Sources Sought Notice - 75N94025Q00178.pdf

SMALL BUSINESS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

Ordering Agency NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, (NICHD)

Requiring Agency National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

Reference Number 75N94025Q00178

Project Title Flow Cytometer for NIDDK

NAICS Code 334516 - Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing

Posted Date August, 6th 2025

Current Response Date August, 17th 2025, 5:00 PM ED

1 INTRODUCTION

This is a Small Business Sources Sought Notice. This is NOT a solicitation. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small business; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses;

and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition; and (4) availability of domestic sources manufactured in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available commercial quantities and of a satisfactory quality.

The NAICS code for this requirement is 334516 - Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, with a Small Business Association (SBA) size standard of 1,000 employees.

Responses must:

Include the place/country of manufacture for each item.

Address the size status of the manufacturer under the applicable NAICS code.

Identify the responding firm’s size and type of business.

This notice is being issued to help determine the availability of qualified companies technically capable of meeting Government requirements and to determine the method of acquisition. It is not a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes.

No award will be made as a result of this notice. This notice is strictly for market research and information purposes only. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice.

2 BACKGROUND

Agency Mission The mission of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and to apply that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.

Institute Mission The mission of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) is to conduct and support medical research and research training and to disseminate science-based information on diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutritional disorders, and obesity; and kidney, urologic, and hematologic diseases, to improve people’s health and quality of life.

Division Mission The NIDDK Intramural Research Program (IRP) conducts biomedical research and training related to diabetes mellitus; endocrine, bone, and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, including liver diseases and nutritional disorders; and kidney, urologic, and hematologic diseases. Intramural research is conducted in the Institute's laboratories and clinical facilities in Bethesda, Maryland and in Phoenix, Arizona.

Requirement Background There are currently 17 Laboratories and Branches (i.e. 17 departments with different focus areas) in the NIDDK IRP. Most if not all these areas of research, either occasionally or on an ongoing basis, require advanced light microscopy methods to qualitatively complement other assays, or as the basis of a quantitative assay.

A flow cytometer is a crucial instrument for immunology and studies related with human diseases. Our current flow cytometer was purchased in 2018 and is limited to roughly 10-14 color panels and now constrains the lab’s ability to dissect rare immune and parenchymal cell states in kidney, spleen, and tumor digests or to analyze irreplaceable patient samples. Modern immunology increasingly demands 40 plus parameters per cell to integrate flow data with single cell RNA seq, ATAC seq, and spatial transcriptomic pipelines already active in the lab.

We need a new flow cytometer instrument that will shorten instrument queues, and serve as an open resource for neighboring groups that express interest, also broadening training opportunities for fellows across the institute. Without a new flow cytometer instrument, current and future research will be negatively affected because it will rely on an outdated instrument.

The Government anticipates awarding a commercial, severable, fixed-price type, purchase order, with a lump sum payment after acceptance of deliverables.

Anticipated Period of Performance:

Estimated delivery by 90 Days After Receipt of Order (ARO)

3 DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUIREMENT

We require a flow cytometer instrument that is designed for high-speed, high-parameter analysis of cells, offering both spectral and conventional flow cytometry capabilities. We require it to leverage acoustic focusing technology for precise cell alignment, and enable faster sample acquisition and clog-resistant fluidics. This is important to our lab research as it results in quicker, more accurate, and reliable data for researchers, particularly in fields like immunology and immuno-oncology.

Flow Cytometer Specifications:

Combine 6 spatially separated flat-top lasers, 51 fluorescence detectors, acoustic-focusing fluidics, and dual conventional/spectral unmixing.

Provide acoustic focusing that virtually eliminates clogs when running dense tissue digests (kidney, spleen, tumor).

Have sample-recovery mode, calibrated volume delivery, and 20 µL minimum uptake to protect limited specimens and enable absolute counts without the use of additional counting beads.

Have an optical train that is user-realign-free and uniquely allows plug-and-play dichroics/bandpass filters for rapid panel changes.

Process samples at sample flow rates between 12.5 µL and 500 µL per minute.

Come with 57 detectors: 51 for fluorescence detection and 6 for scatter detection and enable spectral unmixing of panels of up to 32 colors.

Have software enabled with both spectral and conventional compensation workflows.

Permit adjustment of the photomultiplier gain.

Analyze particles in the size range of 0.16 µm to 50 µm.

Have scatter detector array that shall enable the user to identify cells across a broad dynamic size range within a sample. This expanded range shall be accomplished using violet forward- scatter and side-scatter detectors for small particles and both available blue forward-scatter and side-scatter detectors.

Have advanced polarized scatter detection capabilities for detection of intracellular crystal structures.

Have lower coefficients of variation (<3%) than those of hydrodynamic instruments.

Allow the user to adjust the optical configuration without assistance from a service engineer.

Collect height, area, and width measurements in all scatter and fluorescence channels.

Easily identify appropriate reagents to use for a particular channel and annotate data plots.

Use flat-top lasers, and the optical alignment has been designed to be highly stable, so under normal operating conditions (without moving the instrument), the user is not required to align optics.

Have a laser light engine with 6 spatially separated flat-top lasers.

Provide at least 6 decades of resolution, and shall be capable of high data collection rates, capturing up to

35,000 events per second.

Have calibrated sample volume delivery with minimal draw variation.

Have positive- displacement fluidics.

Provide a fluidics cart with weight- based level sensing that carries fluid for approximately 16 hours of run time and the main fluids needed for automated maintenance functions.

Have a built-in touchscreen on the instrument that allows the user to run startup and shutdown operations without logging into the software and enables monitoring of fluid levels during acquisition of samples.

Have a minimum uptake volume of 20 µL when running plates.

Have acoustic focusing technology that enables the instrument to analyze blood samples without the need to lyse, wash, or concentrate samples.

Be compact enough to be placed either on a counter or in a laminar flow hood. Instrument dimensions (H x W x D): 49.5 x 86.4 x 61 cm; 19.5 x 34 x 24 in or less. Fluid cart dimensions (H x W x D): 65 x 76 x 60 cm;

26 x 30 x 24 or less.

Operate at temperatures of 15–30°C (59–86°F), with operating humidity 20–80% (noncondensing).

Have instrument tube lifter that accommodates 0.5, 1.5, and 2.0 mL microcentrifuge tubes and 2 and 5 mL flow cytometry tubes.

Include workstation with Processor: Intel Core i9 processor, 64 GB RAM, solid state drive, 2 x 8 TB, 560

MB/s, NVIDIA RTX A2000 graphics card, 32-inch flat panel (4K resolution) or similar.

Compatibility with the CytKick Max Autosampler, our current plate-handling device.

Software Requirements

Have data from the instrument stored in industry-standard FCS 3.1 file formats.

Include software designed to collect and analyze flow cytometry data.

Have a simple user interface based on the Windows platform.

Support data acquisition, data analysis, and functional control of the instrument.

Be designed so that data analysis can be performed in real time during data acquisition or post-acquisition.

Include multiple plot types, including dot plots, density plots, spectrum plots, dimensionality reduction plots, and histograms that include linear, logarithmic, hyperlog, and biexponential scaling.

Provide automated startup and shutdown capabilities from the desktop application and touchscreen.

Have maintenance functions, including: unclog, debubble, system decontamination, and flow cell clean, which can be fully automated from the instrument software.

Have spectral and conventional compensation unmixing modes.

Include a spectral energy plot, a cosine similarity score, and complexity scores.

Allow batch export of experiments and FCS files.

Include statistical analysis tools that allow analyses to be exported to a CSV file. Statistical operations that can be performed shall include mean, median, percent robust coefficient of variation (RCV), standard deviation, percent parent, percent total, and concentration.

Have software that allows experiment annotation by import of CSV files.

Generate account usage logs for a user-defined time.

Allow graphical thresholding of up to two parameters simultaneously.

Have a sample recovery mode.

Allow the user to define a backup storage location for data files.

Service Requirements:

Customer training at the customer’s site or at an internal facility by a certified technical scientist, focusing on basic operation and maintenance.

Limited warranty for a period of one year, or longer, beginning on the date of installation.

Telephone technical support as well as field application and service support to answer technical questions, help review data, and make recommendations for troubleshooting results of problematic flow cytometry experiments.

Delivery/Installation Requirements:

Disposal of all packing/delivery materials.

Delivery and installation is to be at the following location:

Kidney Disease Branch - NIDDK Immunoregulation Section Building 10, Room 10S224

10 CENTER DR

BETHESDA MD 20892

4 CAPABILITY STATEMENT / INFORMATION SOUGHT

If your organization has the capability to furnish the supplies, software and services described above, please provide a tailored Capability Statement with appropriate documentation supporting the ability to perform all of the areas outlined below. Include information regarding prior completed projects of similar nature, as applicable.

If subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to meet technical capability, organizations should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements.

Each response should also include the following business information:

Legal Business Name

Business address

Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) #

Point of contact (name, title, address, telephone, and e-mail)

NAICS code/Business classification size

Socio-economic status pursuant to the applicable NAICS code

List of any current Government Schedule Contracts/Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts

Capability Areas to Address:

1. Flow Cytometer: Demonstrate capability to manufacture or supply Flow Cytometer equipment that meets the specifications.

2. Software: Demonstrate capability to develop or supply software that meets the requirements.

3. Service: Demonstrate capability to provide customer training, limited warranty, telephone technical support, field application and service support that meets the requirements.

4. Delivery: Demonstrate capability to meet the delivery and installation requirements.

5. Past Performance: Identify relevant projects involving supplying Flow Cytometer equipment to Government or research facilities, preferably in health research, laboratory, or similar applications.

5 SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Responses should be in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format using 11-point or 12-point font, normal margins, with single or double spacing. The response should be limited to ten (10) pages. The 10-page limit does not include the cover page.

The information submitted must be in an outline format that addresses each of the capability areas for the requirement, and any other information stated in this notice as applicable.

Capability Statements Capability Statements should be submitted electronically to Jacob Balenson at Jacob.balenson@nih.gov on or before 8/17/2025 at 1700 EST.

All questions and/or comments must be emailed to the contact above. Answers may or may not be provided, however any information received will be used to assist in creating a solicitation for this requirement. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted.

Notice: Respondents are solely responsible and accountable for all expenses associated with their response. The Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to Responders with respect to any information submitted. 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. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in www.sam.gov. 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).

The following provision is applicable to this notice and is hereby incorporated by reference: FAR 52.215-3 Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes (Oct 1997). The full text of this provision is available at:

https://www.acquisition.gov/far/part-52.