Opportunity: Notice of Intent to Sole Source / Sources Sought S

In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures, the Department of Energy (DOE), National Energy Technical Laboratory (NETL) intends to award a purchase order on a sole source basis to FEI Company to renew the preferred service contract for a FEI Inspect F FEG scanning electron microscope (SEM) serial number D8679 for the base period of January 28, 2017 to May 31, 2017. Four one-year (12 months) option year periods will be added to this requirement. The anticipated period of performance, inclusive of all option periods is January 28, 2017 through May 31, 2021. FEI Company is the only authorized service provider for this instrument. They are the only company that can provide the annual service contract because FEI’s equipment is highly specialized and technical. Specially trained FEI personnel are required to provide service, parts, and maintenance on their equipment. FEI provides fast and responsive priority service (48-hour targeted labor response time) to their service contract customers. It is imperative that NETL receives fast priority service so that the instrument is only inoperable for a short period of time. FEI Company is the only vendor that can supply the engineers trained by the manufacturer to provide service on their equipment and provide this exact preferred service contract. No known potential alternate sources exist which could satisfy NETL's requirement. This notice of intent is not a request for quote/proposal. Any interested party that believes it is capable of meeting the NETL requirement described herein may identify themselves and must provide evidence of their capability to fulfill the requirement being requested by 5:30 PM ET on December 31, 2016. Responses must be submitted in writing to the purchasing agent, Lora Stumpf, via email at stumpf@netl.doe.gov no later than the time and date noted above. Telephone responses and requests will not be received. A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.