Att-SOW-75N95024Q00366.pdf

Version 11-30-2016-1 FAR Part 11—Describing Agency Needs

STATEMENT OF WORK (SERVICES)

(SOW)

GENERAL INFORMATION

Title of Project:

Acquisition of a maintenance agreement for the transmission electron microscope (TEM), model L120C, manufactured by ThermoFisher Scientific.

Statement of Need and Purpose:

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) requires the TEM L120C and CETA camera to be continually covered by a service contract to limit downtime and optimize peek research performance. This contract shall provide both on-site preventive maintenance service by a ThermoFisher Scientific-trained engineer and replacement of parts supported by the manufacturer. The L120C transmission electron microscope with CETA camera is a precise, complicated instrument that must be serviced and monitored routinely in order to obtain reproducible research-grade data in the form of images suitable for analysis and publication.

This contract is meant to cover maintenance for the period of performance from 7/30/24 to 7/29/2025.

Background Information and Objective:

Studying changes of normal and perturbed conditions related to the aging process at the cellular, sub-organelle, and molecular levels require the use of a 120 kilovolt TEM microscope that can record images and tilted image series at sub-nanometer resolution. A TEM image is formed by accelerating an electron beam (120 kV) through a sample. The resulting transmitted image is recorded on an integrated digital camera and has a pixel size of ~0.5 nm to 0.2 nm.

Sub-nanometer resolution is a requirement for categorizing fine membrane physical changes and for using such methods that can reveal structure and chemical identity. Methods NIA will use for studies that require TEM analysis include: negative staining and antibody-gold labelling of cellular membranes and membrane-bound compartments (extracellular vesicles and autophagosomes), evaluation of membrane to membrane contact within tissues and cells, and screening of purified proteins. 3D tomography imaging is also a method that will be used and can only be performed efficiently on a fully automated transmission electron microscope with integrated software developed by the microscope manufacturer. The continuous functioning of this microscope is required to meet NIA mission needs of producing high resolution images depicting aging and aging-related disease. No other company can provide manufacturer supplied parts and manufacturer developed software. No 3rd party company can supply replacement parts as quickly as TFS.

Period of Performance:

The period of performance of this maintenance agreement is from 7/30/2024 to 7/29/2025.

SCOPE OF WORK

General Requirements:

Independently and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall furnish all the necessary services, qualified personnel, material, equipment, and facilities, not otherwise provided by the Government as needed to perform the Statement of Work below:

Version 11-30-2016-1 FAR Part 11—Describing Agency Needs

Contractor shall provide preventative maintenance service as described hereunder:

PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE CHECKS: The Contractor shall provide one preventive maintenance check per year.

SOFTWARE UPDATES: The Contractor shall provide standard software updates of operating system free of charge.

REQUESTING SERVICE: To request service on Equipment, Government will call the telephone number on the Service Quote or email Contractor service center. Contractor shall make commercially reasonable efforts to respond within 24 hours of Government contact with Contractor service center. If a Contractor representative cannot resolve an Equipment problem in a reasonable time frame, Contractor shall escalate the problem by providing both telephone and/or on-site support, as necessary.

TELEPHONE SUPPORT: Contractor shall provide telephone support for repair and maintenance of the Equipment during Contractor business hours set forth on the Service Quote, exclusive of contractor holidays. Such support shall include responses about operating practices and service issues that can be diagnosed and resolved over the telephone. For telephone support, Government will call the telephone number set forth on the Service Quote or such other number provided by Contractor.

REPLACEMENT PARTS AND COMPONENTS: Contractor shall make commercially reasonable efforts to ship standard parts or components, in accordance with the shipping terms on the Service Quote, within twenty-four (24) hours after authorization for a part or component.

In certain cases, Equipment or a part will need to be returned to Contractor for repair or replacement. Equipment may be returned to Contractor only after approval and assignment of a specific return materials control number by Contractor. Government acknowledges and agrees that replacement parts or components may be new or reconditioned to manufacturer’s specifications. Contractor may, at its sole discretion and to the extent permitted by law, exchange and/or repair and modify existing parts or components of the Equipment, so long as it does not diminish the functionality of the Equipment. Any repairable parts or components supplied and replaced by Contractor with replacement parts or components shall become the sole property of Contractor. Contractor sells repairable parts or components on net price basis.

Government is responsible to return any such parts or components within ninety (90) days after the date of delivery of the replacement parts or components to Government. Government will be invoiced full list price if Government fails to return such parts or components. Any part or component package opened by Government will be considered as sold and if such part or component is not returned within ninety (90) days after the date of delivery of the replacement part or component, the full list price will be invoiced to Government. A restocking fee will be charged for all returned parts and components.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITIES

There is no equipment misuse.

The Government communicates equipment issues within the time-frame stipulated by contract.

The Government communicates a service call.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Travel:

Travel is included in service contract.

SCOPE OF WORK