B14_Sole source notice sam.gov.docx

This is a Notice of Intent to Award a Sole Source contract. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Plant and Seed Pathology unit (Forage Seed and Cereal Research) intends to award a sole source contract to West Coast Companies for the procurement of a Westrup LA-LS air screen cleaner. The Government has determined that only one responsible source is capable of providing this equipment because the supplies are unique and highly specialized. The acquisition will be executed using Simplified Acquisition Procedures in accordance with FAR Part 8.405-6(a)(1)(B). Interested parties may submit responses demonstrating their capability to fulfill this requirement by August 31, 2026 at 12:00 PM EST. Any response must provide clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government, and such information will be considered solely to determine whether a competitive procurement should be conducted instead.

The Westrup LA-LS air screen cleaner is a small-scale laboratory seed cleaning system designed to process multiple seed crops with variable shapes and sizes. The equipment must feature two adjustable screens with multiple settings for screen oscillation speeds, air speed and volume, and hopper feeding rates. The cleaner requires two outlets between screens for sieving inert material and refining seed, separate outlets for light seed and clean seed, and must include an aspirated chaff cyclone with an aspirator to capture separated light seed and chaff. An extended hopper is required to accommodate larger seed samples. The Government requires this equipment to accurately process samples for clean weights across various grass seed sizes, prepare seeds for storage and planting, and reduce scheduling conflicts with other research programs.