The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis, with AB Sciex LLC, North American Sales and Service, 1201 Radio Road, Redwood City, CA 94065 to provide a Maintenance Service Agreement (MSA) for the 4800 Maldi TOF/TOF Analyzer. The EPA laboratory at Research Triangle Park, NC has been equipped with the 4800 Maldi TOF/TOF Analyzer. The service plan includes parts, labor and travel for remedial repair; 2 PM visits; guaranteed priority response time 2 business days after receipt of service call; priority telephone and email access to instrument technical support; telephone and email access to application technical support and smart services remote monitoring, which provides for notification to customer of instrument failures or errors that are reported by smart services monitoring software. AB Sciex, LLC is the sole manufacturer of the 4800 Maldi TOF/TOF Analyzer that includes proprietary hardware and can only be serviced by AB Sciex, LLC. EPA believes that this is the only vendor capable of satisfying the requirement for this particular instrument. In addition, AB Sciex has the exclusive rights to the software, hardware, and operating licenses for this equipment. It would therefore be impossible to maintain proper functioning of the instrument without AB Sciex support. In addition, it is neither possible nor cost effective to identify additional sources for hardware or software replacements in the event of a problem. Therefore, the Government intends to process service contract through AB Sciex without full and open competition. The circumstances permitting ¿Soliciting From A Single Source¿ at this time is FAR 13.106-1(2)(b). The anticipated period of performance is 12 months. All interested parties who believe they can provide the required maintenance agreement may submit a written qualifications statement which fully explains their capabilities within 5 days from the date of this announcement and provide itemized pricing that is sufficient to make a determination that competition is feasible. The intent of this notice is to determine if any other source(s) exist, and therefore, no solicitation is available. Consequently, any response(s) failing to provide the aforementioned data but instead chooses to merely submit a routine letter requesting a copy of the statement of work or more information about the project will not be considered. The information received to this notice will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct a competitive procurement. Please submit response to the U.S. EPA, Attn: Louis C. Williams, Jr. (MC-AA005), RTP Procurement Operations Division, 109 Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. No telephonic or faxed requests will be honored. Offerors must submit all technical questions / responses concerning this synopsis electronically through FedConnect. Notices of any modifications to this FBO procurement announcement, including Requests for Proposals and amendments, will be posted using the FedConnect web portal. FedConnect can be accessed at https://www.fedconnect.net/Fedconnect/ . Questions regarding the content of the subject announcement must be submitted through the FedConnect portal. You must register with FedConnect as an interested party to submit questions and to view responses. FedConnect is a web portal that connects agencies and vendors to streamline the process of doing business with the federal government. Through FedConnect contractors will be able to receive, review and respond to contract pre- and post-award actions and documents such as correspondence, request for proposals, tasking instruments and contract modifications. The use of FedConnect also furthers the EPA¿s commitment to moving towards a paperless acquisition environment by reducing its carbon footprint and conducting its business in an ecologically friendly manner. There is no charge to use FedConnect. Vendors can register with FedConnect at www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/. For assistance in registering or for other FedConnect technical questions please call the FedConnect Help Desk at (800) 899-6665 or email at
[email protected]. In addition, all vendors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), as this facilitates registration for FedConnect. Please note that vendors MUST have their SAM profile set to ¿public,¿ otherwise FedConnect will not be able to access the SAM information required to validate vendor credentials. Registration may be completed and information regarding the registration process may be obtained at http://www.sam.gov . There is no charge for registration in SAM.