Notice of Intent to Sole Source

THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A SOLE-SOURCE CONTRACT AND IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS.

The United Stated Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) intends to negotiate on a sole source basis, IAW FAR 6.302-1(a) (2) (ii), with Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio TX, 78228 as the only responsible source than can provide the required 80A enatanmores of South West Research Institute (SWRI) in a racemic form and perform chiral separation to deliver the enantiomers.   This acquisition is being conducted under FAR Part 12 Acquisition of Commercial Items.  Provisions and clauses in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-88 are incorporated.

United States Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD), 2900 Ricketts Point Road, MCMR-CDT-D Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010-5400 intends to procure firm-fixed-price purchase order for required 80A enatanmores of South West Research Institute (SWRI) in a racemic form and perform chiral separation to deliver the enantiomers.

SWRI was previously tasked with making reactivators of organophosphate inhibited acetylcholinesterase.  One compound in particular 80A shows promise.  Scientist at USAMRICD has determined that 80A has 2 enantiomers as observed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR).  We are now requesting to have SWRI make 80A in a racemic form and perform chiral separation to deliver the enantiomers.    Since SWRI owns the rights to 80A, seeking another company to perform this task is impossible.  We would have to start from the very beginning of testing and would not be cost effective. This is a follow-on requirement to continue support of a research grant that was reviewed by a panel of expert scientific reviewers and selected for award as an interagency agreement between USAMRICD and SWRI.  Two of the proposed tasks (tasks 7 and 8) on the grant were prepared by researchers at SWRI who have expertise in chemical synthesis .  SWRI scientists have extensive experience in synthesis of compounds and analogs and have propitiatory rights to the compounds.

Minimum Essential Criteria for the item required

1) The contractor will prepare the enantiomers of the compound known as SwRI80A for further studies at USAMRICD.  These two enantiomers are designated (+)-SwRl80A and (-)-SwRl80A.

2) >10 grams of each enantiomer will be prepared and delivered.

3) The prepared compounds will be >95.0 chemical purity by HPLC.

4) The prepared compounds will be 98% enantiomeric purity.

5) Optical rotation will be reported for each enantiomer.

6) Both enantiomers will be delivered as their hydrochloride salts and include a delivery sheet with analysis results and data attachment.  Analysis sheet to accompany each enantiomer and include 1H NMR, HPLC/MS, chiral HPLC and optical rotation

SWRI is the Sole manufacturer of the SWRi 80A enantiomers that are specifically needed for this research. They made the parent compound and hold the patent rights to it.  We are now asking for the enantiomers of this specific compound. The compounds are proprietary in nature and no other sources can satisfy this research support.  It would not be cost effect or in the best interest of the government to start the process all over with a different vendor to find a similar compound.  It took over 4 years to reach this point of the research objectives and starting from scratch would not be practical.  The compound SwRI-80A is an acetylcholinesterase reactivator that was designed and synthesized under contract W81XWH-14-D-0057 with Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), San Antonio, TX.  SwRI has a patent (https://www.google.ch/patents/US9162983) on this compound as well as several other compounds produced under this contract.  Therefore, SwRI has all the knowledge and experience, as well as proprietary rights, for producing SwRI-80A.  Synthesis and enantiomeric separation of SwRI-80A is critical to achieving research milestones within this fiscal year and SwRI is the only company that can produce the amounts needed for research testing.

The intended procurement will be classified under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 325998 with a Small Business Size Standard of 500 employees.  This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals and no solicitation document will be posted for this requirement. However, parties interested in responding to this notice shall submit technical data, including cost, sufficient to determine capability in providing the same product. All capability statements received by closing of this notification of this synopsis will be considered by the Government.  A determination by the Government not to compete based on 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. 

Based on the above information, the only technically acceptable SWRI 820A enantiomers are provided by SouthWest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78228.

Submit email capabilities statements (using PDF, MS Word, Excel attachments) to Kimberly Hannan at kimberly.s.hannan.civ@mail.mil.  Statements are due no later than 1:00 P.M. EST on 07 July 2015.  No phone calls accepted.          

Contracting Office Address:

U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, ATTN: MCMR-AAA, 820 Chandler Street, Fort Detrick, MD 21702-5014