Western Blotting Imager

The 10th Contracting Squadron, US Air Force Academy (USAFA), CO 80840, intends to award a firm-fixed-price commercial purchase order to a single source under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b) to LI-COR Biotech LLC, 4647 Superior St., Lincoln NE 68504.

Market research determined LI-COR Biotech LLC as the only vendor who can provide a western blot imager with a constant 6 logs of dynamic range.  It is important to have a constant 6 logs of dynamic range, with no manual adjustment, so that there is no image saturation.  In systems with a narrower dynamic range and lower sensitivity, you will see saturation or even loss of signal of lower abundant targets. Any systems where the dynamic range is being adjusted from one scan to the next, are not comparable or quantifiable images and should not be used in publication. 

The requirement is to provide a western blotting imager with the minimum salient characteristics:

• Minimum 2-channel near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent imager capable of producing high-quality Western blots, multi-well plate assays and tissue section images 
•  Ability to scan gels, membranes, and multiwell plates 
• Nucleic acid gels, protein gels, gel shift assays, western blots, cell assays and RNAi assays
•  Fluorescence detection, Near infrared (NIR) fluorescence, 2 channel scanning 
• Single acquisition (single picture with scanning the whole field and all the channels) 
• Sensitive imaging that dynamically adjusts for saturation levels (constant 6-log dynamic range)

IAW FAR 13.106-l(b), Soliciting from a single source for purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, the contracting officer determined the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available.

THIS NOTICE OF INTENT IS NOT A SOLICITATION OR REQUEST FOR QUOTATION.

A solicitation will not be posted. Requests for copies of a solicitation in response to this notice will not be honored or acknowledged. Information received in response to this notice will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether conducting a sole source or competitive procurement is in the best interest of the Government. All information submitted should support the offeror's capability to fulfill this requirement and shall be furnished at no cost or obligation to the Government. Responses must be in writing and must provide clear and concise documentation indicating an offeror's capability to provide these services. Verbal responses are not acceptable and will not be considered. Responses and questions shall be emailed to the notice of intent contacts prior by 12 Aug 2024, 9:00 am MDT