Acquisition of a service to perform the SOMAscan assay on samples of high density lipoproteins and low density lipoproteins

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), intends to award a sole source purchase order to Somalogic Inc., 2945 Wilderness Place, Boulder, CO 80301 for the acquisition of service to perform the SOMAscan assay on samples of high density lipoproteins and low density lipoproteins to quantify proteins in said samples for influenza studies. The statutory authority for this sole source acquisition is 10 U.S.C 2304(c)(1) in accordance with FAR Part 6.302-1- only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy the agency requirement. The NAICS code for this procurement is 541711, Research and Development in Biotechnology. The period of performance for this procurement is 12 months. The SOMA scan from Somalogic is an assay service that can simultaneously detect 1129 serum proteins in a single serum sample and quantify them absolutely. Product research shows that no other assay can simultaneously detect this number of proteins in serum using aptamers. Additionally, the SOMAscan has a median detection limit of 40 fM, and a dynamic range of 4 logs in buffer with a median CV of 5%. No other aptamer based assay can detect proteins at these concentrations and with the dynamic range required for detecting proteins in serum. The SOMAscan assay requires only 65 microliters of sample - a crucial volume because of our sample-limited fractions - which because of the lack of comparable assays no other product was discovered. No other product or company researched offers an aptamer based assay that can simultaneously detect 1129 serum proteins at the detection limits we require or over the dynamic range we demand with the minimal sample volumes necessary. The generation and deployment of SOMAscan as a biomarker discovery tool is uniquely offered by Somalogic as a service. CDC will provide Somalogic with our samples and a report is generated to show the quantitative numbers for 1129 different proteins detected (or not) in each of our samples. The SOMAscan assay has been utilized in peer-reviewed journal articles, and is a valid means of reporting protein quantitation numbers. No other product approaches this type of service. SOMAscan is the only assay that can generate protein quantitation values at the concentration and at the dynamic range of the proteins in sera. As a result of this synopsis, no competitive solicitation will be posted on FedBizOpps. We will issue only one solicitation to Somalogic Inc. However, all responsible sources that believe they can meet these requirements may submit their capabilities/qualifications statement to provide the services to Leslie Jones via email ONLY at contact@example.gov with the solicitation number 2013-Q-15942 referenced in the subject line NO LATER THAN August 28, 2013. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed action will be based on responses to this notice and are solely within the discretion of the Contracting Officer. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.