Opportunity Overview
Mississippi State University (MSU) has an open Notice of Proposed Sole Source Purchase for a manufacturer upgrade adding an AutoStage hardware module to MSU’s existing bench-top indentation plastometer for automated property testing and materials characterization. The controlling MSU notice is SSN 267-037. Mississippi’s state procurement portal lists Smart No. 9250-27-R-RFIN-00013 and RFx 3150007005 as Open.
Deadline and Controlling Source
MSU Procurement Services lists the response deadline as September 24, 2026 at 8:00 AM. The MSU page does not publish a time zone, so Atlas does not infer one. The Mississippi DFA landing page displays September 24 at 12:00 AM, but Atlas uses the more specific deadline published by MSU Procurement Services.
Issuer, Scope, and Research Use
The issuer is Mississippi State University Procurement Services. The requested upgrade is for the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS), which already owns a Plastometrex bench-top indentation plastometer using Profilometry-based Indentation Plastometry (PIP). MSU states that the AutoStage upgrade will automate positioning, testing, and property mapping across multiple locations and samples, improving high-throughput materials characterization for research involving advanced materials, manufacturing processes, and data-intensive AI/ML work.
Value and Official Cost Discrepancy
The official notice’s cost section states a quoted upgrade cost of $43,599.00, a listed subtotal of $58,918.00, and an academic discount of $15,319.00. The same notice later states a quoted price of $37,909.00 with the same $15,319 discount, which is internally inconsistent with the earlier cost statement and arithmetic. Atlas therefore reports the discrepancy exactly rather than inventing a corrected figure. A quote reference, 20260818-152453730, is cited in the notice.
Sole-Source Basis and Vendor Rules
MSU identifies Plastometrex as the proposed sole source because it is the manufacturer of the existing plastometer and the only provider of hardware upgrades for that system. The notice cites patent GB 1908656.0 and states that no other products currently perform the same function for the existing system.
This is not a conventional competitive bid. A person or entity objecting to the proposed sole-source determination must substantiate that another source can provide the required commodity. The written notice must contain a detailed explanation of why the commodity is not sole source and include appropriate supporting documentation when applicable.
Submission Method and Contacts
Sole-source objections must be submitted in writing to Don Buffum, CPPO, Director of Procurement & Contracts, at dbuffum@procurement.msstate.edu, with the subject line “Sole Source Objection”. The Mississippi state procurement landing page separately lists Debra Raines at draines@procurement.msstate.edu as the portal contact.
Eligibility, Geography, Registration, Forms, References, and Cost Share
The notice does not state a bidder geography restriction, vendor-registration prerequisite, match or cost-share requirement, conventional bid form, reference requirement, or standard qualifications matrix because the vehicle is a sole-source objection process. The practical qualification is the ability to document a legitimate alternative source capable of providing the required compatible hardware. Conventional grant eligible/ineligible cost rules do not apply.
Addenda, Amendments, and FAQs
No separate opportunity-specific addendum, amendment, or FAQ is listed on the current MSU Procurement Services page or the Mississippi DFA landing page as of September 12, 2026.
Atlas Analysis
N9+ Fit Score: 0/100. Nonagon N9+ is a remote physical examination platform and is unrelated to proprietary materials-testing hardware for indentation plastometry.
QC Healthcare / Dr. Miltie direct-vendor fit: 0/100. Atlas has no verified basis to represent Dr. Miltie or QC Healthcare as an equivalent source for this Plastometrex hardware upgrade.
Atlas Opportunity Score: 0/100 for direct pursuit. The record is retained as verified Mississippi higher-education procurement intelligence only.
Atlas Action
Global deduplication found the existing Atlas record and no matching Zoho CRM Deal or WorkDrive pursuit record. Atlas updated the existing record instead of creating a duplicate. No Deal, WorkDrive folder, task, applicant record, outreach package, or external email is warranted because there is no legitimate Dr. Miltie/QC pursuit path.
Official sources: Mississippi State University Procurement Services current-bids page; MSU Notice of Proposed Sole Source Purchase SSN 267-037; Mississippi DFA procurement record for RFx 3150007005. Last verified September 12, 2026.