66--Sole Source

The US Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center Contracting Office plans to award a sole source contract to Instron, located in Norwood, Massachusetts, for maintenance and calibration services of several highly specialized materials testing machines. These include the Instron Electropuls E3000, an Instron Electromechanical machine, Baldwin, Tinius Olsen load frames, and multiple MTS actuators. Since Instron is the original manufacturer of two of the machines and provides proprietary parts essential for their maintenance, the government intends to procure these services exclusively from this single source under FAR 13.106-1(b), following simplified acquisition procedures as specified for commercial items. This procurement is not open to competitive proposals, as no solicitation will be issued, but interested parties may still submit capability statements or quotations for consideration by a specified deadline. The contracting office is accepting such submissions until 5:00 PM CST on June 17, 2011, to allow any responsible sources to express their interest or capabilities despite the sole source intent. This acquisition is classified under NAICS code 334519, related to measuring and testing instruments manufacturing, and is being executed under streamlined federal acquisition regulations to meet the specific needs of maintaining proprietary equipment.