Description
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis, under authority of FAR 13.106-1(b) (1), with FUJIFilm Life Science USA, for the acquisition of one (1) BAS-5000 Imaging Plate Scanner, part number YBBAS5000 and one (1) FLA-5000 Imaging Plate Eraser, Part Number YBIPEFLA5000, one (1) Image Reader Software for Windows, Part Number YBIRWINOSAO5, one (1) Dell GX270 Workstation for SSG with software cables and manuals. *****Sole source determination is based on the need for compatibility. BAS-5000 with controller that will daisy-chain with preexisting BAS-5000 for full comparability and maintenance equivalency. Resolution and sensitivity must equal that of preexisting BAS-5000 function and results prior to 2003 on a windows platform. After evaluating 4 other digital autoradiograp systems, and nuclear film, none of them could meet the specifications. All of the other evaluated units failed in the ability to discriminate 10mBq levels of different beta particle energies within the energy range of interest, all of them failed to produce characteristic background spectra, some of them failed to discriminate alpha from beta sources at the mBq level, film is not adequately sensitive and linear and required chemical work. Specifications • All specifications must be met within one month of delivery to NIST. • The instrument must produce autoradiographs of radionuclide sources. • The autoradiographs must be possible for samples that are 20 cm x 25 cm in size without having to make two exposures or two scans. • The specifications listed shall be achieved with a digital imaging system having a pixel size that is 25 ìm or smaller. • The FWHM1 of peaks in profiles of non-transposed2 image data must be no greater than 60 ìm per single beta particle recorded for the beta energy range of 0 keV to 520 keV. • The FWHM1 of peaks in profiles of non-transposed2 image data must be no greater than 80 ìm per single alpha particle recorded for the alpha energy range of 0 keV to 2 MeV. • Pixel intensity data shall be linear with respect to x-ray dose and with respect to 14C activity levels over five orders of magnitude. • Spatial homogeneity: Ambient background exposures resulting in a single image must be possible over at least 500 cm2 with the following additional requirement: No 150 cm2 area in the resulting single background image may deviate more than 10% in mean pixel value from any other 150 cm2 area on that same background image. • Reproducibility: (1) Alpha particles of a specific energy shall produce a Sig value4 that does not vary by more than 30% from one alpha particle to the next. (2) When running NIST code version 39 developed for the preexisting BAS-5000, the background spectra of Sig values produced4 shall have a peak at 300-500 Sig for 2 hour vertical ambient unshielded background exposures in our laboratory, and a peak at 1200-1400 Sig4 • Radionuclide discrimination: The following activity sources must be distinguishable from each other based on spectrally-separated Sig value modes4 of within 20% of Sig = 400 for background, 900 for 3H, 1000 for 40K, 1100 for 137Cs, 1300 for 60Co, 1350 for 14C and > 2000 for alpha counts. A systematic shift in all values will be acceptable as long as these radionuclides can be distinguished at the 10mBq level. • System noise discrimination: Spurious non-radioactivity sources of signals shall have the distinguishing characteristic of being one pixel in size in one dimension and 1 to 10 pixels wide in the orthogonal direction. • Sensitivity: The system shall be capable of detecting and locating 10 mBq beta sources and micro-Bq level alpha sources with a spatial precision of 0.5 mm and a positional accuracy of 2 mm. • Diagnostic software capable of fine-tuning the black level and gain of the secondary detector (scanner) shall be provided and shall operate on the controller. • The controller system must be fully compatible with the NIST Windows-based LAN. • Throughput: The system must be capable of performing multi-week well-shielded exposures in parallel (e.g. eight individual 20 cm x 25 cm plates must be well-shielded and in use simultaneously). • The system must not require wet or gel-based chemical handling or a darkroom to meet the specifications. • The system must utilize approximately 10 preexisting 20 cm x 25 cm tritium-detectable primary detectors (Fujifilm TR2025 imaging plates) that meet all of the specifications above while doing so. 1. FWHM = full width of peak at the half-maximum height of the peak. 2. The ADC conversion from the voltage from luminescence measurement device (such as a PMT) shall be converted to 16 bit deep pixel values without application of mathematical transforms. In other words, the data must be raw and not available only in PSL or similar units. 3. The secondary detector is the phosphor plate scanner, whereas the primary detector is the phosphor plate itself. 4. The Sig value is produced by NIST custom code developed with the preexisting BAS-5000, and is the pixel intensity sum over a 0.01 mm2 area centered on the recorded alpha particle, beta particle, or discrete background count. ***Delivery shall be FOB DESTINATION and be completed in accordance with the Contractor’s commercial schedule. *** *** As defined in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, (FAR), FOB Destination means: The contractor shall pack and mark the shipment in conformance with carrier requirements, deliver the shipment in good order and condition to the point of delivery specified in the purchase order, be responsible for any loss of and/or damage to the goods occurring before receipt and acceptance of the shipment by the consignee at the delivery point specified in the purchase order; and pay all charges to the specified point of delivery. The contractor shall deliver all line items to NIST, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20899-0001. *** *****The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 423450, and the size standard is 100 Employees. ******A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition 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 a competitive procurement. *****No solicitation package will be issued. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations. However, responses received by July 10, 2006 will be considered by the Government.