--Affymetrix human genechips

The U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center plans to negotiate and award a contract directly to Brigham & Women's Hospital, specifically through its Partner's Gene Chip Array Technology Center, for the provision and analysis of Affymetrix human genechips under a sole-source basis as outlined in FAR 6.302-1(a). The hospital will supply a total of 33 Affymetrix gene chips—each containing probes for 39,000 known human genes—along with 33 test chips. In addition to providing these gene chips, the hospital will process specimens supplied by the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM), making them suitable for gene chip array analysis. It will also perform both test chip and run chip analyses on the specimens, notifying USARIEM investigators if the RNA quality is insufficient for full analysis, and deliver the resulting data by December 31, 2003. Brigham & Women's Hospital is uniquely qualified for this contract as the only known vendor capable of analyzing RNA using the Affymetrix gene chip array system, which is critical for the timely completion of these mission-essential experiments. The hospital's specialized services and infrastructure are essential to meet the rapid timeline required. Notably, no solicitation document is available for this acquisition, emphasizing the sole-source justification for proceeding with this vendor. The contract is administered by the Department of Defense office located in Natick, Massachusetts.