Brand name or equal: Waters Xevo G2-XS QTOF with ACQUITY H-Class Plus Bio System and accessories, installation, training, and service agreement.

This is a Small Business Sources Sought 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 of qualified companies technically capable of meeting the 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.  This notice is strictly for research and information purposes only.

Please note that to qualify as an eligible small business for purposes of a small business set-aside, at least 50% of the cost of contract performance incurred for personnel must be expended for employees of the small business awardee (see FAR 52.219-14 Limitations on Subcontracting).

Background

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), requires a new Liquid Chromatography High-Resolution Quadrupole Time-of-Flight (QTOF) Tandem Mass Spectrometer (LC-MS/MS) Instrument and accessories. NCATS’ current TOF mass spectrometer, utilized for high-resolution mass spectral analysis of small molecules, is coming to its end of life and must be replaced. The new instrument must allow NCATS to perform the HRMS analysis of small molecules as well as other modalities such as lipids, proteins, oligonucleotides, and to perform proteomics and metabolomics analysis.

Project requirements

NCATS requires a brand-name or equal Waters Xevo G2-XS QTOF with ACQUITY H-Class Plus Bio System, with accessories, installation, training, and service agreement.

This requirement also includes an existing TOF mass spectrometer as a trade-in, which must be removed by the contractor prior to installation of the new instrument.

See the attached Purchase Description for the complete list of brand-name items, descriptions, and salient characteristics.

Contract Type and Anticipated Period of Performance / Delivery Date

The Government anticipates awarding a firm fixed-price contract under a future solicitation. The anticipated delivery date is four (4) weeks after receipt of order, with installation and training to occur as soon as practicable after delivery on dates and times agreed upon by NCATS and the contractor. Installation and training may or may not occur on the same date.

Submission Instructions and Due Date

Written capability statements must be submitted via email by 8:59am Eastern on Thursday, August 13, 2020 to Kimberly Espinosa, Contracting Officer, at Kimberly.espinosa@nih.gov.

Written capability statements should demonstrate your organization’s capability to provide the brand-name or equal items listed in the Project Requirements section above. If you believe you are authorized resellers of the brand-name product specified in this announcement, your capability statement must include: (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 Project Requirements section above.

All capability statements must provide the following: (1) DUNS number; (2) organization name; (3) organization address; (4) point of contact; (5) point of contact title, address, telephone, and email address; and (6) size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc.) pursuant the applicable NAICS code.

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 SAM.gov Contract 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).