Combined Synopsis-Solicitation-Lightspeed Mode Upgrade.pdf

COMBINED SYNOPSIS / SOLICITATION

COMPETITIVE

Title: Brand-name or Equal: Lightspeed Mode Upgrade for Existing Miltenyi Biotect

UltraMicroscope Blaze

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial products or commercial services prepared in accordance with the format in subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued.

The solicitation number is 75N95024Q00475 and the solicitation is issued as a request for quotation (RFQ).

This acquisition is for commercial products or services and is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13—Simplified Acquisition Procedures; FAR Subpart 13.5—Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items; and FAR Part 12— Acquisition of Commercial Items, and is not expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold.

This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2024-06, dated July 30, 2024.

The associated NAICS code is 334516 and the small business size standard is 1,000 employees. This soliciatiton competed on a full and open basis with no set-aside restrictions.

Purchase Description The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) has a requirement for a LightSpeed Mode Upgrade or equal for an existing Miltenyi Biotec UltraMicroscope Blaze.

Background and Requirement The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the nation’s leading medical research agency and the primary Federal agency whose mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge. The mission of the NIH also includes enhancing health, lengthening life, reducing illness and disability, conducting, supporting and making medical discoveries that improves and saves people’s health and lives.

The FCICF facility is part of the National Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and supports basic and clinical research within NINDS and across the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The FCICF facility has been receiving a growing number of requests for multispectral 3D light-sheet scanning of a wide variety of cleared tissue samples, which currently take from several hours to several days to scan per sample, depending on sample size, number of imaging channels, and imaging resolution acquired. The Lightspeed Mode Upgrade to the UltraMicroscope Blaze will decrease the scanning time of these samples by up to 60-fold, thereby improving the facility’s bandwidth and ability to support light-sheet imaging projects.

https://www.acquisition.gov/far/subpart-12.6#FAR_Subpart_12_6

The purpose of this procurement is to acquire Miltenyi Biotec’s LightSpeed Mode Upgrade for the FCICF’s existing Miltenyi Biotec UltraMicroscope Blaze imaging system, which would enable the FCICF to support 3D multispectral imaging applications of whole organ tissues, including whole mouse, rat and monkey brains, and large specimens of human brain tissue, after tissue clearing.

This requirement includes the replacement of required electronic and optical parts on the UltraMicroscope Blaze, installation of new LightSpeed image acquisition and MACS iQ View 3D image processing software, installation and setup of a custom configured scientific computer designed to control the upgraded functionalities of the UltraMicroscope Blaze’s upgraded functions. The Lightspeed Mode Upgrade will enable up to a 60-fold increase in imaging speed and continuous movement of the scanning stage with optimal camera synchronization to enable fast tiling 3D scans at high spatial resolution.

Lightspeed Mode Upgrade for Existing Miltenyi Biotect UltraMicrscope Blaze (brand-name or equal). The Lightspeed Mode Upgrade must include the following components:

1. LightSpeed mode Upgrade package, which contains 1 Blaze PC, 1 Lightspeed software license, Blaze electronics required for upgrade

2. UMB Blaze Slider holder with clamping

3. UMB Sample holder base 19mm with clamping

4. UMB Sample holder base 60mm with clamping

5. UMB LightSpeed mode Upgrade service, which covers all travel and labor costs pertaining to installation of the 130-133-683 UMB Lightspeed mode Upgrade package for the Ultramicroscope Blaze, exchange of the motor control board, driver installation, functional control installation.

6. UMB knife-edge calibration tool

7. MACS iQ View 3D Large Volume software package, consisting of 1 MACS iQ View – 3D permanent commercial license, 2 years of software updates, image processing software for UltraMicroscope Blaze data.

8. Delivery and installation

9. One (1) year parts and labor warranty from Miltenyi Biotec on all non-software products/items after the date of acceptance by the Government.

10. Two (2) year parts and labor warranty from Miltenyi Biotec on all software products/items after the date of acceptance by the Government.

Salient Characteristics The salient physical, functional, or performance characteristics that “equal” products must meet are as follows:

• Full compatibility of optical and electronic components with existing UltraMicroscope Blaze imaging system.

• Full software compatibility for fast 3D multispectral image acquisition and post-acquisition big image data processing.

• Custom slide holders with clamping to mount tissue specimens up to 60 mm in size.

• Knife-edge calibration tool for light sheet calibration of the UltraMicroscope Blaze.

• A custom-configured scientific imaging computer fully compatible to support fast tile 3D big image data acquisition using the UltraMicroscope Blaze.

• Permanent license of MACS iQ View 3D imaging software for post-acquisition processing of large volume image datasets in the multi-TB size range. The software must include seamless functions for 3D cropping, de-striping, denoising, deconvolution, image stitching, contrast compression, and batch processing. The software must include 2 years of software updates after software activation.

• One (1) year parts and labor warranty from the manufacturer on all non-software products/items after the date of acceptance by the Government.

• Two (2) year parts and labor warranty from the manufacturer on all software products/items after the date of acceptance by the Government.

Contract Type The Government intends to issue a Firm Fixed Price Purchase Order.

Period and Place of Performance The Contractor shall provide delivery and installation of the Lightspeed Mode Upgrade components described aboave within thirty (30) days after receipt of order. Delivery must be FOB Destination and must include inside installation, between the hours of 8:30 am and 5:00 pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except on Federal holidays). Delivery shall be to the following address:

National Institutes of Health Flow & Imaging Cytometry Core 10 Center Drive Bldg. 10, Rm. 5S-241 Bethesda MD 20892

USA

The Contractor shall coordinate installation with the NINDS Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) [to be identified at time of award] at the time the Lightspeed Mode Upgrade components are ready to be shipped. The Contractor shall provide an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)-certified personnel to perform onsite setup and installation.

Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) The following Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) will represent the Government for the purpose of this contract:

[To be specified at time of award]

The COR is responsible for: (1) monitoring the Contractor's technical progress, including the surveillance and assessment of performance and recommending to the Contracting Officer changes in requirements; (2) interpreting the statement of work and any other technical performance requirements; (3) performing technical evaluation as required; (4) performing technical inspections and acceptances required by this contract; and (5) assisting in the resolution of technical problems encountered during performance.

The Contracting Officer is the only person with authority to act as agent of the Government under this contract. Only the Contracting Officer has authority to: (1) direct or negotiate any changes in the statement of work; (2) modify or extend the period of performance; (3) change the delivery schedule; (4) authorize reimbursement to the Contractor for any costs incurred during the performance of this contract; (5) otherwise change any terms and conditions of this contract; or (6) sign written licensing agreements. The Government may unilaterally change its COR designation.

Offerors proposing oe equal products must provide brochures and/or published technical specifications that provide evidence of those products’ ability to meet all specifications listed in the “Salient Characteristics” section of this solicitation.

Options – Not applicable and will not be evaluated.

A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer’s specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.

Offerors quotation shall include a completed copy of FAR provision 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications—Commercial Products and Commercial Services (see Attachment 2).

FAR clause 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions – Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Nov 2023), applies to this acquisition and is incorporated by reference.

Addenda to FAR clause 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions— Commercial Products and Commercial Services apply to this acquisition. The additional contract terms and conditions are provided in Attachement 2.

52.242-15 Stop-Work Order (Aug. 1989)

(a) The Contracting Officer may, at any time, by written order to the Contractor, require the Contractor to stop all, or any part, of the work called for by this contract for a period of 90 days after the order is delivered to the Contractor, and for any further period to which the parties may agree. The order shall be specifically identified as a stop-work order issued under this clause.

Upon receipt of the order, the Contractor shall immediately comply with its terms and take all reasonable steps to minimize the incurrence of costs allocable to the work covered by the order during the period of work stoppage. Within a period of 90 days after a stop-work is delivered to the Contractor, or within any extension of that period to which the parties shall have agreed, the Contracting Officer shall either --

(1) Cancel the stop-work order; or

(2) Terminate the work covered by the order as provided in the Default, or the Termination for Convenience of the Government, clause of this contract.

(b) If a stop-work order issued under this clause is canceled or the period of the order or any extension thereof expires, the Contractor shall resume work. The Contracting Officer shall make an equitable adjustment in the delivery schedule or contract price, or both, and the contract shall be modified, in writing, accordingly, if --

(1) The stop-work order results in an increase in the time required for, or in the Contractor’s cost properly allocable to, the performance of any part of this contract; and

(2) The Contractor asserts its right to the adjustment within 30 days after the end of the period of work stoppage; provided, that, if the Contracting Officer decides the facts justify the action, the Contracting Officer may receive and act upon the claim submitted at any time before final payment under this contract.

(c) If a stop-work order is not canceled and the work covered by the order is terminated for the convenience of the Government, the Contracting Officer shall allow reasonable costs resulting from the stop-work order in arriving at the termination settlement.

(d) If a stop-work order is not canceled and the work covered by the order is terminated for default, the Contracting Officer shall allow, by equitable adjustment or otherwise, reasonable costs resulting from the stop-work order.

(End of Clause)

FAR 52.211-6 BRAND NAME OR EQUAL (AUG 1999)

(a) If an item in this solicitation is identified as “brand name or equal,” the purchase description reflects the characteristics and level of quality that will satisfy the Government’s needs. The salient physical, functional, or performance characteristics that “equal” products must meet are specified in the solicitation.

(b) To be considered for award, offers of “equal” products, including “equal” products of the brand name manufacturer, must-

(1) Meet the salient physical, functional, or performance characteristic specified in this solicitation;

(2) Clearly identify the item by-

(i) Brand name, if any; and

(ii) Make or model number;

(3) Include descriptive literature such as illustrations, drawings, or a clear reference to previously furnished descriptive data or information available to the Contracting Officer;

and

(4) Clearly describe any modifications the offeror plans to make in a product to make it conform to the solicitation requirements. Mark any descriptive material to clearly show the modifications.

(c) The Contracting Officer will evaluate “equal” products on the basis of information furnished by the offeror or identified in the offer and reasonably available to the Contracting Officer. The Contracting Officer is not responsible for locating or obtaining any information not identified in the offer.

(d) Unless the offeror clearly indicates in its offer that the product being offered is an “equal” product, the offeror shall provide the brand name product referenced in the solicitation.

(End of provision)

FAR clause 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders–Commercial Items (May 2024), applies to this acquisition and is incorporated by reference. The clauses applicable to this acquisition are provided in Attachment 3.

The below listed provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and are provided in full text in Attachments 2, 3, and 4. Offerors MUST complete the provisions at FAR 52.204-24 and 52.204- 26 in accordance with FAR 4.2103 Procedures and submit with its quotation.

• FAR 52.204-24 Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment (Nov 2021) (See Attachment 2)

• FAR 52.204-26 Covered Telecommunications Equipment or Services-Representation (Oct 2020) (See Attachment 2)

• FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes or Executive Orders—Commercial Products and Commercial Services (MAY 2024) (See Attachment 3)

• NIH Invoice and Payment Provisions with IPP (See Attachment 4)

The provision at FAR clause 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors – Commercial Products and Commercial Serivces (Sep 2023), applies to this acquisition and is incorporated by reference.

The provision at FAR clause 52.212-2 Evaluation – Commercial Products and Commercial Sercices (Nov 2021), applies to this acquisition.

(a) The Government will award a purchase order resulting from this solicitation on the basis of lowest price technically acceptable. Technical acceptability will be evaluated based upon the following:

1. The Offeror must include in its quotation brand name or equal products as described in this solicitation.

2. Or Equal products must meet or exceed each salient characteristic in the “Salient Characteristics” section of this solicitation.

The Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) is not applicable to this requirement.

Responses to this solicitation must include clear and convincing evidence of the offeror’s capability of fulfilling the requirement as it relates to the technical evaluation criteria.

In addition to the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number, Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), offeror’s certification of business size must be included in its response. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov at the time of response submission.

All responses must be received on or before 8:00 AM Eastern Time on September 4, 2024 and reference RFQ number 75N95024Q00475. Late submissions shall be treated in accordance with the solicitation provision at FAR 52.212-1(f). Responses shall be submitted electronically to the Marlene Milgram, Contracting Officer at marlene.milgram@nih.gov.

Fax responses will not be accepted.

For questions regarding this solicitation, please contact the Marlene Milgram at marlene.milgram@nih.gov.

Attachments:

Attachment 1 - Purchase Description Attachment 2 - Additional Terms and Conditions Attachment 3 - FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions – Commercial Products and

Commercial Services (MAY 2024) Attachment 4 - NIH Invoicing Instructions with IPP http://www.sam.gov/ mailto:marlene.milgram@nih.gov mailto:marlene.milgram@nih.gov