The USDA/ARS intends to award a Firm fixed price sole source contract under the authority of 41 U.S.C 253(c)(1) and FAR 6.302-1(a)(2), only one responsible source, to:

Becton, Dickinson and Company
BD Biosciences Business Unit
One Becton Drive
Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417

Description of Requirement: The objective of this sole source award is to procure the following items:

The Benchtop cell sorter must be capable of the following:
Brand Name or Equal to BD FACS Melody Cell Sorter BYG 4-color Plate Item# 662747
a) Can sort cells up to >99% purity
b) Minimum Dual-laser
c) Capable of upgrading to Three lasers
d) Has a diverse set of filters for different fluorophore.
e) Has three different sort collection modes: single, purity, and enrich.
f) Capable of sorting two different defined populations at the same time
g) Automatic stopping when sample tube is empty to prevent bubbles from entering the system
h) Quick startup that takes less than 20min.
i) Plate Sorting preferred but not required.
j) fully automated drop delay calculation or equivalent
k) Compensation computed automatically from the results of compensation controls.
l) Compensation automatically recalculated when detector settings are adjusted.
m) Customizable Settings, gates, and sort settings are available and retrievable from saved experiments
n) Filter mirror units can communicate with the software to confirm the optical configurations
o) Monitored stream stability detection to correct stream aberrations.
p) Monitoring system to alert operator to perform maintenance.
q) Capable of stopping when the target number of cells is reached.
r) Capable of sorting individual cells into wells of 96 well plates.

SYSTEM FOOTPRINT- Complete system must not exceed dimensions of 50 "wide X 62" high X 45" depth
WARRANTY - The Contractor shall provide standard a one year, on-site, non-consumable parts and labor warranty, travel included on the equipment. The Contractor shall provide a copy of the warranty for each item with their offer. The Contractor shall also provide information regarding the available extended warranties. All service to the equipment will be done in a Bio-Safety Lab-3 (BSL3)
DELIVERABLES - The Contractor shall furnish and deliver (F.O.B. Destination) the equipment and documentation to the USDA, ARS, NAA, PIADC, 40550 Rt. 25, Warehouse, Orient Point, NY 11957, after the receipt of the purchase order within 90 days. Delivery shall be between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excl. Federal holidays.

i. NOTE: Warehouse is closed during lunch hours of 11:30am - 12:30pm

ii. Delivery for this order is required within 90 days after order is placed.

DOCUMENTATION - The vendor shall provide one copy each of the maintenance manuals, service instructions, operating instructions and submitted upon delivery of the equipment.
INSTALLATION AND START-UP -The Contractor shall install and put the Cell Sorter in service at the PIADC, BSL3 Lab, Building 101 within 30 days of delivery of product.

TRAINING - The Contractor shall provide on-site user orientation training.
FACILITY CONTAINMENT RESTRICTIONS -Delivery to the PIADC Building 101, a bio-containment safety level 3 (BL3) laboratory, contractor employee(s) must adhere to facility safety regulations. Everything removed must go through a decontamination process from the BSL3 (building 101); the procedure takes a minimum 2 weeks, and has exposure to high humidity formaldehyde for decontamination. All warranted repairs or replacements that will require returns to the manufacturer need to be scheduled prior to the 2 week decontamination process. On site government supplied tools are available. If something is not available decontamination restrictions apply.
a. Decontamination is done by putting products into a self-contained air-lock and gassed with high humidity para-formaldehyde. After 7 days the product is removed, tested, and requires 7 days to air out.
b. Liquid decontamination for metal products is washed in a lye or bleach solution with a ratio of 1 part lye or bleach to 10 parts water, and then rinsed.
c. No wood or porous materials allowed.

FACILITY ACCESS - All visitors to the facility require prior authorization and security clearance for access. If any visitor is accessing the Select Agent Program Areas, the visitor must read the "Visitor Access to PIADC Biocontainment Areas - Pre-Visit Awareness (attached)

The NAICS code for this requirement is 334516; the small business size standard is 1000 employees.

This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotes; however, interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. All information received by 3:00 PM Central Time on September 4, 2018, will be considered by the Government. Responses shall be submitted to Lynn Hults at [email protected].

The e-mail subject line shall state: 1232SC18P-931722 Notice of Intent to Sole Source. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.

NO TELEPHONE REQUESTS WILL BE HONORED.