GSA-Limited-Source-Justification - Redacted.pdf

“Source Selection Information – see FAR 2.101 and 3.104”

1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity.

a. Federal agency and contracting activity. HHS.

HHS / National Institutes of Health/ National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

b. Sponsoring organization.

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases

(NIAMS)

c. Project Officer information.

Project Officer name:

Mailing address:

E-mail address:

Telephone number:

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

a. Acquisition purpose and objectives. The purpose of this acquisition is to continue performance of the NIAMS bio-repository services for archiving, storage, maintenance, and retrieval of the biological specimens with Fisher BioServices (Fisher). The current contract will expire on April 30, 2023.

Project background. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), NIH, DHHS is the lead Federal Agency for research on Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Skin Diseases. The mission of the institute includes planning and oversight of programs in basic and applied, clinical and epidemiologic research in orthopedics, basic bone, cartilage and muscle biology as well as bone, muscle and joint diseases. The Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) is a multicenter, longitudinal, prospective, observational study of knee osteoarthritis (OA) that was launched by NIH in 2002. The overall aim of the OAI is to develop a public-domain research resource and repository to facilitate the scientific evaluation of biomarkers for osteoarthritis as potential surrogate endpoints for disease onset and progression.

General Services Administration Federal Supply Schedule Limited Source Justification

4. Identification of the justification rationale [see 8.405-6(a) and (b)] and, if applicable, a demonstration of the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service.

a. Acquisition authority.

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program. Consideration of schedule contractors will be restricted to fewer than the number required by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 8.405-6(a)(1).

b. Demonstration of the proposed contractor(s) unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service.

Name and address of the proposed contractor(s).

Fisher BioServices, Inc.

Nature of the acquisition and proposed contractor(s) unique qualifications.

This is a firm fixed price acquisition of services from Fisher.

Fisher is currently the incumbent contractor on this NIAMS Biorepository contract that has previously been evaluated by the project officer. Fisher is currently the only vendor capable of meeting the Government’s requirement.

Recompeting this requirement under full and open competition will not be advantageous to the government due to the cost involved in specimen transfer which requires the new contractor be operational from the start to minimize interruptions in filling the large volume of investigator requests that are received.

Additionally, any transfer of specimens to a new vendor could jeopardize the integrity of the specimens. The bio-specimens need to be stored at very specific temperatures. If not, either due to neglect or equipment malfunction, the specimens could be lost. The new contractor would have to establish its own arrangements for storage of the 1.2 million cryovial and oversight of vial distribution. Cost duplications would result from recruiting and training new lab staff on specimen handling.

Delays in providing services would have a severe impact on the research community.

5. Determination by the ordering activity Contracting Officer that the order represents the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d).

An award to the incumbent Contractor has been determined to be most advantageous to the government as awarding to new contract under full and open competition would delay work within the repository and result in a cost duplication to the government. Service code SVC-00007G and SVG-00015G are the only two services negotiated under GSA pricing. SVC-0007G quoted price was more than Fisher GSA pricing but SVC-000015G was less that Fisher’s GSA pricing. Historical quotes from Fisher were also used to determine the price reasonableness of the new quotes provided. Fisher’s quote was the only quote received for the initial solicitation of this current contract.

6. Description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted. Market research was conducted upon the initial award of the order.

Programmatic knowledge of the marketplace informs us that an award at this point to another entity would not be advantageous to the government.

Additionally, a sources sought was conducted via GSA eBuy from September 8, 2022 to September 15, 2022. Vendors were encouraged to submit a capability statement if they could fulfill the requirement. There were no responses to the sources sought.

7. Any other facts supporting the justification. As described in FAR 8.405-

6(a)(1)(i)(C), duplication of costs would result if an award were to be made to a new contractor in purchasing new equipment transfer and reinstallation of biorepository materials, staff hiring, and training. It would take the new Contractor 3-4 months, depending on experience to initiate and fully operate the biorepository.

8. Statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the restricted consideration before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

a. Removal of barriers to competition. The Government anticipates the needs to be met successfully in this contract. In the event that additional services are required, the program office and the Contracting Officer will conduct market research to determine if there are others sources available that can provide the services required. An award will only be made if it is shown that the anticipated cost to the Government is fair and reasonable.

b. Listing of sources, if any, that expressed an interest, in writing, in the acquisition. No sources expressed interest /response to the posted sources sought or otherwise.