Service Plan for Illumina NovaSeq & MiSeq sequencers

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR 12.6 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation and a separate written solicitation will not be issued. This solicitation number is 75N94026Q00038 and is issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation/contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2025-06. The North American Industry Classification (NAICS) Code is 811210 and the business size standard is $34m. However, this solicitation is not set aside for small business. This acquisition is being conducted using Simplified Acquisition Procedures in accordance with FAR Part 13. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) intends to contract on a sole source basis with Illumina Inc., 5200 Illumina Way, San Diego, CA 92122 to procure a Fixed Priced One-Year Silver Support Plan (coverage period 3/11/2026– 03/10/2027) for the following Illumina sequencers:
1. NovaSeq 6000 DNA Sequencer - Qty (1) EA
2. MiSeq DNA Sequencer – Qty (1) EA
Silver Support plan to include full coverage for repair parts, labor and travel; Reagent/kits replacement upon Hardware failures, 1 annual PM; Remote Technical Support 18x5; Service technician/personal shall acknowledge repair request w/in 24 business hours, 2 business days on-site response target. Control hardware/software updates: On-site applications support; discounted advanced application training, remote monitoring available. On-site Field Application Scientist Support - Standard on-site support coverage hours/days (M-F, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, excluding national holidays), phone support 5 x 18 M-F, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, pst and 5x24 email access to Technical Support. Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) certified replacement parts- Loaner Equipment: Illumina loaner instruments are only provided to customers under an active Illumina Service Contract. Illumina does not provide any third-party providers access to loaner or replacement equipment. Hardware/Software updates - Any upgrades to hardware or software that are released by Illumina will not incur an additional charge for instruments if covered under an active Illumina Service Coverage, will not cover under third party vendors.
The lab has several sophisticated machines for sequencing DNA, the ones most-used are the Illumina NovaSeq6000 and the MiSeq. These machines can produce highly accurate sequences of hundreds of millions of DNA molecules simultaneously. Illumina is the premier provider of DNA sequencing equipment for our work/projects in the lab. Illumina DNA sequencers is known to provide this high level of accuracy and throughput on the market. The uniqueness and sophistication of these machines requires highly specialize care and maintenance. All these machines use similar technology and are critical to the operation of this NICHD lab. Specialized field engineers from Illumina are essential for the operation of this equipment. The service contract provides for replacement of parts, which are only available from Illumina. In addition, engineers at Illumina headquarters can monitor, diagnose, and control the NovaSeq6000 and MiSeq remotely using
proprietary software. There are no other alternatives. NICHD investigators need to have their DNA samples sequenced using these machines to understand genetics, disease and move precision medicine forward.
Continuous operation of these Illumina sequencers is needed to provide high-throughput and high accuracy results to the NICHD investigators. Thus, to keep these machines in working order and maintain the accuracy of data required for professional scientific scrutiny, a maintenance contract with the OEM (Illumina) certified vendor is required.
Illumina is the sole authorized provider of service for the NovaSeq 6000 and MiSeq. Only Illumina, Inc. has technical service representatives who receive comprehensive and on-going factory training and regular technical updates. Illumina does not offer this training to anyone outside of their personnel resources. Illumina has not authorized any third-party intermediary to provide Illumina products or services for this particular transaction and is thereby the only supplier of Illumina services for this transaction with the National Institutes of Health NICHD. Also, they have direct access to original equipment manufacturer’s parts and specialized parts to help maintain the NovaSeq and MiSeq in optimal condition. Thus, timely service is crucial in the functioning of the NovaSeq and MiSeq. The NovaSeq and MiSeq are mission critical for the scientific experiments undertaken in the NICHD laboratories. Acquisition of a service contract offering from other entities/third parties’ providers can lead to substantive problems getting timely service engineer dispatched and can lead to down times on devices. NIH is a research organization where critical experiments require many weeks of tissue culture preparations and in animal breeding programs, etc. thus such delays will impose a very large financial burden on research laboratories which are hurting for research funds in the first place. Waste of experimental reagents, animals and human resources are the biggest problem in addition to reduction in research productivities.
The proposed contract action is for supplies or services for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under authority of the 41 U.S.C. 253(c) (1), FAR 6.302. This synopsis is not a request for competitive proposals.
Offeror must provide signed documentation confirming authorization and certified capability from the OEM, Illumina to provide all services and products, identified in this notice and maintain all/any existing warranties, etc. Responses to this notice without this confirmation from the manufacturer will be considered invalid.
The offeror/response must include a completed copy of the provision of FAR Clause 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors – Commercial Products and Commercial Services.
Applicable Clauses: 52.203-11 Certification and Disclosure Regarding Payments to Influence Certain Federal Transactions
52.203-18 Prohibition on Contracting with Entities that Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements or Statements—Representation
52.204-7 System for Award Management—Registration
52.240-90 Security Prohibitions and Exclusions—Representations and Certifications
52.203-17 Contractor Employee Whistleblower Rights
52.203-19 Prohibition on Requiring Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements or Statements
52.204-9 Personal Identity Verification of Contractor Personnel
52.209-10 Prohibition on Contracting with Inverted Domestic Corporations
52.212-4 Terms and Conditions—Commercial Products and Commercial Services
52.219-8 Utilization of Small Business Concerns
52.222-3 Convict Labor
52.222-36 Equal Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities
52.222-48 Exemption from Application of the Service Contract Labor Standards for Maintenance, Calibration, or Repair of Certain Equipment—Certification
52.222-50 Combating Trafficking in Persons
52.223-23 Sustainable Products and Services
52.226-8 Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging While Driving
52.232-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer—System for Award Management
52.232-40 Providing Accelerated Payments to Small Business Subcontractors
52.233-4 Applicable Law for Breach of Contract Claim
52.233-3 Protest after Award
52.240-91 Security Prohibitions and Exclusions
52.244-6 Subcontracts for Commercial Products and Commercial Services
The clauses are available in full text at http://www.acquisition.gov/far/.
Quotations will be due on February 5, 2026, before 9:00 am eastern daylight time via email to robinsti@mail.nih.gov. Attn: Tina Robinson. The quotation must reference “Solicitation number 75N94026Q00038. All responsible sources may submit a quotation, which if timely received, shall be considered by the agency. Any questions must be sent via email to robinsti@mail.nih.gov and must include solicitation# 75N94026Q00038 in the subject line of email.
“System updates may lag policy updates. The System for Award Management (SAM) may continue to require entities to complete representations based on provisions that are not included in this solicitation.
Contracting officers will rely on representations from offerors based on provisions in the solicitation. Entities are not required to, nor are they able to, update their entity registration to remove these representations in SAM.”
In order to receive an award, contractor must be registered as all awards and have valid certification in the System for Award Management (SAM) @ www.Sam.gov. Lack of valid registration in SAM will make an offeror ineligible for award. FAR Clause: An Offeror is required to be registered in SAM when submitting an offer or quotation and shall continue to be registered until time of award, during performance, and through final payment of any contract, basic agreement, basic ordering agreement, or blanket purchasing agreement resulting from this solicitation.