JA Sole Source FAR Part 13 Redacted.pdf

Source Selection Information - See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4

OCT 2023

Sole Source Justification and Approval Under FAR 13.501

1. Contracting Activity: The U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA), 808 Schreider Street, Fort Detrick, MD 21702, acting on behalf of the Defense Centers for Public Health-Aberdeen (DCPH-A), 8300 Willoughby Road, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010

2. Description of Action: Defense Centers for Public Health-Aberdeen (DCPH-A) requests a preventive and repair maintenance services contract for proprietary laboratory instrumentation manufactured by Perkin Elmer. The Government projects award in August 2024 using Defense Health Program funds.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: This is a non-personal services contract to perform inspections, preventive maintenance, and repairs for Perkin Elmer equipment, at the DCPH-A, in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21010, within the Laboratory Sciences (LS) Directorate in accordance with commercial standards. The contractor is required to provide preventive maintenance, equipment repair services, and field service reports for the manufactured Perkin Elmer equipment because the instruments are used for various sample analyses and are a critical part of the laboratory instrumentation.

Maintenance performed must follow Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) service guidance, support optimum instrument performance standards, ensure accurate and reproducible results, and adhere to regulatory compliance standards. Contractor personnel are required to be trained and possess the licenses and certifications to perform the necessary maintenance and repair on the instruments without risk of voiding or invalidating warranties. In addition, the contractor shall have access to OEM parts and software required during performance of the task. This requirement will be awarded as a Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) type of contract pursuant to FAR 16.202. The period of performance includes a base year and two one-year option periods. The total estimated value of the proposed action is including options.

4. Authority Cited: 41 United States Code 1901 as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.501(a)(1)(ii), sole source (including brand name) under the authority of the simplified procedures for certain commercial items".

5. Reason for Authority Cited: Perkin Elmer holds proprietary rights and patents for the design of all hardware and software manufactured by Perkin Elmer. Perkin Elmer is the sole source for factory trained labor and technical services for all software and instrumentation manufactured and sold by Perkin Elmer. It is vital that the instruments/equipment are maintained in accordance with the OEM specifications to ensure proper functionality for a reliable result. Perkin Elmer’s branded parts, software and instruments are all proprietary. Each of their Field Engineers and Technical Support staff have received extensive product and application training and are fully certified to represent Perkin Elmer in all aspects of service offerings. Customer training provided by Perkin Elmer is the only accredited training provided in this industry.

Perkin Elmer holds proprietary rights and patents for the design of all hardware and software manufactured by Perkin Elmer.

Perkin Elmer is the sole source for factory trained labor and technical services for all software and instrumentation manufactured and sold by Perkin Elmer and does not license third party technical service.

Perkin Elmer does not license third party technical service for their software and instrumentation as such, the programs are proprietary and have been developed and maintained at the sole expense of Perkin Elmer. Since access to the design of the systems is limited to PerkinElmer staff, only Perkin Elmer can properly and effectively provide support for these systems.

The Perkin Elmer equipment maintenance and preventive maintenance, operational control and technical capabilities are necessary to adequately continue performance. Since the mission of the DCPH-A is to “Enhance DoD readiness by identifying and assessing current and emerging health threats;

developing and communicating public health solutions; and assuring the quality and effectiveness of the DoD’s public health enterprise,” failure to keep the equipment operational would lead to mission failure.

Alternatives: Due to the proprietary nature of the equipment, there are no current alternative vendors capable of meeting the contractual requirements.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was completed by DCPH-A and USAMRAA to identify potential sources in the marketplace that could meet the Government’s requirement. Because the market research determined this requirement to be appropriate as a sole source action, effective competition is not applicable.

Subcontracting opportunities are also not available due to the manufacturer not having any authorized distributors or agreements with any other vendor to provide maintenance services on PerkinElmer equipment.

The requirement was synopsized on the Governmentwide Point of Entry (SAM.gov) via a Notice of Intent to Sole Source on 26 July 2024 for a period of 15 days (in accordance with FAR subpart 5.2). The synopsis did not receive any responses from capable times. As a result, the Contracting Officer is not considering to be capable of this requirement since they are unable to guarantee response times.

No other sources were identified that could provide the PerkinElmer Equipment Maintenance with guaranteed response times required by DCPH-A.

9. Interested Sources: A Notice of Intent to Sole Source was posted to the GPE for 15 days and no responses from capable vendors of this requirement were received.

a. Procurement History

(1). A firm fixed price award for a full-service equipment maintenance contract that covers preventive maintenance and repair services for Perkin Elmer analytical, diverse, and highly complex equipment systems was awarded to Perkin Elmer contract W91ZLK-21-P-0114, with a period of performance of 9/1/2021 – 8/31/2024. Contract award was in the amount of for a base and two option years.

(2). Contract# W91ZLK-21-P-0114 was issued on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 41 U.S.C. 1901, as implemented by FAR Part 13.

(3). The authority previously cited, based on the Award Notice for Contract# W91ZLK- 21-P-0114, for less than full and open competition is FAR 13.106-1-(b)(1). The Contract Action Report at fpds.gov, however, indicates that Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Products and Commercial Services (under FAR 13.5) is applicable to this requirement.

(4) Although an Award Notice was found for Contract# W91ZLK-21-P-0114, posting of the justification was unable to be found. A Notice of Intent to Sole Source under Notice ID W91ZLK-21-T-0023 was posted to the GPE, and the Award Notice indicates that no responses were received from the Notice of Intent to Sole Source.

(5) No known previous contract was issued under full and open competition for this requirement.

(6) There are no unusual patterns that were revealed by the history of this requirement.

This requirement has historically been issued as a sole source requirement.

b. Other facts. Acceptable maintenance and repair service for this instrumentation is only available through Perkin Elmer since they are the only source for proprietary parts, software, and factory trained service engineers. The company does not have any third-party distributors authorized to perform this requirement.

11. Technical Certification:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

12. Requirements Certification:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based on a comparison to the Independent Government Estimate. Certified Cost or Pricing Data is not required in accordance with FAR 15.403-1(b)(3).

14. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of maintenance services for PerkinElmer equipment on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 41 U.S.C. 1901 as implemented by FAR 13.501, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services and property herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.