Cryoprobes Technology

THIS IS A PRE-SOLICITATION NON-COMPETITIVE (NOTICE OF INTENT) SYNOPSIS. The Government's intent is TO AWARD A CONTRACT/PURCHASE ORDER WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION. The National Institute of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, National Institute of Child Health & Human Development in support of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Intramural Research Program (IRP) intends to award a purchase order without providing for full and open competition the upgrade of a Bruker product. The project background is as follows. Cryoprobes provide improvements of 3-4 fold in signal-to-noise ratio over room temperature probes, thereby opening the way to numerous experiments that simply cannot be carried out using room temperature probes owing to lack of sensitivity. Consequently, cryoprobes are absolutely essential to modern state-of-the-art biomolecular NMR spectroscopy used to study the structure and dynamics of macromolecules. The sensitivity enhancements afforded by cryoprobe technology in which the probe coil and pre-amplifiers are cooled to near liquid helium temperatures (less than 25 Kelvin), is such that nearly all the experiments that we currently carry out cannot be done with room temperature probes. The existing cryoprobe on the Bruker Avance 600 MHz spectrometer located in Bldg 6 has a major disadvantage that is completely eliminated by the new cryoprobe being requested. Specifically, the existing cryoprobe only possesses a single z gradient which makes the suppression of artifacts difficult. The presence of such artifacts can often times offset much of the gains in signal-to-noise. The probe being requested not only has three-axis (x, y and z) gradients, but in addition is of the TCI variety allowing for both 1H observe with 15N, 13C and 2H decoupling, and 13C observe with 1H, 15N and 2H decoupling. This is critical in the study of large macromolecules where 13C observe experiments offer very significant advantages in terms of signal-to-noise over 1H observe experiments. All our NMR spectrometers are being used to push the frontiers of NMR spectroscopy in structural biology, with considerable emphasis being placed on the application of these methods to AIDS related structural problems. These include work on HIV-1 Gag polyprotein, HIV-1 reverse trascriptase, the fusion and cytoplasmic domains of HIV-1 gp41, HIV-1 integrase, HIV-1 protease, and various host proteins that are relevant to the pathogenesis of AIDS. . The manufacturer is Bruker Biospin Corporation, 15 Fortune Drive, Billerics, MA 01821 . The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 334516 with a size standard of 1000 employees. The resultant award will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) This acquisition is conducted under the procedures prescribed in FAR subpart 13- Simplified Acquisitions Procedures at an amount exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold ($150,000.00) and as supplemented by FAR Part 12 - Commercial Items. This acquisition is conducted under the authority of 41 U.S.C.253 under provisions of the statutory authority of FAR Subpart 6.302-FAR 6.302-1- Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements 41 U.S.C. 253c (1). This synopsis is not a request for competitive proposals. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to established the interested parties bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: certification by the OEM that you are authorized to provide services, unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point ( Destination or Origin), the Duns & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The information received will normally be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement. All responses to this notice shall be submitted electronically by 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, September 19, 2017 toMaxwell J. Kimpson at email address max.kimpson@nih.gov.