Automated Liquid Handling Platform
Closed Pre-Solicitation Posted
- Solicitation number
- SSN-CBER-2026-135922
- Agency
-
FDA Office of Acquisition and Grant Services
Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services
- Responses due
- Set-aside
- No set-aside
Opportunity facts
- NAICS code
- 334516 Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- PSC
- 6640 Laboratory Equipment And Supplies
- Place of performance
- Silver Spring, Maryland 20993, United States
- Points of contact
Notice details come from SAM.gov. Updated .
About this opportunity
The FDA Office of Acquisition and Grant Services is preparing to procure one automated liquid handling platform with a response deadline of September 11, 2026. This is a sole-source acquisition; the government has determined that only the Agilent Technologies Bravo Automated Liquid Handling Platform meets the requirement.
Delivery is to FDA's White Oak Campus in Silver Spring, Maryland, with installation completion required within 90 days of delivery. The platform must be newly manufactured, benchtop format, and capable of fitting and operating within a biosafety cabinet measuring 46 inches wide by 24 inches deep by 30 inches high with 120-pound weight capacity. The equipment must perform serial dilutions across or down plates, accommodate variable liquid volumes, pipette into single rows, columns, or individual wells in interchangeable 96-well or 384-well formats, provide a minimum 15-position deck capacity, and deliver dispensing accuracy no worse than 5% deviation at 0.1 to 200 microliters. The platform shall support programmable operating temperatures and be usable for handling sterile or hazardous materials. Competing equipment cannot dispense low volumes or fit within biosafety cabinet constraints. Award includes a full 12-month manufacturer's warranty, at least one on-site preventative maintenance visit with inspection and calibration, on-site operator training for up to three personnel, comprehensive documentation with user manuals and IQ/OQ records, and installation qualification testing. Final acceptance requires successful system verification, operational qualification testing, and confirmation that dispensing accuracy meets specifications at 100 microliters with 96 replicates. This is a sources-sought notice (Solicitation Number SSN-CBER-2026-135922); formal RFP release timing is not specified.
Notice text
2 versions
Update #2 · Latest ·
All equipment shall be newly manufactured. It shall not be used, refurbished, reconditioned, remanufactured, or previously used for demonstration.
Salient characteristics:
The equipment shall meet the following salient characteristics: a benchtop automated liquid handling platform, user-friendly and easy to operate and clean, of space-saving and energy-saving design, capable of fast automatic pipetting of multiple solutions and of serial dilutions across or down the plate; able to accommodate variable liquid volumes; able to pipette into single rows, single columns, or individual wells as selected by the user in a 96-well or 384-well format, with the well format interchangeable based on user requirements; customizable to the laboratory's assay needs; equipped with programmable operating temperatures permitting use across a range of temperatures; and usable within the containment enclosure identified in the minimum technical requirements below to permit handling of sterile or hazardous materials.
Based on our research, only a specific make and model meets our needs, the Agilent Technologies Bravo Automated Liquid Handling Platform. It is the only equipment in its class that can meet our minimum needs as listed in the specifications. Other machines do not dispense low volumes, are much larger than this machine and do not fit within a biosafety cabinet.
Minimum technical requirements
The equipment shall meet the following minimum requirements:
-
The platform shall be benchtop in format and shall fit and operate within a biosafety cabinet of dimensions of 46in W X 24in D X 30in H that will support 120 lbs without disrupting the enclosure airflow.
-
The platform shall perform serial dilutions either across the plate or down the plate using standard disposable tip heads.
-
The platform shall use 96-channel or 384-channel pipetting heads that are interchangeable, with independent tip pickup capability.
-
The platform shall provide a minimum 15-position deck capacity.
-
The platform shall dispense from 0.1 to 200 microliters. Dispensing accuracy and precision shall be no worse than 5% deviation.
-
The platform shall be configurable to support shaking, heating, cooling, and filtration. These configurations are not required to be delivered with the platform; however, the platform shall be capable of accepting these configurations at a later date, if desired.
-
The platform shall include a controller and software to generate custom protocols.
-
The platform shall include a dedicated computer to control the machine.
-
The platform shall be compatible with standard format microplates (96-well and 384-well).
-
The platform shall operate under ambient conditions of 5 to 40 degrees Celsius and 10 to 90 percent relative humidity, non-condensing. No deck or plate temperature-control range is required.
-
Compliance with all applicable Federal, state, and local safety standards
Update #1 ·
This requirement is for a one-time acquisition of twenty (20) implantable medical-grade primary lithium batteries of Lithium Silver Vanadium Oxide, Carbon Monofluoride (Li/SVO-CFx) chemistry, consisting of two configurations of ten (10) batteries each.
All equipment shall be newly manufactured. It shall not be used, refurbished, reconditioned, remanufactured, or previously used for demonstration.
Salient characteristics:
The equipment shall meet the following salient characteristics: a benchtop automated liquid handling platform, user-friendly and easy to operate and clean, of space-saving and energy-saving design, capable of fast automatic pipetting of multiple solutions and of serial dilutions across or down the plate; able to accommodate variable liquid volumes; able to pipette into single rows, single columns, or individual wells as selected by the user in a 96-well or 384-well format, with the well format interchangeable based on user requirements; customizable to the laboratory's assay needs; equipped with programmable operating temperatures permitting use across a range of temperatures; and usable within the containment enclosure identified in the minimum technical requirements below to permit handling of sterile or hazardous materials.
Based on our research, only a specific make and model meets our needs, the Agilent Technologies Bravo Automated Liquid Handling Platform. It is the only equipment in its class that can meet our minimum needs as listed in the specifications. Other machines do not dispense low volumes, are much larger than this machine and do not fit within a biosafety cabinet.
Minimum technical requirements
The equipment shall meet the following minimum requirements:
-
The platform shall be benchtop in format and shall fit and operate within a biosafety cabinet of dimensions of 46in W X 24in D X 30in H that will support 120 lbs without disrupting the enclosure airflow.
-
The platform shall perform serial dilutions either across the plate or down the plate using standard disposable tip heads.
-
The platform shall use 96-channel or 384-channel pipetting heads that are interchangeable, with independent tip pickup capability.
-
The platform shall provide a minimum 15-position deck capacity.
-
The platform shall dispense from 0.1 to 200 microliters. Dispensing accuracy and precision shall be no worse than 5% deviation.
-
The platform shall be configurable to support shaking, heating, cooling, and filtration. These configurations are not required to be delivered with the platform; however, the platform shall be capable of accepting these configurations at a later date, if desired.
-
The platform shall include a controller and software to generate custom protocols.
-
The platform shall include a dedicated computer to control the machine.
-
The platform shall be compatible with standard format microplates (96-well and 384-well).
-
The platform shall operate under ambient conditions of 5 to 40 degrees Celsius and 10 to 90 percent relative humidity, non-condensing. No deck or plate temperature-control range is required.
-
Compliance with all applicable Federal, state, and local safety standards
Files
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| Sources_Sought_Vendor_Response.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| Sources_Sought_SAM_CBER-2026-135922.docx | DOCX document | |
| Requirements_Automated_Liquid_Handler.docx | DOCX document |
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