The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Laboratory Services, Clinical Chemistry Branch/Lipid Reference Laboratory plans to award a sole source firm-fixed price contract to Government Scientific Source  12351 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston VA 20191-3415. This will be a brand name required procurement for the Gerstel Autosampler to replace two existing systems that are now obsolete and are no longer available.

The line of equipment is related to the MPS Robotic Pro Liquid autosamplers and  also coupled with set up equipment from Gerstel, Inc. These autosamplers from Gerstel, Inc. provides rapid and accurate inlet injection that has allowed for consistent sample processing and dependable performance in routine laboratory experiments. In current operation,  there are 15 autosampler systems used with our existing chromatography and analytical technology to provide reliable and accurate syringe technology. These products have demonstrated ease of use and maintenance over years of activity regardless of operator. Currently paired with our gas chromatography/mass spectrometry technologies, the headspace Gerstel, Inc. robotic systems are crucial for injecting aliquots of prepared samples in a timely manner for the determination of trans fatty acids in human plasma for NHANES and other epidemiological and biomonitoring studies. 

The pairing of these instrumentations allows for a greater throughput of laboratory samples assessing the U.S. population for trans fatty acid. For the trans fatty acid project, the application of the Gerstel autosamplers is incorporated into current method parameters for each instrument as well as the standard operating procedure documentation and analyst training. The continued use of technologies from the same manufacturer would greatly reduce the time necessary to integrate a different type of instrument into laboratory utilization. It could take up to 4 months per instrument to modify current methods, reprogram software, revalidate the methods, and achieve current instrument sensitivity and activity, greatly affecting production capability for the trans fatty acid project.

The statutory authority for this sole source acquisition is U.S.C. 2304 (c) (1) in accordance with FAR Part 6.302-1 only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy the agency requirements. The NAICS code for this procurement is, 334519  Other Manufacturing and Contolling Devices Manufacturing, size standard 500.

No solicitation will be posted to Beta.Sam. This notice of intent is not a request for quote. A determination by the government not to compete the proposed purchase order based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Contracting Officer. 

Interested parties who believe they possess the capability to satisfy this requirement should submit a capability statement demonstrating their ability to meet the requirement. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. All responses should be emailed to Mr. Philip Robinson at [email protected] using solicitation number 75D-301-20-Q-71977 in the subject line no later than 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time, June 18, 2020.