NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE This notice is being published in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 5.101 requiring dissemination of information for proposed contract actions. This is a notice of intent to award a sole source contract and is not a request for competitive quotes/proposals. The statutory authority for this sole source procurement is prescribed by FAR 13.501(a).

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), HHS/NIH/NEI/Biological Imaging Core intends to award a sole source, firm-fixed priced maintenance contract for one year to Jeol, USA Inc. This service agreement is to ensure maintenance and repairs for the JEM-1010 electron microscope. This service is required through the Manufacturer of said equipment for continued service to our facility. There is no other company that performs this service on this JEOL equipment. JEOL has the only experienced technicians for servicing our JEM-1010 electron microscope. Over the last 20 years we have used JEOL because of its association with the manufacturer and the specific training of its technicians on servicing of JEM-1010 electron microscope. The company’s technicians have the best response time to emergency calls, we receive a call back within an hour and the technician arrives within 24 hours. JEOL stocks spare parts for our microscope, and that reduces the down time of our research and clinical service. For these reasons we feel that JEOL is the best suited for the needs of our section and we would like to continue to hire JEOL for servicing our electron microscope. To maintain the highest standard performance, complex scientific instruments are required to be maintained and serviced by the original manufacturer.

However, all responsible sources may submit a capability statement demonstrating the ability to provide the requested services, which shall be considered by the agency before the intended award date. Interested sources who submit data are responsible for appropriately marking information if it is proprietary in nature. The Government shall not reimburse interested sources for any information provided. No requests for capability briefings will be honored. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Interested vendors must respond to this notice on or before January 13, 2023 at 11:00 am Eastern Time by sending an email to holleyv@od.nih.gov . NAICS Code: 334516- Laboratory Equipment and Supplies.