This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE of a proposed requirement to award one (1) Small Animal Behavioral Fear Conditioning System or a system equal to or better than the salient characteristics. This notice is issued solely for informational and planning purposes and no offers will be accepted. This action also requires warranties, packaging and shipping. SCHEDULE OF SUPPLIES: All items are Med Associates Inc., or equal items that meet the specifications and requirements listed below. Part # Description Qty. Unit 1 MED-VFC2-SCT-M (or equal) Contextual NIR Video Fear Conditioning system for mouse 1 Each 2 MED-SYST-VFC (or equal) Video Fear Conditioning Interface Package for up to 4 stations 1 Each 3 VFC-005 (or equal) Low profile contextual grid floor with 3/16 grid rods for rat 1 Each 4 VFC-005-L (or equal) Low Profile Contextual Grid Floor with Alternating 3/16 &3/8 Grid rods for rat 1 Each 5 VFC-005-S (or equal) Low Profile Contextual Grid Floor with 3/16 Staggered Grid rods for rat 1 Each 6 ENV-408R (or equal) Contextual Grid Floor Harness for rat 3 Each 7 Packaging & freight to be included in total price. 1 Each GENERAL INFORMATION: The Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center Research Service has a requirement to purchase one (1) rodent fear conditioning behavioral system. DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS: The equipment will be used to perform the fear conditioning tests on rodents. The system requested shall provide a controlled, sound proof environment chamber to expose small rodents to visual and environmental context, sound and mild adverse stimuli at various timed intervals. The startle, mobility and freezing behavior of the test subject indicates the fear response of an adverse stimulus, the learning of fear and the anticipation of an adverse stimulus with visual and contextual cues. The experimental subject s behavior inside the test chamber shall be tracked by video camera and statistically analyzed with software on a designated desktop computer. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS: The system shall be compatible for both mice and rats. The system shall maintain a compatible fear conditioning interface package containing the software and desktop computer used to operate the system. The system shall have the ability to vary the intensity of the light for both light and dark experiments. The conditioning chamber shall be a sound attenuating cubicle lined with sound attenuating foam. The conditioning chamber shall contain removable and interchangeable standard visual context cues. The system shall have variable contextual grid floors that are removable and interchangeable. The conditioning chamber shall include a high speed monochrome video camera mounted inside the chamber to record the test subject with the door closed. The high speed monochrome video camera shall provide at least 100 frames per second at full resolution (640x480) The high speed video camera shall have an 8 mm focal length lens to minimize optical distortion. The high speed video camera shall have a near infrared filter for experiments performed in the dark. The conditioning system test package shall be connected to a compatible Windows desktop computer to interface with the electronics that control the camera, sound and foot shock features. The desktop computer shall be loaded with compatible software that controls the system and collects and analyzes the data from the conditioning test apparatus. The desktop computer shall have a PCI interface and Fire-Wire card to connect to the video fear conditioning components The video fear conditioning interface shall be designed to support more than one fear conditioning chambers. The included software shall be able to measure total time, percent time the subject is motionless, the number of freezing occurrences of subject and a measure of the average index of motion. The interface package shall include sound pressure level management. The interface package shall include a controllable adverse stimulation test package (foot shock). The Veteran s Health Administration Service Area Office - East estimates a posting date of solicitation VA240-17-Q-0145 on June 21, 2017 and distributed solely through the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) Website (www.fedbizopps.gov). This notice does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) and should not be construed to as a commitment of any kind by the Government to issue a formal solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Any costs incurred by interested parties will NOT be reimbursed. It is the responsibility of any interested party to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this notice. The agency is contemplating single award of a firm fixed price (FFP) contract to the contractor whose submission represents best value to the Government. The intention of this notice is to seek sources that could potentially provide these items under a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business Set-aside, or a Veteran Owned Small Business Set-Aside. Firms with interest and capability to respond to this requirement should develop short (1 page or less) narrative capability statement including relevant information indicating and evidencing capability to successfully meet the aforementioned requirements and respond by email. Responding to this not does not guarantee any opportunity for the contract, and is only used for VA planning purposes. Capability responses will be accepted until 10:00 AM (est) on June 21, 2017. The North American Industry Classification System code is 334516 Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing. Interested parties shall be registered in the System for Award Management at (www.sam.gov). Contracting Office Address: 323 North Shore Dr. Pittsburgh PA, 15212 United States Primary Point of Contact: Michael Haydo Contracting Officer Email:
[email protected] Phone: 412-822-3158