Inactive Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE Liquid Handling System This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals or quotes and does not obligate the Government to award a contract. This not... SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE Liquid Handling System This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals or quotes and does not obligate the Government to award a contract. This notice is for informational and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or an obligation or commitment by the Government, nor is it a Request for Proposal (RFQ) at this time. Responses to this Notice must be in writing. The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to conduct market research to determine, in particular, the capability of Small Business firms to provide the supplies/services described below. Documentation of technical expertise must be presented in sufficient detail for the Government to determine that your company possesses the necessary experience to compete for this acquisition. Responses to this notice shall include the following: (a) company name; (b) address; (c) point of contact; (d) phone, fax and email; (e ) DUNS Number; (f) Cage Code; (g) socioeconomic category (i.e., small business, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Veteran Owned Small Business, etc.); (h) a technical/capability statement as well as your existing customers (i) any GSA Schedule numbers and expiration dates and (j) if you accept credit cards. ARS will accept responses from ALL socioeconomic categories in order to gain a more complete understanding of the market for these supplies. The USDA, ARS, Cattle Fever Tick Research Lab - Edinburg, TX has a need for a Liquid Handling System. The unique requirements of the product are: The location requires a versatile liquid handling system that can miniaturize reagent use for next-generation sequencing sample preparations, cell-based assays, real-time PCR reactions, bead-based assays, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). We also need a system that can do all of this consistently, efficiently, and reproducibly regardless of volume, viscosity, temperature, and concentration. Reducing pipetting errors and variability between samples will better the quality of results in our molecular assays and lower the probability of needing to rerun failed experiments. We currently do not have the capability to miniaturize our reaction volumes with the accuracy and precision necessary for molecular biology assays. At CFTRL, we run qPCR, PCR, NGS, ELISA, and bead-based assays. The liquid handling system must have a small footprint-- no bigger than 15”x 10”-- as the laboratory does not have a lot of bench space. It needs to be able to handle volumes from 0.1 ul to 200 ul with a coefficient of variance less than or equal to 1.5%. The liquid handling system will need to handle different types of plates and set-ups ranging from 6-well plates to 384-well standard plates, but also be able to work with Bio Molecular Systems’ Mic qPCR reaction tubes. With the ability to handle reaction volumes less than 10 ul consistently and accurately, the lab will be able to run more samples with less variation than manual pipetting. The cost per sample will also drop with the ability to miniaturize reaction volumes. Additionally, we would like the liquid handling system not to use pipette tips, and the system needs to be Windows 10 compatible. The NAICS Code for the expected acquisition is 334516, with a Size Standard of 1000 employees. Any subsequent procurement will be conducted as a commercial item purchase in accordance with FAR Part 12 and as a Simplified Acquisition Procedure in accordance with FAR Part 13. Please email capability statements to: Joseph Covarrubio at joseph.covarrubio@usda.gov by 5:00 P.M. Central Time on Monday, August 24th, 2020. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted. Please note "12805B20Q0156 Liquid Handling System - Sources Sought - Notice" in the subject line of the email. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that the response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organizations qualifications to deliver the services. Respondents are also advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information or provide feedback about any of the information received. After review of the responses received, the Government may issue a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation in Federal Business Opportunities. No proprietary, sensitive, confidential or classified information shall be included with your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation. End of Document