SAMPLE PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS OF METABOLITES

SOLICITATION: NFFP7100-17-02540JR SPECIAL NOTICE - INTENT TO AWARD ON A SOLE SOURCE BASIS ***NOAA's Acquisition & Grants Office, Western Acquisition Division-Boulder, intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis, under authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), with The University of California, Davis in support of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Science Center (NMFSC) Conservation Biology Division for providing sample processing and analysis of metabolites in conserving of marine species. ***The sole source determination is based on the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Science Center (NMFSC) mission to provide scientific and technical support to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The required supplies or services must be compatible in all aspects (form, fit and function) with existing systems or equipment and the source is uniquely qualified to meet the requirement. The UC Davis West Coast Metabolomics Cores is uniquely capable of providing these services for our work. Metabolomics requires the careful curation and quality control of data from the specific instruments described for analyses, such as the analytes can be consistently and reliably identified and quantities of analytes estimated. We have data from UC Davis Metabolomics Core from prior work (in FY15 and FY16), and this purchase request is a continuation of our work that will need direct comparison across years. Specifically, we will need to directly compare new data with those already collected, using pools of prior samples processed and analyzed from our studies by the UC Davis Metabolomics Core. The ability to provide this consistently for comparison across years is not possibly across platforms and labs, thus the UC Davis Metabolomics Core is the only provider that can provide this service. For data comparison across years, this source is the only vendor capable of providing the data needed for comparison of data across our studies. We are unable to carry out the objectives of our study, if we cannot consistently collect and compare data across years. ***This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals and no solicitation package is available. However, firms that believe they can fully meet the Government's requirements may submit substantiating documentation in writing to the identified point of contact within 15 days after publication of this synopsis. Such documentation will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. A determination by the Government not to conduct a competitive procurement, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the government. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice.