Brand_Name_Justification.pdf

BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAI.

National lnstitutes of Health

National lnstitute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Laboratory of Molecular Genetics

L, Organization/Line Office a o a

Project Officer name:

Mailing address:

E-mail address:

Telephone number:

Thomas B. Friedman, PhD.

354 Convent Drive, Rm 1.F141, 20892-3729 friedman @nidcd.nih.sov 30L-496-7882

2. Description of Action being approved:

The purpose of this acquisition is to purchase the Hi-Tech KinetAsyst Double-Mixing Stopped-Flow instrument. The system is new and under patent so there are no refurbished or generic models available

Authorizing legislation:41 United States Code (U.S.C.) 253(c) and (FAR) 6.302

3. Description of Product, Supplies or Services

Chemical kinetics is the study of reaction rates. Chemical kinetics can be applied to the study of biochemical reactions and the binding of biomolecules such as proteins, which occur at very rapid rates.

The stopped-flow technique allows for the study of solution-based kinetics on a millisecond timescale.

Reagents are injected from two or more drive syringes through a mixer into the observation cell, where the changes in absorbance are fluorescence are recorded. For our project, the instrument requires (1) multi mixing system to study the binding of more than two proteins, (2) low volume sample syringe system due to the limited availability of the target proteins, and (3) sensitivity and stability during experiments. The Hi-Tech KinetAsyst Double-Mixing Stopped-Flow instrument is uniquã because it uses a

1 MHz PC card that gives greater averaging and therefore smoother data than other units on the market.

Double Mixing, as opposed to the standard single mixing, can run sequentially, without needing to be refilled for every shot. The air driven system has safety interlocks that prevent loss of sample (the drive plates are prevented from firing if the Valves and Stop/Waste Valve are in the wrong position). Other unique features come from the options, such as Conductivity stopped-flow, low temperature (-90"C), Quench-flow module (this requires Double Mixing), T-Pod (for low to high temperatures (-20 to +80 "C)), any of which can be added in the future.

An identification of the statutory author¡ty permitting other than full and open competition.

(Requesting Office completes w¡th assistance of Contract Specialist)

The Statutory Authority for this action is 11.105(aX1) The particular brand name, product, or feature is essential to the Government's requirements, and market research indicates other companies'similar ì

4.

products, or products lacking the particular feature, do not meet, or cannot be modified to meet, the agency's needs.

5. ldentification of the Justification Rationale:

The Laboratory of Molecular Genetics performs basic biological research on hearing and deafness. The research results are published in scientific journals and are subjected to strict peer review. The NIDCD currently studies proteins that are expressed in the inner ear. For example, myosins expressed in inner ear cells and mutations of myosins cause hearing loss. We have been studying human genes in which variants cause deafness. For example, in some myosins as well as taperin, TBCLD24, CDC14A and other hair cell proteins and their partner proteins. The goal is to identify the functions of these proteins necessary for hearing. To study these questions, detailed biochemical kinetic and functional characterization of these proteins is essential. The Hi-Tech KinetAsyst Double-Mixing Stopped-Flow is the only one on the market which meets all of our needs for the study of kinetics and protein-protein interactions. This system includes multi-mixing allowing more than two solutions are mixed together, stabilized power supply, and "HI-FLOW Low Volume Cell" which allows perform experiments using 5 pl volume with 0.5 ms dead time. And importantly this stopped-flow spectrophotometer has great sensitivity to observe our target mechanisms. Similar instruments are provided by KinTek, Unisok, Applied Photophysics, and Biologic. However, none of them satisfy all the criteria previously described. lf another system is chosen, it will be difficult to achieve the goal of the project.

6. Best Value Determination

The prices are considered fair and reasonable since the instrument is being manufactured in Europe and must be shipped to the United States. Likewise, the person who will perform the ¡nstallation and training is stationed in the UK and must travel via air to the United States and stay in a hotel for three days. Also, double mixing is more complicated than single mixing and comes with added benefits: stepper motors are employed to set the intermediate stops necessary to operate in double (or sequential) mixing mode, thus allowing multi-shot operation without refilling after each shot. There are no plumbing changes and the switch between single and double mixing is achieved at the click of the mouse and with a change to stop the volume, as opposed to setting up new syringes for each double mixing run. This unit has the added benefit of offering a set- up of the instrument in a manner similar to a scanning spectrophotometer - after scanning a blank, spectral data can be acquired by slewing the monochromator to collect spectra and in multi-shot mode to collect po¡nt by po¡nt spectra-kinetic information. Time resolved spectra can be collected in a point by point fashion. The system is also configurable for both Absorbance and Fluorescence.

7. Market Research conducted:

Market research reveals that this ¡nstrument is not available through mandatory sources such as NIH

Stock, DSEIS, UNICOR, Ability One, and GSA Advantage. lt must be purchased directly from the manufacturer via the open market since there are no small distr¡buters.

I

8 -Statement of act¡ons, if any to remove barriers to competition in the future:

The LMG will use mandatory sources when possible for consumables and reagents.

9. Any other facts supporting justification:

The Hi-Tech KinetAsyst Double-Mixing Stopped-Flow has been used in previous projects successfully and this system is vital to achieving the projects stated. ln addition, as we have already generated data on the identical system in Dr. James Sellers' laboratory in the NHLBI, our new data on our new instrument would be compatible with our old data from the NHLBI instrument with which we are deeply familiar already.

However, the Sellers' laboratory instrument in Bldg 50 is heavily used and too far away from the Friedman lab in Bldg 354 for rout¡ne frequent analyses and thus the reason to purchase out own stop-flow instrument.

As the technical or requirement personnel, I certify that the evidence of the supporting data that forms the basis of this justification is complete and accurate.

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Contracting Officer Printed Name Date