36C24126Q0794.docx

Presolicitation Notice Presolicitation Notice

GENERAL INFORMATION

SET-ASIDE

830 Chalkstone Ave.

Providence RI

CONTACT INFORMATION

Network Contracting Office 1 (NCO 1) Contracting Officer (90C) 1 VA Center Augusta ME 04330

POINT OF CONTACT*

Contract Specialist Andrew Simard andrew.simard@va.gov Email Only

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

EMAIL DESCRIPTION

DESCRIPTION

Pre-Solicitation Notice of intent to award a sole source contract. This is not a solicitation. The Department of Veterans Affairs intends to negotiate a sole source contract with:

IONOPTIX LLC

396 UNIVERSITY AVE

WESTWOOD, MA 02090

H762ZD9TLFU7

This is not a solicitation. The Department of Veterans Affairs intends to award Ion Optix Vibrating Microtome located at the VAMC Providence, RI. IONOPTIX LLC is the Exclusive/Sole source vendor specializing in advanced scientific equipment manufacturing supporting research goals. The contractor will provide the required equipment. Since the intent is to procure this on a sole source basis, no solicitation will be posted to Contracting Opportunities SAM.gov.

The authority for this action is FAR 6.302.1 Only One Responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

The NAICS 334516. The size standard is 1,000 employees. The PSC/FSC is 6640.

Interested persons may contact the Contracting Specialist by email at andrew.simard@va.gov regarding this procurement.

The determination to conduct a competitive procurement based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Contracting Officer.

Response must be received by 09/4/2026 NLT 10:00am EST.

Statement of Work Instrument Request:

· Instrument name: Campden 9000SMZ Vibrating Microtome and Campden 7610B Tissue Bath Cooler for 9000SMZ

· Vendor: IonOptix What are we using it for?

We recently acquired a Cardiac Slice System from IonOptix, which is an instrument that can be used to study cardiac mechanical performance. This system is critical for our translational research at VA providence, because it captures key features of cardiac mechanics in a (patho)physiologically relevant way and offers a more direct and interpretable link to clinical function, making it easier to translate experimental findings into patient-relevant parameters.

In order to study cardiac tissues on the Cardiac Slice System, we need to precisely (section thickness at 1 mm) slice live myocardial tissues from the hearts that require Campden 9000SMZ Vibrating Microtome (IonOptix) and Campden 7610B Tissue Bath Cooler as accessory (IonOptix), which is the same vendor as the Cardiac Slice System. IonOptix has done extensive work demonstrating the Campden 9000SMZ Vibrating Microtome worked perfectly with the Cardiac Slice System in regards of accuracy, reproducibility, and quality of the scientific results. Importantly, should there be any troubles in data acquisition, IonOptix will be able to provide detailed technical support using the instruments they tested.

How will it benefit the Veteran population?

Cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases are common in the Veteran population and are associated with high morbidity and mortality. For example, it is reported that ~110,000 Veterans carry the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension and about 8% of them may have pulmonary arterial hypertension, while it is believed that pulmonary hypertension in Veteran population remains underdiagnosed. The presence of right ventricular dysfunction and failure is associated with poor outcomes in cardiopulmonary diseases. This is exemplified pulmonary hypertension, in which the prognosis is determined by right ventricular function. While there are some specific therapies for pulmonary hypertension, they act mainly as vasodilators. To date, no right ventricular targeted therapies are available and there is an unmet need to understand basic mechanisms associated with pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular dysfunction and to convert this knowledge into therapies. The System we request here characterizes mechanical work in myocardial slices from normal and diseased heart in animal research. In addition to the in vivo assessments, it is a great ex vivo approach that can critically advance the research in mechanistic investigations and the findings will ultimately benefit our Veteran population. The system will benefit all the preclinical studies related to cardiopulmonary vascular biology at VA Providence.

Shipping address is:

Providence VA Medical Center 830 Chalkstone Ave.

Bldg 8, Warehouse Providence, RI 02908

Vendor info:

IonOptix LLC 396 University Ave.

Westwood, MA 02090

Presolicitation Notice