Preventive Maintenance on Fluidigm equipment

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 811219-Other Electronic and Precision Equipment Repair and Maintenance with associated small business size standard of $20.5 million.
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, conducting, supporting and making medical discoveries that improve people's health and save lives.

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which mission it 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.

To establish and move stem cell technologies forward through a more centralized effort, NIH has launched the Stem Cell Translation Laboratory (SCTL) within the NCATS. SCTL goal is to bring iPSC technology closer to clinical application, drug discovery and regenerative medicine. Ongoing research projects in SCTL focus on understanding molecular mechanisms regulating stem cell pluripotency and their multi-lineage differentiation capabilities with a focus on defining optimum culture conditions for maintaining pluripotent stem cells and their conversion to homogeneous and mature population of differentiated cells.

As such, discovering probe molecules that could serve as starting points for therapeutics in rare cancers is of great interest within NCATS. NCATS has several projects that address many aspects of oncology mechanisms and approaches to discovering novel, effective small molecules. The services requested here are fee for service testing that will provide insight on efficacy across many cancers and will help progress and provide critical scientific guidance on projects that NCATS has been working on for many years.

Purpose and Objectives
The goal of this procurement is to obtain contractor services by an authorized provider to procure maintenance service on existing government-owned laboratory equipment manufactured by and previously purchased from the subject contractor, located at NCATS, 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD 20850. The authorized provider shall perform a service agreement and preventive maintenance as described herein that must be carried out and performed by authorized Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) certified and current factory-trained technicians. Authorized OEM certification and factory-certified training must be clearly evident in any response received to this notice. Parts and accessory items must be compatible with this existing equipment.

Project Requirements
This Small Business Sources Sought notice seeks responses from qualified sources that are capable of providing the following scope of work salient service requirements of this potential government requirement deemed as the essential features needing to be achieved.

Independently and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall furnish all the necessary services, qualified personnel, material, equipment, and facilities, not otherwise provided by the Government as needed to perform the Statement of Work below.

Factory-authorized Preventive Maintenance (PM) procedures and service visits must be followed and provided by current, up-to-date, certified factory-trained technician personnel who are factory authorized engineers performing factory certified service and authorized to receive factory certified update training on Hardware and Software as applicable.

Specifically, the contractor will be required to perform the following maintenance on the identified items listed by manufacturer item number, product name, and serial number, quantity one (1):

104300; Helios Premium Plus Service Plan; D16-0196
Parts, labor, and travel
Software updates
Tier 1 on-site service response
2 on-site preventative maintenance visits per year
1 on-site application visit per year (up to two days)
Detector coverage included (subject to vendor evaluation)
Includes 2 consumable kits per year
Remote tuning service (up to 6 sessions per year; not available in all areas)
Phone and email technical support

108606; Hyperion Tissue Imager Premium Plus Service Plan; E18-0056
Laser coverage included
Parts, labor, and travel
Software Upgrades
Tier 1 on-site service response
2 on-site preventative maintenance visits per year of coverage
2 consumable kits
Remote diagnostics and technical support

SVPBMKHDSTD; Biomark HD Standard Service Plan; 90391
Parts, Labor, and Travel
Software Upgrades
1 on-site preventative maintenance per year
1 thermal cycler certification at time of preventative maintenance
Phone and email Technical Support
Tier 2 on-site response

SVP-C1-STD; C1 System Standard Service Plan; 110552
Parts, Labor, and Travel
Software Upgrades
1 on-site preventative maintenance per year
Phone and email Technical Support
Tier 2 on-site response

Period of Performance
Biomark: September 15, 2019 through September 14, 2020
C1 System: September 15, 2019 through September 14, 2020
Helios: September 15, 2019 through September 14, 2020
Hyperion Tissue Imager: January 8,2020 through September 14, 2020

CAPABILITY STATEMENT / 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 clear and convincing evidence of possessing the knowedge, skills, abilities and experience to successfully perform the requirements described in this announcement. Detailed past experience in implementing similar requirements to the requirement described in this announcement must be clearly delineated in any response provided. Respondents must provide clear and convincing documentation of their capability in providing analytical quality control and any other requirements and services specified in this notice. Respondents must provide a general overview of the respondents' opinions about the difficulty and /or feasibility of the potential requirement, and any information regarding innovative ideas or concepts.

The Respondent must also provide information in sufficient detail of the respondents' (a) staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training; (b) current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work; (c) prior completed projects of similar nature; (d) corporate experience and management capability; and (e) examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information.

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.

One (1) copy of the response is required and must be in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format using 11-point or 12-point font, 8-1/2" x 11" paper size, with 1" top, bottom, left and right margins, and with single or double spacing. The response is limited to ten (10) pages, which does not include the cover page, executive summary, CV's or references, if requested.

The information submitted must be must be in and outline format that addresses each of the elements of the product requirement. A cover page and an executive summary may be included but is not required.

The response must include the respondents' technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses.

All responses to this notice must be submitted electronically to the Contract Specialist and Contracting Officer. Facsimile responses are NOT accepted.

The response MUST reference the announcement number and be submitted to Hunter Tjugum at hunter.tjugum@nih.gov prior to the closing date specified in this announcement. The response must be received on or before the closting date/time 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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