National Institutes of Health, Office of Procurement Management, 6011 Executive Blvd., Rockville, Maryland 20892-7260

66 -- LASER SCANNING CONFOCAL FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPE SOL 263-00-P(BC)-0021 POC Sheri Custer, Contracting Officer on 301-402-3065 or Edward Wilgus, Chief, Acquisitions Branch B on 301-402-3070 Under authority of U.S.C. 253(c)(1), FAR 6.302-1 the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland intends to negotiate a contract with the Carl Zeiss, Inc., One Zeiss Drive, Thornwood, NY 10594. Any response must be received in writing within fifteen (15) business days from the published date of this notice. The intended procurement will be classified under SIC 3826, Laboratory Analytical Instruments, with a size standard of 500 employees. This requirement is for a laser scanning confocal fluorescence microscope system. This system shall include, but not be limited to, the following performance characteristics, features, and pertain to the following components: (1) Confocal fluorescence microscope system with the following lasers or better: Argon Ion laser -- with excitation wavelengths of 458, 488, and 514 nanometers. Dual Helium Neon laser -- with excitation wavelengths of 543 and 633 nanometers. Confocal equipped with 3 fluorescent PMT's and one transmitted PMT. (2) Software provided shall include physiology software, Z sectioning to 0.1 micron resolution, 50 nanometer or better step control repeatable across entire microscope range, 3D projections, ray tracing, stereo views and depth coding. Includes analysis software for morphometric and densitometric measurements of any size or shape Regions of Interest. Thresholding of objects for measurements shall be supported. (3) Monitor diode detector option shall be included for providing laser feedback and fluctuation control. (4) Multi tracking high-speed line switching of all wavelengths in any combination to prevent crosstalk shall be included. (5) Shall provide twelve [12] bit digitization and processing of 12 bit data in all software provided. (6) Data output shall be supported in any format including TIFF, JPEG bit map, Photoshop, PIC (Macintosh). (7) Shall include software control of all microscope (objective, light, filters, Z) and laser features with software control of easy reproducibility of parameters for precision measurements. The system shall provide reuse button or equivalent in software to reproduce all microscope settings for exact replication of all conditions of measurement. This shall include laser power for all lasers as well as attenuation and line selection, and reproducible step size. (8) System shall include inverted fully motorized fluorescence research microscope with high precision stage, built in Z drive with 50 nanometer or better step, and adjustable specimen holder for varying size slides or dishes. (9) Objectives shall be equal or better PNEO 10x/.3; PNEO 25x/0.8 multi immersion; CAPO 63x water with greater than 250 micron WD NA1.2; PAPO 63x/1.4. DIC(nomarski) at all magnifications. (10) Shall include a computer workstation with dual 21 inch monitors and at a minimum a 550 Mhz Pentium III microprocessor, 512 megabytes of memory, and an operating system employing Microsoft Windows NT. (11) System shall include a full one-year warranty with all software upgrades. Upgrades shall be included. After one year, further upgrades shall be available under a service agreement. (12) The system shall beam blank for minimum laser exposure in single directional scanning for all wavelengths including infrared. (13) System shall provide high speed Acousto Optical Tunable Filter(s) control to illuminate any size or shape Regions of Interest of any wavelength combination while acquiring time series. (14) Shall include on-line ratioing of any image channels with flexible formula calculations possible on the fly while scanning. (15) All Region of Interest control shall always illuminate only Regions of Interest selected. (16) uaranteed overlay and simultaneous collection of Visible and Infrared images in any combination of excitation wavelengths plus or minus 1 pixel with 10X PNEO or better provided. (17) System shall provide accessible display of calculated slice thickness for z sectioning availability. (18) Dual galvanometric scanning mirrors shall allow full rotation of scan through 360 degrees. (19) Long Pass filter capability shall be included for high efficiency collection of single fluorochromes. LP 505 for GFP with 488 excitation. (20) Shall include integrated analysis software for display of graphs and data from kinetic experiments. Selectable Regions of Interest for plotting mean gray value or thresholding to plot area measurements versus time shall also be supported. (21) All lasers shall be computer controlled and function in a reproducible manner. It is the Government's belief that these requirements may only be met by Carl Zeiss, Inc. This is not a formal solicitation, however, concerns are invited to submit capability statements in an original plus two (2) copies no later than fifteen (15) business days from the date of this announcement. Concerns that respond to this synopsis shall furnish concise responses directed specifically to the requirements mentioned above Sources demonstrating the capability to accomplish the above shall supply pertinent information in sufficient detail to demonstrate their ability to perform. Written responses shall include complete description of the system to be provided, containing sufficient technical information to permit agency analysis to establish a bona fide capability to meet the stated requirements as listed above. Respondents will not be notified of the evaluation results. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP). Capability Statements: (a) If mailing your capabilities through the U.S. Postal Service use the following address: National Institutes of Health, Office of Procurement Management, OA, 6011 Executive Blvd., Room 529Q, ATTN: Sheri Custer, Bethesda, MD 20892-7663. (b) If hand delivering, or using a courier service such as: UPS, Federal Express, etc., USE THE FOLLOWING City, State, and Zip Code: ROCKVILLE, MD 20852. Responses by Facsimile (FAX) will not be accepted. See NOTE: 22 Not withstanding the forty-five (45) day notice for receipt of capability statements all Capabilities must be received within fifteen (15) days from publication in the CBD. Posted 03/14/00 (W-SN434345). (0074)

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