SOURCES SOUGHT
66 -- Tunable Spectral Confocal System
- Notice Date
- 4/8/2010
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 334516
— Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition Management Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Building 301, Room B129, Mail Stop 1640, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20899-1640
- ZIP Code
- 20899-1640
- Solicitation Number
- AMD-10-SS73
- Archive Date
- 5/3/2010
- Point of Contact
- Paula Wilkison, Phone: 301-975-8448, Todd D Hill, Phone: 301-975-8802
- E-Mail Address
-
paula.wilkison@nist.gov, todd.hill@nist.gov
(paula.wilkison@nist.gov, todd.hill@nist.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) seeks information on commercial vendors that are capable of providing a Tunable Spectral Confocal System in support of projects in NIST’s Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory. The general mission of the Biomaterials Group of NIST’s Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory is to develop measurement methods, standards, and data that quantify response of cells and tissues to biomaterials and account for the complexity inherent in biological – materials systems interactions. The laboratory’s existing laser scanning confocal microscope uses old opto-mechanical technology and is very limited in its ability to see deeply into highly scattering systems such as cells in porous polymers when compared to current confocal systems that use new technology with much higher sensitivity. The group also studies biomaterials in three dimensions (3D) and/or with continually varying properties and often collects large volumes of data. The required microscope is capable of very rapid acquisition and is upgradable to different imaging modalities (i.e. multiphoton, super resolution, fluorescence lifetime techniques). After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed and specifications are developed for a Tunable Spectral Confocal System that can meet NIST's minimum requirements, NIST may conduct a competitive procurement and subsequently award a Purchase Order. If at least two qualified small businesses are identified during this market research stage, then any competitive procurement that resulted would be conducted as a small business set-aside. NIST has a need for a Tunable Spectral Confocal System that would meet the following requirements: The required instrument is an upright laser scanning confocal microscope system that uses prism based spectrophotometer detection for fully tunable and gapless detection from 400 to 800 nm. This detection must be dichroic and bandpass free. The smallest detection bandwidth must be less than 6 nm to separate overlapping fluorophores. There should be at least four simultaneous and independent, spectrally tunable photomultiplier (PMT) detectors with field upgradability to more detectors for imaging of multiple fluorophores that probe different functions of the cell or its environment. The maximum pixel density should be 8192 x 8192 for best resolution imaging of cell morphology and internal structures. The microscope must be able to collect xz images as well as xy. The laser lines to be included are: multi-line argon ion (458, 476, 488 and 514 nm), 543 nm HeNe, 633 nm HeNe, and 405 nm and accompanying electro-optic components. It should also be field upgrable to a high speed resonant scanner that is capable of >20 frames/second (fps) at 512 x 512 image size and up to 5 simultaneous channels. The galvo Z stage for real time XZ scanning should have a 1.5 mm travel range and be able to scan 10 fps. The upright microscope should include epifluorescence capabilities for UV, blue and green excitation. The microscope also includes optics and optomechanics for differential interference contrast and brightfield detection. The microscope should be field upgradable to multi-photon fluorescence. Lastly, it should be upgradable super resolution microscopy using beam confinement techniques such as STED (stimulated emission depletion) microscopy. The scope should accommodate dry, water and oil immersion and coverslip corrected parfocal objectives from 10X to 100 X with a 0.9 to 1.1 NA. Must also include air isolation table. Please include a description of these components and all necessary equipment in order to have a complete user instrument. NIST is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large, foreign, and small businesses. Small businesses are defined under the associated NAICS code for this effort, 334516, as those domestic sources having 500 employees or less. Please include your company’s size classification in any response to this notice. Companies that manufacture Tunable Spectral Confocal Systems are requested to email a detailed report describing their abilities to paula.wilkison@nist.gov no later than the response date for this sources sought notice. The report should include achievable specifications and any other information relevant to your product or capabilities. Also, the following information is requested to be provided as part of the response to this sources sought notice: 1. Name of the company that manufactures the detector for which specifications are provided. 2. Name of company(ies) that are authorized to sell the detector, their addresses, and a point of contact for the company (name, phone number, fax number and email address). 3. Indication of number of days, after receipt of order that is typical for delivery of such systems. 4. Indication of whether each instrument for which specifications are sent to paula.wilkison@nist.gov are currently on one or more GSA Federal Supply Schedule contracts and, if so, the GSA FSS contract number(s). 5. Any other relevant information that is not listed above which the Government should consider in developing its minimum specifications and finalizing its market research. Point of Contact Paula Wilkison, Contracting Specialist, Phone (301) 975-8448, Fax (301) 975-6273, Email paula.wilkison@nist.gov
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOC/NIST/AcAsD/AMD-10-SS73/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: TBD, United States
- Record
- SN02116440-W 20100410/100408235032-afcb7f5fe5c1a34271b3c0ed006e148e (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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