Digital NMR Console and Ancillary NMR Components

INTRODUCTION This is a pre-solicitation non-competitive (notice of intent) synopsis to award a contract without providing for full or open competition (including brand-name). THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT, NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. A SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED AND PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE REQUESTED. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Consolidated Station Support and Simplified Acquisitions (CSS/SA) Branch intends to negotiate and award a purchase order to Lafayette Instrument Company, Inc, for a digital NMR console and Ancillary NMR components without providing for full and open competition (including brand-name). NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE The intended procurement is classified under NAICS code 446199 with a Size Standard of $7.5 million dollars . REGULATORY AUTHORITY & STATUATORY AUTHORITY The resultant contract will include all applicable provisions and clauses in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-89 dated July 14, 2016. This acquisition is for a commercial item or service and is conducted under the procedures as prescribed in FAR subpart 13-Simplified Acquisition Procedures. This acquisition is NOT expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the authority of FAR Subpart 13.106.1.b-1 DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT The National Institute of Mental Health, (NIMH) requires In vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy of human brain and muscle Mouse touchscreen operant behavioral control system for direct support of research conducted in Rodent Behavioral Core facility. The Rodent Behavioral Core (RBC) is a new state-of-the-art research facility designed to provide NIH researchers the capacity to expand their behavioral research. As part of its service to the NIH community, the RBC must provide specialized equipment for shared use to a broad spectrum of researchers from varied Neuroscience fields. The NIH community or researchers that use mouse models are in dire need or automated, high throughput behavioral tasks that can study the neural mechanisms of complex cognitive behaviors, and that can be translated to human behavior. The acquisition is a special dedicated touchscreen operant behavioral control system for mice. A US based company called Lafayette Instruments designs it, and they are the sole supplier of this equipment. The touchscreen chamber is specially configured with an operating system nput from multiple screens. Over the years, Lafayette has written custom programs and has created a suite of programs that can be used only with the Whisker software. Consequently, Lafayette Instruments is the distributor of these programs, and the licensed manufacturers, sellers and distributors of the whole product. This acquisition, with its dedicated software and hardware cannot be purchased anywhere else in North America. Several NIMH RBC users have expressed a desire to acquire this equipment for behavioral phenotyping of their newly developed transgenic mice. Unfortunately, there are no touchscreen operant systems for mice at NIMH to study complex cognitive behavior. To our knowledge, Dr. Holmes at NIAAA uses the same equipment in his Laboratory of Behavioral and Genomic Neuroscience. Dr. Holmes, who is an expert in mouse cognition, is located in Rockville making it inaccessible for NIMH core users. The acquisition of this equipment will allow for the direct scientific support for the research conducted in a new Rodent Behavioral Core (RBC). The RBC will provide the space and maintenance of this new acquisition. The research that will ensue, presented in the form of written scientific articles, reports and oral presentations, will inform the public of scientific progress in our understanding of pathological and abnormal states of brain and behavior. As such, this acquisition will help increase NIMH productivity towards meeting its Mission goals while ensuring the continuity of research. Specifically, the NIMH requires the following: - CI BUSSEY CONTROLLER, Model 88530, quantity 1 - BUSSEY MOUSE TOUCH CHAMBER INCLUDES: TOUCHSCREEN, CHAMBER BASE, CONED WALLS PERFORATED FLOOR, IR AMBULATORY BEAMS, REWARD AREA, LIQUID REWARD, HOUSE LIGHT, SPEAKER AND SOUND ATTENUATION CUBICLE, Model 80614 (quantity 4) - IR CAMERA (PAL) & LENS - TOUCH Model 8called Whisker, specifically designed to control image/stimulus presentation and touchscreen i0051-1 (quantity 4) - EASY INSTALL KIT-MOUSE Model 81614-20 (quantity 1) - WHISKER MM SINGLE Model 80698-1 (quantity 4) - ABET II TOUCH SOFTWARE, with TOUCH SCREEN OPERANT TASK SCHEDULING AND ANALYSIS Software Model 89505 (quantity 1) - MOUSE PAIRWIS/VISUAL DISCRIM - MASK, 2X1 MASK - MOUSE PAIRWISE & VISUAL DISCRIMINATION Model 80614-M1 (quantity 4) - MOUSE PAL & VMCL - MASK with 3X1 MASK - MOUSE PAIRED ASSOCIATE LEANING (PAL) & VISUOMOTOR CONDITION LEARNING Model 80614-M2 (quantity 4) - MOUSE 5CSRT - MASK, 5X1 MASK - MOUSE FIVE CHOICE SERIAL REACTION TASK (5CSRT) Model 80614-M4 (quantity 4) - QUAD PROCESSOR VIDEO SPLITTER Model 80050-2 (quantity 1) - OBSERVATION MONITOR TFT-19" Model 80050-1 (quantity 1) - BNC CABLE, 5 M Model 80052-5 (quantity 1) - 4 CHAMBER EASY-INSTALL CRATE & PACK Model 80614-PK1, (quantity 1) - OCEAN FREIGHT & INSURANCE, Model SHIPPING, (quantity 1) Period of Performance 30 days from notice of award CONTRACTING WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR FULL OR OPEN COMPETITION (INCLUDING BRAND-NAME) DETERMINATION The determination by the Government to award a contract without providing for full and open competition is based upon the market research conducted. Specifically Lafayette Instruments is sole distributor of Whisker programs, and the licensed manufacturers, sellers and distributors of the requested. The consistent use of the Whiskers operating system across these behavioral test systems is essential to protecting the continuity of science. Lafayette Instrument Company, Inc 3700 Sagamore Pkway N Lafayette, IN 47904-1066 CLOSING STATEMENT 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 establish the interested parties bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: 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 Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the 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 must be received by the closing date and time of this announcement and must reference the solicitation number. Responses may be submitted electronically to Farrin Stanton, Contract Specialist, at Farrin.Stanton@nih.gov. US Mail and Fax responses will not be accepted.