Notice of Intent to Sole Source The Michael E DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston Texas, located at 2002 Holcombe Blvd, Houston TX 77030 intends to negotiate on a sole-source basis with Fisher Scientific Company, LLC for the EVOS M5000 Microscope Imaging System. Invitrogen, a brand of Thermo Fisher Scientific, is the sole manufacturer of the EVOS Cell Imaging systems, a family of fully integrated and self-contained, inverted microscope systems. The EVOS M5000 Cell Imaging System is being procured since it meets all of the Houston VA research needs. Invitrogen, a brand of Thermo Fisher Scientific, is the sole manufacturer of the EVOS Cell Imaging system, a family of fully integrated and self-contained inverted microscope systems. Please see Salient Characteristics of the EVOS M5000 microscope listed below: 1. The system is a single compact integrated unit including: microscope, digital camera, computer, modular high power fluorescence lighting system and LCD display. 2. The system includes independent high output LED illumination cubes (light cubes) with integrated hard coated fluorescence band-pass excitation and emission filters for each cube. 3. The system includes a condenser with 60 mm working distance and a 4-position turret with one clear aperture and 3 phase annuli. 4. The condenser includes a white light LED for transmitted illumination. 5. The condenser includes a novel LED-based RGB illumination scheme to enable high-quality, low-noise color image acquisition on a monochrome sensor. 6. The composite RGB images are acquired at near-real-time video rate, the minimum video frame rate required to view a live image on the screen, while at the same time moving the stage in X and Y dimensions (panning), focusing manually or using autofocus, modifying illumination conditions, capturing Z-stack images, etc. 7. The fluorescence LED light cube is a single, interchangeable unit that can be easily installed, removed and exchanged. 8. The LED illuminators have a lifetime of at least 50,000 hours at 100% power. 9. The system automatically recognizes which cube is installed and adjusts the software configuration accordingly. 10. The system is able to simultaneously accommodate 4 fluorescence LED light cubes. 11. The system allows computer controlled movement of each fluorescence cube. 12. The LED illuminators have independent intensity controls. 13. The illumination can be controlled in simple or actual mode. 14. The system includes an integrated high-sensitivity monochrome 3.2 MP (2048 x 1536) monochrome CMOS sensor with 3.45 m pixel resolution. 15. The system enables the capture of images in epifluorescence, transmitted light (brightfield and phase contrast) and color. 16. The system enables images to be saved in 16-bit monochrome TIFF or PNG (12-bit dynamic range) or 8-bit color TIFF, PNG, JPG and BMP formats. 17. Images are saved with OME-compliant metadata. 18. The system can accommodate a minimum of 5 objectives at once. 19. The system can accommodate 4x, 10x, 20x and 40x phase contrast objectives. 20. The system can accommodate 1,25x, 2x, 4x, 10x, 20x, 40x, 60x and 100x objectives. 21. The system includes a mechanical focus wheel mechanism. 22. The system includes an automated focus mechanism. system is able to sequentially acquire four fluorescence channel images with a single mouse click and automatic overlay. 24. The system is able to sequentially acquire a transmitted light or phase contrast image and up to four fluorescence images with a single mouse click and automatic overlay. 25. The system is able to sequentially acquire color image by using the proprietary LED-based RGB illumination scheme and three fluorescence channel images with a single mouse click and automatic overlay. 26. The system includes a precision mechanical X/Y stage with sub-micron resolution and drop-in inserts to receive vessel holders. 27. The system consumes less than 40 W/h with all illumination sources turned to the on position. 28. The system includes the software needed to acquire, review, edit and save images. 29. The system includes free downloadable software updates. 30. The system software updates can be loaded from the Thermo Fisher website. 31. The system software updates can be loaded via WiFi. 32. The system has time-lapse capability. 33. The system has Z-stack capability. 34. The Z-plane single-step accuracy is 0.150 m and the random movement accuracy is 0.750 m. 35. The time-lapse function can be combined with autofocus and/or Z-stack. 36. The system includes tools to edit image brightness, contrast and gamma independently for each channel. 37. The system includes functions for measurements and annotations. 38. The system includes a histogram. 39. The system includes a scale bar. 40. The system includes manual cell counting capability. 41. The system includes automated cell counting capability. 42. The system includes a virtual keyboard. 43. The system is compatible with the EVOS Onstage Incubator. 44. The system includes a WiFi dongle. 45. The system includes a USB wireless keyboard. 46. The system has 4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 USB 3.0 port, Display Port, HDMI, Ethernet 47. The system supports output to an internal SSD storage device. 48. The system supports direct output to USB and networked storage. 49. The system can be networked through Windows/SMB network via an Ethernet cable connection. 50. The system can be networked through a USB 3.0 WiFi dongle. 51. The entire system footprint including all computer and monitor components does not exceed 18 depth, 18 width and 22 height. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotes; however, any responsible source who believes it is capable of meeting this requirement may submit a capability statement to the contracting office no later than Thursday, November 8, 2018, 2:00 PM ET. Interest/capability statements may be sent to Linda Buccigrossi at
[email protected]. No telephone responses will be accepted. A determination not to compete the proposed requirement based upon the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.