Agency-Wide Cepheid IDIQ Effort

NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD SOLE SOURCE

Project Title: Agency-Wide Cepheid IDIQ Effort  

Announcement No.: 75H70420Q00015

The purpose and function of the Indian Health Service (IHS) is to provide comprehensive health care services to American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) through the IHS hospital and clinic system. The IHS requires laboratory analyzers, testing kits/reagents, and the associated support and service agreements in order to effectively test COVID-19 specimens, other samples and cultures, as well as outfit healthcare facilities that either do not have an analyzer or need to replace existing laboratory equipment/assets. Cepheid has been identified as a manufacturer and supplier of Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization (FDA EUA) equipment and testing kits that are compatible with the IHS’s varied CLIA statuses for laboratory facilities. The IHS hereby submits a notice of intent to award a sole source Agency-Wide Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract to CEPHEID (DUNS: 956711444) to assist in satisfying this ongoing requirement.

This effort is being conducted to streamline Agency procurement functions; centralize agency efforts under one award vehicle to procure equipment and testing supplies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; ensure an equitable allocation of equipment/testing kits and reagents/other critical supply items, etc. for a highly decentralized Agency with 12 Area Offices and over 177 facilities nation-wide; increased accountability and procurement oversight, etc. In addition, the availability of FDA EUA analyzers and testing kits/reagents is extremely limited due to increased world-wide demand resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Sourcing from approved resellers and other distribution channels is not effective in receiving a reliable allocation of equipment and supplies as they become available. To our knowledge, Cepheid, who manufactures and sells the required laboratory equipment and testing kits etc., is the only vendor capable of fulfilling this agency-wide requirement and the associated estimated ordering volumes. Utilization of an approved vendor or sourcing from the manufacturer also ensures that the equipment’s warranty is maintained. This effort is similar to the following national awards pursued by other Federal customers:

• W81K0420D0008 (Department of Defense); and
• 36C77620D0002 (Veterans Affairs)

The applicable NAICS codes are 334516, Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, and 325413, In-Vitro Diagnostic Substance Manufacturing. The Small Business Size Standards are 1000 employees and 1,250 employees respectively. The period of performance for this effort will be a 12-month BASE Period with 4 annual Option Periods. This sole source contracting action will be conducted under the authority of FAR 6.302-1, Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements and the HHS Class J&A issued by the SPE for COVID-19 related procurements, dated 03-21-2020.

This notice is for informational purposes only, and is not a request for a proposal/quotation. Responses to this notice must demonstrate clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government, would not be cost or time prohibitive, and would not hinder the mission objective of the Indian Health Service.

In addition, information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed. Information provided will be used to assess tradeoffs and alternatives available for the requirement, and may lead to the development of a solicitation. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received, nor to provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted.

Any solicitation resulting from the analysis of information obtained will be announced to the public on www.beta.sam.gov in accordance with FAR Part 5. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).

Questions or comments to this Notice of Intent should be directed to the Contract Specialist, Brendon Moran, at brendon.moran@ihs.gov via e-mail only (phone calls/voice mail messages regarding questions will not be accepted and will not receive a response). Please indicate in the subject of your email: Notice of Intent Question Submission, 75H70420Q00015.