Notice of Intent to Sole Source - JEOL Maintenance

The United States Department of Commerce (DOC), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition Management Division (AMD) intends to negotiate a firm fixed price purchase order, on a sole source basis, with Japan Electron Optics Laboratory (JEOL) of 11 Dearborn Road, Peabody, MA 01960 for the purchase of maintenance/urgent repair/service contract support for 9 JEOL instruments currently in use by NIST. The statutory authority for this sole source acquisition is FAR 13.106-1(b) by the authority of FAR Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) include four Directorates that utilize JEOL instruments to support its mission.  The instruments include Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEM), and E Beam Lithography (EBL) tools.  These Directorates are the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST), the Engineering Laboratory (EL), the Material Measurement Laboratory (MML), and the Physical Measurement Laboratory (PML).  The four directorates utilize tools manufactured by the Japan Electron Optics Laboratory (JEOL) to accomplish their missions. These tools require a maintenance and urgent repair contract to keep them running within the manufacturers specifications with minimum down time. The tools instruments owned and used by CNST, EL, MML and PML are listed in the attached document.

The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) intends to procure a maintenance and urgent repair contract for 9 JEOL instruments located at both the Gaithersburg, MD and Boulder, CO sites.  The Contractor shall provide a maintenance and service agreement for the JEOL instruments listed below to ensure uninterrupted performance within manufacturers’ specifications on a scheduled and as-needed basis.

 Procurement is for a base of one (1) year of maintenance/repair/support for all items listed in the attached Statement of Work (SOW), and four (4) options, each consisting of one (1) year.  The Service and maintenance shall include unlimited emergency visits during regular business hours in addition to scheduled preventive maintenance visits for one year, unless stipulated otherwise.  Covered expenses shall include all parts, labor, travel, and per diem.  The Contractor shall repair/replace all parts (i.e., hardware, software, accessory components/systems) required for the operation of the systems listed above.

Research has found that only one (1) company can offer the proprietary service and parts required to provide support for the covered equipment.    

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334516 – Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, and the size standard is 1,000 employees.

No solicitation package will be issued.  This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, all responsible sources interested may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. The Government will consider responses received by 3:00 p.m. Eastern on April 6, 2020. Inquiries will only be accepted via email to forest.crumpler@nist.gov . No telephone requests will be honored.  

A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement in the future.