SOURCES SOUGHT
66 -- Imaging Filter and STEM-Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) Upgrade
- Notice Date
- 7/15/2015
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 334516
— Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Rockledge Dr. Bethesda, MD, Office of Acquisitions, 6701 Rockledge Dr RKL2/6100 MSC 7902, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-7902
- ZIP Code
- 20892-7902
- Solicitation Number
- HHS-NIH-NHLBI-SBSS-EB-163-CDB
- Archive Date
- 8/14/2015
- Point of Contact
- Chris Bocus, Phone: 3014027888
- E-Mail Address
-
chris.bocus@nih.gov
(chris.bocus@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- 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. An organization that is not considered a small business under NAICS code 334516 should not submit a response to this notice. 1. Introduction/Background. The Section on Cellular and Supramolecular Structure and Function (SCSSF) develops new methods based on electron microscopy and related techniques. The aim of SCSSF is to expand knowledge about complex biological and disease processes, as well as to characterize morphologically the action of therapeutic agents and diagnostic markers in cells. The section focuses on the development of alternative quantitative imaging modes based on detection of elastic and inelastic electron scattering. Although such methods are being applied to inorganic materials, they have not yet been widely adopted in the biomedical arena. Current research in the Section includes development of techniques for mapping quantitatively the elemental composition of subcellular compartments, and studying bionanoparticles and their interactions with cells. We are applying these methods to structural biology, cellular biology, neurobiology, cancer biology, and nanomedicine. Our laboratory is well known for the development of electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) and its application to biological systems and we are recognized internationally as being at the forefront of the field. 2. Acquisition purpose. The purpose of this acquisition is to upgrade the existing Tecnai TF30 Twin/STEM Transmission Electron Microscope with a compatible Imaging Filter and STEM-Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (EELS). Required specifications: • Must be compatible with the existing FEI Tecnai TF30 Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). Serial Number D243 / F1040150 • Hardware and software for acquiring simultaneously two spectra with different energy offsets and electron exposures, to enable simultaneous low-loss (including zero-loss) and high-loss (including core-edge) spectra. • Must be able to acquire highly stable electron energy-loss spectroscopic (EELS) maps in order to provide quantitative distributions of chemical elements in biological specimens, particularly low concentrations of calcium and trace elements. This requires the collection of the core-edge EELS spectrum simultaneously with collection of the low-loss and zero-loss peaks to precisely lock on to the energy losses of core-edges of interest during the acquisition of STEM-EELS chemical maps. • Must be able to record STEM-EELS chemical maps containing more than 100,000 pixels in order to visualize elemental distributions across entire cells. Since the STEM-EELS chemical maps are acquired serially and for reasons of specimen stability must acquire elemental maps in less than 200 seconds, it is essential to have spectral acquisition rates of approximately 1,000 per second. • Must have the capability of acquiring at least 1,000 full-size (1024-channel) spectra per second. • Must be able to record energy-filtered images over an energy range up to 2,000 electron volts to detect transition metals and lanthanides. • Must be able to operate the imaging filter at primary accelerating voltages ranging from below 100 kilovolts up to 300 kilovolts, in order to minimize radiation damage in beam-sensitive specimens. • Must be able to acquire energy-filtered images for which the energy-loss is constant to within about 2 electron volts, across the entire field of view, corresponding to the natural width of the core-edge peaks,, in order to obtain EELS data of sufficiently high quality to determine accurate elemental distributions in cells. 3. Capability Statement/Information Sought Interested parties are expected to review this notice to familiarize itself with the requirements. Failure to do so will be at your firm's own risk. The following information shall be included in the capability statement: 1. A general overview of the respondents' opinions about the difficulty and /or feasibility of the potential requirement, and any information regarding innovative ideas or concepts. 2. Information in sufficient details of the respondents' (a) staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training; (b) current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work; (c) prior completed projects of similar nature; (d) corporate experience and management capability; and (e) examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information. 3. The respondents' DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc) pursuant to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code: 334516 Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, small business size standard is 500 Employees. 4. Any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the requirements of the potential acquisition. 5. The capability statement shall not exceed 10 single-sided pages (including all attachments, resumes, charts, etc.) presented in single-space and using a 12-point font size minimum, in either Microsoft Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), with 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper size, and 1 inch top, bottom, left and right margins. 6. All proprietary information should be marked as such. Statements should also include an indication of current certified small business status; this indication should be clearly marked on the first page of your capability statement (preferably placed under the eligible small business concern's name and address). Responses will be reviewed only by NIH personnel and will be held in a confidential manner. Interested small business organizations are required to identify their 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 numbers 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 Chris Bocus, Contract Specialist, at chris.bocus@nih.gov in either MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), within 15 calendar days of the date of this announcement. All responses must be received by 1:00 PM EST, July 30, 2015 in order to be considered. 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 approximately one (1) firm-fixed price contract, for a period to be determined later. Original Point of Contact Chris Bocus, Contracting Specialist, COAC Service Branch, Phone (301) 402-7888, Fax (301) 480-3338, Email: chris.bocus@nih.gov. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Rockledge Dr. Bethesda, MD, Office of Acquisitions 6701 Rockledge Drive RKL2/6207 MSC 7902, Bethesda, MD, 20892-790
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/NHLBI/HHS-NIH-NHLBI-SBSS-EB-163-CDB/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
- Zip Code: 20892
- Zip Code: 20892
- Record
- SN03798194-W 20150717/150715235853-8acb2208cd10a84911791ac7616a28d7 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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