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This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals or quotes and does not obligate the Government to award a contract. This notice is for informational and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or an obligation or commitment by the Government, nor is it a Request for Proposal (RFQ) at this time. Responses to this Notice must be in writing

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The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to conduct market research to determine the capability of United States based commercial manufacturing to provide the end products described below. In order for an end product to be considered manufactured in the United States, all manufacturing processes must take place in the United States and the cost of components mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States must exceed 60 percent of the cost of all the components.

The USDA-ARS PA ARTHROPOD-BORNE ANIMAL DISEASES RESEARCH FACILITY located in Manhattan KS requires Genome Sequencing Equipment Brand Name or Equal to Oxford Nanopore PromethION 2 Solo, VolTRAX V2, 3 - MinIon Mk1C, 1- MinIon Mk1B, and Initial Reagents.

Salient features include one or several devices totaling five to six lanes that can conduct kilobase length long DNA sequencing, capable of RNAseq, DNAseq runs. Must be capable of running independently and provide to the unit the capability sequences required for genome assembly, popgen analysis, rnaseq analysis, and chromatin confirmation. Equipment software licenses and device warranties are required.

Documentation of technical capabilities and documentation related to end product country of manufacture must be presented in sufficient detail for the Government to determine a business entity’s ability to compete for this acquisition. Omission of end product country of manufacture documentaton does not constitute documentation of United States based manufacturing. ARS will accept responses from ALL socioeconomic categories in order to gain a more complete understanding of the market for these supplies. Responses to this notice shall include the following: (a) company name; (b) address; (c) point of contact; (d) phone and email address; (e) ueiSAM Number; (f) a capability/country of manufacture statement and; (g) any relevant GSA/Federal Supply Schedule contract numbers.

Please email capability statements to Christopher C. Turner at christopher.c.turner@usda.gov by the date and time stated in the response date section noted above. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted. Responses after the published response date will not be considered. Please note "Genome Sequencing Equipment" in the subject line of the email.

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate.

Respondents are also advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information or provide feedback about any of the information received. In order to protect the procurement integrity of any future procurement that may arise from this announcement, information regarding the technical point of contact will not be given and no appointments for presentations will be made. After review of the responses received, the Government may issue a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation on sam.gov Contract Opportunities. No proprietary, sensitive, confidential or classified information shall be included with your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation.