it is properly licensed and otherwise compliant with U.S. law prior to shipment.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY   --
Entomological Collections Network Listserv
ecnweb.org
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