To purchase three (3) 120 CNS kits to be measured on the Alamar Nulisa platform

THIS IS A PRE-SOLICITATION NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD ON A SOLE SOURCE BASIS.  THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTE/PROPOSALS.

On behalf of the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Office of Acquisitions, intends to solicit on a sole-source basis by a request for quotation to Alamar Biosciences to purchase three (3) 120 CNS kits to be measured on the Alamar Nulisa platform which contains over 120 disease markers.

The National Institute on Aging (NIA), Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, investigates biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases found in exosomes (vesicles 50-150nm in size) and isolates from patients’ plasma. NIA is able to isolate extracellular vesicles of different tissue origin. To validate, characterize and measure biomarkers, NIA needs to purchase three (3) 120 CNS kits to be measured on the Alamar Nulisa platform which contains over 120 disease markers.

The essential characteristics of the CNS Kits that limit the availability to a sole source/brand name are: 

• Ability to simultaneously profile 120 CNS proteins from 10 microliters of plasma or CSF. Some of the specific proteins included on the panel should be: AGRN, ARSA, BDNF, APOE,TDP43, NRGN, GFAP, pTAU217, pTAU231, pTAU181, S100B, TREM1, TREM 2, Oligo-SNCA, pSNCA-129, SNCA, MME, ICAM1, ENO2, and CNTN2

• Must be compatible with NULISA Technology and ARGO HT System.

Only Brand-Name Alamar Biosciences NULISAseq CNS Disease Panel 120 kit (Catalog 800104) will satisfy this requirement, to the exclusion of other sources, because these kits are customized to run on the ARGO system and meet the salient characteristics necessary for the specific research.

The material or service must be compatible in all aspects (form, fit, and function) with existing systems presently installed. The current equipment is the NULISA Technology and ARGO HT System, and the new item/service must coordinate, connect, or interface with the existing system.  The ARGO Instrument is a fully automated, high-throughput precision proteomics platform for ultra- high sensitivity analysis across a range of multiplex levels to support broad biomarker profiling and translation of validated biomarkers. Reagent Kits and Software are proprietary to Alamar Bioscience, Inc.

THIS NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD ON A SOLE-SOURCE BASIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice.

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

Responses 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 or 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.  All responses must provide evidence that they can provide equipment that meets all of the requirements in this announcement.

All responses must be received by the closing date and time of this announcement and must reference the number, 75N95025Q04811. Responses must be submitted electronically to Christopher Belt, Contracting Officer, NIDA Office of Acquisitions, at cbelt@nida.nih.gov U.S. Mail and Fax responses will not be accepted.