Automated Reaction Dosing System

This is a Small Business Sources Sought (SBSS) notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice.
This notice is issued to help determine the availability and type of qualified Small Business companies technically capable of meeting this potential government requirement and to determine the method of acquisition. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes. No award will be made as a result of this notice. The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice. The notice is strictly for research and information purposes only.

The information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method including small business socio-economic set-aside possibilities and to determine the availability of qualified Small Business companies technically capable of meeting the Government's potential requirement. All Small Business companies with the capability and availability to perform the requirement under the applicable NAICS code are invited to submit a response to this notice.

NORTH AMERICAN CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE
The NAICS code applicable to this requirement is 339112 Surgical and Medical Instrument
Manufacturing with size standard 1000 employees.

BACKGROUND
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 to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is a translational science center whose mission is to catalyze the generation of innovative methods and technologies that will enhance the development, testing and implementation of diagnostics and therapeutics across a wide range of human diseases and conditions. The Division of Pre-Clinical Innovation (DPI) at NCATS plans, conducts and uses both internal and contract resources to advance collaborative research projects across the pre-clinical phases of the translational science spectrum.

The DPI is evaluating automated reaction systems to potentially support two projects from "A Specialized Platform for Innovative Research Exploration" (ASPIRE) program, which seeks to transform chemistry from an individualized craft to a modern, information-based science. The first is the plate-based Reaction Screening project: Modeled after similar facilities in academic and industrial research labs, Reaction Screening utilizes standard microtiter plates to run multi reactions in parallel, with each well position representing one reaction typically at milligram scales. The other project is the Reaction Automation, based on the TekMatic Indigo reactor platform and Biotage system that run parallel reactions in microwave vials with a lower throughput on a larger scale typically with hundreds of milligrams of reactants. This may lead to an assessment of key functional capabilities and compatibility of such automated reagent dosing systems and the implementation a fully-automated workflow process.

Purpose and Objectives
The purpose of this Small Business Sources Sought notice is to determine eligible sources capable of achieving the essential features of this potential requirement, which is to obtain an Automated Reaction Dosing System on a Brand-Name-or-Equal basis to the Junior Automated Reaction Dosing System manufactured by Unchained Labs located at 6870 Koll Ctr Pkwy Ste 200, Pleasanton, CA, 94566-3176.

Project Requirements
Offerors submitting a response to this Small Business Sources Sought notice shall possess the ability to achieve the essential government features specified herein. Products offered must include those salient physical, functional, or other characteristics of the items identified in this notice that are manufactured by Unchained Labs and deemed essential in meeting the government's needs.
Specifically, the following are considered essential features of this potential requirement:
1. The system needs to be a standalone. A GUI is needed to control the system for experiment design and execution, and data visualization with command and control remotely accessible through a separate computer interface.

2. Able to dispense solids of user-defined weight into multi vials at predefined locations of standard micro-titer plates placed inside the system, with target mass ranging from a few mg to a few hundred mg, able to consistently dispense 5 mg of five different powders (magnesium stearate, lactose, and acetaminophen, hydroxylpropyl cellulose, and HEPES) into a one-dram vial within 10% target weight, when unattended, and can consistently dispense 200 mg of three different powders (magnesium stearate, lactose, and acetaminophen) into a 10-mL microwave vial within 5% target weight. Dispensing methods take less than five minutes.

3. Accurately dispense liquids to vials placed on microtiter-plates. When unattended, the system can dispense 300 uL of two different liquids (tetrahydrofuran, and dichloromethane) into each of 30 vials (1 mL, 8X30 mm) within 5% target volume in 30 minutes. When unattended, the system can dispense 5 uL of viscous liquid (ethylene glycol) into each of 30 glass shell vials (1 mL, 8X30 mm) within 10% target volume in 30 minutes.

4. Able to heat/cool micro-titer plates at pre-set temperatures (0-140 °C) with the capability of magnetic stirring at pre-set speeds and stage plates or vials for access by other robotic systems; able to be reconfigured including changing parts of different functions and physically integrating other vendor's solid reagent delivery technologies.

5. Accessible from external connections of an API for any onboard databases used to store information by the system.

6. Ability to import and read from outside structured data source files (e.g. XML, JSON or CSV) or proprietary file types (e.g. Excel or JMP) to facilitate experiment design setup; to export experimental designs by system software and data collection experiments in similar formats.

Products offered must be essentially equal to the high-throughput mass spectrometer described in this solicitation, which specifically includes the following manufacturer item, part number and product description, quantity one:
Robot Chassis and Enclosure:
F160788-001 Junior robot
F165484 Junior - Table with Side Desk
F162301 Junior - Ventilated Enclosure
Arm Elements:
AS00609 Heated 6-Tip Liquid Dispenser - Extended Tip, Variable pitch
SG140006 10-Port Selection Valve
SG148100 Flexible Tool Changer
Flexible Tool Changer Options:
SG154010 SV Powder Dispenser
SG131465-001 10 ml Powder Dispense Head
SG131465-004 10 ml Powder Dispense Head
SG152436-001 25 ml Powder Dispense Head
SG152436-004 25 ml Powder Dispense Head
Deck Elements:
SG140143 4-place Balance with Integrated Camera
F158349 Wash Station, Multi-Tip
F161881 Combination Rack
F161772 Vertical Plate Hotel
Custom Development:
604-2000 Custom Development
Accessory Hardware (Computer, Server, Chiller, 3rd Party):
S16566-00x Computer
F158719 Ionizer
V15826-009 LEA RAS Server,Tower
Software:
S00011 LEA Library Studio - Perpetual License
S00012 LEA PolyView Perpetual License
S00013 LEA Automation Studio - Perpetual License
Installation and Training:
M00005 Junior Installation
S00067 Basic Training (2 days)
Consumables
601-2008 Accessories Kit

CAPABILITY STATEMENTS/INFORMATION SOUGHT
Interested parties are expected to review this notice to familiarize itself with the requirements of this project. Failure to do so will be at your firm's own risk.

Respondents must provide, as part of their response: (a) product, catalog, model, and/or part number(s); (b) product description; (c) all relevant information and documentation that the item(s) offered meets the salient physical, functional, or performance characteristics as specified in this announcement; (d) quantity; (e) shipping, handling, and/or installation instructions, and/or any special delivery conditions after receipt of an order.

Respondents that believe that they are manufacturers or authorized re-sellers of the equipment specified in this announcement must provide, as part of their response: (a) product, catalog, model, and/or part number(s); (b) product description; (c) all relevant information and documentation that the item(s) offered meets the salient physical, functional, or performance characteristics as specified in the purchase description; (d) quantity; (e) estimated price or cost; (f) shipping, handling, and/or installation charges; and delivery date after receipt of order.

The respondent must also provide their DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HubZone, etc.) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code and any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the acquisition requirements.

The information submitted must be in outline format that addresses each of the elements of this requirement. A cover page and an executive summary may be included but is not required.
The response is limited to ten (10) pages. The 10-page limit does not include the cover page, executive summary, or references, if requested.

The response must include the respondents' technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses.
Respondents must reference the subject announcement number on all correspondence related to this Small Business Sources Sought notice. The response must be submitted to Hunter Tjugum electronically, at hunter.tjugum@nih.gov, and be received prior to the closing date specified in this announcement.

CONCLUDING STATEMENTS
Disclaimer and Important Notes. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

Confidentiality. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).

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