BNJ_SSD_DIA_Niton_XL5_AMD_3_0003.pdf

United States Department of the Interior

INTERIOR BUSINESS CENTER

Washington, DC 20240

SINGLE SOURCE DETERMINATION

SINGLE SOURCE DETERMINATION USING SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION

PROCEDURES (SAP) UNDER THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD (SAT)

AUTHORITY: FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)

DIA S&T ATI Thermo Scientific Niton XL5 X-Ray Fluorescence Analyzer

Solicitation# 140D0424R0084

1. Contracting activity/agency.

This document is a Brand Name Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity for the Department of the Interior (DOI), Interior Business Center (IBC), Acquisition Services Directorate (AQD), Division V Branch V, on behalf of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Directorate for Science and Technology (S&T), Advanced Technology (ATI).

2. Description of supplies or services required to meet agency needs.

The purpose of this Brand Name Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity (JEFO) is to acquire Brand-Name Thermo Scientific Niton XL5 X-Ray Fluorescence Analyzer (Niton XL5) on behalf of DIA S&T in accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) which is a new requirement. The

Government intends to award a single contract using the open market to a small business authorized reseller.

3. Identification of the single source to be solicited.

This requirement is to procure a total of two Niton XL5s with an estimated value of $91,763.20. The period of performance will be from award to date of delivery within 75 days of award. ATI already utilizes the Niton XL5 in its programs and its personnel is already trained on it. The two Niton XL5s acquired through this requirement would be utilized by these same programs and personnel.

Item Description Model# /

SKU#

Units

Estimated

Unit Price

Thermo Scientific Niton XL5 X-Ray Fluorescence Analyzer XL5 Plus 2 $39,824.00

XL5 General Metals Calibration 800-02171 2 $2,923.80

XL5 General Metals Calibration 800-02181 2 $2,923.80

XL5 Mining Calibration 2

Shipping and Handling 2 $210.00

4. Reason for the authority sited

The contracting officer has determined the circumstances of the contract deem only one source reasonably available.

Brand Name – The particular brand name is essential to the requirement and market research indicates similar products do not meet or cannot be modified to meet agency needs.

5. Rationale.

Niton XL5 are essential components of ATI’s stateside and overseas teams and are currently being utilized by personnel across multiple locations. As such, ATI’s staff is trained and competent in utilizing it. As these program requirements are written with the required use of the Niton XL5, ATI already has a significant inventory of these devices. Any change to a different brand product would necessitate additional staff training across multiple locations and require additional time for the staff

SINGLE SOURCE DETERMINATION

to gain proficiency with the replacement item causing ATI to incur additional costs. Therefore, ATI requires the Thermo Scientific Niton XL5 X-Ray Fluorescence Analyzer for proper integration with

ATI’s existing program infrastructure and inventory. Furthermore, any change would pose significant logistical challenges as the devices would not be capable of seamlessly interfacing with ATI’s existing IT infrastructure, resulting in interoperability issues between the differing devices and the data they generate.

It is expected that this action will be solicited on the open market with a small business set-aside as

Niton XL5 are not available on either GSA MAS or NASA SEWP. The justification for an exception to fair opportunity being considered is to limit the devices on a brand name basis. The Niton XL5 devices sought are only available on a brand name basis from Thermo Scientific and Thermo

Scientific authorized resellers due to the technology’s proprietary nature.

6. Market Research.

The solicitation shall be competed as an open market purchase with no set aside. The Government anticipates awarding a single Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) contract to the successful quoter in response of the solicitation. Niton XL5 are available commercially and can be purchased directly from manufacturer’s and resellers’ websites. Price quotes will be compared to the market price of the items required to determine if each offeror’s price quotes are fair and reasonable. Price reasonableness will be determined in accordance with FAR 15.403-1(c)(1)(i)(B), which provides that a price is based on adequate price competition if two or more responsible offerors, competing independently submitted priced offers that satisfy the Government’s expressed requirement and there is not any finding that the price of an otherwise successful offer is unreasonable. Competing this requirement with a small business set aside on the open market is an attempt by the Government to receive at least two prices quotes to increase competition. The Government will also request discounts before price quotes are received.

The Contracting Officer determines that the anticipated prices will be fair and reasonable based on comparison of proposed prices with the Independent Government Estimate (IGE), the commercial marketplace, and competitive prices received in response to the solicitation. There are currently 10 vendors who have supplied various Government agencies with Niton XL5 since 2018 from the open market, per FPDS.gov, so adequate competition is anticipated.

Under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), the undersigned hereby determines the circumstances of this contract action deem only one source is reasonably available as supported herein.

Lindsay Holmes

AQD Contracting Officer