SPECIAL NOTICE
A -- EIC FY10
- Notice Date
- 1/13/2010
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541711
— Research and Development in Biotechnology
- Contracting Office
- Department of Veterans Affairs;VA Boston Healthcare System;Contracting Officer (90C);940 Belmont Street;Brockton MA 02301
- ZIP Code
- 02301
- Archive Date
- 1/20/2010
- Point of Contact
- Robert O'Leary774-826-3003
- E-Mail Address
-
Contracting Specialist
(robert.oleary@va.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The department of Veterans Affairs VA Boston Healthcare System has a requirement for a contractor to conduct the following tasks in support of the effort at the Center for Innovative Visual Rehabilitation. It is the government's intention to solicit and negotiate only with this source. Please refer to the following sole source justification. This is not a solicitation, it is a notice of intent to sole source a requirement. * 1. Identification of the service/department and the transaction/requisition #: The VA Boston Healthcare System (VABHS) Center for Innovative Visual Rehabilitation (CIVR) is developing bioengineering therapies to improve the quality of life of visually impaired patients. The core mission of the CIVR is to develop a retinal prosthesis that will be used to enhance vision and improve quality of life for persons with retinitis pigmentosa or macular degeneration.. *2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved: The Boston VA Center for Innovative Visual Rehabilitation has requested a contract with EIC Laboratories. *3. Description of the supplies/services required to meet the agency's needs (including the estimated value): Contract with EIC Laboratories and the VABHS CIVR at Jamaica Plain. The purpose of this contract is to provide research to synthesize and characterize specialized coatings suitable for use in a subretinal prosthesis currently under development by the CIVR, and to conduct long-term electrochemical stability testing and chronic in vivo stability testing of these coatings when they are incorporated into planar subretinal stimulating multielectrode arrays. These coatings will be further evaluated at EIC Laboratories by accelerated in vitro testing. The total cost of the services provided under this contract will be over $25,000. 4. Identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition: FAR Part 6.302-1, Only one responsible source. *5. Demonstration that the proposed contractor's unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited: The development of the retinal prosthesis that is the core mission of the CIVR is contingent upon developing and testing suitable electrode coatings for future human implantation. In the area of electrode coatings, there is no other manufacturer that can deliver the required quality of iridium oxide electrode coatings for our team's implantable retinal prosthesis. EIC Laboratories possesses a proprietary process for forming biostable Iridium Oxide electrode coatings and polyimide materials, and they have patented amorphous silicon carbide and silicon oxycarbide coatings for implantable medical devices, as well. There is no other manufacturer that can deliver the same quality of iridium oxide and silicon carbide/oxycarbide coatings, nor is there any manufacturer or research entity capable of customizing the coating properties to optimize their performance for retinal prostheses. EIC laboratories is uniquely equipped to carry out the coating depositions and syntheses, and to conduct the highly specialized electrochemical stability measurements required to ensure the long-term functioning of multielectrode arrays in the CIVR retinal prosthesis. *6. Describe the efforts that have been made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a Commerce Business Daily notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 (copy attached) and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies: The following vendor was contacted by CIVR engineering management, however was unable to provide these services: 1.MicroConnex, Inc. of Snoqualmie, WA was briefly considered, but was rejected because of having very little experience depositing the iridium oxide films that are needed. MicroConnex also lacks the ability to synthesize polyimide materials, and they have no plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition equipment, either. The following long-time CIVR collaborators/vendors do not have the expertise in-house to provide the required service: 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2. Boston University 3. Cornell Nanoscale Science and Technology Facility 7. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable: To be determined upon quote *8. Description of the market survey that was conducted (i.e. names of firms and the date(s) the firms were contacted) and the results or a statement of the reasons a market survey was not conducted: CIVR researchers and collaborators conducted a nationwide search for the highest quality and most reliable elements to use in the CIVR's electrode arrays for retinal prostheses. EIC Laboratories is a premier company for the development and study of electrode materials for biological applications. EIC Laboratories is the sole inventor and held a patent in Iridium Oxide electrode coatings (US patent # 4,677,989). EIC maintains proprietary know-how in iridium oxide deposition developed since the Iridium Oxide patent was awarded. EIC also holds a patent in amorphous silicon carbide and silicon oxycarbide coatings (US patent # 5,755,759) for implantable medical devices. These are considered the gold standard in their respective roles as electrode coatings. For these reasons, a larger market survey was not conducted. *9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition, such as - an explanation as to why technical data packages, specifications, engineering descriptions, statement of work, or purchase descriptions suitable for competition have not been developed or are not available. EIC maintains proprietary know-how in iridium oxide deposition developed since the Iridium Oxide patent was awarded. Iridium oxide deposition, is considered the gold standard in electrode coatings in biological applications. EIC Laboratories maintains proprietary thin-film processing technology for iridium oxide and silicon carbide coatings that cannot be duplicated by other suppliers. * 10. A Iisting of the sources, if any, that expressed an interest in the acquisition: See #6 *11. A statement of the actions, if any, that the department/service may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies/services is required in the future: The specialized nature of this requirement necessitates the use of other than full and open competition.
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