SOURCES SOUGHT
66 -- Request for Information: Automated Multiplex Media Exchange System for tissue printing constructs in 12, 24 and 96-well density plates
- Notice Date
- 9/25/2019
- 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, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 4211, MSC 9559, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-9559, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20892-9559
- Solicitation Number
- 75N95019R00078
- Archive Date
- 10/24/2019
- Point of Contact
- Hunter A Tjugum, Phone: 3018275304
- E-Mail Address
-
hunter.tjugum@nih.gov
(hunter.tjugum@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Description: This is a Request for Information (RFI). This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. Background: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the nation's leading medical research agency and the primary Federal agency whose mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is a translational science center whose mission is to catalyze the generation of innovative methods and technologies that will enhance the development, testing and implementation of diagnostics and therapeutics across a wide range of human diseases and conditions. The 3-D Tissue Bioprinting Group at NCATS is invested in developing therapeutically relevant three-dimensional tissues for basic research and drug screening. NCATS researchers are using the techniques of 3-D bioprinting to combine living cells with scaffolding materials, to create testing platforms of laboratory-grown human tissues that closely mimic natural tissues in human organs. These innovative tissue models could help scientists better predict the way patients will respond to potential new therapies. The incorporation of a modular fluidic system that is capable of long term, fully automated media exchange for tissue constructs in 12, 24 and 96-well density plates is positioned to enable research on many such vascular environments. Purpose of Proposed Acquisition: The purpose of this proposed acquisition is to obtain an Automated Multiplex Media Exchange System (AMMES) to automate media changes for tissue printing plates for NCATS. Purpose of this Request for Information: The purpose of this RFI is to acquire information on commercially available systems that can either: (1) satisfy the purpose of the proposed acquisition and meet the below described specifications; or (2) be modified to satisfy the purpose of the proposed acquisition and meet the below described project specifications. If interested parties do not offer a commercially available system or cannot modify an existing, commercially available system to satisfy the purpose of the proposed acquisition and meet the below described project specifications, those interested parties should still provide a response that describes how their proposed system would satisfy the purpose of the proposed acquisition and meet the below described project specifications. Requested Information: In response to this RFI, interested parties should provide information on their commercially available system, or for a non-commercially available system, on their proposed system that would satisfy the purpose of the proposed acquisition and meet the below described project specifications; specifically, how that system can satisfy the purpose of the proposed acquisition and meet the below described project specifications. Interested parties should indicate whether the existing, commercially available system is of a type customarily used by: (1) the general public; or (2) non-governmental entities for purposes other than governmental purposes, and has been either sold, leased, or licensed to the general public, or offered for sale, lease, or license to the general public. If modifications to the existing, commercially available system are required to satisfy the purpose of the proposed acquisition and meet the below described project specifications, interested parties should also describe the extent of the modifications, including: (1) whether the modifications are of a type customarily available in the commercial market place; and/or (2) whether the modifications can be considered minor modifications of a type not customarily available in the commercial marketplace made to meet Federal Government requirements. Minor modifications mean modifications that do not significantly alter the nongovernmental function or essential physical characteristics of an item or component, or change the purpose of a process. Factors to be considered in determining whether a modification is minor include the value and size of the modification and the comparative value and size of the final product; as such, interested parties should also describe the value and size of the modification and the comparative value and size of the final product. Interested parties should also provide the following general information: (1)Description of organization, including information on staff expertise, availability, and experience; (2)Description of similar projects completed for both commercial and Government entities; (3)Suggested NAICS code and Product Service Code; (4)Preferred contract type (i.e. Fixed Price, Cost-Reimbursement, etc.- see FAR Part 16 for a complete list of contract types); (5)Feasibility of the requirement, including performance requirements, statements of work, and/or data requirements; (6)Manufacturing lead time; (7)Description of the warranty offered and any service agreements that are either included with the equipment acquisition or offered as a separate acquisition, and the length of time of such warranty or warranties; (8)Published journal articles or manuscripts in the same or related scientific field; (9)Brochures and other product literature describing the commercially available item; (10)DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g. 8(a), HUBZone, Small Business, etc.); (11)Any other industry concerns or questions. Project Specifications: The Government is seeking to acquire a modular fluidic system that is capable of long term, fully automated media exchange for tissue constructs in 12, 24 and 96-well density plates. Results at NCATS in generating these complex tissues has led to a demand to automate the media exchange process which is both laborious and a potential source of contamination and variability when done manually. The ability for this device to be fed by plate handling robotics which utilize existing scheduling software will also be a key requirement allowing well established high throughput screening (HTS) techniques to be leveraged to make the engagement successful. The number of labs at NCATS adopting these complex tissue constructs has surged making this a critical piece of instrumentation to support a variety of research areas. The ability to take the extracted supernatant from the plate undergoing the media exchange to perform a variety of biological measurements is also an important factor. This could include a variety of biomarkers such as lipids, metabolites, proteins and essentially anything that will be present in the extracted media that can be measured through standard biological assays. The ability to perform media exchange to keep the tissues healthy and measurements of the samples from the supernatant over time, especially with the constructs treated with a small molecule, provides a powerful research tool to allow NCATS to use these complex models as a means for biological screening. Essential Features: The following project specifications are deemed essential to this proposed acquisition. The system must be capable of possessing the following features: •Automated replacement of media in each well of a 12-, 24-, or 96-well plate with fresh media drawn from one or more reservoirs, and the delivery of the conditioned media to a second well plate for off-line analysis. •Readily integrated into robotic fluid- and plate-handling systems for high throughput screening. •Fully compatible with standard well plates and lids. •Separate needles for delivery and removal of fluid from each well. •Separate robot-compatible plate-access for each of the two well plates. •Automated integral delidding of each plate upon insertion into the AMMES, and relidding upon removal. •Operation either inside or outside of an incubator. •Simultaneous fluid delivery to, removal from, or transfer between any two wells in two well plates. •Distribution of fluid from multiple large-volume reservoirs to individual wells, with the choice of reservoir(s) and volumes of fluid delivered selectable for each individual well. •Transfer of fluid from a particular well in one plate to one or more other wells in a second well plate. •Transfer of fluid from multiple wells in one plate to a single well in a second well plate. •Three separate units: one each for: 1) a pair of 12-well plates, 2) a pair of 24-well plates, and 3) a pair of 96-well plates. •Capable of using separate plates with detergent and rinse to clean and rinse tubing and delivery needles. •Modular NEMA-17 or smaller stepper motor cartridges with on-board wireless microcontrollers with absolute angle encoders, instruction memory, current sensing and control circuitry, and data logging. •Rotary planar peristaltic micropump and rotary planar valve fluidics chips with integral tubing ports that are readily replaceable, self-aligning, and do not require bonding to another surface. •Pumps with range of operational flow-rates controlled by selection of fluidic chips that are inserted into a motor cartridge. •Valves with number of active channels and connectivity controlled by selection of fluidic chips that are inserted into a motor cartridge. •Well-plate, pump, and valve connectivity selectable by choice of the fluidic circuit that interconnects the reservoirs and the modular motor cartridges. •Automated, in-line, gravimetric calibration of fluid delivery and removal from all wells. •Compatible with direct injection into mass spectrometers. •Compatible with in-line electrochemical detection using microclinical analyzers. •Instrument footprint without reservoirs to have lateral dimensions with the well plates inserted no larger than 18 inches wide by 16 inches deep, and with a height less than 12 inches, compatible with a single incubator shelf. •Control software with automated and manual control and sensing capability compatible with modular motor cartridges and predefined sets of motor cartridges to support rapid reconfiguration of the system for different operational modes. QUESTION/ANSWER PERIOD: Interested parties are encouraged to submit questions concerning any areas of uncertainty, which, in your opinion, require clarification, correction, or additional information on the RFI. The closing date/time for accepting questions is October 2, 2019 at 4:00 pm Eastern. Your written questions should be submitted in writing via email to the contract specialist, Hunter Tjugum, at Hunter.Tjugum@nih.gov, with the subject line, "Questions: RFI No. 75N95019R00078." A set of all questions and answers will be furnished simultaneously thereafter as an amendment to this announcement. Response Format: One copy of the response is required and must be in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format using 11-point or 12-point font, 8-1/2" x 11" paper size, with 1" top, bottom, left and right margins, and with single or double spacing. The information submitted must be in an outline format that addresses each of the elements of the project requirements and in the capability statement/information sought paragraphs stated herein. A cover page and an executive summary may be included but is not required. The response is limited to ten pages. The ten-page limit does not include the cover page, executive summary, or references. Response Submission and Due Date: All responses to this notice must be submitted electronically to the Contract Specialist, Hunter Tjugum, at hunter.tjugum@nih.gov, prior to the close date specified in this announcement. Facsimile responses are NOT accepted. The response must be received on or before October 9, 2019 at 4:00 pm Eastern Time. Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in any 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. Information provided will be used to assess tradeoffs and alternatives available for the potential requirement and may lead to the development of a solicitation. 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. The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice. This notice is strictly for research and information purposes only. Any solicitation resulting from the analysis of information obtained from this notice will be announced to the public in Federal Business Opportunities, at FBO.gov, in accordance with the FAR Part 5. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to any resulting solicitation. Confidentiality: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).
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- SN05458117-W 20190927/190925230810-b1fabd5df2bdc85ab5a11d602b724249 (fbodaily.com)
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