Description
The USDA, Agricultural Research Service (ARS), intends to negotiate solely with Dionex Corporation in Sunnyvale, California to furnish, deliver and install a new Ultimate Capillary and Nano-Scale Liquid Chromatograph System and Accessories to the USDA, ARS, NAA, U.S. Plant Soil and Nutrition Lab, Cornell University, 230 Olin Hall, Tower Road, Ithaca, NY 14853. The Functional & Comparative Proteomics Center (FCPC) subunit's mission is to establish a protein expression profiling capability for the USDA-ARS in the North Atlantic Area. This requires a liquid chromatography system for the fractionation of complex mixtures of peptides, proteins and other biologically important macromolecules. This instrument will be used to gain insight into the differential expression of proteins in several species of biological importance. The system must incorporate the following specifications: The system must be compatible with chromatographic formats that separate based on such sample characteristics as net charge, hydrophobicity, molecular weight and shape and chemical affinity. The system must be able to accommodate columns with diameters in the range of capillary and nano scale chromatography and deliver accurate and precise flowrates (1%) in the range of 50 nl/min - 200 uL/min. The system must be equipped with a dual LC- gradient system, containing two ternary gradient pumps that can produce two simulations chromatographic gradients in both a parallel and serial format and be compatible with online multi-dimensional liquid chromatography (MDLC). The system is designed in such a way that delay volumes are minimized to achieve fast gradient responses. The delay associated with this system operating at 200nl/min is only 3 minutes (600nl). The system must have definable pressure minimums and maximums that, when exceeded, halt or otherwise terminate the run and alarms that alert the operator that system limits have been exceeded. The system is extremely flexible as it is compatible with all standard formats of chromatography including anion and cation exchange, reverse phase and chemical affinity. The system includes two low dispersion ten-port micro switching valves, an high precision loading pump with 4 channel solvent organizer, built-in degasser and a solvent selection valve allowing the automatic selection of up to four different solvents. The he system incorporates a column oven that minimizes dead volumes that can control column temperature (+/-) 1 degree C up to 70 degrees C. The system should involve a micro-scale autosampler that incorporates a dual needle injection technique in which the outer needle is made of stainless steel and is used to pierce the vial/well seal and an inner coaxial needle made from a fused silica capillary tube. The autosampler should be able to inject minute amounts of sample with minimal sample loss, i.e., it can make 1 uL injections from a 1 uL sample. The autosampler must be compatible with 96 or 384 well plates, micro vials and should be equipped with peltier cooling to protect thermo labile samples. The complete LC system including autosampler and column switching unit is controlled by a single software package. The UV detector must be able to read and record four user-selected wavelengths of light simultaneously in the range of 190-740 nm and incorporate an high sensitivity flow cell with an illuminated volume of 3nl. The system can be coupled directly to ion trap mass spectrometers and incorporate a "peak parking" protocol that extends the MS/MS interrogation time. The Probot microfraction collector included with this system is programmable and allows for different modes of fraction collecting including: collection directly on MALDI targets, collection in micro well plates or micro vials and in a dual collection mode where a user selected portion is spotted to a MALDI target and the remainder is collected in a multi-well plate. The Probot is compatible with a large selection of commercially available MALDI targets including ABI 4700 and Bruker Biflex targets. The system software is fully compliant with GMP and cGMP requirements, records all relevant chromatographic details and documents each run exhaustively. The post-run chromatographic analysis and reporting functions are included in the software and involves dynamic data displays, a relational database and is compatible with 3-D analysis. The system is fully compatible with commercial software such as MicroSoft Excel. The system has a small footprint and occupies 5.5 ft. of bench space. Includes a one-year parts and labor warranty which begins upon the Government's acceptance. Installation and training are provided at no additional charge. Furthermore, telephone support for technical and application problems is available for free. In addition, a one-year parts and labor warranty on the equipment is required and information on extended warranties and the costs. Companies with the demonstrated capability and financial capacity to provide and service such equipment, warranty must submit a written substantive statement outlining the Company's and systems' capabilities, available service agreements and consumables (including price lists) to the Contracting Officer within 5 days of publication of this notice. This is not a request for proposal. No solicitation is available.