Special Notice FD24-317 Upload.pdf

Special Notice: FD-2024-317

***The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Seafood Inspection Laboratory (NSIL) intends to award, on a sole source basis to Illumina Inc., under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), for MiSeq Silver Support Plan, annual preventative maintenance and emergency repair service for the existing Illumina MiSeq gene sequencer.

***The sole source determination is based on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Services requirement for base year and four (4) option years of preventative maintenance and emergency repair service for the existing Illumina MiSeq gene sequencer. The required service must be compatible in all aspects (form, fit, and function) with existing systems or equipment and the source is uniquely qualified to meet the requirement. Illumina is the only company that offers maintenance for the MiSeq platform, which is highly specialized scientific equipment. Illumina is uniquely qualified and can provide proprietary technology along with validated parts necessary for replacement or repair on the current machine to ensure the MiSeq Whole Genome Sequencer maintains its instrument qualifications. Highly specialized instruments such as the MiSeq require consistently-timed annual maintenance and a rapid response to address malfunctions in order to benefit from the high quality results the instrument is designed to produce. This equipment enhances the lab’s ability to assist in our mission to keep seafood safe and to promote the seafood market. It enables further outreach for NOAA’s genomics strategic initiatives. The importance of maintaining the equipment to the highest industry standards requires using the manufacturer’s representative. Illumina Inc.

is the manufacturer of the MiSeq instrument and is the sole source of the MiSeq Silver Support Plan making them the only vendor qualified to service this instrument. Illumina possesses proprietary information about this instrument, and no other vendors are authorized to possess or use such information to service this instrument. The expertise of Illumina engineers is specific for their instruments, and they offer the preventive maintenance that is required for our laboratory accreditation. It is therefore deemed to be in the government’s best interest that this service be procured from Illumina Inc.

Tasks to Include:

Full Coverage for Parts, Labor and Travel

Reagent Replacement upon hardware failure

Remote Technical Support

Two Business Day On-Site Response

Control software and hardware updates

Onsite applications support

One preventative maintenance visit

***The Government intends to negotiate a firm fixed price contract. This Special Notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals and no solicitation package is available. However, firms that believe they can fully meet the Government's requirements may submit substantiating documentation in writing to the identified point of contact within 15 days after publication of this synopsis. Such documentation will be evaluated solely for determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. It is the Government's belief that only Illumina Inc. has the sole capability of providing the requirement stated above.

Attachments:

Single Source-redacted