Final_SOW-7-29-2026.docx

Statement of Work / Requirements Prepared by: The Biosystems and Biomaterial Division Title: Microbial Flow Cell Sorter Requesting Division: OU 63 MML / 644 Biosystems and Biomaterials Division Date: April 23, 2026

1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Biosystems and Biomaterials Division at the Material Measurement Laboratory located at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD plays a vital role in supporting various NIST metrology programs. Biosystems and Biomaterials Division strives to develop innovative methodologies, protocols, and reference materials to foster innovation in biotechnology and bio-surveillance. A cell sorter suited for small particle sorting, especially microbial cells, is needed for validating fluorescence flow cytometry enumeration and characterization work, and for isolating cells based on biological function for further manipulation.

The Contractor shall provide one (1) cell sorter instrument with a 12-month warranty and service agreement. The service agreement shall have a base plus four consecutive option periods to start after the warranty ends.

2. SPECIFICATIONS

1. The instrument must be a fluorescence flow cytometry-based cell sorting instrument.

2. Instrument design and operation must support walk-up user operation after hands-on training. This specification may be demonstrated by a hands-on training requirement of less than 16 hours for new instrument users.

3. The instrument must be equipped with avalanche photodiodes (APD) having linear response over, at minimum, 4 decades of fluorescence intensity.

4. The instrument must detect and sort particles ranging in diameters between 0.2 µm and 30 µm with full capability to discriminate particles on the basis of size, within the specified range, using only scattered light intensity (i.e., fluorescent staining and detection must not be required to supplement size discrimination in this range).

5. The instrument must perform at least 4-way sorting into 5 mL collection tubes, at least two-way sorting into 15 mL collection tubes, and index sorting into 96-well and 384-well multi-well plates.

6. The instrument must be equipped with at least 4 lasers operating within the following excitation color bands

i. Violet 405 nm

ii. Blue 488 nm

iii. Yellow 532 to 561 nm

iv. Red 637 to 640 nm

7. The instrument must be equipped with at least 15 detectors capable of detecting the following fluorescence emissions specified at emission wavelength (ׅ± 10 nm) and minimum bandwidth of ± 10 nm:

i. Violet excitation, vEM1 450 / 10 nm, vEM2 525 / 10 nm, vEM3 600/ 10 nm, vEM4 660/ 10 nm

ii. Blue excitation, bEM1 525 / 10 nm, bEM2 610 / 10 nm, bEM3 700 / 10 nm

iii. Yellow excitation, yEM1 585 / 10 nm, yEM2 610 / 10 nm, yEM3 670 / 10 nm, yEM4 700/ 10 nm, yEM5 750/ 10 nm

iv. Red excitation, rEM1 660 / 10 nm, rEM2 700/ 10 nm, rEM3 770/ 10 nm.

8. The instrument must be provided with and function within a Contractor supplied, non-ducted, class 2 biological safety cabinet (BSC). Contractor shall supply documentation showing that the BSC, when operating normally while housing the instrument, meets or exceeds the performance specifications for personnel and product protection specified in NSF/ANSI 49:2024.

9. The instrument must perform automated startup including necessary optical and stream alignment and droplet delay settings determination.

10. The instrument must perform automated, stream monitoring and recovery.

11. The instrument must support a maximum event rate of at least 10,000 events per second when sorting with 95% sort purity.

12. The instrument control software must support automated compensation, or unmixing, of fluorescent signals including during active cell analysis and sorting.

13. The instrument must provide at least 6 decades of fluorescence signal dynamic range.

14. The instrument must be provided with a windows 11-based control PC, including monitor and all peripherals necessary for operation.

15. The instrument control PC must be provided with all software required to collect and analyze data generated by the instrument.

16. The Contractor shall provide instrument and software operation manuals/instructions for use in either electronic or hardcopy format.

17. The Contractor shall supply a start-up reagent bundle including sheath solution, QC beads, and cleaning solution.

18. The vendor shall provide Telephone Technical Support and Field Applications/Sales/Service Support to answer technical questions, help review data, and make recommendations on troubleshooting issues encountered during flow cell sorter experiments within 3 days.

OPTION: Description: Extended Warranty and Maintenance Support – Year 1 The Contractor shall provide one year of maintenance support services to take place for twelve months immediately after the warranty included with the minimum requirements expires. Service support shall meet or exceed the services required for the warranty detailed in the minimum requirements above.

Option Execution: This option may be executed within the award period of performance. If exercised, the award period of performance would be extended for one year. To be clear, executing this option would result in NIST having a total of two (2) years of instrument warranty/service instead of the one year which came with the minimum requirements.

OPTION: Description: Extended Warranty and Maintenance Support – Year 2 The Contractor shall provide one year of maintenance support services to take place for twelve months immediately after extended warranty and maintenance support year one concludes. Service support shall meet or exceed the services required for the warranty detailed in the minimum requirements above.

Option Execution: This option may be executed within the award period of performance. If exercised, the award period of performance would be extended for one year. To be clear, executing this option would result in NIST having a total of three (3) years of instrument warranty/service overall.

OPTION: Description: Extended Warranty and Maintenance Support – Year 3 The Contractor shall provide one year of maintenance support services to take place immediately after extended warranty and maintenance support year two concludes. Service support shall meet or exceed the services required for the warranty detailed in the minimum requirements above.

Option Execution: This option may be executed within the award period of performance. If exercised, the award period of performance would be extended for one year. To be clear, executing this option would result in NIST having a total of four (4) years of instrument warranty/service overall.

OPTION: Description: Extended Warranty and Maintenance Support – Year 4 The Contractor shall provide one year of maintenance support services to take place immediately after extended warranty and maintenance support year two concludes. Service support shall meet or exceed the services required for the warranty detailed in the minimum requirements above.

Option Execution: This option may be executed within the award period of performance. If exercised, the award period of performance would be extended for one year. To be clear, executing this option would result in NIST having a total of four (4) years of instrument warranty/service overall.

3. INSTALLATION:

Installation is to occur within 45 calendar days of delivery.

The Contractor shall install and qualify the instrument system, inclusive of the instrument, fluidics, biological safety cabinet, and computer system. The contractor shall install the instrument in Building 224 at NIST Gaithersburg, MD. Installation shall include, at a minimum, uncrating/unpacking of all equipment, set up and hook-up of all equipment, start-up, demonstration of specifications and removal of all trash.

Installation shall occur during NIST normal business hours, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, Eastern time, Monday through Friday except Federal Holidays. Contractor shall coordinate installation with the NIST Contract officer Representative (COR) and the Technical Subject Matter Expert (SME)

4. TRAINING:

The Contractor shall provide one (1) day of on-site training at the Gaithersburg, MD campus and flow applications support for at least three NIST personnel.

Training shall be provided during normal business hours, between 8:30am and 5:00pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays, and will be coordinated with the NIST Contract Officer Representative (COR) and the technical subject Matter Expert (SME) to ensure maximum availability of NIST personnel.

Training is to occur within 15 business days of installation. Training may be completed on-site at NIST immediately after installation and demonstration of specifications.

5. Warranty and Service Agreement:

The Contractor shall provide a one-year instrument warranty for the instrument to commence upon Government acceptance.

The Contractor shall also provide a one-year service agreement providing at least one instrument preventative maintenance visit and unlimited routine maintenance and repairs, to commence upon Government acceptance. The service agreement shall include, at no additional cost, all labor, travel, parts, and consumables required when performing maintenance and/or service. During the service agreement period, the Contractor shall provide technical support, either remotely or in person, covering instrument operations issues, review of instrument data, and instrument operations troubleshooting.

Contractor shall respond to requests for maintenance, repair, and/or technical support within three (3) business days. Either the NIST COR or the subject matter expert (SME) may contact the Contractor to request maintenance, repair and/or technical support.

6. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE FOR SERVICE AGREEMENT

The Contractor shall provide a base and four consecutive option periods.

Base Period: TBD Option Period I: TBD Option Period II: TBD Option Period III: TBD Option Period IV: TBD

7. IV. TRADE-IN EQUIPMENT

NIST owns a MO FLO ASTRIOS which is available for trade-in following acceptance of the new fluorescence flow cytometry-based cell sorting instrument (i.e., the requirements of this specifications document) by the Government. The contractor may provide trade-in credit for the MO FLO ASTRIOS. A trade-in credit is not required; however, proposed trade-in credit shall be applied to the total amount of the quotation during price evaluation.

In the event of a trade-in, the contractor shall coordinate with the Government regarding disposition of the MO FLO ASTRIOS such that trade-in is completed no earlier than 8 weeks after NIST acceptance of the new fluorescence flow cytometry-based cell sorting instrument and no later than 10 weeks after NIST acceptance of the new fluorescence flow cytometry-based cell sorting instrument.

8. DELIVERY TERMS

Delivery shall be F.O.B Destination and shall occur within 90 calendar days of award.

F.O.B. Destination means: The contractor shall pack and mark the shipment in conformance with carrier requirements, deliver the shipment in good order and condition to the point of delivery specified in the purchase order, be responsible for any loss of and/or damage to the goods occurring before receipt and acceptance of the shipment by the consignee at the delivery point specified in the order, and pay all charges to the specified point of delivery.

Contractor shall coordinate delivery with the NIST COR in advance so that inside delivery can occur to Building 224. Contractor shall be responsible for providing all information required for delivery personnel site and building access, as described below in General Information.

Delivery shall occur during normal business hours, between 8:30 am and 5:00 pm Eastern time, Monday through Friday, except for Federal holidays and shall be made to:

9. DELIVERABLE SCHEDULE

Full-Year Support

Full-Year Support

Full-Year Support

Full-Year Support

10. INSPECTION & ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

Formal inspection and acceptance of the system shall be given at the time the Contractor successfully demonstrates that all performance specifications as outlined in this document have been met including installation and training. The NIST COR shall review all deliverables and determine if these criteria are met.

11. GENERAL INFORMATION

Federal holidays:

· New Year's Day (January 1)

· Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Third Monday in January)

· Presidents' Day / Washington's Birthday (Third Monday in February)

· Memorial Day (Last Monday in May)

· Juneteenth (June 19)

· Independence Day (July 4)

· Labor Day (First Monday in September)

· Columbus Day (Second Monday in October)

· Veterans Day (November 11)

· Thanksgiving Day (Fourth Thursday in November)

· Christmas Day (December 25)

Safety: The Contractor employee shall be responsible for knowing and complying with site safety requirements. Such regulations include, but are not limited to, general safety, fire prevention, and waste disposal.

Security: NIST is a restricted campus. An identification badge is required for access for entry into buildings and also is shown to the armed Security Police when entering the campus.

Identification Badges: Contractor employees shall comply with NIST identification and access requirements. The Contractor shall provide the name and citizenship information of employees for on-site visits to the NIST COR and/or SME prior to arrival. The COR and/or SME will submit the name(s) and citizenship information to the NIST Office of Security in order for a given Contractor employee to enter the NIST campus. The Contractor employee is responsible for absences due to missing or expired identification and access documents. Each Contractor employee shall wear a visible identification badge provided by the NIST Security Office.

Vehicle Registration: All Contractor employees must register their vehicles with the NIST Security Office to gain access to the campus. A valid driver’s license, Government-furnished, REAL ID compliant civilian ID (which in most cases can be a valid driver's license), proof of insurance and current registration must be presented to the NIST Security Office.

12. PAYMENT TERMS

The Contractor shall be paid, in accordance with Net 30-day payment terms, upon receipt and acceptance of a proper invoice, in accordance with the following schedule:

The Government anticipates payment after 100% inspection and acceptance by the Government.

NOTE: Partial shipments and partial invoices will not be accepted, unless otherwise requested and accepted by the Contracting Officer prior to award. Proposed payment schedules shall be submitted with the offeror’s response to the official solicitation for consideration.