Inactive Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)

NOTICE OF INTENT to Sole Source SOLICITATION NUMBER: NIMH20003014 TITLE: Storage and preservation of transgenic animals for neuroscience research. CLASSIFICATION CODE: 66 -- Instruments & laboratory e... NOTICE OF INTENT to Sole Source SOLICITATION NUMBER: NIMH20003014 TITLE: Storage and preservation of transgenic animals for neuroscience research. CLASSIFICATION CODE: 66 -- Instruments & laboratory equipment NAICS CODE: 424690 – OTHER CHEMICAL AND ALLIED PRODUCTS MERCHANT WHOLESALERS RESPONSE DATE: April 24, 2020 at 12:00 PM EST PRIMARY POINT OF CONTACT: Thien Nguyen Thien.Nguyen2@nih.gov Phone: 301-827-0914 DESCRIPTION: INTRODUCTION THIS IS A PRE-SOLICITATION NON-COMPETITIVE (NOTICE OF INTENT) SYNOPSIS TO AWARD A CONTRACT WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME). The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) intends to negotiate on a sole source bases with Cyro Express LLC, 7905-A Airpark Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20879 NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE and SET ASIDE STATUS The intended procurement is classified under NAICS code 424690 – Other Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers with a Small Business Size Standard of 150 Employees. REGULATORY AUTHORITY This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13—Simplified Acquisition Procedures. Contracts awarded using FAR Part 13—Simplified Acquisition Procedures are exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6—Competition Requirements. FAR Subpart 13.106-1 (b) Soliciting from a single source provides that: For purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, Contracting officers may solicit from one source IF the contracting officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available (e.g., urgency, exclusive licensing agreements, brand-name OR industrial mobilization). The resultant contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 20019-01 dated December 1, 2018. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES: The contractor shall provide all resources necessary to accomplish the tasks and deliverables described in this Statement of Work (SOW). The contractor shall provide a secure location with a continuous supply of liquid nitrogen and an efficient monitor system to prevent any interruption of supply or rise in temperature in the liquid nitrogen tanks containing transgenic embryos or germ cells. Preserving valuable transgenic organisms by cryopreservation is a core mission of the NIMH Transgenic Facility. For the last five years commercial biorepositories have been used to provide off-campus storage for these resources. Samples will be stored at these sites as long as the mandate to preserve these lines continues. DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT In general, the vendor will provide continuous supply of liquid nitrogen, continuous monitoring of temperature and level of liquid nitrogen in the supplied tank. Access to these tanks shall be granted after a reasonable advanced notice. Specifically, the vendor will: o Accommodate four NIMH-owned MVE XLC 810 HE Tanks, with the potential to increase the number of tanks to five over the next two years. o 24 hours Point-of-Contact for tank (sample) access o Free access during normal business hours o Supply about 122 Liters of LN2/week o Automatic fill of LN2 o Automatic measurement with alarm and notification on LN2 level and temperature o Regular manual measurement of LN2 level and temperature o Backup LN2 supply o Backup power supply (e.g., generator) The essential characteristics of the current repository and supply service that limit the availability to a sole source are compatibility with current equipment and limitation of expense and resources to relocate existing samples. Only this suggested source can furnish the requirements, to the exclusion of other sources, because of their close proximity to the core facility compared to other sources. The material or service must be compatible in all aspects (form, fit, and function) with existing systems presently installed. The current equipment is three MHV XLC 810 HE liquid nitrogen freezer tanks and the new item/service must coordinate, connect, or interface with the existing system by supply systems that exist in the current repository location at Cryo Express LLC. The new service is a "direct continuation” of existing services. Based on our research, Cryo Express is the closest facility to the NIH main campus that can fulfill all the specified requirements above. In addition, transferring of samples can pose unacceptable risks to their integrity. These samples are stored from year to year, and so cannot be simply retrieved in total (LN2 tanks require specialize moving skill and equipment). The cost of moving the tanks to other repositories is prohibitive and risks the loss of all the cryopreserved material that has been generated from many labs in many ICs. Maintaining transgenic animal strains is more and more expensive each year, though the cost at Cryo has not increased. The number of these strains is also increasing as more innovative mechanism for manipulating gene are developed. As a consequence, many laboratories at NIH use transgenic animals in their research projects. The NIMH Transgenic core facility is tasked with cryopreserving thousands of lines as a cost-effective alternative to keeping them in animal holding facilities in numbers that will guarantee their survival. In addition, genetic drift can make these lines unusable over time. In order to save this large expense, and to preserve lines in at least two locations we have always maintained one or two repositories off campus. As vendors have relocated, the ability to rapidly access these samples has been compromised. The labor costs of sending two skilled technicians to any other repository entails hours of lost productivity and with unreliable traffic delays there is the danger of unpredictable interruptions to the normal function of the core facility. The maintenance of these samples has been discussed at length with the NIMH Scientific Director, and her administrative staff. CONTRACTING WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME) DETERMINATION The determination by the Government to award a contract without providing for full and open competition is based upon the market research conducted. Specifically, Cryo Express LLC is the only vendor in the marketplace that can provide the services required by NIMH. The intended source is: Cryo Express LLC 7905-A Airpark Road Gaithersburg, MD 20879 CLOSING STATEMENT THIS SYNOPSIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency. The information received will normally be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties' bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov. All responses must be received by the closing date and time of this announcement and must reference the solicitation number, NIMH20003014. Responses must be submitted electronically to Thien Nguyen, Contract Specialist, at thien.nguyen2@nih.gov. and Valerie Whipple, Contracting Officer, at valerie.whipple@nih.gov. U.S. Mail and fax responses will not be accepted.