Custom Commercial Aptamer Procurement

Background
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM CBC) is seeking to procure custom commercial aptamers for its ongoing chemical and biological defense research. This procurement is justified under Title 41 United States Code (U.S.C.) §1901(e)(2) as a sole source acquisition due to the unique requirements of the project and the critical nature of the materials involved.

Work Details
The contract involves the procurement of specific custom aptamer sequences that are currently integrated into active DEVCOM CBC assay baselines and mission-support threat detection platforms. Sourcing these reagents from an alternate vendor lacking Aptagen's verified dPAGE purification and sequence-verification protocols would invalidate existing analytical baselines, necessitating an estimated 14 to 18 months of laboratory re-testing and incurring significant duplicated labor and material costs. Alternatives such as conducting competitive acquisitions among general oligo vendors, using in-house government resources, or sourcing from foreign suppliers have been deemed unacceptable due to the specialized nature of the required aptamers. If this justification is not approved, it will lead to work stoppages in active detection assay development programs, delaying national security threat-detection deployment milestones and wasting prior government investments.

Place of Performance
Jacobus PA 17407 UNITED STATES

Bidder Requirements
Only one respondent, Aptagen Labs, LLC, demonstrated the required technical capability during a formal Sources Sought/Request for Information (RFI) process. Aptagen Labs confirmed it will perform 100% of the contract requirements in-house with no anticipated subcontracting opportunities.