Eddy Jet 2W (Or Equal) Automated Spiral Plater and SphereFlash (Or Equal) Colony Counter Platform

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service is procuring one automated spiral plater (Eddy Jet 2W or equal) and one colony counter platform (SphereFlash or equal) through Request for Quotation 1232SA26Q0320. The spiral plater must inoculate 90 mm and 150 mm Petri dishes with greater than 99% reproducibility and complete cycles in less than 45 seconds, while the colony counter must image and count plates in under 2 seconds across multiple plate sizes and formats. The automated colony counter platform must maintain software compatibility with the spiral plater dispensing programs and support manual colony adjustments, automatic calibration, and result documentation. Award will be made to the offeror offering the best value based on lowest price for technically acceptable offerings, with offerors proposing equal products required to submit detailed descriptive literature demonstrating compliance with all salient characteristics. The deadline for submitting questions is Wednesday, March 18, 2026, at 4:00 PM Central Time, and quotations must be received by March 23, 2026, with pricing to remain firm for 90 calendar days from the quotation submission date.

This solicitation is designated as a Total Small Business Set-Aside, meaning only small business concerns with 1,000 or fewer employees are eligible to compete. The current equipment being replaced includes the existing Eddy Jet 2W spiral plater and SphereFlash colony counter systems, indicating these as the incumbent products, though equal alternatives are acceptable. No specific budget or award value range is disclosed in the solicitation documents. The vendor must deliver and install the equipment within 120 calendar days after contract award and provide training immediately following installation or within one month unless otherwise agreed upon, with delivery on an F.O.B. Destination basis to USDA ARS at 1815 N University Street, Peoria, Illinois 61604. This is anticipated to result in a single firm fixed price requirements contract award.