one (1) 16-station Comprehensive Laboratory Animal Monitoring System (CLAMS) for the VA San Diego Healthcare System.

The Veteran s Administration (VA) Office of Research and Development, Regional Procurement Office East in Pittsburgh, PA intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with Columbus Instruments based in Columbus, Ohio on behalf of the VA San Diego Healthcare System. The requirement is to provide one (1) 16-station Comprehensive Laboratory Animal Monitoring System (CLAMS) for planned VA medical studies. The proposed system shall meet/or exceed the following specifications:
Salient Characteristics
Comprehensive Laboratory Animal Monitoring System
System Description
The requirement is for one (1) 16-station Comprehensive Laboratory Animal Monitoring System (CLAMS) that is designed to perform high speed calorimetry, activity, and ration consumption measurements on mice or rats.
This instrument shall be delivered and installed on the 6th floor in room 6215 VA Medical Center Research Laboratory of the VA San Diego Healthcare System.
Specifications
The vendor shall supply instrumentation that meets or exceeds the following specifications:
1. High-Speed Calorimetry in which the experimental subjects are to be scanned for VO2 & VCO2 measurements in looping succession with a single zirconia differential oxygen sensor and a non-dispersive infrared carbon dioxide sensor.
2. Air flow through the cage must be adjustable and precisely controlled with thermo-mass flow controllers.
3. Required O2 sensor to an accuracy of ± 0.01%
4. An O2 sensor at a resolution of 0.01 ppm
5. The CO2 sensor accuracy to ± 0.01% of reading
6. A CO2 sensor at a resolution of 0.01 ppm
7. O2 and CO2 differential (in versus out of the cage) at a minimum of 0.1% and maximum of 0.3%
8. Total settle time plus measure time for gas sensors not to exceed 20 seconds per sample
9. Activity Measuring in X, Y & Z Axes
10. Photocell based activity monitoring with an array of infrared photocells surrounding the cage at even intervals.
11. Ambulatory movement can distinguish fine, repetitive movements for each axis
12. System can report ambulatory beam breaks vs total beam breaks for each horizontal axis
13. System has XY positional tracking of animal location
14. Bouts of inactivity can be automatically scored as sleeping bouts with adjustable inactivity epochs per protocol.
15. Food & Water Intake capability to measures the amount of food removed from a hopper or water in a bottle that is suspended from a load cell in the cage lid.
16. The load cell for food presented from overhead suspension has a 0.01g resolution
17. Feeding data can be synchronized with calorimetry data
18. Feeding bout data reported with an adjustable meal validation minimum weight at 0.02g
19. There is flexibility for user-defined intervals for reporting food intake
20. Automated Food Access allows the user to program when the animals have access to food throughout the experiment.
21. Required feeding limits includes Mass, Time, Mass & time, Energy (calories)
22. System has yoked and paired feeding protocols
23. Running Wheel need to have a solid, textured, rungless running surface that is designed to reduce injuries due to mis-steps and to prevent trip-injury.
24. The caging structure should make use of normal home cages from the Tecniplast catalog that are 1264 & 1268 for mice, 2150 for rats.
a. 1264C Eurostandard Type II: 267 x 207 x 140 mm floor area 370 cm2
b. 1284L Eurostandard Type II L: 365 x 207 x 140 mm floor area 530 cm2
c. 2150E: 355 x 235 x 190 mm floor area 580 cm2
25. The environmental enclosure system shall accommodate the CLAMS Center Feeder Cages and all the sensors. The compressor is rated to industry standard for heating and cooling capabilities to circulate the air inside to maintain a uniform temperature from top to bottom.
a. Programmable temperature range of 5°C to 40°
b. Temperature accuracy ±1°C
c. Temperature uniformity ±1°C from top to bottom at 5°C
d. Temperature changes can be programmed in advance
e. LED lighting with programmable color and brightness
26. The CLAMS software provides the expected system control, data collection, and real time calculation of VO2, VCO2, RER and Heat/EE.
27. The CLAX software is for data review allowing quick screening of native data files without having to export to CSV and setting up an Excel template
28. Multiple data comparisons can be made with the software for side by side evaluation, perform basic stat analysis, prepare graphs for export to manuscripts
29. The software can allow sharing data with collaborators who also use Oxymax/CLAMS from other institutions.
The requirement will take place at a VA facility in San Diego, CA. The sole source is pursuant to FAR 6.302-1 Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals, however; any responsible source who believes it is capable of meeting the requirement may submit a capability statement and supporting documentation to the contracting office no later than Monday, June 11, 2019, (10:00 AM, EST). Interest/capability statements may be sent to Michael Haydo at Michael.haydo@va.gov. No telephone responses will be accepted. A determination not to compete the proposed requirement based upon the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government..