SOURCES SOUGHT
66 -- Modular Chambers for Self-Administration and Intra-Cerebral Self Stimulation
- Notice Date
- 6/16/2014
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 334516
— Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Station Support/Simplified Acquisitions, 31 Center Drive, Room 1B59, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
- ZIP Code
- 20892
- Solicitation Number
- HHS-NIH-NIDA-SSSA-SBSS-14-315
- Archive Date
- 7/10/2014
- Point of Contact
- Lauren M. Phelps, Phone: 3015942490
- E-Mail Address
-
lauren.phelps@nih.gov
(lauren.phelps@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Contracting Office Address: Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Station Support Simplified Acquisitions, 31 Center Drive, Room 1B59, Bethesda, MD 20892, UNITED STATES. Introduction: This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources, (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses, service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. Purpose and Objectives for the Procurement: The purpose of this potential requirement is acquisition of 56 modular chambers for simultaneous self-administration and intra-cerebral self-stimulation (ICSS) for use in alcohol, drug, food, water (or any other liquid reward) self-administration studies with the possibility to concomitantly measure brain reward thresholds. These chambers shall be used by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Intramural Research Program (IRP) for study of rats and small primates. Project Requirements: The Contractor must be able to provide these modular ICSS chambers in accordance with the following requirements: 1. Sound attenuating cubicles capable of providing ventilation of and screening for external noise. The cubicles include a ventilation fan, which produces background noise at about 60 db, and provides air circulation. The cubicle must have cable ports allowing the wires running to the operant chamber to be connected without allowing too much sound attenuation to be lost. 2. Photo beams in the front and back walls to allow for horizontal movement measurements in rats or small primates. The front and back walls are clear transparent and the side walls are made of aluminum filler panels/supports 3. Drug and electrical stimulation delivery arms. 4. Both the sound-attenuating cubicle (outer chamber) and the testing chamber (inner chamber) must have an aperture on top to allow for passage of tubing for intravenous self-administration and electrical stimulator for ICSS. 5. Two retractable levers that can be individually controlled by the experimenter via computer. The experimenter must be able to place the levers in different locations and heights in the chambers as needed. 6. Cue lights above each of the levers or in different locations and heights in the chambers. A computer must be able to control the lights. 7. House light that can be either controlled manually by the experimenter or synchronized to a desired light-dark cycle via computer. The light operates on/off via the Med-PC program and is not dimable. 8. The chambers must have dual cup drinking (18 gauge pipes) receptacles that allow for different solutions to be delivered. This cup will be connected via plastic tubing to two syringe pumps placed outside the chambers. 9. The pumps have to be easily controlled to deliver as little as 0.025 mL and up to 30 mL. 10. The chamber must allow programming of different contingencies. For example, measurement of food, water and/or drug intake (fixed ratio 1 schedule, where every lever press results in reinforcement delivery), motivation/compulsivity (progressive ratio schedule, where the number of lever press needed for the subsequent reinforcement increases progressively), and drug intake despite punishment. For the latter, the chamber must allow for a connection of shock generator to the grid floor that can be activated manually via computer or controlled by different programmed contingencies. 11. The chamber must allow for monitoring of locomotor activity for the purpose of detecting behavior sensitization or sedation. 12. The chamber allows for testing of rats (any size), or small primates (up to 1 kg). Animals are individually tested. 13. The chamber must be modular and versatile, i.e., it must allow for the addition of food and water dispensers, holes with head entry detectors for nose poke for food and fluid delivery. 14. They must also allow for addition of ICSS wheels for concurrent drug self-administration and brain thresholds evaluation. They can be added/purchased later, but we already have 8 systems that have them included that will be provided by the contractor now. 15. The wheels for ICSS must have an automatic door that can be opened and closed manually or by different programmed contingencies. 16. The chamber must be connected via interface to a computer that counts all the behaviors performed by the animal being tested. 17. The computer must have software that allows easy programming of different contingencies. 18. The computer must have software that allows easy data compilation, extraction and export to excel spreadsheets. The contractor shall provide the computers and the software for the purposes indicated in this statement of need. Three computers are required and included with the computer is the keyboard, mouse and Windows 7 OS in addition to software that control all functions of the chamber and export data. 19. The chambers need to be placed in racks. The size of each chamber shall be 22"W x 22"H x 16"D. Anticipated Period of Performance: It is expected that delivery will be completed within 60 days after receipt of order. A firm fixed price purchase order is contemplated. Capability Statement: Contractors that believe they possess the ability to provide the required equipment should submit documentation of their ability to meet each of the project requirements to the Contract Specialist. Contractors must provide their Company Name, DUNS number, Physical Address, and Point of Contact Information. Interested organizations are required to identify their type of business, applicable North American Industry Classification System Code, and size standards in accordance with the Small Business Administration. The government requests that no proprietary or confidential business data be submitted in a response to this notice. However, responses that indicate the information therein is proprietary will be properly safeguarded for Government use only. Capability statements must include the name and telephone number of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss responses with Government representatives. Capability statements in response to this market survey that do not provide sufficient information for evaluation will be considered non-responsive. When submitting this information, please reference the solicitation notice number. All capability statements sent in response to this Sources Sought Notice must be submitted electronically (via email) to Lauren Phelps, Contract Specialist, at Lauren.Phelps@nih.gov in MS Word format by or before the closing date of this announcement. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered. Note: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in the response. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After review of the responses received, pre-solicitation and solicitation notices may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. The solicitation release date is pending. The Government intends to negotiate a fixed-price purchase order.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/NIDA-2/HHS-NIH-NIDA-SSSA-SBSS-14-315/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Baltimore, Maryland, 21224, United States
- Zip Code: 21224
- Zip Code: 21224
- Record
- SN03396663-W 20140618/140616235246-7905c2ed4011b8f6bcd60730e56ac386 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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