Sole Source Award

Added: Aug 11, 2015 2:10 pm Notice of Intent to Award Sole Source

The Regional Health Contracting Office - Central (RHCO-C) (Provisional), Fort Hood, Texas intends to award a Firm Fixed-Price sole source contract to Hologic, Gen-Probe, a large business, under the authority of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1(a)(2)(i) - Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements for the purchase of thirty (30) APTIMA COMBO2 1000T kits for use with the TIGRIS DTS test system from Gen-Probe to be used by the Department of MicroBiology at the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center, Fort Hood, TX. The applicable NAICS code for this requirement is 325413, and the size standard is 500.

The Government posted a sources sought notice on the Federal Business Opportunities website for a period of nine (9) days from 1 June 2015 through 9 June 2015. No responses to the notice were received.
The APTIMA COMBO2 test kits are for use with the TIGRIS DTS test system which is leased by the Government. The test kits are unique and proprietary for use with this system. Procurement will be executed under the authority of 6.302-1 (a)(2)(iii), quote mark Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements quote mark , on or before 30 September 2015. Gen-Probe owns the Patents on the APTIMA COMBO2 test kits. The system is patented under one or more of the following patents: 5,514,551, 5,556,771, 5,656,207, 5,658,737, 5,693,468, 5,696,251, 5,723,597, 5,756,709, 5,827,656, 5,840,873, 5,948,899, 6,090,591, 6,893,612, 6,910,720 and 7,172,863. Gen-Probe does not have any authorized distributors of its proprietary blood test kits.
The TIGRIS System is currently in place in the hospital and is compatible and bi-directional with CHCS. It is compliant with the LIS used by the DoD. The College of American Pathologists is the accrediting agency. Accreditation requires validation from two analyzers called side by side validation. Using another system would cause collection of twice as many samples to be tested in two different analyzers or cause the samples to be sent to a local reference laboratory for second testing which would be an additional expense to the Government. Additionally, the space for the analyzers is limited and installation of a different system would cause an interruption in testing.
This notice is not a request for competitive proposals. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, which shall be considered by the agency before the intended award date. Interested sources who submit data are responsible for appropriately marking information if it is proprietary in nature. The Government shall not reimburse interested sources for any information provided. No requests for capability briefings will be honored as a result of this notice and any information provided will not be used as part of any subsequent solicitation requirement. No telephonic inquires will be honored. A determination by the Government not to compete with this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.

NOTE: INTERESTED VENDORS, PLEASE RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE BEFORE 24 AUGUST 2015, 11:00AM, CST.

The RHCO-C (P) intends to make a sole source award to Hologic, Gen-Probe, 10210 Genetic Cetner Drive, San Diego, CA, 92121. Interested parties may email any concerns to Clarence 'Craig' Cude at clarence.c.cude.civ@mail.mil no later than 24 August 2015 at 11:00 am, CST.