Contracting Activity:USDA-ARS St Paul, Minnesota intends to Award as a Sole Source to Illumina.

Nature/Description of Action: Request for purchasing laboratory consumables for conducting genotyping experiments using the high throughput genotyping assay method developed by Illumina.

Description of Supplies/Service: The chemical reagents included in the high density bead chip kit custom designed for conducting genotyping assays, known as GoldenGate assay, manufactured by Illumina.

Statutory Authority: In accordance with 41 U.S.C. 253(c) and FAR 6.302-1.

Demonstration of Contractor's Unique Qualifications:.. Illumina GoldenGate genotyping is a high-density genotyping assay that allows a large amount of data to be generated in a short amount of time. The assay requires reagents and materials designed and synthesized according to sequencing data. Sequencing data will be available upon award. Items are described as follows:

a. Manufacturer's Part Number: GT-17-110 Custom Oligo Assay Pool )OPA) 5 each.
b. Manufacturer's Part Number: GT-221-1012 GoldenGate Genotyping Universal-32 BeadChip (1536-plex, 96 samples) 5 each.

Determination of Fair and Reasonable Costs:
The Illumina genotyping technique is designed for high throughput genotyping experiments. The item stated part b. above is provided at a 20% discount.

Market Survey:The item stated above is manufactured and custom made at Illumina. Illumina developed the GoldenGate assay method and, thus, is the sole manufacturer of these chemical reagents for the assay, and no substitute vendor is available.