The National Institutes of Health, Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations, on behalf of the National Eye Institute intends to issue a sole source, firm-fixed price contract award to a single source under the authority of FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii), Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services will Satisfy Agency Requirements. The items to be procured are the following: Nature and Description of Project Information Custom Primate Tamper Resistant, Hi-Temp Screw Cap with Stainless Steel Watering Valve and Quick Disconnect 5" Length Description of the Supplies Name of Product: Macrolon 32oz. Screw Top Bottle with large drilled hole in bottom of bottle Product Code: MST32BH Quantity: 1000 EACH Name of Product: Custom Primate Tamper Resistant, Hi-Temp Screw Cap with Stainless Steel Watering Valve and Quick Disconnect, 5" Length Product Code: PCLX200S5 Quantity: 1000 EACH Justification Rationale The United States Department of Agriculture's Animal Welfare Act Regulations (Section 3.83) states: "Potable water must be provided in sufficient quantity to every non-human primate housed in the Bldg. 49, facility." The screw cap, watering valve, and custom water bottle provide the critical link between water consumption for the non-human primate. The problem we face with the current commercially available sipper tubes is that non-human primates play and chew on both the rubber stopper and sipper tube, eventually causing the bottle to fall to the ground to cause damage to the stoppers to the point that these products are not useable. The sipper tube must be able to withstand the chewing, scratching, and gnawing that the Non-primates utilize as normal use on water bottles. In standard practice, the only available material to do this is stainless steel. The custom water bottle has a 1 inch hole in the center of the bottom that allows air to flow into the bottle so that the valve on the custom sipper tube will function properly for the animal to sip and drink water. Without the hole in the bottom of the bottle the custom sipper tube would create a vacuum and will not work for the primate to be able to properly consume the needed water. To ensure that dust and other potential contaminants do not enter into the hole, the bottle holding apparatus will have a built in top to cover the entire water bottle. During our research we spoke to several vendors about the possibility of creating a sipper tube and custom water bottle with the above specifications. The custom made sipper tube and screw cap is not a commercially made item that is readily available off the shelf. Due to the time constraints to have these sipper bottles delivered within the next month to coincide with the expected arrival of the new housing racks in the building 49, Central Animal Facility, (CAF). Ancare has developed a mechanism that attaches a standard tip to the stainless steel drinking value to one end of the tube while the other end of the tube is a watertight fit removable screw cap. The proposed sipper tube will be custom designed for the Building 49 Central Animal Facility. The newly designed tube and custom water bottle will resolve two problematic issues that we currently have and are experiencing daily. First, current drinking tube and stopper are made separately and are assembled within the Building 49 Central Animal Facility. The non-human primates are able to remove the rubber stopper and then bite it to pieces; this can cause choking in the animal if accidentally swallowed. Secondly, the cost that the facility is currently experiencing to use a minimum of 300-400 hundred rubber stoppers each quarter is very costly to the operational budget. The building 49 Central Animal Facility, once a quarter is replacing both the stoppers and sipper tubes due to the extreme use and tear from the animals. In addition, not only are the non-human primates able to chew on the stoppers they are also able to rip the sipper tube from the water bottle to cause it to fall from the rack. The tamper resistant, hi-temp screw cap will prevent this problem. We have tested the prototype within the facility and it has proven to be successful. The custom primate drinking tubes are designed with suction so that the more pressure that the Non-primate puts to gnaw and chew on the water sipper, no water can leak from the tubes. Why is this important? The design of the water lixit enables the non-human primate to consume water as needed, however; the lixit does not allow the water to drip from the tube into the waste pan and/or into another animal's cage. This ensures that the animals are receiving their daily allowance of water for consumption. Although other manufacturers supply balled sipper tubes we are unaware of any other that manufactures and supplies the sipper tube with the attached Lixit. We tested the sipper tubes with the Lixit back in December of 2014 and have conducted numerous tests to ensure that the animals cannot pull the sipper tube and/or chew on the cap and that they are unable to force the water bottle off the animal rack. Using the custom water bottles, screw caps with drinking valves, and bottle holding apparatus, none of the animals tested were able to remove the screw cap or force the bottle off the rack. It is critical to the functionality of the Lixit that the sipper tube is milled correctly due to the extreme usage the sipper tubes and Lixits will encounter with the Non-human primates. We have proven that the concept works using the prototype from Ancare. The impact to the welfare of the animals if these sipper tubes are not milled properly is significant to health of the animal. Both the custom made sipper tubes and water bottles are critical to the support of the four ICs housing non-human primates within the Building 49 CAF. Therefore, this procurement is submitted as a Sole-Source- Procurement based on the above justification and the market research conducted demonstrating that there is no off the shelf product currently available in addition, these items are needed by the end of March beginning of April. There are over 100 specialized racks being built that are specially design to hold the custom sipper tubes and water bottles that are scheduled to be delivered by the end of March and beginning of April. The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is Title 10 U.S.C. 2304( c ) ( 1 ), Only one responsible source, as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation ( FAR ) 6.302-1 - Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirement. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for this requirement is 332618 with the size standard of 500 employees. This Notice of Intent is not a request for proposal or quotes; All interested sources must respond in writing with clear and convincing evidence to support their ability to provide the required service or supplies within 10 calendar days of this publication via e-mail to the Contract Specialist, Ms. Van Holley,
[email protected] , no later than 12:00 pm EST, March 25, 2015.