ARIS HiQ Instrument

The National Institute of Health (NIH) intends to negotiate and award a purchase order without providing for full and open competition to REMEL, INC.  The purpose of this requirement is to provide a firm-fixed-price contract for the Remel ARIS HiQ Instrument and associated SWIN Computer System in the Department of Laboratory Medicine (DLM).

The purpose of this acquisition is to establish a follow-on reagent rental agreement with Remel, Inc. for the ARIS HiQ Instrument and associated SWIN Computer System utilized by the Department of Laboratory Medicine (DLM), Microbiology Service, to perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST).

The agreement will provide continued access to the existing instrumentation, susceptibility testing panels, reagents, consumables, supplies, software support, technical support, preventative maintenance, corrective maintenance, and applications support necessary to sustain routine AST operations. The agreement will also provide manufacturer-authorized support services required to maintain operational functionality and performance of the ARIS HiQ platform.

The primary objective of this acquisition is to ensure uninterrupted antimicrobial susceptibility testing services across the Bacteriology, Mycology, and Mycobacteriology laboratory sections of the Microbiology Service. Continued operation of the ARIS HiQ platform supports patient care, clinical research protocols, infection prevention activities, and antimicrobial stewardship efforts at the NIH Clinical Center.

The Microbiology Service in the DLM requires continuation of an existing reagent rental agreement with Remel, Inc., a subsidiary of Thermo Fisher Scientific, for the ARIS HiQ Instrument and associated SWIN Computer System currently utilized for antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). The reagent rental agreement shall provide continued access to instrumentation, reagents, consumables, supplies, technical support, and preventative maintenance necessary to support routine clinical testing operations.

The ARIS HiQ platform is used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing of bacterial, fungal, and mycobacterial isolates recovered from clinical specimens submitted to the Microbiology Service. The platform supports testing performed within the Bacteriology,

Mycology and Mycobacteriology sections and are an established component of the Department's testing algorithm.

In addition, the Laboratory Information System (LIS) has been configured to support testing performed on the ARIS HiQ platform, including test setup, result reporting, interpretive comments, and associated workflow processes. The current testing environment has been established to support efficient and reliable reporting of antimicrobial susceptibility results in accordance with laboratory and regulatory requirements.

The current testing environment supports efficient and reliable antimicrobial susceptibility testing and has been incorporated into the laboratory's routine clinical operations, quality management systems, and reporting processes.

Finally, a review of the GSA Advantage, Dynamic Small Business Search, and previous government acquisitions returned no results that meet all the requirements. Therefore, only REMEL, INC. is capable of meeting the needs of this requirement.