Two Liquid Chromatography Systems

Added: Jul 30, 2015 1:52 pm This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6 - Streamlined Procedures for Evaluation and Solicitation for Commercial Items, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotations are being requested, and a written solicitation document will not be issued. This solicitation is being issued using Simplified Acquisition Procedures under the authority of FAR Part 13 - Simplified Acquisition Procedures.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology requires two Agilent Brand Liquid Chromatography systems.

Brand Name Only Justification is as follows:
The purpose of the procurement is to provide a much-needed upgrade to the LC-MS systems currently used by the Organic Chemical Measurement Science group within the Chemical Sciences Division (CSD). CSD's mass spectrometry (MS) technology is advanced with recent purchases/upgrades, but our current liquid chromatography (LC) systems are fairly out-of-date and the quality of measurements would be improved with the upgraded instruments. The current MS systems that need LC upgrades are an Agilent Technology triple quadrupole mass spectrometer and an AB Sciex triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. These instruments are run using Mass Hunter and Analyst software, respectively. In order to use the LC-MS together, both the MS and the LC must be controllable by the software associated with the MS systems (therefore the LCs must be controlled by Mass Hunter and Analyst). Other LC systems can be controlled by their own software (which would need to be additionally purchased), but the instruments would need to be run independently on their individual softwares; this mode of operation (independent software packages) would decrease the ease-of-use of the instrumentation, make LC-MS protocols more burdensome for analysis and training of new users, and software independence of the LC and MS can cause instrument-to-computer communication issues, resulting in failed analyses or poor data quality. The only manufacturer of LCs that can be controlled by both Mass Hunter and Analyst software is Agilent Technologies, for which their Agilent 1260 and Agilent 1290 LC systems provide the needed upgrade to the LC end of the LC-MS systems.