Notice of Intent to Sole Source - NXP Span 8 and FX Dual Span Liquid Handling Workstations

The National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS) intends to award a Purchase Order to Beckman Coulter, Inc., at 250 S Kraemer Blvd, Brea, CA 92821-6232, for a service agreement for the Biomek NXP Span8 and Biomek FX Dual Spar Liquid Handling Workstations at NIEHS, Research Triangle Park campus. The North American industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 811219 and the business size standard is 1,000 employees. NO SOLICITATION OR REQUEST FOR QUOTE (RFQ) IS AVAILABLE. It has been determined that Beckman Coulter, Inc. is the only known responsible source capable of providing the required services and no other services will satisfy the agency's requirements. The purpose of this Purchase Order is to obtain onsite technical maintenance support for the Biomek NXP Span and FX Daul Span Liquid Handling Workstations with software equipment that is proprietary to Beckman Coulter. All Beckman Coulter instrument software is designed to operate Beckman Coulter instrumentation only. Original software and software upgrades are proprietary and only available through Beckman Coulter directly. Beckman Coulter as the original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) requires that certain alignment, troubleshooting, diagnostics, and calibration procedures be performed with the use of proprietary tools and/or software. These procedures verify that instrumentation performance meets OEM specifications and enables the Customer Support Engineer to quickly diagnose and repair or calibrate an instrument. Servicing done without these proprietary tools cannot be guaranteed that the instruments will perform within OEM specifications. Only field service engineers currently employed by Beckman Coulter meet the requirements of being certified/recertified through the ISO9000 standards to perform Preventive Maintenance and Emergency Service to Beckman Coulter equipment on which they have been trained. Additional, diagnostic software and firmware of a proprietary nature will be utilized to exercise various systems to ensure 100% compliance manufacturer established specifications. This notice of intent is not a solicitation or request for quotes. Notwithstanding, any firm that believes it is capable of meeting NIEHS' requirement, as stated herein, may submit their corporate capabilities, which, if received by the response date of this announcement, may be considered. Responses to this posting must be in writing and shall be emailed to Teresa McCall at teresa.mccall@nih.gov and are due by 10:00AM ET on July 12, 2016. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon 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 in the future.