National Institute of Standards & Technology, Acquisition & Assistance Div., Bldg. 301, Rm B117, Gaithersburg, MD 20899

66 -- CD SPECTROPHOTOMETER SOL 53SBNB860040 DUE 042498 POC Teresa A. Reefe, Contract Specialist, (301) 975-6364 WEB: NIST Contracts Homepage, http://www.nist.gov/admin/od/contract/contract.htm. E-MAIL: NIST Contracts Office, Contract@nist.gov. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotes are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. Solicitation number 53SBNB860040 is being issued as a request for quotation (RFQ) using Simplified Acquisition Procedures. Incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 97-04. This acquisition is a total small business set-aside under SIC code 3826 and the related small business size standard is 500 employees. The Contract Line Item Numbers (CLIN), quantities, and unit of issue are as follows: CLIN 0001, UV/Visible Spectrophotometer, one (1) each; CLIN 0002, CD Module for Dual Beam, Phase Coherent CD, one (1) each; CLIN 0003, Temperature Control Module, one (1) each; and CLIN 0004, Travel, Installation and Delivery, one (1) lot. Responses are due on or before April 24, 1998. The specifications are as follows: UV/Visible/Circular Dichroism (CD) Dual-beam Spectrophotometer equipped for rapid scanning and including a temperature control module. The machine shall be dual beam in all modes (UV/Vis/CD) with phase coherence in the CD mode. In a phase coherent design, both beams of light produced by the polarizer pass through the CD cuvette; the beams will be identical except their state of polarization, which toggles from left to right (or parallel to perpendicular) at a rate of 50 modulations per millisecond. This means that 100% of the photons from measuring beam pass through the sample giving simultaneous interrogation of sample by left and right circularly polarized light in the CD mode and true dual beam detection (sample and reference) for CD and absorbance. No calibration shall be required and no lock-in amplifier shall be used. The instrument shall be equipped to do rapid scanning: scanning at a rate of up to 1,000 scans/sec over a 220 nm span in the visible range and 60 scans/sec in the CD mode. The UV/Vis spectrophotometer shall be usable in a fixed wavelength, dual beam mode with collection rates to 2 MHz [2 x 106 readings/second; 1.8 x 108 readings/ minute]. The machine shall be equipped to do conventional scanning at a constant or variable rate. In the constant mode, the same level of time shall be spent at each wavelength collecting and signal averaging. In the variable mode, more time shall be allowed at wavelengths where there are fewer photons. The user will be able to determine the acceptable signal to noise ratio as the criterion the soft-ware uses to instruct the monochromator to move to the next wavelength. No hardware changes between CD and absorbance work shall be required and simultaneous CD and absorbance scans shall be performed. The monochromator shall be a subtractive double design that can produce a homogeneous output beam. This output beam will be monochromatic, independent of the bandwidth. The instrument shall be usable over the spectral range of approximately 180 nm to 1100 nm with appropriately blazed gratings and light sources. The bandwidth shall be selectable from 0.5 to 20 nm, including the option of multiple band-widths within a sequence of scans. The spectrophotometer shall be mounted on a optical table for maximum stability and ease in moving from one table or bench to another. The electronics shall be external to the optical bench. The spectrophotometer shall come with software for collecting and analyzing data as a function of wavelength, time, and temperature. The software shall support extraction of kinetics from any wavelength collected during the spectral acquisition and provide a dynamic, interactive 3D display of the data for graphical interpretation of the kinetic process. The software shall include schemes for secondary structure protein determination. The software shall support ASCII file creation of any selected scans or kinetic traces; default storage format will be binary, for maximum utilization of disk space. The controlling computer hardware system shall include a computer at least as modern as a Pentium 233. The temperature control module shall be a refrigerated bath/circulator for regulating the temperature of the sample within the temperature range of -25 to +150 C with +/-0.01 C stability. A remote sensing lead shall be fitted into the cuvette holder for confirmation of temperature at the cell. The contractor shall deliver all line items FOB Destination, 90 days after contract award at NIST, Building 301, Shipping and Receiving, Gaithersburg, MD 20899. The provisions at 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial, applies to this acquisition. The provision at 52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Items applies to this acquisition. The Government will award a purchase order resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers: 1) Technical capability to meet the agency need and 2) Price. Technical Capability is worth significantly more than price. The clause at 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items applies to this acquisition. The clause at 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition, including subparagraphs (6) 52.222-26, (7) 52.222-35, (8) 52.222-36, (9) 52.222-37, (10) 52.225-3, (15) 52.225-21, and Department of Commerce Agency-Level Protest Procedures Level Above the Contracting Officer, which can be downloaded from the NIST Web Page located at http://www.nist.gov/admin/od/contract/protest.htm. All offerors shall submit the following: 1) Quote which addresses line items 0001-0004 listed above; 2) technical description and/or product literature; 3) description of commercial warranty; 4) two (2) copies of the most recent published price list; and 4) one completed copy of the provision at 52.212-3, Offeror Representationsand Certifications-Commercial Items which may be downloaded from http://www.nist.gov/admin/od/contract/repcert.htm. All offers should be sent to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Acquisition and Assistance Division, Building 301, Room B117, Attn: Teresa A. Reefe, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001. Faxed offers will not be accepted. For information, call the POC identified above. Submission must be received by 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on April 24, 1998. (0103)

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