Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF APRIL 15, 2007 FBO #1966
SOLICITATION NOTICE

65 -- Notice of Intent to Award a Sole Source Procurement

Notice Date

4/13/2007
 

Notice Type

Solicitation Notice
 

NAICS

334516 — Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
 

Contracting Office

US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, ATTN: MCMR-AAA, 820 Chandler Street, Frederick, MD 21702-5014
 

ZIP Code

21702-5014
 

Solicitation Number

W81XWH-7079-8501
 

Response Due

4/28/2007
 

Archive Date

6/27/2007
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Description

SUBJECT: NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A SOLE SOURCE PROCUREMENT DESC: Under the authority of FAR 6.302-1, it is the Governments intent to award a sole source to Nanogen, 10398 Pacific Center Court, San Diego, CA 92121, for the purchase of the Nanochi p NC 400 Instrument and accessories. The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology currently utilizes the NC100. All the assays developed on the NC100 can be easily transferred to the NC400 with no need for re-optimization. Switching to a new instrument from a different manufacturer with different reagents and capabilities would take two years to optimize and revalidate. This is not a formal solicitation. This synopsis is not considered a Request for Quotation or Proposal. No solicitation document is availab le and telephone requests will not be honored. No contract will be awarded on the basis of offers received in response to this notice. Any response to this notice must show clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Gover nment. If no affirmative written response is received, the service will be awarded without further notice. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based on this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. De tailed capabilities must be submitted to the following email address no later than 4:00 P.M., Eastern Standard Time, 28 April 2007. EMAIL: elayne.seiler@amedd.army.mil Sole Source Justification 1. Initiating Agency and Contracting Agency a. Initiating Agency: Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), Washington, DC b. Contracting Agency: U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, Ft Detrick, MD 2. Description of Action: Approval is requested to process this request as a sole souce. 3. Description of Acquisition: Nanogen Nanochip 400 System. 4. Authority Cited: The statutory authority permitting acquisition of this requirement by other than full and open competition as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a) (2), When supplies or services required by the agency are available from only one responsible source ... and no other type of supplies will satisfy agency requirements. The source, in this case, is the manufacturer. 5. Reason for Authority Cited: FAR 6.302-1(b)(1) states, When there is a reasonable basis to conclude that the agencys minimum needs can only be satisfied by unique supplies available from only one source or only one supplier with unique capabilities. The earliest version of the Nanogen microarray instrument, the Nanochip 100 (NC100) was purchased by the Division of Microbiology in the year 2000 to broaden the capabilities of our Biodefense research program. The NC100 offers several unique advantages over competitors microarray instruments in that it offers multiplexing capabilities, where it can detect the presence of multiple agents in a single sample in one operation rather than multiple, repetitive operations. In addition, all operations are carri ed out in an electronically controlled environment which speeds up sample processing and time to result. In the past 6 years, we have worked exclusively with the NC100 developing, optimizing and testing gene detection based assays specifically for thi s instrument to evaluate its potential to detect and identify biological warfare agents in clinical and environmental samples. A. The recently developed, 2nd generation Nanogen, the Nanochip 400 (NC400) has many advantages over the NC100. First, processing time of samples has been shortened as there is no desalting, or cleaning step, for assays. Elimination of the desalting ste p also eliminates variability in the data found when different users performed the procedure. B. The NC400 is characterized by more user-friendly features, such as increased sample throughput and faster, more efficient reaction times. C. Most importantly, all the assays developed on the NC100 can be easily transferred to the NC400 with n o need for re-optimization. 6. Fair and Reasonable Price Determination: Nanogen provided a cost quote that included a customer loyalty discount as well as the transfer of our existing service contract from the old instrument to the new model after the original warranty expires. 7. Market Research: Microarray systems developed by other manufacturers, such as Affymetrix and GeneArray, do not have the assay development flexibility of the Nanogen. Users are required to provide their own materials to the manufacturer to build arrays for them. In most cases, the assays used on these instruments are limited to gene expression rather than gene detection which continues to be the main objective of our research mission. Additionally, we have worked for two years to optimize the assays we've developed to work on the NC100. Switching to a new instrument from a different manufacturer with different reagents and capabilities is like starting all over again, it would take 2 years to optimize and revalidate.
 

Place of Performance

Address: Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Logistics Division Washington DC

Zip Code: 20306

Country: US
 

Record

SN01273163-W 20070415/070413221309 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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