Sole Source Justification_USFS Pacific NW Research Station_12048924Q0014 REDACTED_Redacted.pdf

SOLE SOURCE or BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION (FAR 13 Under the SAT)

1. DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPPLIES/SERVICES REQUIRED

State the requesting organization and the supplies or services required. Include the total estimated value and the period of performance or required delivery timeframe.

Requesting organization: Pacific Northwest Research Station, U.S. Forest Service—06 November 2023.

Services: Diverse arrays of DNA/RNA sequencing services provided by Psomagen, Inc. are needed to 1) identify endemic/invasive/emerging forest pathogens and associated hosts/microbes, 2) determine genetic relationships among forest pathogens/microbes and hosts, and 3) evaluate pathogen/microbe/host functions and roles in diverse forest ecosystems. These multiomics services (e.g., genomics, proteomics, metagenomics, transcriptomics, and bioinformatics) require maintaining and updating state-of-art equipment (e.g., Illumina NovaSeq6000, PacBio RevioTM platforms) and technical laboratory expertise.

Total Estimated Value:

Period of Performance: Work will begin at date of award, and continue through October 30, 2026.

2. JUSTIFICATION FOR SOLICITING FROM A SINGLE SOURCE or FOR A BRAND NAME

Provide a detailed reason why another vendor or another brand name cannot be used to provide the required supplies or services.

Single Source Justification: We need multi-omics services (from DNA/RNA Sanger sequencing to Next Generation sequencing) that provide highly reliable/accurate data and fast turn-around time (typically within 24 - 48 hours for Sanger Sequencing and 4-6 weeks for Next Generation Sequencing). More importantly, our Sanger Sequencing samples require an accurate sample tracking system (such as the QR code available with Psomagen’s EZ-Seq service; Note: this is an essential requirement). The sample tracking system is the most important feature for our research because it allows us to accurately track our microbial samples up. Our samples originate from throughout the world and are often difficult or impossible to replace if mistakes are made. Psomagen Inc., is the only provider of this sample tracking system that we require for processing samples accurately and rapidly. If Psomagen, Inc. is not used, each DNA/RNA sequencing task (e.g., Sanger sequencing, whole genome sequencing, metagenomic sequencing, transcriptomic sequencing, bioinformatic analyses service, FTA card processing, etc.) required by this project will be delayed for up to 2-3 years because other contractors do not have the wholistic and diverse capacity that Psomagen Inc. can provide for our project. We need to have two or more different contractors (e.g., genomic/transcriptomic sequencing services, and FTA cards processing service, etc.) to fulfill multiple services provided by Psomagen Inc.

A sole source contract has been awarded to Psomagen in the past with the Forest Service for DNA Sequencing under NAICS 541714 as contract 1282FT20C0012 with a POP of 8/12/2020 – 09/01/2023 and value of