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This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotes are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. Solicitation number 12505B23Q0357 is issued as a request for quote (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2023-04. The associated NAICS is 334516 - Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, with a small business size standard of less than 1,000 employees and the PSC is 6640. This solicitation is a 100% Total Small Business Set-Aside.

The United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) has need of the following product:

001) Portable, Semi-Automatic Liquid Handling System

Scope of Work:

The United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Services (USDA-ARS) Midwest Area (MWA) Administrative Office's Acquisitions & Personal Property/Fleet Team on behalf of the USDA-ARS Vegetable Crops Research Unit located at 1575 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706 is requesting quotes for a portable, semi-automatic liquid handling system.

Background:

Pipetting of liquid is a necessary step in many routine lab operations (for example PCR and nucleotide acid extraction) in a plant genetic or molecular biology research lab, which is probably also the most labor intensive, time consuming and tedious step. Liquid handling in today’s research also requires high throughput handling of large quantity of samples with much high precision with small volume of liquids (for example, real-time quantitative PCR of SNP genotyping). The Vegetable Crops Research Unit (VCRU) at USDA-ARS Madison location hosts a dozen research scientists working on genetic improvement of various horticultural crops. Liquid handling is used in daily research by all labs. We are seeking an instrument to facilitate our genetics/genomics research that will be accessible for all labs in VCRU (and USDA-ARS labs at Madison, WI location).

Technical Requirements:

• The equipment will allow accurate and high-throughput automatic/programmable liquid handling adapting to different applications such as PCR, next-gen library preparation, DNA/RNA extraction etc.


• The system is able to handle large amounts of samples with liquid handling capacity as large as 1000 ul and as small as 2 ul.


• Portable, able to image leaves, small plants, leaf segments, seeds, roots, tissues on plates in both field and laboratory conditions.


• Comes with user friendly software and interfaces.


• Electric requirements: 100-240 VAC, 50-60Hz.

Key Deliverables:

• Portable, Semi-Automatic Liquid Handling System


• Delivery

Delivery:

Delivery is to be made to the USDA-ARS VCRU located at 1575 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706 within 90 days of award.

Delivery should be completed during regular business hours (8:00 am to 5:00 pm), Monday through Friday.

Evaluation Factors:

Pursuant to FAR 52.212-2, the criteria for evaluation and basis for award will be Lowest Price, Technically Acceptable (LPTA). Technical acceptable is define as meeting ALL of the technical requirements identified on the Statement of Work and reiterated in the solicitation description. The Government intends to make one Firm-Fixed Price award based on the lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) quote received. "LPTA" means the best value is expected to result from selection of the technically acceptable quote with the lowest evaluated price. The lowest priced quote will be evaluated first; if NOT found technically acceptable, the next lowest priced quote will be evaluated, and so on until a technically acceptable quote is identified. The Government will NOT review higher priced quotes if the lowest (or a lower) priced quote is determined to be technically acceptable.

Submitting a Quote:

Failure to demonstrate compliance with all instructions may constitute sufficient cause to reject a quote without further discussions. All responsible sources may submit a quote which will be put into considered for award.

Vendors responding to this announcement are to submit their quote in accordance with FAR 52.212-1. The applicable FAR/AGAR clauses and provisions are included in the attachments to this solicitation. The Government anticipates making one Firm-Fixed Price award.

Vendors responding to this announcement shall submit their quote along with all other requested and required documentation (such as completed FAR/AGAR clauses and provisions) that are to be included as part of all offeror’s responses. The quote should include any and all fees, charges, and/or surcharges. This will be a tax-exempt purchase.

The solicitation attachments include a fillable PDF, additional information, FAR/AGAR clauses, a Statement of Work (SOW), and FAR/AGAR provisions. Be sure to read and review ALL of the attachments and to complete any and ALL additional documentation required as part of your quote submission. Of critical importance is to review the SOW as it contains the requirements for this acquisition.

The FAR/AGAR clauses and provisions constitute the terms and conditions for submitting a quote in response to the solicitation as well as the terms and conditions of the anticipated award. The FAR/AGAR provisions apply to the solicitation and submission of quotes. The FAR/AGAR clauses apply to the solicitation and submission of quotes as well as to the resulting award. The FAR/AGAR clauses will be included as part of the resulting award. Please review ALL of the FAR/AGAR clauses and provisions included in the attachments. The FAR clauses 52.212-4 and 52.212-5 as well as the FAR provisions FAR 52.212-1 and FAR 52.212-2 are applicable to this solicitation. The clauses listed under FAR 52.212-5(a) are applicable to all solicitations. The clauses marked with an X under FAR 52.212-5(b) and (c) are applicable to this solicitation. The evaluation criteria of FAR 52.212-2 is outlined in the next paragraph. It is advised that a completed copy of the FAR provision FAR 52.212-3 be included with your quote. A copy of FAR 52.212-3 is provided in attachments.

Please ensure your quote will be current and that the price quoted will NOT expire for a minimum of 30 days or until September 30, 2023.

To be eligible to be put into consideration for award, ALL vendors who respond to this solicitation must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) with a current and active registration at the time their quote is submitted. A vendor can contact SAM by calling 1-866-606-8220. NO EXCEPTIONS. A Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number is required in order to register. Vendors must also include their UEI# on their quote. Vendors should also include their SAM status as well as the business size and socio-economic status(es) for the applicable NAICS code.

As the Buy American Act applies to this acquisition, vendors are to provide the full legal name of the manufacturer as well as the manufacturing location’s full street address (for USA made) or the country of origin (for foreign made) products included in their quote. A statement or certification from the manufacturer as to the manufacturing street address or country of origin would be preferred.

Also, be certain all quotes included your full legal name, physical address, individual unit prices for all items quoted, the total quoted price, an estimated time to delivery or completion, the quote submission date, the quote expiration date, and all other relevant information.

The submission and payment of invoices on the resulting award will be made through the Invoice Processing Platform (IPP). As such, vendors must be currently registered or register in IPP in order to be able to submit and receive payment on invoices for the resulting award.

Questions in regards to this combined synopsis/solicitation must be submitted through email to aaron.dimeo@usda.gov (NO calls with questions will be accepted) and are due by NO later than Wednesday, September 6, 2023 at 11:59 PM Central Time (CT). Answers to any questions received by that time will be posted as an amendment to this combined synopsis/solicitation. No questions will be answered after this date unless determined to be in the best interest of the Government.

Only electronic submissions made via email will be accepted (NO verbal quotes made by phone call, quotes submitted by USPS mail, or quotes submitted in the body of an email). Please email all quotes in writing along with completed FAR provisions as well as ALL other requested and required documentation to aaron.dimeo@usda.gov by NO later than Monday, September 11, 2023 at 11:59 PM Central Time (CT).

NOTE: Be absolutely certain to reference the solicitation number “12505B23Q0357” and/or title of the solicitation “Portable, Semi-Automatic Liquid Handling System” in the subject, body, and/or attachments on your quote submission email to ensure your submission can be located and attributed to this solicitation. Failure to do so may result in your submission being deemed “unresponsive” and as a result your quote may NOT be put into consideration for award (as your quote may NOT be located when searching the recipients email to ensure all responses to the solicitation have been logged before making an award determination).

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