THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT, NOT A REQUEST FOR A PROPOSAL. A SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED AND PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE REQUESTED. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Office of Acquisition (OA) on behalf of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) intends to negotiate and award a purchase order on a noncompetitive sole source basis to Perkin Elmer Health Sciences Inc., 710 Bridgeport Avenue, Shelton, CT, 06484-4794 for the purchase of one (1), Alpha Screen Nickel Chelate Acceptor Beads, 250mg, and two hundred and fifty (250), Alpha Screen GSH Donor Beads. BACKGROUND The mission of NCATS is to apply the tools of small molecule screening and discovery to the development of chemical probe research tools, for use in the study of protein and cell functions, and biological processes relevant to physiology and disease. NCATS will optimize biochemical, cellular and model organism-based assays submitted by the biomedical research community; perform automated high-throughput screening (HTS); and perform chemistry optimization on confirmed hits to produce chemical probes for dissemination to the research community. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 1.Quanity:one (1), Alpha Screen Nickel Chelate Acceptor Beads,250 mg. 2.Quanity: Two hundred and fifty (250), Alpha Screen GSH Donor Beads. SOLE SOURCE DETERMINATION The sole source determination is based upon the fact that Perkin Elmer does not distribute this item to any other resellers so they are the sole providers. Additionally, assays were developed by the Zhao lab that measures the physical interaction between the proteins Six1 and Eya2, and CtBP and E1A. Extensive assay development concluded that the Alphascreen® reagent from Perkin Elmer provided that highest quality assay for HTS in 1536-well format used at NCGC. Amplified Luminescent Proximity Homogeneous Assay (ALPHA) is a very sensitive non-radioactive homogeneous assay technology that allows the screening of a large range of biological interactions and activities. In this assay system, each protein partner is tagged either with GST or polyHis. Alphascreen beads labeled with anti-GST or Ni metal are used to detect the physical proximity between the partners. Binding of molecules captured on the beads leads to an energy transfer from one bead to the other, ultimately producing a luminescent/fluorescent signal. AlphaScreen assays require two bead types: Donor beads and Acceptor beads. Each bead type contains a different proprietary mixture of chemicals, which are key elements of the AlphaScreen technology. Donor beads contain a photosensitizer, phthalocyanine, which converts ambient oxygen to an excited and reactive form of O 2, singlet oxygen, upon illumination at 680 nm. Like other excited molecules, singlet oxygen has a limited lifetime prior to falling back to ground state. Within its 4 µsec half-life, singlet oxygen can diffuse approximately 200 nm in solution. If an Acceptor bead is within that proximity, energy is transferred from the singlet oxygen to thioxene derivatives within the Acceptor bead, subsequently culminating in light production at 520--620 nm. In the absence of an Acceptor bead, singlet oxygen falls to ground state and no signal is produced. This proximity-dependent chemical energy transfer is the basis for AlphaScreen's homogeneous nature. NCGC has done extensive work (described in RO3 applications submitted) to miniaturize the assay to 1536-well format and demonstrated that it produces robust data using the HTS capabilities at NCGC by doing pilot screens with small compound collections. We must use the same variables in our assays to maintain integrity from the data and to achieve the desired outcomes. This item has been purchased in the past from this vendor only, as no one else can provide these specific reagents. All the assay optimization was performed with these Donor beads. Going forward, the screening needs to be done with the same reagents in order to yield comparable and readily interpretable results. A switch to a different detection reagent would necessitate re-optimizing the assay with no guarantees that the results would be similar. This would entail unacceptable substantial time delays and enormous additional costs. The current Alphascreen PE assay is ready for HTS at NCGC. The Six1/Eya2 and CtBP/E1A Alphascreen binding assays consists of reagents labeled proprietary fluorophores. Industry Classification (NAICS) Code is 541711, with business size standard of 500 Employees. The acquisition is being conducted under FAR Part 13, simplified acquisition procedures, therefore the requirements of FAR Part 6 B Competitive Requirements are not applicable (FAR Part 6.001) and the resultant purchase order will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 05-54 (November 2, 2011). This acquisition is set-aside for small business. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. Interested parties may identify their interest and capabilities in response to this synopsis, by March 21, 7:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. The determination by the Government not to compete the proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct future competitive procurement. Inquires to this announcement, referencing synopsis number, NHLBI-CSB-(HG)-2012-097-RSF may be submitted to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Office of Acquisition, Procurement Branch, 6701 Rockledge Drive, Suite 6145, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7902, Attention: Rashida Ferebee. Response may be submitted electronically to
[email protected]. Faxes will not be accepted. Responses will only be accepted if dated and signed by an authorized company representative.