This notice is a combined synopsis/solicitation, Notice of Intent. The Government intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with Affymetrix, for Custom Gene Chips, in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, in conjunction with FAR 13.5, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotes are not being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. Submit offers on NOI-RML-9025. The solicitation documents and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-36 dated 9/10/09. This acquisition will be processed under Simplified Acquisition Procedures (SAP) and is not a Small Business Set-Aside. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 541711 and the small business size is 500. SCHEDULE: The Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML), has been charged with performing basic research contributing to the development of diagnostic reagents, therapeutics and vaccines against human bacterial pathogens. Construction of an Affymetrix microarray custom chip containing oligonucleotide sequences representing the mycobacterium genome will assist towards achieving those goals. SCHEDULE: The RML has a need to construct 2 (two) custom chips from the manufacturer. 1 (one) chip shall contain multiple Acinetobacter genomes in the context of open reading frames (ORFs), intergenic regions, and non-coding DNAs. The other chip shall contain multiple mycobacterium genomes in the context of open reading frames (ORFs), intergenic regions, and non-coding DNAs. These 2 (two), custom chips shall be unique and specific to RML. No other chips of its kind shall exist. These chips shall be compatible with the Affymetrix fluidics and hybridization station and scanner in place at RML. This is a 6 - 8 week, one time work effort, where the final product shall be 1 (one) custom gene chip containing oligo pairs at high density, specific to Acinetobacter pathogen genomes, and a separate, unique chip that shall contain oligo pairs at high density, specific to mycobacterium pathogen genomes. The design and manufacturing process of this custom gene chip is wholly patented and owned by Affymetrix. The chip shall be high density, at 106 per cm2 or greater (USPNos. 5445934 and 5744305). The custom GeneChip® shall be made by photolithography manufacturing technology (USPNos. 5424186, 5510270), developed solely by Affymetrix. The multi-genome GeneChip® probe array must enable identification of 2-fold or greater levels of change in expression levels, and detection of as little as 1 mRNA transcript in a complex mixture of 100,000. The GeneChip® probe array must contain multiple unique probes designed to be Perfect Match (PM), 25-mer oligonucleotide probe pairs, to represent each mRNA transcript (full length gene) tested, and multiple probes designed to be Mis-Match (MM), to enable calibration of non-specific hybridization data (USPNos.5527681). Additional control sequences (yeast and commensal) must also be available on the chip for hybridization control, and housekeeping gene analysis. The probe selection strategy for the multi-genome custom GeneChip® probe array shall be based upon a probe design database (USPNos. 6188783) and shall be able to distinguish between highly homologous sequences and those of closely related gene families, strains, species and genus of bacteria. The multi-genome custom GeneChip® probe array shall be housed in a fixed volume reaction chamber (USPNos. 5945334, 6140044) providing automated and consistent hybridization of samples to the array. We will process the chips on our Affymetrix system, (USPNos. 5871928, 6040138, 6197506), MicroDB, and LIMS software database. No other photolithography-based chip, apart from those purchased from Affymetrix is compatible with the Affymetrix system in place here at RML. 90 (ninety) chips for each of the 2 (two) unique custom chips shall be delivered to RML 2 (two) months from award of purchase order to the contractor. FOB Point shall be Destination, Hamilton, MT. Delivery location is Rocky Mountain Laboratories, 903 S. 4th Street, Hamilton, MT. The following FAR provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition: (B)(1) By submission of an offer, the offeror acknowledges the requirement that a prospective awardee shall be registered in the CCR database prior to award, during performance, and through final payment of any contract, basic agreement, basic ordering agreement, or blanket purchasing agreement resulting from this solicitation; 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors Commercial Items; FAR52.212-2 Evaluation Commercial Items; FAR 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions Commercial Items; FAR 52-212.5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statues or Executive Orders Commercial Items; By submission of an offer, the offeror acknowledges the requirement that a prospective awardee shall have posted their FAR 52.212-3 Offerors Representations and Certifications Commercial Items at website http://orca.bpn.gov. Award will be based on the capability of the item offered to meet the above stated salient characteristics, delivery, price, past performance, and the best value to the government. Offers may be mailed to Julienne Keiser at Rocky Mountain Laboratories, 903 S. 4th Street, Hamilton, Mt 59840, faxed to the POC indicated above (Fax - 406-363-9288), or e-mailed at ([email protected]). Offers must be submitted not later than 4:30 PM (MDST), 9/22/09. Copies of the above-referenced clauses are available from http://www.arnet.gov/far/current/html/52_000_107.html or upon request, either by telephone or fax. All responsible sources may submit an offer that will be considered by this Agency.