Axio Observer, Axio Imager and LSM 700

This Sources Sought Notice (SS) is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The purpose of this SS is to identify qualified small business concerns [including Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDB), Woman-owned Small Businesses (WOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Small Businesses, Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSB) and Service-Disabled Veteran-owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB] that are interested in providing the Zeiss Axio Imager, Axio Observer, and LSM 700 microscopes (Brand Name). The NHLBI does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. As a result of this Sources Sought notice, the NHLBI may issue a Request for Quote (RFQ). THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against NHLBI shall arise as a result of a response to this Sources Sought notice or the NHLBI's use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement. The NHLBI is seeking capability statements from all eligible small business concerns [particularly Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDB), Woman-owned Small Businesses (WOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZONE) Small Businesses, Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSB) and Service-Disabled Veteran-owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB)] under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 334516, small business size standards is 500. Based on the responses received from this SOURCES SOUGHT announcement, the proposed acquisition may be solicited as a Total Small Business Set-Aside. All eligible small business concerns responding to this Sources Sought Announcement must have the capabilities to provide the below services within 30 days after receipt of award. Background: The National Institute of Health (NIH) is the nation's leading medical research agency and the primary Federal agency conducting, supporting and making medical discoveries that improve people's health and save lives. The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), Undiagnosed Disease Program (UDP) is a program designed to address the needs of persons with debilitating medical conditions for which no diagnosis has been found despite an extensive workup. The goals of the UDP include finding accurate diagnoses and discovering new diseases that provide insight into human physiology and genetics. The UDP was established to evaluate participants who have undiagnosed medical conditions. UDP participants have generally received extensive diagnostic workups before traveling to the NIH and often have numerous and/or complex medical problems. The unknown nature of these complex diseases, require consultation with experts from many disciplines internationally. The purchase of the Zeiss microscopes will allow the laboratory to examine and design a digital repository of pathology slides obtained from UDP patients and allow for external consultation with experts in the related field. Additionally, the microscopes will allow for histopathology services for the analysis of patient tissues provided by external and internal clinical laboratories and from model organisms that are required to test hypothesis that arise from clinical or model organism observation. Furthermore, the purchase of these microscopes will allow the UDP laboratory to analyze and characterize subcellular abnormalities and interrogate molecular interactions, and perform quantitative, high-throughput screening methodologies for the detection and confirmation of abnormalities with protein glycosylation and vesicular transport. Contractor Requirements: The Contractor shall provide the following equipment: 1-Axio Observer Z1 Microscope - TFT touch screen to visualize present working conditions on the microscope - A docking station for the TFT touch screen with Z-focus control and x,y guide control of the motorized Can-Bus stage - Motorized Z-focus with a step size of 10 nm - Aquastop II (patented water deflection/collection system) to better fit motorized and manual nosepieces in order to protect them from spills - Lightmanager to automatically select the preset optimal light intensity per objective - Contrastmanager to automatically select the preset optimal contrast conditions per objective - Automatic Component Recognition for Filtersets and Objectives to allow for easy switching out of components and easy instantaneous recognition by the microscope without laborious set-ups - Ability to insert an Apotome and do structural sectioning to eliminate background fluorescence - Ability to insert a TIRF slider to pinpoint processes on biological interfaces without background fluorescence interference - Optics must contain negative and positive phase contrast to allow for visualization of all specimen structures - Thermally isolated objectives to sustain the selected temperature - Long-working distance objectives for maximal accessibility to all culter dishes - LD condenser 0.35nA with the ability to perform DIC - 3 position Optovar - Optovar with the magnification of 1.25 - Beampath that allows for apochromatic correction where red, green and blue all image in the same plane - 6x reflector motorized turret with 200ms switching time - Motorized fluorescence beampath with the ability to control attenuation of light and contrast in fluorescence - Laserport that allows for FRAP, uncaging and surgical laser applications with easy accessibility from the side of the stand - Fiber coupled Metal Halide Lamp HXP120 - Sensor technology PT100 to allow for controlled and monitored incubation via a control panel of the microscope or via AxioVison software on the PC - Automatic and rapid temperature changes are now possible to allow for temperature sensitive mutant experiments and heat-shock as well as cold shock mutant experiments - Isolation ring in objective for faster response time for changing temperature with no condensation issues - Sensor placement directly in culture vessel to have better feed-back mechanism close to the specimen - Possibility to perform micromanipulation in CO2 environment - Upgradability of an O2 controlled environment - Long-term incubator XL S1 - Short-term incubator S-TIRF that features Laser safety 1-LSM 700 Confocal Microscope - Variable Secondary Dichroic (VSD) that separates the two photomultiplier tubes and allows the user to specify the cutoff wavelength at which light will be reflected and not pass through the optic within 1 nm. - The ability to specify a freely defined cutoff value to allow for the use of any combination of fluorochromes, and to allow the use of the VSD as a sequential spectral imaging device. - A FixGate main beam splitter arrangement to provide extremely high laser suppression equivalent to between OD 6 and OD7 - Spectral mode use of the VSD to allow for the collection by the two available channels with no light dispersion. - Ensured linear scanner movement during acquisition to guarantee faithful geometric representation of the sample and constant pixel dwell times to allow for quantitative studies. - Contain a continuously variable scan field sizes from x 0.6 to x40 in 0.1 steps to provide magnifications up to and beyond the optical limits of resolution, with a scan field of 20 nm diagonally in the intermediate image plane. - Freely rotatable scan field through 360 degrees in 0.1 degree increments - Ability to activate up to 4 laser lines at any time with either one or two active detectors. - Ability to acquire flurochromes sequentially, either one at a time, or in groups. - Use of ZEN software that saves files in .czi formation that stores all meta data in addition to image data. - Ability to define 99 ROIs within an image that define an acquisition region, a bleach region or a measurement region within the ZEN software. - Use of ROIs to determine the prevention of photo-damage outside of the ORI boundaries, and perform FRAP experiments, FRET acceptor photo-bleaching experiments, uncaging, photo-activation and photo-conversion of switchable fluorescent proteins. 1-Axio Imager Z2 Microscope - Infinity Contrast and Color Corrected transmitted light beam path for uniform illumination - Ability to use the EC Plan-NEOFLUAR universal objective to have consistent stray light minimization. - Ability to use the Plan-APOCHROMAT objectives to allow for point spread functionality and planar and chromatic correction - Ability to use the ? Plan-APOCHROMAT 100x/1.46 and 100x/1.57 HI Oil objectives to provide for maximum resolution in fluorescence and transmitted light DIC techniques - Ability to use the LCI Plan-NEOFLUAR 25x/0.8 and 63x/1.3 Imm. Korr objectives for live cell imagine that are calibrated for specific temperature intervals as well as immersion media from water to glycerin - LED illumination source to allow for constant color temperature independent of brightness - Motorized 10-position reflector turret that is synchronized with the fast Colibri LED light source to provide a wide selection of excitation wavelengths without pixel shift - Motorized aperture and luminous field diaphragm to automatically control contrast and illumination - Motorized scanning stages, motorized z-focus, and high performance focus for high precision and positioning accuracy Additional Information: - The contractor shall provide a 1-year warranty for all microscopes - All microscopes must be compatible with Axiovision, ZEN and Assaybuilder software - Provide objectives, cameras and filters that are interchangeable between all of the microscopes Interested parties are expected to review this notice to familiarize yourself with the requirements of this project; failure to do so will be at your firm's own risk. Interested parties should submit a tailored capability statement for this requirement, not to exceed 20 single-sided pages (including all attachments, resumes, charts, etc.) presented in single-space and using a 12-point font size minimum, that clearly details the ability to perform the aspects of the notice described above. All proprietary information should be marked as such. Statements should also include an indication of current certified small business status; this indication should be clearly marked on the first page of your capability statement (preferably placed under the eligible small business concern's name and address). Responses will be reviewed only by NIH personnel and will be held in a confidential manner. All capability Statements sent in response to this SOURCES SOUGHT notice must be submitted electronically (via email) to Caitlin Palmer, Contract Specialist, at caitlin.palmer@nih.gov in either MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), by April 15, 2013, 11:30 AM, EST. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered.