The National Institutes of Health (NIH) intends to negotiate a contract on a
sole source basis with Promega Corporation, Madison, WI. The purpose of
the contract is for the supply of Promega PowerPlex® S5 System. The System is an STR marker PCR kit used for the eyeGENE® protocol as a form of quality assurance. Using this kit, amelogenin and four short tandem repeat (STR) markers are amplified from participant blood and DNA, and compared in order to ensure that the DNA extracted belongs to the participant whose blood was received. The PowerPlex® S5 System can only be purchased through Promega. This specific kit is required for the project because it has been clinically validated in the eyeGENE® laboratory. If another brand of kit were purchased, the new kit would have to be validated before use. Not only would the validation of a new kit be an inefficient use of time and money, the results between patients would not be standardized, which would be a detriment to the project. For these reasons, the Promega PowerPlex® S5 System is the only kit that can be ordered for this quality assurance procedure. Seven (7) units of the System would be purchased.

Responses
The proposed acquisition action is for items and services for which the
Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the
authority of FAR 13.106-1 (b). If you believe you can provide the items or
services, please forward capability statements to [email protected] by 2pm
(ET) on Wednesday, December 26, 2018 and reference solicitation number NIHOLAO-
OD5-NOI5205261.

A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract
acquisition based upon responses to the notice is solely within the discretion
of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for
the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.
This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or
otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government
reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose
deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to
this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed. Information provided will be used to assess tradeoffs and alternatives available for the potential requirement and may lead to the development of a solicitation. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted.
Any solicitation resulting from the analysis of information obtained will be
announced to the public in Federal Business Opportunities in accordance with
the FAR Part 5. However, responses to this notice will not be considered
adequate responses to a solicitation. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or
sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government
reserves the right to use any nonproprietary technical information in any
resultant solicitation(s).

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