Purchase Order 12905B19P0129

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS), Pacific West Area, awarded a $15,350 firm fixed-price purchase order to Oxford Nanopore Technologies Inc. on August 21, 2019, for Oxford Nanopore Technologies PCR Barcoding Expansion 1-96 sequencing supplies and services in support of the Soil and Water Conservation Research program at Adams, Oregon. The contract, which was not set aside for small businesses, had an ultimate completion date of September 11, 2019, and supported ongoing DNA training and genomic research initiatives at the facility. This award represents a consumables purchase under Oxford Nanopore's broader sequencing technology offerings, specifically providing barcoding expansion kits compatible with the company's MinION and GridION sequencing platforms used for agricultural genomics research.

Oxford Nanopore Technologies Inc., a foreign-owned biotechnology company specializing in nanopore-based DNA and RNA sequencing technologies, has established itself as a significant supplier of genomic sequencing equipment and consumables across multiple federal agencies. The company maintains multiple Indefinite Delivery Vehicles with agencies including the Defense Health Agency ($325,000 through February 2029) and USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service ($740,000 through August 2029), enabling streamlined procurement of sequencing technologies for research applications ranging from infectious disease tracking to agricultural genomics. This USDA ARS purchase order exemplifies the agency's reliance on Oxford Nanopore's advanced sequencing platforms to support soil and water conservation research initiatives.