DHHS, PHS, CDC, NIOSH, ALOSH, 1095 Willowdale Rd., Morgantown, WV 26505-2888

66 -- SPECTRAMAX 250, MICROPLATE WASHER SYSTEM, SPECTRAPLATE AND TRAINING SOL Ref 98-004 DUE 111797 POC Brenda Goodwin, 304/285-5882/Contracting Officer, Rex S. Wolfe, 304/285-5883 The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) intends to purchase a SpectraMax 250, Microplate Washer System, Spectraplate and on-site training. This instrument is specifically designed for spectrophotometric/quantification of samples in a microplate format. In it's most common use, the performance of ELISAs, the instrument relies on proprietary software (SOFTmax) to plot standard curves and calculate assay values. SOFTmax was previously used by CDC-NIOSH personnel to generate data from samples that will be used again in the future. This instrument will be used by NIOSH solely for the processing of brain tissue to be assayed for specific brain proteins. Because subtle differences in microplate hardware and software can result in different data values from the same samples read on different readers, it is imperative to run the samples in hand on a Molecular Devices reader running SOFTmax software. Failure to do so will render the samples in hand useless for future analysis because new data generated can not reliably be compared to previous data. The Government would incur substantial expense to generate new data on a different system. Vendors having the capabilities necessary to meet the stated requirements are invited to submit appropriate documentation, literature, brochures and references to Brenda L. Goodwin, Reference: 98-004, DHHS, PHS, CDC, NIOSH, ALOSH, 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, WV 26505. If no organizations respond within 15 days after publication of this notice and demonstrate their capability to provide an instrument comparable to the fMax Fluorescence Microplate Reader with incubator and SOFTmaxPRO software described above, the Government intends to negotiate on a sole-source basis with Molecular Devices Corporation, 1311 Orleans Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA. This notice is issued for informational purposes. (0294)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0200 19971023\66-0008.SOL)