Notice of Intent to Award a Sole Source

This notice announces the intent by the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) in support of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD), to purchase Dharmacon ON-TARGETplus Custom Library 448 Genes to be used in the National Institute of Health Inter-Agency Agreement (NIH-IAA) Ruff project without competition as prescribed in FAR 13.106(b)(1)(i). Specifically, the Government will procure these products from Horizon Discovery LTD, which has all rights and patents to ON-TARGETplus siRNA, siGenome, and may only be purchased from Horizon Discovery Ltd. as the company has no authorized resellers for these particular products. The USAMRICD requires Dharmacon ON-TARGETplus Set of 4 Custom Library 448 Genes/Set of 4, 0.1 nmol and shipping to USAMRICD located at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. USAMRICD currently utilizes Dharmacon siRNA products to evaluate experimental systems. In order to accomplish milestones with the necessary continuity under an approved funded research program, the USAMRICD requires the procurement of Dharmacon ON-TARGETplus Set of 4 Custom Library 448 Genes/Set of 4, 0.1 nmol. This item is manufactured by and sold exclusively by Horizon Discovery LTD. While other vendors make siRNA, each vendor uses their own proprietary algorithms to design siRNA. It is critically important for the success of the library deconvolution phase that the siRNA sequences remain exactly the same as in the first screening phase. Use of siRNA from any other vendor would render the historic dataset virtually useless, preventing USMARICD from delivering a product to the customer and funding agency. Selecting a different vendor's for siRNA would force USAMRICD to re-establish the siRNA genome by duplicating a full year of research efforts. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for this requirement is 325412 and FSC 6505. Proposed solicitation number: W81XWH-21-Q-0179. This announcement fulfills the synopsis requirements under FAR 5.102(a)(6) and 5.203(a). USAMRAA intends to publish a solicitation no sooner than 15 days after publishing this synopsis. This Special Notice of Intent is not a request for competitive quotes. Information received in response to this notice will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether a competitive procurement is in the best interest of the Government. If no written responses are received by the date listed below, which reflects at least fifteen (15) days after the publication of this notice, the solicitation will be issued as sole source. All questions and responses concerning this notice shall be emailed to Jeff Flook at jeffrey.l.flook.civ@mail.mil. Interested concerns must identify their capability in writing to the email address listed above no later than 10:00 AM ET, 30 July 2021.