Notice of Intent to Sole Source for Equipment Service Agreement from Becton, Dickinson, and Company (BD Bioscience)

NOTICE OF INTENT: The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) intends to negotiate on an “other than full and open competition” basis. This acquisition will be awarded under FAR Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures (SAP). This will be the only notice of the Government's intent to solicit, negotiate, and award a firm-fixed price contract to one source.

THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR COMPETITIVE QUOTATIONS.

SUPPLY/SERVICE INFORMATION: NIAID anticipates award by 05/20/2022 to Becton, Dickinson, and Company (“BD”) for maintenance services for BD manufactured scientific equipment. See attached Bill of Materials for details.

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION: The statutory authority for this sole source requirement is 41 U.S.C. 1901 as implemented by FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), in accordance with FAR 13.501.

NIAID requires a service plan for the microscopes manufactured by Leica that are currently in use in the DIR/RTB lab.  To ensure their optimal performance and reliability, they require maintenance by specially trained, experienced, and certified service engineers.  Becton, Dickinson, and Company (“BD” and d.b.a. BD Bioscience) is the original manufacturer of these equipment and is the direct provider of service agreements specific to their instruments. According to BD’s sole source letter, BD does not certify third party organizations to perform service on its equipment in the USA. Only BD’s authorized technicians and engineers have the most up-to-date knowledge and have access to the required original equipment manufacturer parts to provide the services needed to upgrade, repair, and maintain these instruments.  Non authorized technicians do not have access to all of the required parts to maintain BD’s machinery. Furthermore, when BD is the only provider that can supply instrument software revisions along with preventative maintenance inspections, technical telephone consulting, and unlimited on-site visits. Thus, only BD has the engineers and technicians who have the skills, expertise, and authorization to work on BD manufactured equipment, and only BD has Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts.

All responsible sources may submit a capability quotation, which will be considered by the agency via email to Lu, Chang at lu-chang.lu@nih.gov by 5:00 PM EST on Friday, April 8th, 2022. All information furnished must be in writing and must contain sufficient detail to allow NIAID to determine if it can meet the unique specifications. All responses received by the closing date of this notice will be considered by the Government. A determination not to compete this requirement, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government. Any response received after the closing date and time of this notice will be late and will not be considered.