Tecan Fluent 780 Robotic Liquid Handler Purchase

NON-COMPETITIVE

COMBINED SYNOPSIS / SOLICITATION

Title:     Tecan Fluent 780 Robotic Liquid Handler Purchase

 (i)          This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial products and commercial services prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued.

(ii)          The solicitation number is 75N98026Q01037 and the solicitation is issued as a request for quotation (RFQ).

This acquisition is for a commercial product or commercial service and is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13—Simplified Acquisition Procedures; and FAR Part 12—Acquisition of Commercial Products and Commercial Services and is not expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. 

THIS IS A NON-COMPETITIVE (NOTICE OF INTENT) COMBINED SYNOPSIS SOLICITATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT OR PURCHASE ORDER WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME). 

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Acquisition and Logistics Management (OALM), on behalf of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), intends to negotiate and award a purchase order without providing for full and open competition (including brand-name) for the purchase of a Tecan Fluent 780 Robotic Liquid Handler. The anticipated award date is 8/31/2026.

This acquisition is brand-name only.

(iii)         The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) Number 2026-01, with effective date 03/13/2026.

(iv)         The associated NAICS code is 334516 and the small business size standard is 1000 employees.  

(v)          The Contractor shall provide all equipment listed in Attachment 1: Required Equipment.

(vi)         The Government anticipates award of a firm fixed-price purchase order for this acquisition, and the anticipated delivery date is 30 days ARO.

(vii)        The provision at FAR 52.252-1, Solicitation Provisions Incorporated by Reference (Feb 1998), applies to this acquisition. This solicitation incorporates one or more solicitation provisions by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. The offeror is cautioned that the listed provisions may include blocks that must be completed by the offeror and submitted with its quotation or offer. In lieu of submitting the full text of those provisions, the offeror may identify the provision by paragraph identifier and provide the appropriate information with its quotation or offer. Also, the full text of a solicitation provision may be accessed electronically at these addresses:  https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far

https://www.hhs.gov/grants/contracts/contract-policies-regulations/hhsar/index.html  
https://www.acquisition.gov/caac-letters

(End of provision)

The following provisions apply to this acquisition and are incorporated by reference:

• FAR 52.204-7, System for Award Management (Nov 2024)
• FAR 52.204-16, Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting (Aug 2020)
• FAR 52.204-29, Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act Orders – Representation and Disclosures (Dec 2023)
• FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Sep 2023)
• FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Products and Commercial Services (May 2024) (DEVIATION Feb 2025) CAAC_Letter_2025-01_Supplement-1.pdf and CAAC_Letter_2025-02_Supplement-1.pdf
• FAR 52.217-5, Evaluation of Options (July 1990).
• FAR 52.222-52, Exemption from Application of the Service Contract Labor Standards to Contracts for Certain Services-Certification (May 2014)

The clause at FAR 52.252-2, Clauses Incorporated by Reference (Feb 1998), applies to this acquisition. This contract incorporates one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. Also, the full text of a clause may be accessed electronically at these addresses:

https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far     https://www.hhs.gov/grants/contracts/contract-policies-regulations/hhsar/index.html 

https://www.acquisition.gov/caac-letters

(End of clause)

The following clauses apply to this acquisition and are incorporated by reference:

• FAR 52.204-13, System for Award Management Maintenance (Oct 2018)
• FAR 52.204-18, Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance (Aug 2020)
• FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Nov 2023).

The following provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and are attached in full text.  Offerors MUST complete the provisions below and submit completed copies as separate documents with their proposal.

• FAR 52.204-24 Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment (Nov 2021)
• FAR 52.204-26 Covered Telecommunications Equipment or Services-Representation (Oct 2020)
• FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Products and Commercial Services ( Jan 2025) (DEVIATION Feb 2025) Per CAAC Letters 2025-01 and 2025-02, FAR 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities and FAR 52.222-26 - Equal Opportunity will not be considered when making award decisions or enforce requirements.
• FAR 52.222-52 Exemption from Application of the Service Contract Labor Standards to Contracts for Certain Services-Certification (May 2014).
• HHSAR 352.239-78, Information and Communication Technology Accessibility Notice (Feb 2024) (DEVIATION).
• HHSAR 352.239-79, Information and Communication Technology Accessibility (Feb 2024) (DEVIATION).

FAR DEVIATION STATEMENT: The CAAC Letter 2025-01 -Supplement 1 and CAAC Letter 2025-02-Supplement 1 are applicable to this acquisition.

System updates may lag policy updates. The System for Award Management (SAM) may continue to require entities to complete representations based on provisions that are not included in agency solicitations. Examples include 52.222-25, Affirmative Action Compliance, and paragraph (d) of 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications—Commercial Products and Commercial Services. Contracting officers will not consider these representations when making award decisions or enforce requirements. Entities are not required to, nor are they able to, update their entity registration to remove these representations in SAM.

The mentioned CAAC Letters may be accessed electronically at this address: CAAC Letters | Acquisition.GOV.

The following invoice instruction is included and will be incorporated in the final award:

• NIH Invoicing Instructions with IPP (Mar 2023).

(viii)       The provision at FAR clause 52.212-2, Evaluation – Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Nov 2021), applies to this acquisition. 

(a) The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation is the lowest-priced technically-acceptable.

(c) A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer’s specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.

(ix)         Offerors must include a completed copy of the provision at FAR clause 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Products and Commercial Services (May 2024) (DEVIATION Feb 2025), with its offer. If the offeror has completed FAR clause 52.212-3 at www.sam.gov, then the offeror does not need to provide a completed copy with its offer. See DEVIATION STATEMENT above regarding applicable CAAC Letters.

(x)          The following additional contract requirement(s) or terms and conditions as determined by the contracting officer are necessary for this acquisition and consistent with customary commercial practices.

There are no additional contract requirement(s) or terms and conditions applicable to this acquisition.

(xi)         The Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) are not applicable to this requirement.

(xii)        Responses to this solicitation must include sufficient information to establish the interested parties’ bona-fide capabilities of providing the product or service. The price quote shall include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, delivery days after contract award, delivery terms, prompt payment discount terms, F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), product or catalog number(s), product description, and any other information or factors that may be considered in the award decision. Such factors may include: past performance, special features required for effective program performance, trade-in considerations, probable life of the product selected as compared with that of a comparable product, warranty considerations, maintenance availability, and environmental and energy efficiency considerations.

Responses to this solicitation must include clear and convincing evidence of the offeror’s capability of fulfilling the requirement as it relates to the technical evaluation criteria. The price proposal must include the labor categories, an estimate of the number of hours required for each labor category, fully loaded fixed hourly rate or each labor category, breakdown and rationale for other direct costs or materials, and the total amount.

The Unique Entity ID from SAM.gov, the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size must be included in the response. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.

All quotations must be received by 9:00a.m., Eastern Standard Time, on August 24, 2026, and reference Solicitation Number 75N98026Q01037. Responses must be submitted electronically to Kevin Alvarez, Contracting Officer, kevin.alvarez@nih.gov.

A determination by the Government whether to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered to determine whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis as indicated above, or to conduct a competitive procurement.

Fax responses will not be accepted.