USDA, ARS, FMOD, BA, Contracting Section, Bldg. 003, Rm. 329, 10300 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350

J -- MAINTENANCE OF HITACHI ELECTRON MICROSCOPES SOL 23-3K47-97 DUE 081897 POC Janice Speth, Contract Specialist, 301/504-6071 The U.S. Department of Agriculture intends to noncompetitively negotiate with Hitachi Instruments, Inc., 3100 North First Street, San Jose, CA 95134, to provide preventive maintenance and on-call emergency service of three (3) Government-owned Hitachi microscopes Model H-500H, H-4000, and S-570. All of the microscopes are located in one lab at Beltsville, MD. Hitachi Instruments is considered to be the one and only responsible source to satisfy this requirement because 1) their service engineers are factory-trained, 2) they have ready access to spare parts for emergency service and maintenance, and 3) they have record of each microscope's service history. Interested sources who believe they can provide the required service may respond within 30 calendar days from the publication date of this synopsis. All such responses will be evaluated in order to determine the ability to meet the above stated capabilities. Responses shall include information corresponding to the required service which demonstrates the capabilities of the offeror's ability. This notice may represent the Government's only official notice of this procurement. The solicitation will be issued on or about July 31, 1997. Written requests only. (0192)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0048 19970716\J-0006.SOL)