Justification and Approval_signed_rev..pdf

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

This justification is executed by the Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC), Silver Spring, MD, on behalf of the Navy to meet Navy Expeditionary Medical Research requirements. The contracting activity will be a preventative maintenance contract for our flow cytometer equipment, provided by the Life Technologies Corporation.

2. Nature and/or description of the action.

The proposed action is to re-apply for a preventative maintenance contract for two machines in our lab. As outlined in the “AB Assurance Plan” provided by Life Technologies Corporation (a company acquired by ThermoFisher Scientific), this contract will allow for preventative (planned) and unplanned maintenance visits. These visits will be in service of a flow cytometry apparatus consisting of a Cytkick autosampler SN: 2AAS405060621 and Attune NxT 4 laser Flow Cytometer SN: 2AFC234670621, which are needed when performing certain cell-based assays. The proposed source is Life Technologies Corporation, 5781 Van Allen Way, Carlsbad, CA 92008.

3. Description of Supplies or Services:

Dr. Sun’s lab at the Naval Medical Research Command needs to re-apply for a preventative maintenance contract for the lab’s flow cytometer apparatus. This apparatus consists of Cytkick autosampler and Attune NxT 4 laser Flow Cytometer. The services outlined in the contract, titled the “AB Assurance Plan”, include the following.

This service agreement will:

1. Provide one preventative maintenance service visit at no charge (1 PM over the course of a 12-month Maintenance period)

2. Parts, labor, and travel for remedial repair

3. Guaranteed priority response time of 2 business days after receipt of a service call for instruments

4. Priority telephone and email access to instrument technical support

5. Telephone and email access to application technical support

6. Remote Monitoring and Dx Service, which provides for notification to customer of instrument failures or errors that are reported by AB’s Remote Monitoring software

The services offered in this contract will extend from POP date to be determine. The quote provided to the lab from Life Technology Corporation lists the price of servicing the Cytkick and the Attune NxT 4 laser, and the cost of a reinstatement fee for the preventative maintenance contract (our previous contract has since expired.

4. Identification of the statutory exceptions permitting other than full and open competition.

The statutory exception permitting other than full and open competition for this acquisition is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) and FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) soliciting from a single source.

5. Demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

The Cytkick autosampler and Attune NxT 4 laser Flow Cytometer are both products of ThermoFisher Scientific’s Attune line (with Life Technologies Corporation having been acquired by ThermoFisher Scientific in 2014). ThermoFisher Scientific/Life Technologies Corporation is the inventor and manufacturer of these machines. Through our research, we found that they were the only company that could provide repair and maintenance services for both.

6. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable.

Market research was performed, the results of which are in paragraph 8.

7. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer shall determine the anticipated cost to the Government of the supplies/services covered by this Justification and Approval will be fair and reasonable by conducting a price analysis before an award is made. In addition, the Government anticipates that the negotiated contract price will reflect a discount from the Life Technologies Corporation’s commercial price list and will be determined fair and reasonable.

8. Description of the market survey conducted and the results, or a statement of the reasons a market survey was not conducted.

Market research was conducted by looking up preventative maintenance contracts relating to the Attune NxT Cytometer and the Cytkik autosample through the Microsoft Edge search engine. In addition, we also looked into companies that were selling the machines to see if they also provided preventative maintenance services. Since our 4-laser Attune NxT Cytometer and Cytkik autosampler work together in the same apparatus and were both produced by the same company, we wanted one preventative maintenance contract to cover both of them.

We will list the results of our market research below.

1. GMI-Technology Solitions included the Attune NxT Flow Cytometer in its listings, along with various service agreements that included preventative maintenance visits. However, it did not list Cytkik in its inventory. Since we planned to schedule a contract that would service both machines at the same time, we did not contact GMI and instead continued to research other companies.

2. A web search also led us to Boston Industries, another company that listed an Attune

NxT Cytometer and Cytkik autosampler. The company did not sell the Cytkik autosampler at the time, however. Furthermore, in their description of the Attune NxT Cytometer and Cytkik autosampler, they suggested buying a service agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific, and that the support/remote installation and training package provided by Boston Industries was not a replacement for a service contract from Thermo Fisher Scientific. Since we were interested in procuring a service agreement, we decided not to reach out to Boston Industries.

3. Through searching online sources, we also found that the company LabX included the 4-laser Attune NxT Cytometer and the Cytkick autosampler in its product listings (though it only seemed to be selling the Cytkick autosampler). However, LabX did not seem to provide preventative maintenance services for these machines.

4. Thermo Fisher Scientific was the company that sold both machines. By reaching out to the company, we also found that they were able to offer a quote for preventative maintenance service for both machines.

Through our research, we found that the only organization that would offer us the contract that we were looking for was ThermoFisher Scientific/Life Technologies Corporation.

9. Other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

The lab had a previous preventative maintenance contract with the Life Technologies Corporation (previous purchase order number: N3239823P0300).

10. Listing of Sources, if any, which expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

N/A

11. Statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required.

This preventative maintenance contract will only be valid for one year. Before it expires, we will need to place another request to have the machines covered the next year. In order to promote full and open competition in the future, the lab plans on conducting market research again around the time when the preventative maintenance contract needs to be renewed (perhaps five to three months prior to 04/30/2025. Whether the contract is renewed with ThermoFisher Scientific or not will depend on whether we can find another company providing similar services at a competitive price.

12. Point of Contact:

The point of contact at the Naval Medical Research Command, Silver Spring, MD, regarding the contents of the sole source justification are the Contracting Officers in the Material Management Department (MMD) and can be reached by emailing usn.detrick.nmrc.mbx.mmd-contracts@health.mil.

TECHNICAL AND REQUIREMENTS CERTIFICATION REQUIRED

BY NAVSUP 4200.83 series I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance which are included in this justification and approval and which form a basis for this justification are complete and accurate.

Technical Cognizance

JENKINS.SARAH.ANN.1500933

LCDR Sarah Jenkins Department Head

DSD/NMRC

Digitally signed by

JENKINS.SARAH.ANN.1500933581

Date: 2024.04.16 12:29:48 -04'00'

Phone Date

Requirements Cognizance

JENKINS.SARAH.ANN.150

0933581 LCDR Sarah Jenkins Department Head

DSD/NMRC

Digitally signed by

JENKINS.SARAH.ANN.1500933581

Date: 2024.04.16 12:30:00 -04'00'

Phone Date mailto:usn.detrick.nmrc.mbx.mmd-contracts@health.mil mailto:usn.detrick.nmrc.mbx.mmd-contracts@health.mil

CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge.

Contracting Officer Phone Date

SHARPE.DEBORAH.M.1232 Digitally signed by

127429

SHARPE.DEBORAH.M.1232127429

Date: 2024.06.04 15:04:36 -04'00'