NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE NIST Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (APAC) Membership

The Department of Commerce; National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), intends to negotiate a firm fixed price purchase order, on a sole source basis, with Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (APAC) under Other Than Full and Open competition by the authority of FAR subpart 13.1 using the authority in FAR 13.106-1(b) Not Exceeding Simplified Acquisition Threshold. NIST’s National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) provides third-party accreditation to testing and calibration laboratories in response to legislative actions or requests from government agencies or private-sector organizations in accordance with ISO/IEC 17011 and involved in the accreditation of conformity assessment bodies including calibration laboratories and testing laboratories (using ISO/IEC 17025). APAC 19 Ramsay Ave, 2073 West Pymble, NSW, AUSTRALIA is an international organization which is a cooperative arrangement among laboratory accreditation bodies. APAC is a regional cooperation among accreditation bodies in the Asia Pacific region. The annual membership fee covers for services to the signatories (members) of the agreement. Part of APAC’s role is to provide a forum for the exchange of information among its members on accreditation and related issues, with the aim of continual improvement of accreditation services offered in the region. Through the APAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA), APAC facilitates the acceptance by Governments and industry in each economy of reports and certificates from facilities accredited by signatories to the MRA. Initially these accreditation bodies accredited testing and calibration laboratories. Increasingly, however, they now also accredit inspection bodies, reference material producers, and other related services. This is a sole source requirement as APAC is the designated entity administering services to the signatories (international members including NVLAP) and collecting the annual fee. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 813920, and the size standard is $20.5 Million. No solicitation package will be issued. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. The Government will consider responses received by 4:00 p.m. (EST) on December 27, 2022. Inquiries will only be accepted via email to [email protected]. No telephone requests will be honored. A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement in the future.