SOURCES SOUGHT
66 -- Custom HTS 1536-Well Nitrocellulose Membrane Assay Plates
- Notice Date
- 8/3/2018
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 334516
— Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 4211, MSC 9559, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-9559, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20892-9559
- Solicitation Number
- NIHDA201800412
- Archive Date
- 8/25/2018
- Point of Contact
- Hunter A Tjugum, Phone: 3018275304
- E-Mail Address
-
hunter.tjugum@nih.gov
(hunter.tjugum@nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- INTRODUCTION This is a Small Business Sources Sought (SBSS) notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. This notice is issued to help determine the availability and type of qualified Small Business companies technically capable of meeting this potential government requirement and to determine the method of acquisition. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes. No award will be made as a result of this notice. The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice. The notice is strictly for research and information purposes only. The information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method including small business socio-economic set-aside possibilities and to determine the availability of qualified Small Business companies technically capable of meeting the Government's potential requirement. All Small Business companies with the capability and availability to perform the requirement under the applicable NAICS code are invited to submit a response to this notice. NORTH AMERICAN CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE The NAICS code applicable to this requirement is 334516 Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing with size standard 1000 employees. BACKGROUND The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was officially established in fiscal year 2012 to transform the translational science process so that new treatments and cures for disease can be delivered to patients faster. NCATS, one of 27 Institutes and Centers (ICs) at NIH, strives to develop innovations to reduce, remove or bypass costly and time-consuming bottlenecks in the translational research pipeline in an effort to speed the delivery of new drugs, diagnostics and medical devices to patients. Various programs and labs within NCATS have been given the directive to perform different types of high throughput screens to evaluate some biological activity and to potentially develop new therapeutics or therapeutic combinations in some cases or in others to determine the relative toxicity of chemical compounds under test. To do this, a biological experiment is performed in the presence of hundreds of thousands of chemical compounds at various concentrations, requiring that millions of samples be tested for each experiment. This requires that these experiments be run in a high density well plate, to both minimize the total reagent volume used per experiment and to facilitate lesser total plates be used to perform an entire assay. Typically, one experiment might consist of screening 500,000 compounds at 5 different total concentrations for a total of 2,500,000 samples. If this experiment is run using a 1536 well plate, meaning 1536 samples can be tested at a time, this requires nearly 1650 plates. The only way to accomplish handling this many well plates for an experiment is high throughput screening (HTS), which requires a high degree of robotic automation. Over the past 10 years, NCATS has made a substantial investment in HTS systems; the two most active systems at the center are the Kalypsys Primary Screening system that was put into service in 2005 and the Tox21 Robotic Screening system that was put into service in 2007. Each of these systems requires the use of well plates, with the plate type to be used determined by the type of experiment being run. A white assay plate is typically used for a luminescence based experiment, while a black plate is used for a fluorescence based experiment. All plates used must be compatible with the HTS systems present at NCATS. Vendor's plates must have been verified to be compatible with our systems. This potential requirement is obtain contractor-genrerated custom nitrocellulose (NC) membrane plates to be used on multiple robotic screening systems currently in use in NCATS in addition to the traditional wet lab research conducted for assay optimization and validation. Multiple labs within the institute have been given the directive to screen, identify, and distribute to the research community small molecule compounds, and data on their activities, to accelerate translation research of the completed human genome into advancements in human health. Components of NCATS include a repository of up to 500,000-1,000,000 chemical compounds, assay development capacity, robotic compound HTS screening, medicinal chemistry to transform ‘hits' identified by HTS into workable chemical probes, chem-informatics capacity for data mining and virtual screening; and distribution capacity to efficiently disseminate the reagents to the biomedical research community. Purpose and Objectives This Small Business Sources Sought notice seeks to determine eligible sources capable of achieving the essential features of this potential requirement described herein. NCATS is in need of specific custom High-Throughput Screening (HTS) Nitrocellulose (NC) Membrane Assay Plates for our 1536-well assays. This plate has been developed at NCATS for immunochemical and other array-based assays and is not commercially available. NCATS is currently using it for the development of reverse phase protein array (RPPA) assays but is also considering additional experimental applications. This potential requirement seeks a contractor to perfom a custom-build of this plate and generate a large number of them for NCATS to use in multiple projects, thereby streamlining NCATS protocols. The NC membrane plate prototype must meet certain user criteria, and must be compatible with all transport, storage, and robotic subsystems and components of the current in-house HTS systems. This NC membrane plate prototype is compatible with the 1536-well automation and instrumentation currently in use at NCATS. Project Requirements Contractors submitting a response to this Small Business Sources Sought notice shall possess the ability to achieve the essential government features specified herein. Offerors to this Small Business Sources Sought notice shall document evidence of being able to provide the subject requirement. NCATS is in need of development, manufacture and delivery of 4,000 nitrocellulose membrane plates. They will be fabricated using three elements: 1.A 1536-well plate with no bottom element 2.Adhesive applied to well field top wall in the form of double sided sticky tape. 3.Nitrocellulose membrane (75mm X 110mm) applied to top surface of plate with adhesive providing bonding means to the well frame it is disposed upon. The plate assay area must be capable of immobilizing a nitrocellulose membrane the same size as, or slightly larger, than the total well field on standard 1536-well assay plates using liquid or aerosol adhesive, double-sided adhesive tape, or other physical methods (sonic welding). The membrane is fully immobilized onto the plate frame top surface to give rigidity to the membrane and minimize distortion of the membrane material during spotting, blotting, washing and detection imaging development. The plate assay area must be a smooth top surface capable of providing a fixture to apply the nitrocellulose membrane securely to the top surface, and must be the same size or slightly larger than the total well field on standard 1536-well assay plates (75mm X 110mm). The plate shape and dimensions are identical to normal high- or low-base 1536-well assays plates and will be compatible with plate storage and plate mobility (e.g. plate carousels, Kalypsys robotic arms), liquid handling (e.g. EDC Biosystems ATS), and reader/data acquisition instrumentation (e.g. Typhoon FLA 9500, Odyssey CLx, ViewLux, Envision) that are currently utilized at NCATS. The nitrocellulose membrane plate must be capable of receiving small volumes of biological liquids in 384- and 1536-well array format (2.5nL - 1uL) using methods that include dispensing by acoustic droplet ejection or transfer by pin- or tip-based liquid handling instrumentation. The membrane blotting protocol conditions require immersion in fluids for extended periods of time. This aspect was tested thoroughly to show that the membrane remained fully bonded during the protocol steps. The 1536-well plate must have the same footprint as a standard 96-well microplate to be adaptable to the existing UHTS robotic systems. The plate contains a membrane that is adhered to the frame of the 1536 wells, providing an open area under each well location for spotting of proteins and biomolecules onto the solid support. 1.Incubators, plate carousels, High Resolution and Kalypsys robotic arms, storage hotels 2.Liquid handling (e.g. EDC Biosystems ATS) 3.Reader/data acquisition instrumentation (e.g. Typhoon 9500, Odyssey CLx, ViewLux, Envision) currently utilized at NCATS 4.The current imaging method is placing the plates/membranes face down and using laser scanning instrumentation such as the GE Typhoon 9500 or Odyssey CLx. The preferred imaging method will involve automation-compatible readers such as the top-reading instruments ViewLux and Envision. Essential features of plate size and dimensions follow: a.The plates must conform to the size and dimensions of normal 384- and 1536-well assay plates currently in use to enable its compatibility with plate storage and handling, liquid handling, and reader/data acquisition currently utilized at NCATS b.The plates should be barcoded using a method that is resistant to 24 hours of agitation in 1X TBS-T (50mM Tris-HCl pH 7.4, 150mM NaCl, 0.1% Tween-20) c.The plate bottom support onto which the nitrocellulose membrane will be immobilized should be clear to enable visualization of spotting during transfer of liquid onto the plate using acoustic droplet ejection. d.The nitrocellulose membrane should be pure nitrocellulose membrane and not "supported nitrocellulose membrane" e.The nitrocellulose is cut to 75mm X 110mm and covers completely the well field. f.The nitrocellulose membrane must have a maximum pore size of 0.45µm g.Current source of nitrocellulose membrane: GE Amersham Protran Premium 0.45µm Nitrocellulose Membrane, 300mm x 4m 1 roll/pack. h.The nitrocellulose membrane must be immobilized with liquid adhesive, double-sided adhesive tape or other physical methods that do not leach chemicals or background signal onto the nitrocellulose membrane i.For physical immobilization methods, the nitrocellulose membrane must be mounted in a manner that withstands the inversion and dispensing process that occurs during acoustic droplet ejection by keeping the membrane stationary/in contact with the plate bottom support j.The adhesive used must not fluoresce in far-red or near-infrared spectral ranges k.The adhesive used must not dissolve or degrade nitrocellulose when used in the quantity needed for this application l.The adhesive used must withstand a minimum of 24 hours in 1X TBS-T buffer with agitation (50mM Tris-HCl pH 7.4, 150mM NaCl, 0.1% Tween-20) m.The nitrocellulose surface should contain the highest percentage of nitrocellulose obtainable to maximize binding capacity n.The nitrocellulose surface should be as homogeneous across the plate as possible to minimize variability o.The nitrocellulose surface used must not fluoresce in far-red or near-infrared spectral ranges p.The nitrocellulose surface used must withstand a minimum of 24 hours in 1X TBS-T buffer with agitation (50mM Tris-HCl pH 7.4, 150mM NaCl, 0.1% Tween-20) The COP material used to construct the 1536-well plate frame should be chemically inert, show low thermal deformation, be resistant to sterilization procedures, and be dimensionally stable. It should also minimize electrostatic effects. This may include the use of graphite-based polymers for electrical grounding or other electrostatic discharge methods. It should be of low autofluorescence black pigment to minimize background during detection and imaging of the NC membrane surface. The COP plastic will not be surface treated with RF microwave plasma. Each 1536-well plate will be tracked in UHTS via its barcode label. The barcode shall be on a white label, one inch by 0.25 inches in dimension. There shall be a unique Code-128 barcode preprinted on the label. The label will be attached on the leading edge of the 1536-well plate (short edge) that faces the barcode readers in each UHTS subsystem. The manufacturing process will occur in a clean room environment with special hoods and fixtures to enable dust free assembly of the NC membrane plate. Currently, the two key components of the product are brought together on the manufacturing line in a laminar hood (1536 COP frames and properly cut NC membrane in a stack separated by clean lint free sheet material). Delivery: Offerors should indicate an estimated delivery time in full after receipt of an order. Inspection and acceptance will be performed at a Government facililty located at 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD 20850. Delivery is anticipated within 120 days ARO. CAPABILITY STATEMENTS SOUGHT Interested parties are expected to review this notice to familiarize itself with the requirements of this project. Failure to do so will be at your firm's own risk. Respondents must provide, as part of their response: (a) product, catalog, model, and/or part number(s); (b) product description; (c) all relevant information and documentation that the item(s) offered meets the salient physical, functional, or performance characteristics as specified in this announcement; (d) quantity; (e) shipping, handling, and/or installation instructions, and/or any special delivery conditions after receipt of an order. Respondents that believe that they are manufacturers or authorized re-sellers of the equipment specified in this announcement must provide, as part of their response: (a) product, catalog, model, and/or part number(s); (b) product description; (c) all relevant information and documentation that the item(s) offered meets the salient physical, functional, or performance characteristics as specified in the purchase description; (d) quantity; (e) estimated price or cost; (f) shipping, handling, and/or installation charges; and delivery date after receipt of order. The respondent must also provide their DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HubZone, etc.) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code and any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the acquisition requirements. The information submitted must be in outline format that addresses each of the elements of this requirement. A cover page and an executive summary may be included but is not required. The response is limited to fifteen (15) pages. The 15-page limit does not include the cover page, executive summary, or references, if requested. The response must include the respondents' technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. Respondents must reference the subject announcement number on all correspondence related to this Small Business Sources Sought notice. The response must be submitted to Hunter Tjugum electronically, at hunter.tjugum@nih.gov, and be received prior to the closing date specified in this announcement. CONCLUDING STATEMENTS Disclaimer and Important Notes. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).
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