Dual Selective Plane Illumination Microscope for Cleared Tissue

PRESOLICITATION NOTICE OF PROPOSED ACQUISITION
National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Health
________________________________________
(FAR Subparts 5.101(a) (2) & 13.105)

Announcement Number: NIMH-2019-004702

Date Notice Posted: April 26, 2019

Date Notice Expire: May 13, 2019, 5:00 PM EST

Project Title: Dual selective plane illumination microscope for cleared tissue.

Contracting Office: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Health

Contact Points:
Contracting Officer: Michelle Cecilia
6001 Executive Boulevard, Rockville, MD 20852
301.827.7199 / michellececilia.cecilia@nih.gov

________________________________________

INTRODUCTION
This is a pre-solicitation non-competitive (notice of intent) synopsis to award a contract without providing for full and open competition. THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT, NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. A SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED AND PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE REQUESTED.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), intends to negotiate and award a purchase order to Applied Scientific Instrumentation, Inc. on a sole source basis for a dual selective plane illumination microscope for cleared tissue.

NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE
334516 - Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing with a 1,000 employee standard.

REGULATORY AUTHROTIY
The resultant contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2019-01 dated December 20, 2018.

The acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13-Simplified Acquisition Procedures, Subpart 13.106-1 (b)(1), Soliciting from a single source and is not expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. Contract awarded using FAR Part 13-Simplified Acquisition Procedures are exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6-Competition Requirements.

Description of Requirement:

Statement of Need and Purpose: NIMH and the trans-NIH Advanced Imaging and Microscopy (AIM) Resource are working together to build a dual view selective plane illumination microscope dedicated to rapidly imaging large samples of chemically cleared brain tissue (CT-DISPIM). This microscope is a modified clone of an existing system at AIM, manufactured by Applied Scientific Instrumentation (ASI). Cloning it, therefore requires purchasing the core hardware from ASI - consisting of the frame, sample stage, principal optics, operating electronics, objective, and cameras.

Background Information and Objective: Imaging the distribution of a fluorescent label in brain tissue sections is an essential step for experiments that are being carried out by many basic science investigators within the NIMH intramural program. In order to better preserve the morphology of tissue, it is often necessary to section it coarsely (>1mm) and then optically clear it. The resulting large sections of cleared tissue require many hours or days of imaging on a conventional confocal microscope. Using a light sheet microscope however, reduces the acquisition time to minutes - dramatically accelerating an experimental pipeline. One such light sheet microscope (DISPIM) already exists in AIM and is currently being used to image live or fixed/cleared samples - each of which require a different configuration of the microscope. NIMH is funding the construction of a partial clone of this microscope dedicated for cleared tissue imaging (CT-DISPIM) on which NIMH users would receive priority. The CT-DISPIM is capable of volumetric acquisition from 1-10mm scale tissue samples within minutes with a spatial resolution adequate to trace neurites. The combination of high speed, high volume, and high resolution will be enabling for a variety of projects, including: mapping of injection sites when stereological injections are performed as part of functional opto- or chemo-genetic experiments, mapping projections as part of studies defining the connections of specific neuronal populations, and quantifying changes in gene expression in behavior paradigms.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE
The anticipated period of performance is twelve months from date of award. A firm fixed price purchase order is contemplated.

INTENDED SOURCE

Applied Science Instrumentation, Inc.
29391 West Enid Road
Eugene, OR 97402

CLOSING STATEMENT

THIS SYNOPSIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITITE PROPOSALS. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice. Response to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties' bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination of Origin), the Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov."

A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The information received will normally be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement.

All responses to this notice must reference the solicitation number. Responses may be submitted electronically to michellececilia.cecilia@nih.gov and Valerie.whipple@nih.gov. Fax Responses will not be accepted. Responses must be received by 5:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time, on May 13, 2019.

Closing Statement:
"All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency."

.