36C24E23Q0056_1.docx

Special Notice Special Notice

GENERAL INFORMATION

Regional Procurement Office East Building 32 Suite 1A1111 1010 Delafield Road Pittsburgh PA 15215-1802

POINT OF CONTACT*

Contracting Officer Ms. Millicent Covert millicent.covert@va.gov

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

AGENCY’S URL

URL DESCRIPTION

AGENCY CONTACT’S EMAIL ADDRESS

EMAIL DESCRIPTION

DESCRIPTION

Regional Procurement Office (RPO) - East intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with Scanco USA, Inc. to purchase a MicroCT45 ex vivo micro Computed Tomography (microCT) scanner for the Atlanta VA. This specialized equipment will allow for significant expansion of ongoing studies focused on bone disease, bone regeneration, osteoarthritis, spine fusion, fracture repair, and functional vascularization. The following equipment for the system will be purchased:

ITEM INFORMATION

LOCAL STOCK NUMBER: uCT 45

Currently, the Research program at the Atlanta VAMC heavily utilizes an approximately 15-year-old Scanco CT40 for ex vivo assessment of bone volume and quality in rodents, which has reached end of life. Highly sophisticated software, critical for generating and quantifying the 3-D images of the skeleton, are based on an old operating system that will be obsolete in the very near future. The purchase of a new Scanco unit will allow for synergism and cost savings because of the existing Scanco equipment and knowledge of sophisticated analyses software.

SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS

The following are the salient characteristics for the micro CT scanner:

• System must have high resolution (~1.25µm).

• System must have a Variable filter and X-ray power settings greatly increase the range of materials that can be scanned (3-position filter for x-ray source).

• System must have high capacity for unattended scanning (an automatic sample changer with 20 holders).

• System must have a Scan Size 50 mm diameter / 120 mm height.

• System must have a maximum specimen scanning size of 90 mm diameter / 120 mm height.

• System must have high reproducibility, such as adjusting for dark-current, thereby limiting the short-term repeatability to values typically below 0.1%

• System must have an Integrated reconstruction and image analysis capabilities including; On-line and Off-Line reconstruction (as well as Off-line reconstruction if desired), the capability to operate in batch mode; i.e. automated sample acquisition and reconstruction of multiple specimens sequentially, 3-D analysis of irregular shapes, to overcome the limitations of fixed geometry VOI analyses, and the ability of images to be exported in gray scale, TIFF, PostScript, DICOM, etc. formats and to be exported directly in to spreadsheet programs like EXCEL.

• System must be modifiable for future expansion.

The research program’s projects are focused on musculoskeletal and cardiovascular research range in focus from diseases of bone homeostasis (i.e. osteoporotic disease), fracture repair, osteoarthritis, biomaterials for bone regeneration and tissue repair, drug development for improved spine fusion, and improved functional vasculature after ischemia. microCT will significantly facilitate each of these projects and be a great asset to the rapidly expanding Musculoskeletal group at the Atlanta VAMC.

This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. Any responsible sources who wish to identify their interest and capability to provide this equipment or equipment that is compatible must notify this Contracting Officer at Millicent.Covert@va.gov NLT Tuesday, January 31, 2023 by 11:59 AM EST. Telephone responses will not be accepted. Upon receipt of the interested parties' notification, the Contracting Officer will determine whether to conduct a competitive procurement or proceed with sole source negotiations.

Special Notice