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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Cold Regions Research Laboratory (CRREL) intends to award a contract on a sole source basis to Kovacs Enterprise LLC upon the basis of the authority provided at FAR 13.106-1(b).

The Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC), Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), Terrestrial and Cryospheric Sciences Branch (TCSB), in Fort Wainwright, Alaska requires the acquisition of Kovacs research-grade ice drilling and coring system equipment. Specifically the Kovacs Mark V 14cm Coring Sytem and Mark VI 9cm diameter Coring System.

Kovacs Enterprise LLC has been identified as the only source capable of fulfilling the Government’s requirement. The requested research-grade ice drilling and coring system equipment must be fully interoperable with CRREL’s existing Kovacs brand ice coring and drilling equipment. All other options fail interoperability, and also fail other very critical technical aspects of the Government’s requirement. Kovacs is the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), which was originally designed at CRREL, and the sole distributor of this specialized equipment.

This Notice of Intent is not a request for competitive quotations. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. Any interested party that believes they can fulfill this requirement should submit a capability statement to be reviewed. All submissions will be considered, however there is no guarantee that submissions in response to this notice will in any way alter the Government's acquisition strategy.

Responses to this notice shall be submitted NLT 12:00 PM CDT, 18 August 2023 to Lisa.A.Bernard@usace.army.mil

Telephone responses will not be accepted.

Responses to this notice will not be considered as a response to any solicitation, a request to be added to a prospective offerors list, or to receive a copy of any solicitation. A determination by the Government not to compete the contract based upon 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.

Note: In order to be eligible for award of a Government contract, vendors must be actively registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), have no active exclusions, and complete the FAR and DFARS representations and certifications.