Living Measurement Systems Foundry (LMSF) Expansion, Upgrade, and Maintenance Services

Title: Living Measurement Systems Foundry (LMSF) Expansion, Upgrade, and Maintenance Services

NAICS Code: 334516 Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing

Contracting Office Address

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),

Acquisition Management Division,

100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 1640,

Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-1640

This is a Sources Sought Notice ONLY.  Requests for copies of a solicitation will not receive a response. 

This notice is for planning purposes only and is not a Request for Proposal or Request for Quotation or an obligation on the part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for conducting a follow-on acquisition. 

This Notice assists the Government in determining whether there are any domestically manufactured end product sources for the project title.

NIST does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this notice or otherwise pay for the information requested.  No entitlement or payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by NIST will arise as a result of submission of responses to this notice and NIST use of such information.  NIST recognizes that proprietary components, interfaces and equipment, and clearly mark restricted or proprietary components, interfaces and equipment, and clearly mark restricted or proprietary data and present it as an addendum to the non-restricted/non-proprietary information.  In the absence of such identification, NIST will assume to have unlimited rights to all technical data in the information paper.

NO SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS EXIST AT THIS TIME.

Requirement:

NIST is seeking information from manufacturers, suppliers, and integrators capable of furnishing a complete laboratory automation solution consisting of one new Living Measurement Systems Foundry (LMSF) automation system and the equipment necessary to modernize the Government's existing LMSF automation system.

The anticipated requirement includes, but is not limited to, the following:

1. New Living Measurement Systems Foundry Automation System

The Contractor shall furnish one complete, integrated LMSF automation system for automated microbial culture, sample preparation, and analytical workflows.

The system is anticipated to include:

• Hamilton Company MicroLab STAR liquid handling platform and associated modules;
• Multi-mode plate readers;
• Automated microplate sealing and de-sealing equipment;
• Automated storage carousel;
• Robotic arm capable of automated movement of plates, tip racks, and other materials between integrated instruments;
• Solid waste collection capability;
• Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) system enclosure and associated biological safety air handling;
• Integration and automation control computers;
• Automation, scheduling, instrument-control, and integration software; and
• All other hardware, software, firmware, licenses, accessories, and components necessary to provide a complete and fully operational system.

The Contractor shall be responsible for system design, configuration, integration, programming, Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), delivery, installation, Site Acceptance Testing (SAT), commissioning, documentation, operator training, and warranty support necessary to furnish the Government a complete and operational system.

2. Modernization of Existing Government-Owned LMSF

The Contractor shall furnish a new model Hamilton Company MicroLab STAR liquid handling platform and all associated hardware, software, firmware, licenses, and integration components necessary to replace the liquid handling platform currently integrated into the Government-owned LMSF.

The Contractor shall remove or otherwise disposition the existing liquid handling platform as directed by the Government and install, configure, and integrate the replacement platform with the remaining Government-owned LMSF equipment.

The modernization shall include integration of two Government-furnished Inheco single-plate incubator shakers and migration of applicable automation software, software configuration files, automation programs, instrument settings, drivers, user configuration files, automation scripts, communication settings, and associated operational data necessary to maintain operation of the existing LMSF.

The modernized system shall preserve the existing system's automation functionality and shall operate interoperably with the new LMSF automation system.

Interested parties shall describe the capabilities of their organization as it relates to the product described above. 

NIST anticipates issuing a Request for Quotation in the fourth quarter of FY26 and awarding a contract no later than the fourth quarter of FY26.

NIST is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large and small businesses. The small business size standard associated with the NAICS code for this effort, 334516 Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing; size standard 1,000 employees.  Please include your company’s size classification and socio-economic status in any response to this notice.

After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed, NIST may conduct a competitive procurement and subsequently award a contract.  Companies that can provide such products are requested to email a written response describing their abilities to donald.graham@nist.gov no later than the response date for this sources sought notice.

The following information is requested to be provided as part of the response to this sources sought notice:

1. Name, Address, UEID, CAGE code, and point of contact information of your company.
2. Any information on the company’s small business certifications, if applicable.
3. Description of your company’s capabilities as they relate to the product described in this notice.
4. A description of your company’s previous experience providing the product described in this notice.
5. Indication of whether the product described in this notice are currently offered via your company’s GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts, Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), or other existing Government-wide contract vehicles; and, if so, the contract number(s) for those vehicles.
6. Any other relevant information that is not listed above which the Government should consider in finalizing its market research.
7. Place of Manufacture: Is more than 55% of item manufactured domestically, and if not where is it manufactured?

Responses are limited to a total of twelve (12) pages. The responses must be in MS Word format.  Pages shall be 8½-inch x 11-inch, using Times New Roman 11 Point Font.  Each page shall have adequate margins on each side (at least one inch) of the page. Header/footer information (which does not include any information to be analyzed) may be included in the 1" margin space.