USDA, Food Safety and Inspection Service, ASD, PCS, Room 2163 South Building, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20250-3700

66 -- ADD ON BACTOMETER SYSTEM SOL FSIS-24-W-97 DUE 060697 POC Contact Point, Anita Voiselle, (202) 720-9891 The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service intends to award a Purchase Order to Biomerieux Vitek, Inc. for an Add on Bactometer System (128-1) to an existing Vitek-60CCC System, to include software, one Bactometer Processing Unit, installation, training, and a one-year warranty. FSIS intends to negotiate on a sole-source basis in accordance with 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1). The system is required for evaluation of a rapid quantitative method for generic E.coli and is potentially applicable to quantitative measurement of other foodborne pathogens at the Eastern Laboratory in Athens, GA. Only fully developed, commercially available systems shall be considered. All interested concerns must identify their interest in writing and fully document their capability to meet the agency's requirements by forwarding a detailed response within 15 days of publication of this notice. All responses must be in writing and may be faxed to 202-690-1814. All proposals from responsible sources will be considered by the Agency. If no affirmative written responses are received within 15 days of publication of this notice to determine a comparable source is available, or is more advantageous to the Government, negotiations will take place with Biomerieux Vitek, Inc. (0139)

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