FAR 13 Single Source or Brand Name Justification Less Than SAT RB_Redacted.pdf

United States Department of Agriculture

Limited Source/Brand Name Justification

FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) – Simplified Acquisitions

Control No. (if applicable) ______________________

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

Contracting Activity:

USDA, FSIS, Office of Administrative Services

Procurement Management Branch

5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Maildrop 5230

Beltsville, MD 20705-5230

Requesting

Program Activity:

USDA, FSIS, OPHS, Midwestern Lab

4300 Goodfellow Blvd.

St. Louis, MO 63120

2. Description of supply or service required to meet the agency’s needs.

a) Masterclave 60 Media Preparation Units (2)

b) Masterclave 10 Media Preparation Units (2)

c) Masterclave 10/20 Ticket Printer +2 paper rolls (2)

3. The rationale or circumstances for limiting competition.

The Midwestern Lab requires an automated media preparation, sterilizing and dispensing units that will prepare, sterilize, and dispense microbiological enrichment media for use in daily sample testing.

MASTERCLAVE® is an automated culture media preparation system that places automation at the heart of the laboratory and improves the entire workflow, from media preparation to pathogen testing. By using the MASTERCLAVE®, operators save time and manual steps by removing time-consuming steps such as weighing, water addition, homogenization, autoclaving, and water bathing.

Due to its specialized electrical (listed below), plumbing (listed below), and supporting equipment such as label printer, plate pourer, and volumetric delivery devices, the Masterclaves 10 & 60 from Biomerieux are required in addition to being the only approved system that currently fits the parameters of the labs. There is no other known piece of equipment that will work with the labs current set up. Other equipment has a larger footprint and design system setup. Not having this exact equipment could cause system issues in the lab.

Electrical: properly grounded A/C power branch circuit supplying 208V +/- 10% three phase/ 60Hz 15 Amps with no high leg, the plug and receptacle must be rated 15Amps as well and located within 6 ft of the instrument. The electrical input breaker must be 20Amp rated at 80% or 15Amp breaker rated at 100%. No power strips or extension cords.

Plumbing: water drain piping requirements needs to be able to withstand temperatures up to 194F, drain requires a trap and minimum diameter of 1.5 inches, must be located between 24 and 31 inches from the ground, pressure free, should not be equipped with a shut off valve, and no unsecured dropped in the sink type of drainage.

Additionally, not acquiring this equipment potentially creates a risk to the food safety mission as media preparation is the first line of sample integrity. If media is not created accurately, and to the specified temperature, sample integrity could be lost. The Midwestern Lab has purchased Masterclaves previously;

continuity of the same platform throughout the laboratory provides an optimal workflow and would require minimal training due to familiarization of the software and equipment function.

4. A description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

Per the Biomerieux, Inc. certified letter, they do not distribute this product line and there are no authorized resellers/partners of the equipment. Internet market research queries show the

Masterclave equipment is trademarked and proprietary to Biomerieux. In addition, there are not any known vendors that provide equivalent equipment to meet the requirements of the lab.

5. Estimated price, including all options, if applicable.

The estimated value for this equipment is $ .

6. Recommended source(s).

Biomerieux, Inc.

100 Rodolphe St

Durham, NC 27712-9402

Certifications

Supporting data that is the responsibility of technical or requirements personnel and which form the basis for this justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge.

Matthew Hall

Management Analyst

The information contained in this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief and in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 13.106-1(b)(1), I hereby determine the circumstances described above deem only one source, or limited sources, reasonably available and competition is precluded for the reasons indicated in this document.

Karen Petty

Contracting Officer