Sole Source Notice/Annual Service Agreements

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)/Animal Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) intends to award three (3) sole source service agreement contracts for support of laboratory equipment located in various state and USDA Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories (VDL) which together comprise the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN). One of the primary missions for the NAHLN is to increase diagnostic testing capacity and capability for Foreign Animal Diseases (FADs) in the event of an outbreak in domestic livestock or poultry. To meet this goal, the NAHLN has purchased certain laboratory equipment which has been distributed to participating state laboratories to increase their respective testing capacity. All of the equipment requires annual preventative maintenance, software upgrades, and emergency repair services. The equipment list is as follows: Twenty-six (26) Biomek NXP units purchased from Beckman-Coulter, twenty (20) BioSprint96 units purchase from Qiagen, and twenty-three (23) ABI 7500 FAST units, purchased from Applied Biosystems. Each unit is located in a separate state VDL. Based on market research and past attempts at competition, USDA-APHIS has determined that there are no qualified laboratory equipment service providers that possess the capabilities to furnish the Government's requirements for annual preventive maintenance, software upgrades, and emergency repair services on the referenced equipment other than the listed Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM). Accordingly, the procurements will be conducted in accordance FAR 6.302-1, (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy the agency requirements). Contracts will all be firm fixed price. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 811219, and the size standard is $7.0 million. This Notice of Intent is not a request for competitive proposals. No solicitations documents are available and telephone requests will not be honored. However, if a firm believes it can meet the requirements it must furnish information about its services, as well as three (3) references from other customers who are using these services, to the Contracting Officer by 3:30 p.m. Central Time (CT) on Wednesday, February 11, 2009. Supporting evidence must be furnished in sufficient detail to demonstrate the ability to comply with the above requirement. Responses received after the response date or without the required information will not be considered. Capability statements may be sent to: Daniel M. Kline, Contracting Specialist, USDA-APHIS-MRPBS, ASD Procurement Branch, Butler Square Building, 5th Floor, 100 N. 6th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55403, or via email @ daniel.m.kline@aphis.usda.gov or fax @ (612) 336-3550. Responses received will be evaluated however; a determination by the Government not to compete the proposed procurement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. If no responses are received, APHIS will proceed with the sole source procurements with: Beckman-Coulter, Quiagen, and Applied Biosystems.