84--Intent to award a contract to Gibson & Barnes, El Cajon, CA 92020.

1) Under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b) (1), the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering (RDEC) Acquisition Center, Natick Contracting Division (NDC), Kansas Street, Natick, MA on behalf of the U. S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, Natick, MA intends to negotiate and award a Contract on a sole source basis with Gibson & Barnes, 1900 Weld BLVD STE 140, El Cajon, CA 92020. This is not a request for proposals. No solicitation documents are available. Responses will be used for future acquisitions only. 2) Nature and description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency's needs: The Chemical/Biological Pass-through (CBP) is a device that is mounted to Chemical/Biological (CB) protective clothing and provides the interface between a liquid circulating microclimate cooling system and a microclimate cooling garment (worn under protective clothing). 3) A demonstration that the proposed contractor is the only source available to provide these services or goods (i.e.unique qualifications, proprietary rights, etc.): Gibson & Barnes (G&B) is the only source that has a CBP that specifically meets the needs of the Army and Navy Special Operational Forces (SOF) customers. The G&B CBP is a unique device that is very low profile, provides minimal resistance to fluid flow, and integrates with the user's Integrated Microclimate Cooling System (IMCS) and Liquid Cooling Garment (LCG). After an evaluation of several CBP candidates during a human factors evaluation, the SOF users identified the G&B product as their CBP of choice. 4) A description of the market research that was conducted and the results, or a statement of the reason a market research was not conducted: A market survey on CBPs was conducted in 2008. A number of products were identified, however, none met the Government size, weight, fluid flow, and integration requirements. A copy of the survey results is available. Interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement to the US Army ACC-APG, Natick Contracting Division via email to: [email protected] no later than 12:00 Noon (EST) on July 22, 2011. Contracting Office Address: ACC-APG Contracting Center - Natick CCAP-SCN, Natick Contracting Division 100 Medway Road Milford, MA 01757 POC: Ryan Colgan 508.233.6186 [email protected]