Primary Department: Purchasing
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Paige McInnis
Secondary Department: Public Health Services
Secondary Department Head/Elected Official: Leah Barton
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Supplemental RCA
Type of Request: Financial Authorization
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): Fisher Scientific Company LLC
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable):
MWBE Current Participation (if applicable):
Justification for 0% MWBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable):
Justification for 0% Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A - Not a grant item
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by the Office of the Purchasing Agent for approval of a sole source exemption from the competitive bid requirements for Fisher Scientific Company LLC in the amount of $80,018 for mosquito control qPCR testing supplies for Public Health Services.
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Background and Discussion:
Harris County has one of the only MVC divisions with in-house laboratory testing in the nation. We are unique and lead in our capacity to have multiple surveillance programs, providing diverse samples to our lab for testing. With haste lab results inform field operations who take appropriate steps to impact vectors in our community. Our testing and evaluation of vector-borne disease pathogens requires specific testing reagents that our lab services manager designed, validated, and used to test samples. These testing reagents are organized into multi-plexus, panels, or individual assays designed to optimize resources and enhance our testing strategy for various vectors.
In 2024, we tested 9,288 pools of mosquitoes and identified 680 positive samples. This does not include testing conducted on live and dead avian reservoirs collected from our community. To further safeguard Harris County residents, we continue to expand surveillance into ports where vectors...
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