Notice of Intent: The USDA, ARS, SEA intends to award a sole source procurement to Life Technologies, 5781 Van Allen Way, Carlsbad, CA 92008, as they are the sole source for these types of services pursuant to the authority of 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(l ) and FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i) Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

The award will be to purchase the following services:

Service agreement for two DNA Analyzers, ABI Prism 3730XL for the period of 11/01/2020-10/31/2021 including AB Extended Care 1PM coverage.

The AB Extended Care Plan includes:

- Parts, labor, and travel for remedial repair.

- No charge for planned maintenance visits.

- A target response time of 3 business days for remedial repairs.

- Telephone and email access to instrument technical support.

- Telephone and email access to application technical support.

- Remote instrument monitoring and diagnostics, which provides for notification to the customer of instrument failures or errors that are reported by Remote Monitoring and Diagnostics Service monitoring software (not available for certain models).

Computer hardware and instrument operating software are excluded from coverage within this service plan. Computer hardware may be repaired on a time-and-material basis.

The contractor is the manufacturer, authorized and sole provider of the required services.

The Government intends to award a firm fixed price Purchase Order on or about October 28,2020, using Simplified Acquisition Procedures. This Notice of lntent is not considered a Request for Quotation (RFQ) nor is it a Request for Proposals (RFP). No solicitation document is available and telephone requests will not be honored. Interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The Government will consider all responses received by 2:00 PM central time, October 27, 2020. Information received will be considered solely for determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Inquiries will only be accepted via email to the points of contact listed:

Place of Performance:

USDA-ARS
141 Experiment Station Road

Stoneville, MS 38776