SPECIAL NOTICE
66 -- Procurement of one Field Emission Gun Upgrade for a Government-owned Titan Krios High Resolution Electron Microscope
- Notice Date
- 4/17/2020 8:12:59 AM
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 334519
— Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- NIH National Cancer Institute Rockville MD 20850 USA
- ZIP Code
- 20850
- Solicitation Number
- 75N91020Q00047
- Response Due
- 4/24/2020 8:00:00 AM
- Archive Date
- 05/09/2020
- Point of Contact
- Adam Hernandez, Phone: (240) 276-5633
- E-Mail Address
-
adam.hernandez@nih.gov
(adam.hernandez@nih.gov)
- Description
- The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI), Center for Cancer Research (CCR), Laboratory of Cell Biology (LCB) intends to procure, on a sole source bases, one field emission gun upgrade for a Government-owned Titan Krios high resolution electron microscope (S/N D3211) from FEI Company, 5350 NE Dawson Creek Drive Hillsboro, OR, 97124-5793, United States. The response close date of the notice for this requirement is in accordance with FAR 5.203(b). This acquisition will be processed under FAR Part 12 � Acquisition for Commercial Items and will be made pursuant to the authority in FAR Part 13.106-1(b)(1); and is exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 334519 and the business size standard is 500 employees. � 1.0 BACKGROUND The Government-owned Titan Krios high resolution electron microscope manufactured by FEI Company is currently serving investigators in NCI and other IC�s for acquiring high-resolution images of protein macromolecules, cellular complexes, and pathogens for vaccine research. The ultimate performance of the electron microscope depends highly on the electron source, the field emission gun (FEG). A higher spatial coherence of electrons results in an improved information transfer or higher resolving power. The microscope is currently equipped with a standard FEG (sFEG), which have been acknowledged as high brightness and coherence source for many high-performance microscopes. However, this type of FEG is also known for dose instability. Any emission instability degrades data quality and halts many active structural biology research experiments. Many cryoEM facilities in the US have found major issues with the sFEG such as periodic ring collapse that causes electron beam intensity fluctuation up to 4-fold (peak to peak) within 36 hours occurring in a monthly frequency. Electron dose fluctuation significantly reduces data quality because cryo sample is very sensitive to electron radiation damage. Furthermore, accurate exposure dose is one of the major factors in data processing for high-resolution. The FEI Company xFEG is the updated version of the electron source, which is now the standard electron emitter for the new generation Titan Krios. 2.0 PRODUCT FEATURES/SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS The field emission gun upgrade shall: Provide constant illumination current with fluctuation under 0.2 electron/A2 per week. Not require routine special treatment such as healing the emitter tip by altering the voltage. Fit and be compatible with the FEI/Thermo Scientific Titan Krios S/N D3211. Operate at 300 kV and deliver coherent electron beam. Have an optimal operational extraction voltage (Voptimal) less than 4500 V. Have an emission chamber vacuum reaching ultra-high at 1.2x10-9 torr or better. Provide an emission chamber and apertures that are free of any contaminant which could degrade the electron beam quality. Pass the Satisfactory Acceptance Test (SAT) including current stability and producing images at 2.0 angstrom resolution or better on a gold replica sample (standard test specimen), post installation. 3.0 TYPE OF ORDER This is a Firm-Fixed-Price purchase order. 4.0 UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE CONTRACTOR NCI, CCR, LCB currently owns a Titan Krios high resolution electron microscope (S/N D3211) that is manufactured by FEI Company. The microscope is serving NCI investigators for acquiring high-resolution images of protein macromolecules, cellular complexes, and pathogens for vaccine research. The microscope is currently equipped with a standard FEG (sFEG) however, this type of FEG is known for dose instability. Any emission instability degrades data quality and halts many active structural biology research. The xFEG is the updated version of the electron source, which is now the standard electron emitter for the new generation Titan Krios. The advantage is that the illumination current does not fluctuate over time (constant emission) and the emission tip does not require routine flashing or resetting. There is an urgency to upgrade the sFEG on the existing Government-owned Titan Krios high resolution electron microscope to a xFEG that will ensure optimal data quality and better serve NCI and other IC�s on a wide range of structural and cell biology projects. This is a hardware upgrade to Government-owned equipment. Due to the complexity of the existing microscope configuration, the xFEG upgrade is the only option to ensure full compatibility and hardware utilization and therefore any other vendor would be incompatible. Furthermore, FEI Company is the sole manufacturer, distributor, and installer of the xFEG upgrade. In the event that a vendor besides an OEM field service engineer attempted to install the xFEG upgrade on the microscope, the xFEG would not be covered under the warranty for the upgrade and the xFEG would have to be purchased again at full price and any resulting damage to the microscope itself would not be covered. � This notice is not a request for competitive quotations. However, if any interested party, especially a small business, believes it can meet the above requirement, it may submit a proposal or quote for the Government to consider. The response and any other information furnished must be in writing and must contain material in enough detail to allow NCI to determine if the party can perform the requirement. All responses and questions must be submitted via email to Adam Hernandez, Contract Specialist at adam.hernandez@nih.gov. Responses are due no later than 11:00 A.M. EST Friday, April 24, 2020 (04/24/2020). A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. To receive an award, Contractors must be registered and have valid certification in the System for Award Management (SAM) through SAM.gov, and have Representations and Certifications filled out. Reference 75N91020Q00047 on all correspondence.
- Web Link
-
SAM.gov Permalink
(https://beta.sam.gov/opp/2f3b5d1abd0840ccb30bea968c8cffcf/view)
- Record
- SN05624486-F 20200419/200417230143 (samdaily.us)
- Source
-
SAM.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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