SOLICITATION NOTICE
66 -- Upgrades for FACS Aria I Cell Sorter
- Notice Date
- 12/12/2011
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 334516
— Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Office of Acquisitions, 6120 Executive Blvd., EPS Suite 600, Rockville, Maryland, 20852
- ZIP Code
- 20852
- Solicitation Number
- NCI-120016-EB
- Archive Date
- 1/12/2012
- Point of Contact
- Erin M. Breedlove, Phone: 3014968607, Caren N Rasmussen, Phone: (301) 402-4509
- E-Mail Address
-
breeerin@mail.nih.gov, cr214i@nih.gov
(breeerin@mail.nih.gov, cr214i@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Contracting Office Address Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Office of Acquisitions, 6120 Executive Boulevard, EPS Suite 600, Room 6068, Rockville, MD 20852, UNITED STATES. Description The National Cancer Institute (NCI), Center for Cancer Research (CCR) plans to procure on a sole source basis with Becton, Dickinson, and Company, 2350 Qume Drive; San Jose, CA 95131 for two upgrades for two FACS Aria I Cell sorters. This acquisition will be processed in accordance with simplified acquisition procedures as stated in FAR Part 13.106-1(b)(1). Only one award will be made as a result of this solicitation. This will be awarded as a firm fixed price type contract. The North American Industry Classification System code is 334516 and the business size standard is 500 employees. The FACS Core Facility houses 2 FACS Aria I cell sorters that are in use all day Monday - Friday and some evenings and weekends. The contractor shall provide an upgrade that essentially rebuilds the entire fluidics path and replaces the flow cell and sort chamber. The stability of the fluidics system will be improved by installing a new pressurization system. The new fluidics system will allow much easier and efficient instrument sterilization and will provide improved aseptic conditions. Removing and replacing many of the pinch valves, the HPLC valve, and the plenums in the fluidics path will remove difficult-to-sterilize sites that can become sources of bacterial contamination. The new square flow cell design means more precise laser focusing which will improve the fluorescence detection on larger cells such as cancer cell lines. The upgrade includes new ceramic nozzles instead of metal ones; the ceramic ones will have a longer life than the metal ones. The new design of the ceramic nozzles will greatly simplify changing nozzles when a different size is needed. The new nozzles are much easier to insert and remove and fit more securely; this will greatly shorten the daily setup time. It will also allow a more standardized and reproducible sort setup from user to user which will improve the quality of the sorting. There is also a new fixed design for the deflection plates that will provide better reproducibility and more side-stream stability. The 2 FACS Aria cell sorters are in daily use serving about 100 investigators from 25 NCI labs. BD Biosciences introduced a major upgrade package for these instruments which will rebuild the fluidics pathway, cuvette and sort chamber of the sorters. This will provide increased stability, reproducibility, maintenance of sterility, and ease and speed of daily setup. The newly designed cuvette will allow improved optical signal detection from certain kinds of cells frequently used in NCI research. The FACS Aria design of the original sorter and the upgraded sorter are proprietary to BD Biosciences and cannot be provided by any other vendor. The software that runs the instrument and provides for semi-automated setup and quality control with the requested upgrade is also available only from BD Biosciences. This is not a solicitation for competitive quotations. However, if any interested party believes they can meet the above requirement, they may submit a statement of capabilities. All information furnished must be in writing and must contain sufficient detail to allow the NCI to determine if it can meet the above unique specifications described herein. An original and one copy of the capability statement must be received in the NCI Office of Acquisitions on or before 11:00 AM EST on December 28, 2011. No electronic capability statements will be accepted (i.e. email or fax), an original and one copy must be sent to the NCI Office of Acquisitions at the address stated above. All questions must be in writing and can be faxed (301) 402-4513 or emailed to Erin Breedlove, Contract Specialist at breeerin@nih.gov. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. In order to receive an award, contractors must have valid registration and certification in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) www.ccr.gov and the Online Representations and Certifications Applications (ORCA), http://orca.bpn.gov. No collect calls will be accepted. Please reference solicitation number NCI-120016-EB on all correspondence.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/RCB/NCI-120016-EB/listing.html)
- Record
- SN02637381-W 20111214/111212234057-4acc83d180fb9beb5cc7a21dde5319a3 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |