Notice of Intent to Sole Source Optasense, Inc. Fiber Optic Cable

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) intends to award a contract on a sole source basis to Optasense, Inc. upon the basis of the authority provided at FAR 13.106-1(b)(1).

ERDC-CRREL intends to purchase 5-km of Optasense’s proprietary Proteus 1 Fiber Optic Cable for use with an existing OptaSense ODH-4 sensor that is being used to conduct sensitive testing.  It is necessary to use the same proprietary OptaSense cable and cable connectors with the OptaSense ODH-4 to complete the ongoing testing to ensure consistency of results.  The requirement includes three (3) options each for additional 1km, 3km, 5km, and 10km lengths of cable, and for thirty (30) connectorized termination units.

Optasense, Inc. was identified as the only vendor capable of offering a product meeting the requisite specifications and interoperability requirements with CRREL’s existing Optasense hardware and fiber optic cable.  Full interoperability is required to ensure consistent and accurate results of the data being acquired.  Optasense fiber optic cable and connectors have a proprietary design and are the only units compatible with CRREL’s existing Optasense system.

The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 334519, which has a size standard of 500 employees.

This Notice of Intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. Any interested party that believes they can fulfill this requirement should submit a capability statement to be reviewed. All submissions will be considered, however there is no guarantee that submissions in response to this notice will in any way alter the Government's acquisition strategy.

Please provide responses to this notice NLT 12:00 PM EST, 6 February 2020 to:

William.A.McFarland@usace.army.mil

Telephone responses will not be accepted.

Responses to this notice will not be considered as a response to any solicitation, a request to be added to a prospective offerors list, or to receive a copy of any solicitation.  A determination by the Government not to compete the contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.  Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.

Note: In order to be eligible for award of a Government contract, vendors must be actively registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), have no active exclusions, and complete the FAR and DFARS representations and certifications.