Notice of Intent to Sole Source - CLC Genomic Workbench, Network License and Maintenance Support

THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT TO MODIFY AN EXISTING SOLE-SOURCE CONTRACT AND IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS/QUOTES.

The United Stated Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) in support of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System (AFMES), Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) intends to negotiate a post award modification for the purchase of six (6) CLC Genomic Workbench, Network Licenses and maintenance with Qiagen, Inc., formally CLC Bio.

The current requirement is for six (6) CLC Genomic Workbench, Network Licenses and maintenance support which will be added via a post award modification to W81XWH-16-P-0359. This contract was awarded to Qiagen, Inc. by the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) on 15 September 2016. The Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) located at Dover AFB, DE utilizes CLC Genomic Workbench software on its network and server infrastructure and has identified the need for additional licenses to be added to the existing contract. The required software and maintenance shall meet the Minimum Essential Characteristics (MECs) outlined below. The Government intends to add an initial 12-month  period for each of the six (6) licenses to be funded upon execution of the modification in addition to three (3) option years to provide annual technical support and software maintenance to include system upgrades. The purchase of the software and maintenance is required for the continued support to the mission of the AFDIL at AFMES

Minimum Essential Characteristics (MECs):

1. CLC Genomics Workbench can act as both a stand-alone bioinformatics analysis software, and as the user interface (client) to the CLC Genomics Server Solution.
2. NGS data primary analysis (trimming for low quality regions and adapters, demultiplexing of barcoded data)
3. Quality Control for read mapping, target enrichment and sequencing
4. Workflows including variant detection are optimized for germline variant calling e.g. hereditary diseases as well as low frequency variant detection e.g. in cancer. Whole genome, exome and targeted amplicon sequencing and whole transcriptome applications are supported.
5. Special functionality for Targeted Amplicon Sequencing including >90% removal of false positives by primer masking after mapping and primerdimer removal
6. Copy Number Variant Detection from target data
7. Advanced filtering and annotation of variants based on information in public, commercial and custom variant databases
8. Comparison of variants accross samples
9. Visualization of variants and their effect on protein 3D structure

The requirements for the CLC Genomics Workbench network maintenance include annual technical support and software maintenance support to include system upgrades. Technicians shall have prerequisite skills and certifications to perform the operations and administrative tasks associated with the complete implementation and maintenance of the Qiagen system mentioned above.

The contractor shall provide technical support to AFDIL designated support contact. Support will be provided Monday through Friday between 0700hrs and 1700hrs EST. The AFDIL support contact will have access to online web-based support for downloading modules, software updates and bug fixes, and technical support knowledge base.

This announcement fulfills the synopsis requirements under FAR 5.102(a)(6) and 5.203(a). This Special Notice of Intent is not a request for competitive quotes.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for this requirement is 541511 and the size standard is $27.5M. All sources that believe they are eligible to provide these items must respond in writing. Responses must be supported with clear and convincing evidence to clearly articulate the ability to provide the items outlined above. A request for documentation will not be considered an affirmative response. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether a competitive procurement is in the best interest of the Government. If no written responses are received by the date listed below, which reflects fourteen days (14) days after the publication of this notice, the post award modification will be executed without further remark.

All questions and responses concerning this notice shall be emailed to Ms. Lisa Zarick at lisa.m.zarick.civ@mail.mil. Interested concerns must identify their capability in writing to the above e-mail address no later than 4:00 PM Eastern Time, 6 September 2017.

THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT TO MODIFY AN EXISTING SOLE-SOURCE CONTRACT AND IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS/QUOTES.

The United Stated Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) in support of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System (AFMES), Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) intends to negotiate a post award modification for the purchase of one (1) CLC Genomic Workbench, Network License and maintenance with Qiagen, Inc., formally CLC Bio.

The current requirement is for one (1) CLC Genomic Workbench, Network License and maintenance support which will be added via a post award modification to W81XWH-16-P-0359. This contract was awarded to Qiagen, Inc. by the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) on 15 September 2016. The Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) located at Dover AFB, DE utilizes CLC Genomic Workbench software on its network and server infrastructure and has identified the need for an additional license to be added to the existing contract. The required software and maintenance shall meet the Minimum Essential Characteristics (MECs) outlined below. The Government intends to add an initial 12-month license to be funded upon execution of the modification in addition to three (3) option years to provide annual technical support and software maintenance to include system upgrades. The purchase of the software and maintenance is required for the continued support to the mission of the AFDIL at AFMES

Minimum Essential Characteristics (MECs):

1. CLC Genomics Workbench can act as both a stand-alone bioinformatics analysis software, and as the user interface (client) to the CLC Genomics Server Solution.
2. NGS data primary analysis (trimming for low quality regions and adapters, demultiplexing of barcoded data)
3. Quality Control for read mapping, target enrichment and sequencing
4. Workflows including variant detection are optimized for germline variant calling e.g. hereditary diseases as well as low frequency variant detection e.g. in cancer. Whole genome, exome and targeted amplicon sequencing and whole transcriptome applications are supported.
5. Special functionality for Targeted Amplicon Sequencing including >90% removal of false positives by primer masking after mapping and primerdimer removal
6. Copy Number Variant Detection from target data
7. Advanced filtering and annotation of variants based on information in public, commercial and custom variant databases
8. Comparison of variants accross samples
9. Visualization of variants and their effect on protein 3D structure

The requirements for the CLC Genomics Workbench network maintenance include annual technical support and software maintenance support to include system upgrades. Technicians shall have prerequisite skills and certifications to perform the operations and administrative tasks associated with the complete implementation and maintenance of the Qiagen system mentioned above.

The contractor shall provide technical support to AFDIL designated support contact. Support will be provided Monday through Friday between 0700hrs and 1700hrs EST. The AFDIL support contact will have access to online web-based support for downloading modules, software updates and bug fixes, and technical support knowledge base.

This announcement fulfills the synopsis requirements under FAR 5.102(a)(6) and 5.203(a). This Special Notice of Intent is not a request for competitive quotes.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for this requirement is 541511 and the size standard is $27.5M. All sources that believe they are eligible to provide these items must respond in writing. Responses must be supported with clear and convincing evidence to clearly articulate the ability to provide the items outlined above. A request for documentation will not be considered an affirmative response. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether a competitive procurement is in the best interest of the Government. If no written responses are received by the date listed below, which reflects fourteen days (14) days after the publication of this notice, the post award modification will be executed without further remark.

All questions and responses concerning this notice shall be emailed to Ms. Lisa Zarick at lisa.m.zarick.civ@mail.mil. Interested concerns must identify their capability in writing to the above e-mail address no later than 4:00 PM Eastern Time, 6 September 2017.