The US Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Eastern Region Acquisition Division, Simplified Acquisition Branch intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with EPL Pathology Archives, LLC., Sterling, VA, using the procedures in FAR Part 13, to provide secure room temperature storage of paraffin blocks and wet formalin fixed tissues from marine mammals cases submitted by the NMFS Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Program network members, especially during Unusual Mortality Events (UMEs), to further our understanding lf health, health trends, and diseases of marine mammal populations in the wild.
The EPL Archives LLC is uniquely qualified to assist with the secure room temperature storage of paraffin blocks and wet formalin fixed tissues from marine mammals. EPL Archives LLC currently can accept our previously archived samples from Experimental Pathology Laboratories, Inc. in Raleigh, North Carolina (an affiliated company) and transfer and accept those samples for no cost. Once transferred EPL Archives LLC will house the existing paraffin block and wet formalin fixed tissues from marine mammals from recent UME and Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) investigations. They have significant expertise and experience in archiving and storing paraffin blocks and wet formalin fixed tissues including maintaining samples in limited access areas under Chain-of-custody (COC) for law-enforcement investigations. They also have the ability to pull samples from storage for additional research on cases as needed.
The statutory authority for other than full and open competition is FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i), Only one responsible source.
The North American Industry Classification Code (NAICS) for this acquisition is 493190 with a business size standard of $27.5 M.

This is not a solicitation for competitive quotes, nor will one be posted on FedBizOpps.

Although a determination by the Government not to compete this proposed requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. However, if any interested party believes that it is capable of meeting the requirements, and in an effort to comply with the requirements outlined in FAR 5.102, a firm may request an electronic copy of the solicitation from the Contract Specialist, Linda Mullen ([email protected]).

All electronic correspondence shall have the subject line read: Announcement Number: Project Title.

All responsible sources may submit a Capability Statement and/or a quote in accordance with the solicitation, which shall be considered by the agency if received on or before 04:00 PM EST on July 9, 2019. The Capability Statement must contain material in sufficient detail to allow NOAA to determine if the party can meet all of the requirements.

The solicitation will remain open from 07/02/2019 to 07/09/2019.