Solicitation_Amendment.docx

COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION SB1341-18-RQ-0186

LIQUID HANDLER

I. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6 – Streamlined Procedures for Evaluation and Solicitation for Commercial Items, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotations are being requested, and a separate written solicitation document will not be issued. This solicitation is being issued under the authority of FAR Part 13.5 Simplified Acquisition Procedures.

A. This solicitation is a Request for Quotations (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-96_11-06-17 effective 01/16/2018.

B. The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 334516 with a small business size standard of 1,000 employees. This acquisition is being procured as a Total Small Business Set Aside. Only quotes submitted by qualified small business concerns will be considered. Please note that 13 CFR § 125.6, as implemented through Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.219-14, is applicable to this procurement. No waivers/exemptions to the Non-Manufacturer Rule are applicable. See https://www.sba.gov/contracting/contracting-officials/non-manufacturer-rule/non-manufacturer-waivers for additional information.

C. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) requires a liquid handling system and optional years of maintenance services in accordance with the attached Statement of Work.

II. Period of Performance:

Instrument: Delivery of instrument, installation and training completed within 60 days after award Option Year 1: Begins after exercise of option for a period of one year. Option must be exercised concurrent with expiration of warranty period but not later than 30 days after expiration of warranty period.

Option Year 2: Begins after exercise of option for a period of one year.

Option Year 3: Begins after exercise of option for a period of one year.

Option Year 4: Begins after exercise of option for a period of one year.

III. SHIPPING

The items shall be shipped F.O.B. Destination to:

Stanford Genome Technology Center 3165 Porter Drive Palo Alto, CA 94304 FOB 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 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 purchase order; and pay all charges to the specified point of delivery.

IV. EVALUATION CRITERIA AND BASIS FOR AWARD

A. The Government intends to award a single purchase order resulting from this solicitation to the responsible Contractor whose quotation, conforming to this solicitation will provide the best value to the Government, price and other factors considered. The Government reserves the right not to award a purchase order.

NIST intends to evaluate quotes and issue a contract based on the initial quotes received. Therefore, the Contractor’s initial quote should contain the Contractor’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. NIST reserves the right to request revised quotes from, or negotiate final contract terms with, one or more, but not all, Contractors if later determined by the Contracting Officer to be necessary.

In addition to price, the following factors shall be used to evaluate quotations:

In determining best value, Technical Capability and Past Performance are listed in descending order of importance. When combined, the non-price factors shall be significantly more important than price.

B. For the Evaluation of Technical Capability:

1. Phase I, Minimum Requirements (Pass/Fail): Evaluation of technical capability will be based on the technical information provided in the quotation submitted in response to this solicitation. NIST will evaluate whether the offeror has demonstrated that its proposed equipment meets all specifications in Statement of Work, Section 2 (1-20).

For Section 2, Items 2, 6 and 8, a more thorough and detailed technical response is required and will be evaluated Pass/Fail after determining if the vendor’s response demonstrates the vendor’s ability to provide an instrument that can do the following.

a. To fulfill specification #2, the instrument must generate an array of non-overlapping droplets at a 500 um pitch from a source plate that contains various liquids that have been randomly assigned to wells. The instrument must perform this function without a priori knowledge of which liquid is assigned to which well and without any prior calibration of the various liquid types in each well. Liquids will include water with 0-50% DMSO, 0-50% glycerol, 0-40% dextrose, 0-40% galactose, 0-40% raffinose, 0-8% bacto-peptone, 0-4% yeast extract, 0-10% NaCl, 0-8% tryptone, 0-6.7% yeast nitrogen base without amino acids, 0-2% yeast amino acid mix, 0-109 yeast cells/ml, 0-1010 bacterial cells/ml, or any combination of the above. The volume of the liquid in the source plate will also vary from 1-100 uL.

b. To fulfill specification #6, the instrument must transfer 2.5 nL with a drop transfer volume accuracy <10% and a CV <8% for various liquids that have been randomly assigned to wells. The instrument must maintain this accuracy without a priori knowledge of which liquid is assigned to which well and without any prior calibration of the various liquid types in each well. Liquids will include water with 0-50% DMSO, 0-50% glycerol, 0-40% dextrose, 0-40% galactose, 0-40% raffinose, 0-8% bacto-peptone, 0-4% yeast extract, 0-10% NaCl, 0-8% tryptone, 0-6.7% yeast nitrogen base without amino acids, 0-2% yeast amino acid mix, 0-109 yeast cells/ml, 0-1010 bacterial cells/ml, or any combination of the above. The volume of the liquid in the source plate will also vary from 1-100 uL.

c. To fulfill specification #8, the instrument must report the power required to successfully transfer 2.5 nL for various liquids that have been randomly assigned to wells. The instrument must perform this analysis without a priori knowledge of which liquid is assigned to which well and without any prior calibration of the various liquid types in each well. Liquids will include water with 0-50% DMSO, 0-50% glycerol,0-40% dextrose, 0-40% galactose, 0-40% raffinose, 0-8% bacto-peptone, 0-4% yeast extract, 0-10% NaCl, 0-8% tryptone, 0-6.7% yeast nitrogen base without amino acids, 0-2% yeast amino acid mix, 0-109 yeast cells/ml, 0-1010 bacterial cells/ml, or any combination of the above. The volume of the liquid in the source plate will also vary from 1-100 uL.

Phase I of the evaluation consists of an evaluation of only an evaluation of the vendor’s technical response to SOW, Section 2– Pass/Fail Mandatory Requirements. Evaluators will only evaluate information submitted in the Pass/Fail volume of the proposal during the Pass/Fail evaluation. Offers will be evaluated to confirm that all mandatory requirements have been met. Those Offerors whose proposals meet all mandatory requirements of Phase I, will “Pass” and be evaluated utilizing the best value in Phase II as described below.

2. Phase II, Best Value Stronger Consideration Criteria (SCC):

Stronger consideration will be given to systems meeting any of the following criteria:

SCC 1: A high voltage grid covering the destination plate to improve shot accuracy and prevent droplet spreading SCC 2: Temperature control of the coupling fluid (the fluid between the source plate and the liquid dispenser) to improve the shot accuracy SCC 3: A vacuum squeegee on that removes excess liquid from the destination plate following arraying

Quotes will be evaluated more favorably under Technical Capability based on the extent that they meet the Stronger Consideration criteria listed above; quotes meeting more of criteria will be evaluated more favorably.

B. For the Evaluation of Past Performance:

Evaluation of past performance will be based on the references provided and/or the Contractor’s recent and relevant procurement history with NIST or its affiliates. Past Performance will be evaluated to determine the overall quality of the product and service provided by the Contractor. The Government will evaluate relevant past performance information based on Past Performance Surveys and by contacting appropriate references, including NIST references and the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS); if applicable. The Government may also consider information available from other sources. In the case of a Contractor without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available, the Contractor will be evaluated neither favorably nor unfavorably.

C. For the Evaluation of Price:

The proposed Firm-Fixed-Price will be evaluated to determine whether the proposed prices are reasonable in relation to the solicitation requirements. Prices must be entirely compatible with the technical portion of the quotation. The total price will be evaluated inclusive of all optional line items.

V. REQUIRED SUBMISSIONS

All Contractors shall submit the following in response to this solicitation:

1. For the purpose of evaluation of Technical Capability-Phase I:

Documentation that clearly demonstrates the quoted system’s ability to meet all required specifications in the attached Statement of Work, Section 2 (1-20) with a detailed description of how the vendor will meet Section 2 items 1, 3, and 5 as described in this solicitation, Section IV, B, 1 (a, b, c). Items that shall be included are the following:

(A) Technical description or commercial product literature for each component of the quoted system.

(B) Demonstration that the quoted system meets or exceeds each minimum requirement described in the SOW by providing a citation to the relevant section of its technical description or additional information; a full description of the instrument is required.

2. For the purpose of evaluation of Technical Capability – Phase II:

A separately labelled Section of the quotation Phase II, that provides documentation (technical description or product literature) that clearly demonstrates the quoted system’s ability to provide any or all of the following items for stronger technical consideration:

SCC 1: A high voltage grid covering the destination plate to improve shot accuracy and prevent droplet spreading SCC 2: Temperature control of the coupling fluid (the fluid between the source plate and the liquid dispenser) to improve the shot accuracy SCC 3: A vacuum squeegee that removes excess liquid from the destination plate following arraying

3. For the purpose of Past Performance:

A list of at least 3 references – Government or non-Government are acceptable – for whom the same or similar products have been provided within the past three (3) years. The list of references should include, at a minimum:

(i) The name of the reference contact person and the company or organization;

(ii) The telephone number of the reference contact person;

(iii) The contract or grant number, if applicable;

(iv) The amount of the contract;

(v) A description of the type of product provided and discussion of its similarity/relevance to the subject requirements; and

(vi) The date of delivery or the date services were completed.

4. For the purpose of Price, offerors shall provide:

(i) A firm-fixed price quotation for each Contract Line Item, and

(ii) A total firm fixed-price inclusive of all line items including options.

5. A completed version of all required solicitation provisions (see attached provisions/clauses document – required submission highlighted in blue)

6. If the contractor objects to any of the terms and conditions contained in this solicitation, the contractor shall state “The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document with the exception, deletion, or addition of the following:” [Contractor shall list exception(s) and rationale for the exception(s)]. It is the sole responsibility of the contractor to identify in their quote any exceptions to the terms and conditions of the solicitation. If the contractor does not include such a statement, the submission of a quotation in response to this solicitation will be regarded as the Contractor’s acceptance of the Government’s terms and conditions for inclusion into the resultant purchase order.

7. Contractors shall provide an active DUNS # for the System for Award Management (SAM) registration.

8. If the Contractor’s representations and certifications do not reflect the NAICS code governing this solicitation, Contractors must submit documentation that they are a small business under the NAICS code governing this solicitation.

VI. DUE DATE FOR QUOTATIONS

All quotations must be submitted via e-mail to Ranae Armstrong, Contract Specialist at ranae.armstrong@Nist.gov. Submission must be received not later than 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on 05APR18. A quotation shall be considered received when it is received in the electronic inbox of Ranae Armstrong not later than the date and time identified herein.

All questions regarding this notice must be submitted via e-mail to Latish.Walker@nist.gov by 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on 02APR18. Questions submitted after this date may not be addressed by the Government prior to the quotation submission deadline.

VII. PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES:

The clauses and provisions applicable to this solicitation can be found under the attachment Applicable Clauses & Provisions. The full text of a FAR provision or clause may be accessed electronically at https://farsite.hill.af.mil or www.acquisition.gov/far.

VIII. ATTACHMENTS:

The following attachments apply to this solicitation:

1. The Statement of Work

2. Applicable Provisions and Clauses