NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE: Maintenance Agreement (EMD Millipore Corp.)

The USDA, Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) intends to issue an award on a sole source basis (IAW FAR 12.101) to EMD Millipore Corporation, located at 400 Summit Dr, Burlington, MA 01803. FSIS seeks to establish a contract with the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for a 12-month Base and four 12-month Option Year Maintenance Contract for three (3) Millipore Water Filtration Systems. These systems are critical for FSIS Laboratory testing of meat, poultry, and egg samples, which requires high-purity reagents to identify chemical and microbiological contaminants.

Technical Requirement Justification:

Regulatory Compliance: As an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory, FSIS is mandated to use purified water meeting strict quality standards. Only OEM-certified service ensures the water meets internal Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Proprietary Diagnostics: The maintenance requires OEM-approved firmware updates, e-Sure tag traceability for consumables, and specific Automatic Sanitization Module (ASM) protocols unique to Millipore hardware.

System Integrity: To maintain ISO 17025 compliance, the systems require OEM calibration and IQ/OQ requalification using certified standards that are proprietary to EMD Millipore Corporation.

Service Scope:

System Inspection & Diagnostics: Verification of serial numbers, firmware updates, and inspection of Q-POD® dispensers and connectors.

Water Quality Verification: Measuring Resistivity and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and validating flow rates for Type 1 and Type 3 water.

Consumables & Sanitization: Replacement of OEM-certified cartridges/filters and performance of ASM sanitization cycles.

Troubleshooting & Repairs: As-needed repair visits including spare parts to resolve alarms or error codes.

Performance Period: A 12-month Base Year with four (4) 12-month Option Years. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotes, and no solicitation document exists. However, interested parties may submit technical data sufficient to determine their capability to provide identical services. All capability statements received by the closing date will be considered. A determination by the Government not to compete based on responses is solely within the discretion of the Government. Capability statements shall be submitted only by e-mail as a Microsoft Office Word, Excel, or Adobe PDF attachment to angela.carey@usda.gov.