Notice of Intent to Sole Source Neogen Genotyping service of 5000 lambs using a 50K ovine SNP chip

Notice of Intent: The USDA, ARS, SEA intends to award a sole source procurement to Neogen-GeneSeek, 620 Lesher Place, Lansing MI 48912-1595, as they are the sole source for this type of instrument pursuant to the authority of 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(l ) and FAR 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. The award will be for Genotyping service of 5000 lambs using a 50K ovine SNP chip.

The NIFA OREI experiment requires genotypes for 5000 lambs using a 50K ovine SNP chip that will likely be used for commercial use by producers. Lambs used for analyses will have extreme high and low fecal egg counts (FEC) and parasite resistance estimated breeding values (EBVs). A second analyses will genotype 600 progeny tested sires using a high density 600K ovine SNP. These sires will encompass most of the Katahdin sheep sires used by producers in the OREI study.

Neogen-GeneSeek is the only vendor of the Ovine HD 600K and the GGP-50K array. The required genotypes can only be obtained through this vendor and the Ovine HD 600/50K arrays or the vastly more expensive, and slower throughput, use of whole genome DNA sequencing. There is no other source for high-throughput genotyping of these markers. These markers are unique in that they primarily reflect markers known to cause changes to proteins or to the regulation of proteins. While these markers are not patented, there is no other method to obtain these genotypes at this cost. We are saving genotyping costs in the Katahdin population by using a lower-density panel (GGP-50K) ~50,000 markers to impute the functional variants to animals with phenotypes which is possible because of the extensive pedigree structure. This GGP-50K array has been used previously in this population and will tie together information from over 15,000 genotyped animals from the GPE population to improve the efficacy of this imputation process. While other low-density panels are available, Neogen-GeneSeek produces the only panel that will tie together the information that we already have in the GPE population.

The Government intends to award a firm fixed price Purchase Order on or about September 16, 2019, using Simplified Acquisition Procedures. This Notice of lntent is not considered a Request for Quotation (RFQ) nor is it a Request for Proposals (RFP). No solicitation document is available and telephone requests will not be honored. Interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The Government will consider all responses received by 2:00 PM central time, Sept 13, 2019. Information received will be considered solely for determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Inquiries will only be accepted via email/mail to the Contracting Officer at the following address:

Contracting Office Address:
Shalunda Mix (CO)
USDA-ARS-SEA
141 Experiment Station Road Stoneville, MS 38776-0225
shalunda.mix@ars.usda.gov

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