Perkin Elmer maintenance agreement

United States Department of Agriculture

Limited Source/Brand Name Justification

FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) – Simplified Acquisitions

Identification of the agency and the contracting activity. 

Mission Area Name

USDA/APHIS/FGIS/TSD

10383 North Ambassador Drive

 Kansas City, Missouri 64153

Contracting Activity

USDA/APHIS/MRPBS

250 Marquette Plaza Ste 410
Minneapolis, MN 55401

Description of supply or service required to meet the agency’s needs.

Federal Grain Inspection Services (FGIS), Biotechnology and Analytical Services Branch requests the maintenance agreement for the Perkin Elmer ICP Optima 8000 instrumentation and the Perkin Elmer AA PinAAcle 900T instrumentation, associated software, installed components, and connected equipment in continued support of commodity testing be acquired using a noncompetitive procurement.

The rationale or circumstances for limiting competition. 

In accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i) and FAR 13.106-3(b)(3)(i). 

Contracting Officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available (e.g., urgency, exclusive licensing agreements, brand name, etc.). 

Brand Name. Items peculiar to one manufacturer can be a particular brand name, product, or feature of a product, peculiar to one manufacturer. A brand name item, whether available on one or more schedule contracts, is an item peculiar to one manufacturer. 

These maintenance agreements are a follow-on service from Contract 12639519C0062 and are essential to the Government’s requirements and market research indicates other companies’ similar products, or products lacking the particular feature, do not meet, or cannot be modified to meet the Agency’s needs.

Currently, FGIS, TSD relies solely on the Perkin Elmer instrumentation for the efficient and repeatable evaluation of the safety and health risks associated to U.S. grain in relation to vitamin and mineral content Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) in support of the Agricultural Marketing Act and various other testing procedures in support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Farm Services Agency (FSA) programs.  Proper operation and accurate analyses are vital to contractual obligations of result turn-around times and commodity specifications.  It is necessary to have a distributor with the capability to meet the necessary requirements, listed in the accompanying quotes # 40771716 dated 6/01/2022 and 40772391 dated 6/13/2022, so as to not impact FGIS’s mission and the obligations of meeting time requirements. 

Perkin Elmer does not having any agreements to supply spare parts with any other distributor or service providers.  This severely limits the capability of anyone else to provide the maintenance agreement effectively. Also, Perkin Elmer is the sole source for factory new or factory remanufactured parts, does not certify third party technical service, and is the only source for factory trained and certified engineers to provide service for all instrumentation manufactured and sold by Perkin Elmer Health Sciences, Inc.

Awarded contract 12639522P0455 to PERKINELMER HEALTH SCIENCES, INC for 26981.00 on 2022-09-01.