Sources Sought Notice Imaging Unit This SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE. The purpose of this sources sought notice is to determine the interest and feasibility of small business set-asides. This synopsis is for information and planning purposes and is not to be construed as a commitment by the U.S. Government, nor will the U.S. Government pay for information solicited. The information from this notice will help the United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, Animal Plant Inspection Services, APHIS, National Veterinary Services Laboratory, NVSL, Ames, Iowa plan their acquisition strategy or plan. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, NO SOLICITATION EXISTS AT THIS TIME. The imaging station must be able to read colorimetric stained gels/membranes, Fluorescent stained protein/nucleic gels, Chemiluminescent Western Blots, Fluorescent Western Blots, GFP expression in multiwall plates. The unit needs to also be able to read translucent objects (colony plates) and Opaque objects (ex. Tissue sections). The imager must have minimum 12 built in filters in (6 excitation, 6 emission) with three illumination sources. We would request automated onboard analysis support in addition to comprehensive license free Image Analysis software. The Image Analysis software can be used locally as desktop supported version or as a cloud hosted version. The cloud-based analysis application allows the customer the ability to access, analyze, quantitate, and share their images from any computer with internet access. There is no limit to the number of users per instrument and each user received 1TB of storage space for their utilization. On-board, desktop and cloud-based analysis software support a wide variety of features such as; image contrast and background adjustment, background correction, direct lane and band identification, relative and absolute quantitation, as well normalization using housekeeping proteins or total lane protein measurements. Should come equipped with a high resolution, minimum 9.1megapixel, high sensitivity, scientific CCD camera. The high resolution of the camera combined with a wide range of binning options (1x1 to 8x8) allows the user to readily adjust the system, based on the needs of their application, to provide high resolution images and exceptional speed and sensitivity. Must utilize a smart exposure technology to evaluate and optimize imaging exposure time before acquiring a Western blot image. The smart exposure feature automatically calculates the exposure time of the Western blot with maximum dynamic range and minimal pixel saturation from a short exposure image and displays a projected image of what the optimal exposure would look like. The feature displays real-time changes of the projected Western blot image with adjusted exposure time and allows further exposure-time refinement through user input. The imaging systems utilizes a mechanical tray to physically rotate a sample aligning it with the camera before image acquisition. This tray eliminates the need to overly handle wet and fragile samples or the need to digitally rotate and align images after capture, which modifies the image resulting in distorted intensity values during image analysis. Have built-in algorithms that can uniquely identify multiple analysis frames and then assigns and quantifies lanes and bands for each analysis frame independently. This allow multiple gels or membranes to be imaged and analyzed simultaneously with minimal user input and manipulation. Uses an molecular weight marker (MWM) overlay feature allows users to perform molecular weight determination using a colorimetric molecular weight marker in the membrane channel and combining it with the corresponding chemiluminescent or fluorescent image. To enable this, the imaging system automatically acquires both a visible and a detection image and then digitally combines them to enable visualizing both the molecular weight markers and the western blot on the same image. The unit utilizes an internal light path design that allows maximum sample viewing area (22.5 x 18.0 cm) while minimizing instrument size and height. This allows the imaging unit to minimize the utilization valuable bench space in the laboratory while still being able to image multiple gels and blots simultaneously. Please submit the following information: Name and address of company 2. Relevant past performance, including Contract name • Contracting Agency or Department Yearly contract value • Description of work and how it relates to the requirements DUNNS number and business size (the NAICS code is 333314 with a sizxe standard of 500 Emp Submission requirements: Interested small business firms responding to this market survey must provide a capability statement demonstrating their experience, skills and capability to fulfill the Governments requirements for the above in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 19.502-2(b). Please specify one primary and one alternate Point of Contact (POC) within your firm, including telephone numbers and email addresses Only electronic copies of capability statements will be accepted and should be emailed to:
[email protected] The e-mail shall contain the following subject line: Response to Sources Sought Notice – Imaging Unit 2020-SS61 . A determination by the Government to proceed with the acquisition as a set-aside is within the discretion of the Government. If capability statements are not received from at least two (2) responsible small businesses or if the Government determines that no small business concerns are capable of performing this requirement based upon an assessment of the capability statements submitted, the Government may proceed with a full and open competition. Please submit all information to Submission requirements: Interested small business firms responding to this market survey must provide a capability statement demonstrating their experience, skills and capability to fulfill the Governments requirements for the above in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 19.502-2(b). Please specify one primary and one alternate Point of Contact (POC) within your firm, including telephone numbers and email addresses Only electronic copies of capability statements will be accepted and should be emailed to:
[email protected]. Please submit all information to
[email protected] May 15th, by 10:00 AMCST. NO TELEPHONE REQUESTS WILL BE ACCEPTED. Place of Contract Performance: 1920 Dayton Ave Ames, Iowa 5001 United States