MARKET RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY - NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL OR SOLICITATION This is a Sources Sought notice to determine the availability of Small Businesses capable of supplying the confocal multimode reader described below. This notice is for planning purposes only, and does not constitute an Invitation for Bids, Request for Proposal, Request for Quotation, or an indication the Government intends to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted as a result of this notice. Your response to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a Small Business Set-Aside is possible. The appropriate NAICS code for the acquisition is 333314 – Optical Instrument and Lens Manufacturing, Small Business Size Standard 500 Employees. Requirement and Background The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) Division of Microbiology requires a Confocal Multimode Reader to image intracellular protein traffic effects by airway epithelial and endothelial cells infected with Human Coronavirus-NL63 to assess changes in biochemical pathways that can activate coagulation and complement pathways and it shall also function as a multimode plate reader for fluorescence-based assays. Two attributes critical to the instrument required are (1) laser-illuminated technology and (2) multimode plate reader functionality. This instrument will be used for COVID-19 research. Minimum Technical Requirements are as follows for confocal multimode reader instrument system: *Shall be a stand-alone confocal microscopy system, wide-field imaging system and multimode reader optical instrument system; *Shall be capable of laser-scanning confocal microscopy and phase contrast microscopy to include 60 and 40 micron Nipkow spinning disks and a minimum of six laser lines for simultaneous multiple fluorescence wavelength detection; *Shall incorporate a monochromator multimode microplate reader, tunable between 250 and 700 nm wavelengths for fluorescence measurements and absorbance measurements between 230 and 900 nm for non-fluorescent labels; *Shall measure luminescence and capable of being read from either top or bottom of microplates; *Shall be adjustable to use both standard tissue culture plates and microscope slides; *Shall include control software and image analysis software for the confocal and wide-angle optical systems and the multimode plate reader systems; image analysis system shall be able to process and analyze 3-dimentional (z-axis projection), image stitching, digital phase contrast data and provide hit-picking and subpopulation analyze with dynamic thresholding; *Confocal and wide-field imaging systems shall include objective lenses at 4X, 10X, 20X, 40X and 60X magnifications; *Confocal microscopy system shall have filters for isolation of fluorescence by DAPI, GFP, RFP, and TRITC dyes; wide-angle fluorescence imaging system shall have filters for isolation of DAPI, GFP, RFP, and Texas red dyes, and shall also provide LED illumination at 365 nm, 465 nm, 523 nm, and 590 nm wavelengths for fluorescent excitation; *Confocal system, wide-field imaging systems, and the multimode reader shall have active temperature control systems to include control of oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations for sensitive live-cell incubation experiments; *Due to the computationally intensive requirements of the image analyses to be conducted, the instrument shall come equipped with a controller and analysis computer workstation which shall include, at a minimum: *Intel Core i9-7920X (12-core, 2.9 GHz, 16.5 MB) cache processor; *Minimum of 32 GB DDR4 2666 RAM memory; *1 TB hard disk drive or solid-state disk drive; *Minimum of 6 USB ports, with 4 USB 3.1 ports. *Confocal system, wide-field imaging systems, and the multimode reader shall have active temperature control systems to include control of oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations for sensitive live-cell incubation experiments; *Shall include on-site training/instrument familiarization and 12 months of remote access to applications consultations to develop analysis protocols in the FDA program office laboratories by a factory-certified Ph.D. scientist; *Shall include minimum one-year full manufacturer warranty commencing from date of acceptance and functionality. Contract Type: Commercial Item-Firm Fixed Price Period(s) of Performance (Estimated) Base Period: 12 consecutive months from date of award; Option Year 1: 12 consecutive months commencing from expiration of base period; Option Year 2: 12 consecutive months from expiration of Option Year 1; Option Year 3: 12 consecutive months from expiration of Option Year 2. Option Year 4: 12 consecutive months from expiration of Option Year 3. Delivery Address U.S. Food and Drug Administration National Center for Toxicological Research 3900 NCTR Road Jefferson, AR 72079-9501 Responses to this Sources Sought notice shall unequivocally demonstrate the respondent is currently engaged in supplying the confocal multimode reader instrument systems described herein. Although the target audience for this Notice are small businesses or small businesses capable of providing these stocks from another small business, all interested parties may respond. At a minimum, responses in the form of a Capability Statement shall include the following: Business name and bio, SAM Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), business address, business website, business size status (i.e., SB, VOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone SB, SDB, WOSB, LB), point of contact name, mailing address (if different from business address), phone number and email address. Provide this same information again if responding with the capability of providing virus stocks offered by another firm; Descriptive literature, brochures, marketing material, etc. detailing the confocal multimode reader systems which the responding firm is regularly engaged in providing. Capability statements must provide sufficient information that unequivocally demonstrates that the technical requirements identified above can be met; Provide recent (within the last three years) and relevant past performance information where the offeror has provided same or substantially similar instrument systems. For each past performance reference include the date of sale, description, dollar value, client name, client address, client point of contact name, client point of contact mailing address and phone number, and e-mail address (if different from that provided for client); If applicable, standard commercial warranty and payment terms; If applicable, identification of the firm's GSA Schedule contract(s) by Schedule number and SIN’s that are applicable to this potential requirement are also requested; If a large business, provide documentation of any subcontracting opportunities which exist for small business concerns; Though this is not a request for quote, informational pricing is encouraged; The Government is not responsible for locating or securing any information, not identified in the response; Respondent shall advise if the services required is currently available on a “Best in Class” or other Government-wide or HHS-wide contract. If applicable, respondent shall provide place (country) of product/service manufacture or performance and any other applicable information to enable review and analysis pertaining to the requirements under the Buy American Act and requirements relating to Executive Order 14005 Ensuring the Future is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers, in the event that a nonavailability waiver request submitted through the Made in America Office (MIAO) Digital Waiver Portal is required. Interested parties shall respond with Capability Statements as described above by e-mail only, before 2:00 pm (Central Daylight Time - Local Prevailing Time in Jefferson, Arkansas) on April 28, 2022, to Tim Walbert, Contract Specialist, at the following address:
[email protected]. Notice of Intent Responses to this Sources Sought announcement will assist the Government in determining whether or not any future requirement similar to this one should be set aside for small business, made available to full and open competition or procure through sole-source acquisition procedures. Disclaimer and Important Notes This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre‐solicitation synopsis and/or combined synopsis-solicitation may be published on SAM/Federal Contract Opportunities (formerly FBO) at https://sam.gov/content/opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality and Proprietary Information No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non‐proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).