The notice announces the intent by the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) in support of the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) to procure Milliplex Bone Panel Assay Kits without competition as prescribed in FAR 13.106-1 (b)(1)(i). Specifically, the government will procure these Milliplex Bone Panel Assay Kits from EMD Millipore Corporation.

USARIEM is procuring Milliplex Bone Panel Assay Kits and EMD Millipore Corporation is the sole source provider of this product with no certified resellers.

This contract will procure the supplies to assess bone turnover markers/osteokines (i.e., biochemical assay kits) from EMD Millipore.  The Military Performance Division (MPD) and Military Nutrition Division (MND) at USARIEM are conducting field studies assessing the efficacy of daily calcium and vitamin D supplementation to improve bone responses to Army Initial Entry Training at Ft Jackson and Marine Corps Recruit Training in Marine recruits at Parris Island.  USARIEM will be assessing bone turnover markers/osteokines in blood samples obtained from recruit volunteers before and after their training.

USARIEM has previously purchased magnetic multiplex assays kits for dickkopf 1 (DKK1), osteoprotegerin (OPG), osteocalcin (OC), and sclerostin (SOST), and a magnetic single plex assay kit for receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) to measure these bone markers during two recently completed field studies (12-09H and 13-24HC).  They will need to purchase the same brand of kits for the current study to keep methodology consistent since data obtained from kits purchased from different companies will vary.  Failure to use the same kits will result in the inability to compare across studies.  In addition, using different kits will result in more personnel time spent validating the

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for this requirement is 325414 and FSC 6640.

Proposal solicitation number:  W81XWH-16-T-0211.

This announcement fulfills the synopsis requirements under FAR 5.102(a)(6) and 5.203(a).  USAMRAA intends to publish a solicitation no sooner than 15 days after publishing this synopsis.  This special Notice of Intent is not a request for competitive quotes. Information received in response to this notice will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether a competitive procurement is in the best interest of the Government. If no written responses are received by the date listed below, which refelects at least fifteen (15) days after the publication of this notice, the solicitation will be issued as sole source.

All questions and responses concerning this notice shall be emailed to Jared Acre at [email protected].

Interested concerns must identify their capability in writing to the above email address listed above no later than 12:00 PM ET, 31 May 2016.