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

66 -- DIFFERENTIAL SCANNING MICROCALORIMETER SOL 53SBNB860090 DUE 062598 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 53SBNB860059 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 3821 and the related small business size standard is 500 employees. The National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST's) Biotechnology Division has a requirement for a differential scanning microcalorimeter which will be used for determination of the following properties of proteins and mutated proteins in solution at micromolar concentrations; the absolute heat capacity of the protein as a function of temperature, the amount of heat absorbed by the protein as it undergoes thermal denaturation at temperatures up to 125 degree C, the temperature where thermal denaturation of the protein occurs, and the amount of heat released by the protein upon cooling it down to its normal state below room temperature. The microcalorimeter will also be used to determine the heat of melting and temperature of melting of DNA duplexes in solution which occur over a broad temperature range so that a large operating temperature range up to 130 degrees C is needed. The Contract Line Item Numbers (CLIN), quantities, and unit issue are as follows: CLIN 0001, Differential Scanning Microcalorimeter (as described in the technical specifications below), one (1) each; and CLIN 0002, Installation and Training, one (1) lot. The following are the technical specifications of the system: 1) The operating range must be from -10 to 130 degrees C which is necessary to measure transitions of newly engineered proteins as part of the Protein Engineering Project at NIST at a low temperature of -5 degrees C and at a high temperature of 125 degrees C; 2) Must have the capability of scanning up and scanning down at least at 60 degrees per hour since reversibility of the transitions must be determined by scanning the sample down in temperature and the faster the scan rate, the less protein required to achieve the same detectability; 3) Must have a non-removable, fixed cell volume equal to or greater than 0.5 mL; 4) Must have a noise level or detection limit below 0.10 microwatts so that the transitions of protein at low concentrations can be determined; and 5) Must have a baseline repeatability of within 0.5 microwatts after refilling the non-removable, fixed cell with solution and re-scanning the solution several times. This is necessary in accurately determining the absolute heat capacity of the protein solution from comparison of it's baseline to that of a standard solution for which the absolute heat capacity is known. The absolute heat capacity is an important property of newly-engineered proteins. The vendor shall deliver all line items FOB Destination, no later than 14 weeks after purchase order award to NIST, Building 301, Shipping and Receiving, Gaithersburg, MD 20899. The provisions at 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items, 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) Past Performance. 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) Three (3) copies of quotation which addresses CLIN 0001 and CLIN 0002; 2) Technical description and/or product literature; 3) Description of commercial warranty; 4) Two (2) copies of the most recent published price list(s); 5) A list of two (2) contracts/purchase orders completed during the past three years for similar equipment with the following information: name of contracting activity, contract number, contract type, total contract value, contracting office and telephone number, and program manager and telephone number; 6) A completed copy of the provision at 52.212-3, Offeror representations and 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, Attn: Teresa A. Reefe, Building 301, Room B117, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001. For information, call the POC identified above. Submission must be received by 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on June 25, 1998. Faxed offers will not be accepted. (0162)

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