R498--Patent Legal Services Ballard Interim Contract Pre-solicitation Notice with Intent to Sole Source

Pre-Solicitation Notice for notice of intent to award a sole source contract. This is not a solicitation. The Department of Veterans Affairs intends to negotiate a sole source interim contract for three (3) months with Ballard Spahr, LLP, 999 Peachtree Street, NE, Suite 1600, Atlanta, GA 30309 to obtain specialized Patent Legal Services for the VA Technology Transfer Program (TTP), Research and Development Office. This requirement is a short-term three (3) month interim contract for highly specialized high volume patent law firm services for research projects in the areas of biomedical, clinical, rehabilitation and health services, while a long-term contract is solicited. This short-term contract will also allow for a transition period for the transfer of all the patent application and patent prosecution services with hundreds of open matters currently held by the incumbent contractor.

Due to the current open matters and the specialized expertise in this area, Ballard Spahr, LLP is the only vendor that can provide patent legal services short-term. Since the intent is to procure this on a sole source basis, no solicitation will be posted to FedBizOps (FBO). The applicable NAICS code is 541110 with a $15.5 MIL size standard. The PSC is R498. The authority for this action is FAR 6.302.1-1 Only One Responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

Interested persons may contact the Contracting Officer via email at annmarie.stewart@va.gov regarding this procurement. The determination to conduct a competitive procurement based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Contracting Officer.