SOLICITATION NOTICE
J -- Imaging Filter and STEM-Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy Upgrade
- Notice Date
- 8/12/2015
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- 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-CSB-EB-2015-163-CDB
- Archive Date
- 9/3/2015
- Point of Contact
- Chris Bocus, Phone: 3014027888
- E-Mail Address
-
chris.bocus@nih.gov
(chris.bocus@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- INTRODUCTION: THIS IS A PRE-SOLICITATION NON-COMPETITIVE (NOTICE OF INTENT) SYNOPSIS TO AWARD A PURCHASE ORDER WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME). The National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Office of Acquisitions (OA), intends to negotiate and award a purchase order on a sole source noncompetitive basis to Gatan Inc., 780 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, PA, 15086-7521 to provide a liquid crystal polarization unit upgrade to the existing confocal microscope for National Institute on Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). PROCUREMENT: The contractor will provide an upgrade to the existing Tecnai TF30 Twin/STEM Transmission Electron Microscope with a compatible Imaging Filter and STEM-Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (EELS). BACKGROUND: The mission of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) is to improve health by leading the development and accelerating the application of biomedical technologies. The Institute is committed to integrating the physical and engineering sciences with the life sciences to advance basic research and medical care. This is achieved through: research and development of new biomedical imaging and bioengineering techniques and devices to fundamentally improve the detection, treatment, and prevention of disease; enhancing existing imaging and bioengineering modalities; supporting related research in the physical and mathematical sciences; encouraging research and development in multidisciplinary areas; supporting studies to assess the effectiveness and outcomes of new biologics, materials, processes, devices, and procedures; developing technologies for early disease detection and assessment of health status; and developing advanced imaging and engineering techniques for conducting biomedical research at multiple scales. 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. ANTICIPATED PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: To be determined upon award. JUSTIFICATION: The determination by the Government to award a contract without providing for full and open competition is based upon the market research conducted as prescribed in FAR Part 10-Market Research. Only one source is available to meet the government requirements. No other vendor is capable to provide requested upgrade and equipment that meets the government requirements. The following are 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. REGULATORY AUTHORITY: This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Subpart 13.106-1(b) Soliciting from a single source, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Industry Classification (NAICS) Code is 334516, Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing and the Small Business Size Standard is 500 Employees. This acquisition is conducted in accordance with FAR 13.5 - Commercial Item Test Program and under the procedures as prescribed in FAR subpart 13-Simplified Acquisition Procedures. The solicitation document, the incorporated provisions and clauses are those in the Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-83, effective August 3, 2015. This synopsis is not a request for competitive proposals. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties' bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov." A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The information received will normally be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement. All responses must be received by August 19, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. EST. Responses must reference synopsis number HHS-NIH-NHLBI-CSB-EB-2015-163-CDB, may be submitted to the National, Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Office of Acquisition, COAC Services Branch, 6701 Rockledge Drive, Rm 6207, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7902, Attention: Chris Bocus. Response may be submitted electronically to chris.bocus@ nih.gov. Faxes will not be accepted. Responses will only be accepted if dated and signed by an authorized company representative. "All responsible sources may submit a bid, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency."
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/NHLBI/HHS-NIH-NHLBI-CSB-EB-2015-163-CDB/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
- Zip Code: 20892
- Zip Code: 20892
- Record
- SN03835362-W 20150814/150812235618-143a30b237f1b17939645c7144c9953f (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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