Intent to Sole Source - NMT Fish Tags

The United States Bureau of Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Region, intends to award a firm-fixed price purchase order on a sole source basis with Northwest Marine Technology, Inc (NMT) for the purchase of coded wire fish tags under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i). Northwest Marine Technology, Inc (http://www.nmt.us) is the manufacturer and sole distributor of the required specialized coded wire fish tags and holds the patent for the manufacturing of the tags. USBR has been using the NMT tagging system since at least 2010 and already owns the equipment and has the training necessary to insert and read the tags. NMT is the only company that produces coded wire tags and the machines that insert them into the fish. If USBR couldn't use this technique, it would have to develop a new one from scratch, a process that would take years. Reclamation has over two million dollars invested in NMT tagging machines, which would be wasted if a different vendor's tags were purchased. The reason coded-wire tags must be used (as opposed to a different type of tag) is that there isn't another suitable substitute technology available for tagging juvenile salmon of this small size, or that is as reliable (approx. 99% retention). The use of coded-wire tags is widely accepted in Central Valley salmon monitoring programs, and protocols are in place to examine for tags during numerous routine sampling programs. These benefits cannot be achieved by any other tagging methodologies. NMT tags are required to ensure consistency with past tagging efforts and to prevent overlapping with other tagging programs. The tags are coded at the time of manufacture with unique batching numbers to specify the tagging agency. The awarded contract will be for fourteen (14) lots of 80,000 tags. Firms believing they can provide the supplies listed above must provide written notification within 5 days of the posting date of this notice to the Contracting Officer with supporting evidence to that effect in sufficient detail to demonstrate the respondent's ability to meet the stated requirements. This notice is not a request for competitive proposals. All responses received within the due date of the solicitation will be considered by the Government. The due date and time for responses is February 24, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. PST. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed action based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Responses shall be emailed to the Government point of contact below. Responses should include the firm's Dun and Bradstreet number and Tax Identification Number. Firms should identify business size (i.e. small business, other than small business, etc.) in accordance with the size standard for NAICS Code 334220 which is 750 employees. This notice may represent the only official notice of this requirement. Questions concerning this solicitation should be directed to Jong Lee at jmlee@usbr.gov.