Acquisition of Synthia Monitor and Control System

The National Institute of Health (NIH), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Office of Acquisitions, Station Support Simplified Acquisitions Branch on behalf of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis, under authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), with Mink Hollow Systems, Inc., 120 Ashton Road, Ashton, MD 20861, for a Synthia Monitor and Control System. The North American Industry Classification System Code is 334519 and the business size standard is 500 employees. The Molecular Imaging Branch (MIB) of the National Institute of Mental Health uses a commercial automated radio synthesis system named "Synthia" to generate radiotracers for positron emission tomography (PET). The Synthia system, consisting of laboratory hardware, computers, and software, is no longer supported by the original manufacturers. Costly problems and system crashes have made it apparent that a well designed, maintainable and fully supportable replacement is required. Mink Hollow Systems, Inc. (MHS hereafter) was commissioned to work on a Synthia Control Replacement Project in October 2007. Initially, a small module, called the - CO system', a minor component of the entire Synthia System was rewritten by MHS with Labview programming language that ran on National Instruments compact reconfigurable I/O. This pilot (proof-of-principle) project turned out to be a success. NIMH is therefore pursuing the goal of implementing Labview based National Instruments' Instrument Control software/hardware to upgrade the remaining parts of the Synthia system. MHS previously proposed a three-phase solution: 1) Requirements and Design, 2) System Development and 3) System Maintenance. MHS has now completed the first phase. The existing hardware has been analyzed and extensive meetings and consultation with NIMH personnel have resulted in four thorough requirements and design documents. The document contains a proposal for phases two and three. The development has focused on 3 key issues for the new system: maintainability, reliability and expandability. By having successfully finished Phase 1, MHS became uniquely familiar with the Synthia radiochemistry apparatus. MHS has proposed to replace the Synthia System with little or no impact on NIMH's ability to produce needed radiopharmaceuticals for human and animal studies. MHS is now gearing up to fabricate of necessary hardware based on its three documents from the past 18 months. MHS has interacted with NIMH engineers and scientists in highly productive ways and demonstrated that they are extremely capable of writing software, designing hardware and building hardware for instrument control for radiochemistry apparatus. It is crucial to have MHS to continue providing the required services as planned for the Phases 2 and 3 of the on-going implementing Labview project. Having a new contractor not familiar with all aspects of the project will ultimately cost the government more time and money to complete it. No solicitation package will be issued. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, interested party believes it can meet the above requirement may submit a statement of capabilities to Liem T Nguyen, contact@example.gov on or before 10:00 AM ET August 31, 2009. All information furnished must be in writing and must contain material in sufficient detail to allow the government to determine if the party can perform the requirement. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed acquisition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. In order to receive an award, contractors must be registered in and have valid certifications in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR), www.ccr.gov and the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) www.orca.bpn.gov. Please reference announcement number NOI-1200749 on all correspondence.