2_NOI-NIAID-26-2278150.pdf

Sources Sought (Notice of Intent)

Title: Intent to Sole Source – MAINTENANCE/SERVICE ON CYTEK AURORA FLOW

CYTOMETRY SYSTEM

ID: NOI-NIAID-26-2278150

Post Date: 10/09/2026 Response Date: 10/18/2026 POP - November 1, 2026, - October 31, 2027 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code: 811210- $34M

(ELECTRONIC AND PRECISION EQUIPMENT REPAIR & MAINT)

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:

This is a Notice of Intent notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. This critical procurement is to purchase Service maintenance for the Cytek Aurora flow cytometer. This is necessary purchasing for our ongoing research experiments that began before January 20, 2025, and are directly related to human healthcare as they are aimed at the identification of most effective protocols for production of HIV envelope protein for vaccine use.

These items are for an ongoing project related to our active research project entitled “Structure- Function Studies of the HIV-1 Envelope Glycoproteins”(ZIA AI001197-09), whose scope is to elucidate the structure-function relations in the HIV-1 envelope. To ensure timely action on this project, the items in this procurement must be purchased because the materials are related to patient samples, and we risk compromising the entire experiment if they are not purchased in time.

This is a Notice of Intent; the National Institutes of Health (NIH) intends to negotiate a sole source contract for the maintenance agreement with:

CYTEK BIOSCIENCES INC

The statutory authority for this sole source requirement is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) as implemented by FAR 6.302.1(b)(1)(i) “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services will satisfy agency Requirements.”, no substitutions possible. Since the intent is to procure this on a sole source basis, no solicitation will be posted to Contract Opportunities, https://www.sam.gov.

REQUIREMENT: The Cytek Biosciences provides timely, cost efficiently and most reliably On-Site Flow Cytometry Services that includes

- Maintenance and Repair

- Service maintenance for the Cytek Aurora flow cytometer ensures the optical alignment, fluidics, and unmixing algorithms work flawlessly.

This is critical for T cell and B cell research, which relies on resolving 40+ marker panels , separating dim and rare cell subsets, and extracting high autofluorescence .

Cytek Aurora flow cytometer is the most important instrument for our ongoing research experiments that began before January 20, 2025, and are directly related to human healthcare as

Sources Sought (Notice of Intent) they are aimed at the identification of most effective protocols for production of HIV envelope protein for vaccine use.

REQUIREMENTS:

Cytek Biosciences offers multi-tiered On-Site Services and Repair Plans for the Cytek Aurora, with preventative maintenance performed primarily by Field Service Engineers .

Key Labor Categories

Field Service Engineer (FSE): The primary labor category. These are OEM factory-trained technicians who conduct on-site preventive maintenance, hardware diagnostics, and emergency repairs.

Technical Applications Specialist (TAS): A secondary support labor category for remote or on-site support. These specialists assist with assay optimization, general scientific consultation, panel design, and troubleshooting.

Only one award will be made as a result of this notice, and the award will be a Firm-Fixed price purchase order. This will be the only notice of the Government’s intent to solicit, negotiate, and award to one source to satisfy this requirement. The Government plans to award a purchase order for this requirement within five (5) days of closing this notice.

THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR COMPETITIVE QUOTATIONS. All responsible, qualified sources who can provide the equipment and service should submit a capability statement electronically to the Contracting Officer, Linda Smith at linda.smith2@nih.gov and Acquisition Specialist, Jessica Emerson (Contractor Support) at jessica.emerson@nih.gov by 2:00 PM EST on October 18, 2026. Facsimile responses are NOT accepted. Any responses received by NIH after this date and exact time specified are late and will not be considered. The determination to conduct a competitive procurement based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Contracting Officer.

DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES:

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted.

CONFIDENTIALITY:

No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).

mailto:linda.smith2@nih.gov mailto:jessica.emerson@nih.gov