FAR 6_Redacted.pdf

United States Department of Agriculture Decision to Restrict Competition under the Simplified Acquisition Threshold

Identification Number: 1232SA26Q1430

Rev. 3/4/26

In accordance with the Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Overhaul (RFO) FAR

12.102 (a), the following documents the decision to restrict competition for this acquisition.

(1) Mission Area and Contracting Activity.

Requisition Number: 1175065

Requesting Activity Agency: Physiology and Pathology of Tree Fruits Research (120536)

Contracting Activity: USDA-ARS-COB (1232SA)

(3) Brief Description of Supplies or Services

The acquisition involves short-read and long-read sequencing of soil samples to assess the composition and function of the soil microbiome to include a full array of bacteria, fungi and other fungus-like organisms. This is largely geared toward engineering soil and plant-associated microbiomes to directly benefit fruit tree production systems. Next generation sequencing technologies provide information about the structure and function of host-associated microbial communities, including those associated with fruit trees. This information is essential for developing orchard management practices which harness beneficial (or suppress detrimental) interactions between plants and their associated microorganisms.

(1) Suggested Source

The suggested contractor is:

Molecular Research LP 503 Clovis Road Shallowater, Texas 79363

UEI: D2Q8U91PESN3

(4) Justification for Restricting Competition and the Basis for that Decision.

A. Explain the unique qualifications/characteristics of the proposed contractor or product and why no other contractor or product/service can meet the Government's need.

The Physiology and Pathology of Tree Fruits Research is in year 5 of a 10-year long field study in which data is collected annually. This effort is a follow-on to 12905B20D0002 that was awarded to Molecular Research LP. Samples for multiple ongoing research projects have been analyzed by this vendor since 2018 and continuing with the same contractor will achieve consistency and comparability between studies. This includes a body of research on the compositional and functional attributes that characterize an effective disease-suppressive apple root microbiome.

Because the project approach involves evaluating the dynamics of soil and plant-associated microbial communities over various timescales, data comparisons occur over multiple time points (e.g., year-to-year). Consequently, achieving reproducibility and consistency between DNA sequencing runs is essential. Alternating between sequencing facilities can lead to predictions about the composition/function of these systems that may not be “real” (biologically relevant). The ability to use a single vendor for these “time-series” sequencing projects is necessary because inter-laboratory variation (variability in data from the same set of samples) is a well-documented phenomenon. It can occur due to minor variations in pre-analytical handling, calibration protocols, SOPs, etc. Accounting for inter-laboratory variation would require comprehensive and costly cross-validation studies in order to verify that different vendors provide comparable sequencing results. Even then, confidence in the accuracy of measurements across time and/or locations would likely be reduced.

The ability to conduct time-series analysis of microbial sequence data at a single location over the course of a decade is incredibly rare. Switching to a different vendor mid-project would raise new questions as to whether data from different vendors is suitable for use in appropriate statistical analyses and could be compared/combined in order to obtain meaningful results across a series of sampling time points. This would likely require a cross-vendor comparison study in which the same set of data is sequenced by both facilities to ensure technical reproducibility of data across vendors. Without comparability across the life of these projects, the scope of results may be limited solely due to the change in service provider. Therefore, it is imperative that the particular samples described above be subjected to NextGen sequencing using the same service provider

B. Describe market research conducted and the results or the reason why no market research was conducted.

Market research was conducted to verify the availability of this service. This service is available from multiple vendors, however reproducibility will be in question with any other vendor.