Clinical Advanced Microscopy and Biophotonics Laboratory Relocation

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, intends to award a noncompetitive purchase order to General Machine Shop, Inc. for relocating optical tables and related equipment for the Advanced Microscopy and Biophotonics Laboratory by September 8, 2026, with responses due at 12:00 PM ET. This procurement is a sole-source acquisition under FAR Part 12 (commercial).

Place of performance spans multiple NIH Campus locations in Bethesda, Maryland: current optical tables are located in Building 10 Rooms 5D10, 5D14, 5D16, and 5D19; the new destination is Building 10 Suite 8C214. One outdated table will be delivered to the NIH Surplus Warehouse in Rockville, Maryland. The incumbent vendor, General Machine Shop, has custody of a replacement 4' x 12' Newport optical table currently stored at its Landover, Maryland warehouse due to construction delays; that table must be transported to the new suite.

The contractor must be a certified rigging company capable of safely relocating six optical tables (including a 4' x 12' and 5' x 6' L-shaped configuration requiring unbolting and reassembly, plus tables measuring 5' x 12', 4' x 5', and 5' x 8'). All contractor personnel must pass NIH campus security screening and present a government-issued photo ID. Work is tentatively scheduled for September 2026, with contract performance extending one year from award to accommodate potential construction delays.

The sole-source justification rests on General Machine Shop's current custody of the primary optical table and the logistical and property-damage risks of involving another vendor. Offerors must submit unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, delivery period, payment discount terms, F.O.B. point, UEI, TIN, and business size certification to noelle.decenzo@nih.gov and maintain active SAM registration.