The Office of Acquisition and Agreements Management (OAAM), of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), on behalf of the NIST Laboratories, intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with Malvern Instruments, Inc. of Westborough, MA, for a comprehensive maintenance agreement for NIST-owned equipment that was manufactured by Malvern.

The Contractor shall provide comprehensive maintenance agreements for a total of four pieces of equipment and associated accessories. The types of equipment that will be covered, at a minimum, includes the Mastersizer 2000 and the Zetasizer Nano ZS.

The Contractor shall provide a service agreement for the service and maintenance of all equipment to ensure uninterrupted performance within manufacturers' specifications on both a scheduled and as-needed basis. Service and maintenance shall include parts, labor, travel, unlimited on-site emergency service, software updates, and one preventive maintenance visit per year. The period of performance shall be for a one-year base period and four one-year option periods.

Equipment may be located at NIST sites in Gaithersburg, MD, Boulder, CO or Charleston, SC. Equipment anticipated to be covered is located in Gaithersburg, MD and Charleston, SC. The Government will reserve the right to add equipment to the resultant contract that is located at NIST sites in any of the aforementioned locations.

Sole source determination is based on the following:
All pieces of equipment are commercial items that were manufactured by Malvern Instruments, Inc. Malvern has proprietary rights to the existing equipment and is the sole manufacturer and distributor of the equipment. Malvern does not sell parts through third party vendors, does not offer software updates on-line that can be downloaded by third parties, and does not offer service through third party vendors. Based on all of the above, only Malvern can supply the required service and guarantee that the maintenance, parts, and software will be fully compatible with, and meet the original performance specifications for the equipment.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 811219 and the small business size standard is $20.5 M.

No solicitation package will be issued. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, responses received by March 18, 2016, will be considered by the Government.

A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.

Bid Protests Not Available