Rapid, Full-Well Cell Imager for Cell Measurement and Automation Integration

Contracting Office Address

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),

Acquisition Management Division,

100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 1640,

Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-1640

Sources Sought Notice NIST-MML-25-SS23

Project Title: Rapid, Full-Well Cell Imager for Cell Measurement and Automation Integration

This is a Sources Sought Notice ONLY.  Requests for copies of a solicitation will not receive a response.

This Notice is for planning purposes only and is not a Request for Proposal or Request for Quotation or an obligation on the part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for conducting a follow-on acquisition.  NIST does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this Notice, or otherwise pay for the information requested.  No entitlement or payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by NIST will arise as a result of submission of responses to this Notice and NIST use of such information. 

Contractor price information and/or price lists, if submitted in response to this Notice, shall be handled by NIST as Source Selection Information in accordance with FAR 3.104-4.

NO SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS EXIST AT THIS TIME.

NIST is seeking information on contractors who can provide the following:

A mammalian cell imaging instrument exhibiting the following four fundamental criteria:

1. Modes of operation that include bright-field imaging and multi-channel fluorescence imaging to enable label free, fluorescent marker, and stain/dye based measurements and bioassays.
2. Physical optics that enable the following, without dependence on software-based image post-processing to provide raw images for use with custom, NIST-developed machine learning image analysis routines for cellular analysis:
   1. rapid imaging of entire multi-well plates (whole well, whole 96 well-plate imaging within 10 min and at resolution of at least 1 pixel/µm)
   2. meniscus or well edge imaging
3. Compatibility with standard formats of laboratory plastic ware that are currently being used by BBD for cell culture including 6- to 96-well multi-well plates, 25 cm2 T-flasks, 75 cm2 T-flasks and 100 mm diameter petri dishes.
4. Compatibility with the P-CAMP Hamilton STAR automation platform used by and specifically comprised of the following components hardware:  eight 1-mL pipette channels, one TADM 96 CORE head, one Bionex plate centrifuge, one iSWAP, one on-deck thermocycler, H-motion arm, a Liconic cell incubator, a Lonza 4D-nucleofector and four on-deck thermoshakers.

Interested parties shall describe all relevant capabilities of their organization.  NIST anticipates issuing a Request for Quotation in the fourth quarter of FY2025 and awarding a contract no later than the fourth quarter of FY2025.

NIST is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large and small businesses. The small business size standard associated with the NAICS code for this effort, 334516, is 1,000 employees.  Please include your company’s size classification and socio-economic status in any response to this notice. 

After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed, NIST may conduct a competitive procurement and subsequently award a contract.  Companies that can provide such services are requested to email a written response describing their abilities Donald.graham@nist.gov no later than the response date for this sources sought notice.

The following information is requested to be provided as part of the response to this sources sought notice:

1. Name, Address, SAM UEI, CAGE code, and point of contact information of your company.
2. Any information on the company’s small business certifications, if applicable.
3. Description of your company’s capabilities as they relate to the services described in this notice.
4. A description of your company’s previous experience providing the services described in this notice.
5. Indication of whether the services described in this notice are currently offered via your company’s GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts, Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), or other existing Government-wide contract vehicles; and, if so, the contract number(s) for those vehicles.
6. Any other relevant information that is not listed above which the Government should consider in finalizing its market research.

Responses are limited to a total of twenty (20) pages of US Letter size (8½-inch x 11-inch). The responses must be in either Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format.  Header/footer information (which does not include any information to be analyzed) may be included in the 1" margin space.