SPECIAL NOTICE
99 -- RSHR-74TJAR Elan RC system for rats and guinea pigs.
- Notice Date
- 9/10/2007
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 334516
— Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, ATTN: MCMR-AAA, 820 Chandler Street, Frederick, MD 21702-5014
- ZIP Code
- 21702-5014
- Solicitation Number
- USA-SNOTE-070910-017
- Archive Date
- 12/9/2007
- Description
- The US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity proposes to award to Buxco Electronics, Inc., 219 Station Rd, Ste 202, Wilmington, NC 28405, on a sole source basis, for the purchase of Elan RC highly-integrated collection system for rats and guinea pigs. See Sole Source below. This procurement shall be under other than full and open competition procedures in accordance with FAR 6.302. Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. This notice is not a request for a competitive quote. Any response to this notice must be submitted in writing to the Government and show clear and convincing evidence that another source is capable of meeting the Governments requirements and that competition of the r equirement would be advantageous to the Government. If no written responses are received at least fifteen (15) days after the publication of this response, the purchase will be awarded without further notice. The Point of Contact (POC) for this action is : lottie.morris@amedd.army.mil. Sole Source Justification IAW FAR 6.302-1 Only One Responsible Source For Buxco Electronics, Inc item: RSHR-74TJAR - ?lan RC system for rat and guinea pig 1. You must state the specific uses of the item. What is this item going to do? Essential, basic, requirements that the item will perform. Buxcos ?LAN Series Each station includes everything needed to study respiratory toxicity immediately after exposure to toxins. " Plethysmograph, " Flow transducer, " Pressure transducer, " Esophageal reference, " Blood pressure transducer, " Preamplifier, " Analog-to-digital converter, " Respiration pump, " Software-driven aerosol control, " In-line aerosol components]. All are arranged on one platform to reduce bench space requirements and to minimize cables and tubing. ?LAN Series RC systems are easily e xpanded for high through-put use by adding additional stations. Each station requires just one power outlet and one USB computer connection. ?LAN Series RC stations are designed to work with BioSystem XA Version 2.10 and later. The acquisition software est ablishes a specialized site for ?LAN Series stations, with many settings and controls preconfigured. 2. What are the unique characteristics of this item. Why will only this item work. (Are you attaching this item to an existing system?, is this an upgrade to an existing software item or is this maintenance to a system and the contractor has proprietary r ights to the system? Be specific in these areas. Some notable features include: 1) Pre-amplification, aerosol control, analog-to-digital conversion, and a ventilator are all housed in one small case. 2) The ventilator is software-controlled and can be operated in a volumetric or pressure mode. software-settable PEEP is supplied. 3) The ?lan Series plethysmographs are supplied with a heated bed for maintaining the anesthetized animal's body temperature. 4) Flow and pressure calibrations are automated and preamplifier gains are automatically set. 5) Each ?lan site communicates to the computer via a USB connection. Power connections for each site may be daisy-chained to other sites, reducing the number of power outlets required. 6) Additional sites may be easily added at any time. 7) ?lan sites are equipped to measure resistance and compliance of ventilated or spontaneously-breathing animals. 8) ?lan sites offer an option for monitoring blood pressure or ECG of the anesthetized subject. This item can be attached to our currently using BUXCO plethysmography system for high-throughput use. The system can also use parts such as computer and software from the currently using system if there is any malfunction. The system can also be used wit h our radiotelemetry equipment from Data Sciences International. Buxco holds U.S. patents on the unrestrained whole body plethysmograph and the Halcyon" low noise pneumotachograph design. They are also the exclusive supplier of four channe l independently flow-controlled bias-flow pumps. 3. Impact: What would be the impact to your program/mission if a different Mfg. Or widget were to be purchased. (Cost to reinvent an established process, previous studies would not be valid if the same system/technique were used). Also any non-recoverable costs. (Cost, Time, Delay in approval (i.e., FDA), FDA approval required data to acquire or substantiate using same testing equipment). The ELAN series RC stations are released to the public during the American Thoracic Society meeting in May 2007 at San Francisco. It is available only from BUXCO. WRAIR does not have any equipment to determine respiratory functional toxicity after exposure to toxin or therapeutic treatment. Studies show that respiratory toxicity following exposure to chemical and biological agents are different from systemic toxicity and requires separate treatment and aerosolized treatment is critical (Taysse et al., 2005) , (Wong et al., 2007; Vogel et al., 1996). We have used other BUXCO instruments previously and found the products are of superior quality in determining respiratory abnormalities. Market research has shown that there is no system similar to Elan RC system currently available from any manufacturer. We looked at PSE Systems and EMKA Co.. Neither can provide an immediate check for toxicity which BUXCO can do and is a critical capability in our studies. Also, if a system with a different manufacturer is used, it cannot be connected to our currently used BUXCO plethysmography system resulting in under usage of the functions of the system. Elan RC system can also be used with our Data sciences International radiotelemetry system to complete the ongoing projects. Previously generated data with BUXCO plethysmography cannot be compared with the new experiments if a different system is used and this would result in repetition of many experiments and interruption of the project. 4. Market Research: You must do market research of other systems/items/services/etc. and you must give the results, such as what other systems/items did you look at, what/who did you talk to, pricing and what was the reason why you did not select their sy stem/item? BUXCO is the only company that produces ELAN Series RC highly-integrated collection station. Market Research did not show a product with this feature from any other company icluding PSE Systems and EMKA Co. Selection of BUXCO would also result in purchase of equipments that can be cross connected to the currently used BUXCO plethysmography equipment for high-throughput purposes. The software and the computer can be inter-exchanged and used if there is a malfunction in any equipment. The Elan RC system can a lso be used with our radiotelemetry equipment from Data Sciences International for electrocardiogram and blood pressure measurement that is required for the project work and result in a significant savings to the government. The size of the Elan system is small and can save significant animal laboratory space. BUXCO has the original patent on the product. Other companies might be using BUXCO parts for different purposes. Also I did not see any products similar to ELAN RC produced by any company in all meeti ngs I attended that suit our research purposes. So we request that they be accepted as sole-source for this purchase. Madhusoodana P. Nambiar Principal Investigator APPROVED Sole Source AARON J. WADE Contracting Officer
- Web Link
-
U.S. Army Medical Research Acquistion Activity
(http://www2.fbo.gov/spg/USA/USAMRAA/DAMD17/USA%2DSNOTE%2D070910%2D017/USAMRAA)
- Record
- SN01401414-W 20070912/070910221725 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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