Service Agreement for Thermo Electron Mass Spectrometer

The Office of Acquisition and Agreements Management (OAAM), Acquisition Management Division (AMD) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), on behalf of the Material Measurement Laboratory (MML), intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with Thermo Electron North America, LLC, an operating unit of Thermo Fisher Scientific of Rockford, IL for a comprehensive maintenance agreement for a NIST-owned MAT 253 Mass Spectrometer, manufactured by Thermo Fisher Scientific.

The maintenance agreement must include one preventive maintenance visit and one on-demand/on-site visit during the period of performance. The period of performance shall be for a one year base period and two one-year option periods.

Sole source determination is based upon the following:

The NIST-owned MAT 253 is a commercial item that was manufactured by Thermo Fisher (Thermo). Thermo Fisher has proprietary rights to the existing equipment and is the sole manufacturer and distributor of the equipment. Thermo Fisher has no authorized resellers or service providers, software updates are not available online without appropriate nomenclature, and parts authorized for use by the manufacturer are available solely through Thermo Fisher.

Thermo manages a staff of trained, certified field technicians/engineers. Thermo does not train and certify technicians outside of their own company.

Only Thermo can supply the required service and guarantee that maintenance and parts will be fully compatible with and meet the performance specifications for the equipment required to be serviced.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 811210 and the small business size standard is $34.0M.

No solicitation package will be issued. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, responses received by September 11, 2024, will be considered by the Government.

A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition based upon 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.

Responses must, at a minimum, clearly explain how the Contractor: (1) Retains all expertise to complete all required repairs and provide all software updates; (2) Has control over the ability to schedule qualified technicians/engineers for on-site service and guarantee a response time; and (3) Guarantee that maintenance and parts will be fully compatible with and meet manufacturer’s specifications for the equipment required to be serviced.