Every reason behind the verdict rather than the headline one — which of your certifications match, how much runway is left, whether the work is your size, and what we would need to know to sharpen it.
The requirements that decide a bid — bonding, clearances, experience minimums, page limits — live in the attachments, not in the notice above. Start a free trial to upload them and have them read.
Draft the paperwork
Written against this notice and what you have told us about your company. Anything we do not know is marked [NEEDS INPUT] in the draft rather than guessed at — read it before you send it. Federal notices routinely put the real requirement in an attachment; adding the documents above makes every one of these materially better.
Start a free trial to draft these. Nothing is sent to an agency on your behalf, ever — you get a document to review, edit and submit yourself.
What would disqualify you
Read straight from the solicitation documents: the bonding, clearances, insurance minimums, experience thresholds and deadlines that decide whether you can bid at all — before you write a word.
Sources Sought response
A complete draft response — capability statement, relevant past performance, business size and socioeconomic status, and answers to the agency's specific questions.
Questions to submit
Genuine ambiguities and requirements that disadvantage a smaller bidder, drafted as questions you can submit before the Q&A deadline.
Past performance write-ups
Which of your prior awards best match this requirement, and draft write-ups in the format the agency asked for.
Solicitation details
Solicitation number
68HERW27R0002
Notice type
Sources Sought
NAICS
541330
Product service code
R499
Set-aside
Unrestricted
Posted
2026-10-09
Response deadline
Oct 26, 2026, 8:30 PM UTC
Contracting contact
fischer.charles@epa.gov
Market intelligence
Account requiredWho wins this work, and what it pays
Comparable awards under NAICS 541330 at this agency — the incumbent, what they were paid, when their period of performance ends, and the real pricing distribution rather than the headline number. From public federal award records.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is performing a market search to determine potential capable sources in preparation for a future procurement. Information submitted in response to this notice is for internal market research purposes and no feedback will be offered to the interested parties that submit capability statements. For background, the subject acquisition is anticipated to provide support services for the “Technical Support for the Drinking Water Optimization Program.” The drinking water optimization program began in the late 1980’s with a focus on enhancement and implementation of the Drinking Water Composite Correction Program (CCP). Implementation of the CCP resulted in documented improvements on individual surface water treatment plant performance. The documented success of the CCP, its value for drinking water primacy programs and the desire to apply CCP principles more broadly resulted in the creation of an Area-wide Optimization Program (AWOP). Broad-scale public water system performance improvements and the resulting drinking water quality improvements have been achieved via AWOP implementation. Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) programs implement their AWOPs to enhance public health protection and to benefit from the resulting proactive assistance with regulatory compliance. The AWOP was established with a focus on turbidity removal, resulting in greater protection against the risk of microbial pathogens passing through treatment plant processes. The program continues the focus on turbidity removal while expanding its technical scope to include optimization of both treatment plant and distribution system operations to minimize the formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs) and maintaining adequate disinfectant residual. The technical scope of the program also includes optimization of process control for ground water treatment and conveyance, and many unconventional (alternate) treatment processes. The program’s documented impact on enhancing public health protection has also been called upon to address other public health challenges such as treatment for cyanobacteria associated with harmful algal blooms and arsenic removal. The National AWOP has been structured to address additional public health challenges, depending on the commitment of resources to the program. For more information, please see the attached Sources Sought Notification and Draft Performance Work Statement.
Contact
Point of contact
Fischer, Charles K.
Role
not stated on this notice — SAM publishes a role for only about 5% of them, so this may be a contract specialist rather than the contracting officer
Email
fischer.charles@epa.gov
Submit questions
Ambiguities and requirements worth clarifying, written as questions you can send before the deadline.
Opens in your own mail client, addressed and with a subject line — you write the message. GovSprint never sends anything on your behalf.
Emails open in your mail client and are sent from your address, so the reply comes back to you and the exchange stays yours. Confirm the correct channel and any question deadline on the notice before sending — many solicitations require questions in a specific way.
