Intent to Sole Source - Professor Mario Larch

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has published a Special Notice announcing its intent to make a sole source award to Professor Mario Larch, located in Bayreuth, Germany. This procurement is being conducted under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1, which allows for sole source awards when only one responsible source can satisfy agency requirements. The notice is classified under NAICS code 541690 (Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services) and PSC code B507 (Special Studies/Analysis- Economic). The opportunity was posted on July 8, 2025, with responses due by July 11, 2025. The Commission has determined that Professor Larch is uniquely qualified for this work as the original developer of a Python module called HDFE that was previously created for the USITC.

The purpose of this sole source procurement is to expand the functionality and performance of the existing HDFE Python module to support the Commission's statutory obligations under 19 U.S.C. 1332(g), which involves estimating trade agreements and foreign trade barriers in statutory investigations and trade policy support. The USITC's Office of Economics conducted market research and concluded that no other researchers possess comparable expertise aligned with the Commission's specific requirements for this specialized work. The procurement seeks services to develop a modeling estimation procedure in Python that builds upon the existing HDFE module framework. Given the sole source nature of this award, there are no eligibility criteria for other contractors to participate, as the Commission has justified that Professor Larch is the only source capable of performing this work. The requisition number is 6400-OOEC-25-0010, and interested parties have until July 11, 2025, to respond to this notice.