Notice of Intent to Sole Source -- Brand Name Only: B. Olympus

Notice of Intent to Sole Source and Brand Name Only Justification This notice is being published in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 5.101 requiring the dissemination of information for proposed contract actions. This is a notice of intent to award a sole source contract and is NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS. The statutory authority for this sole source procurement is prescribed by FAR 13.106-1(b). The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of the Director (OD) intends to issue a sole source purchase order for an Olympus Confocal Microscope. The resulting order will be a sole source award for sixty days from receipt of award. The proposed contract action is for supplies for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source. However, all responsible sources may submit a capability statement demonstrating the ability to provide the requested items or exception to the intent to purchase on a sole source basis, which shall be considered by the Government if received by Friday, June 23, 2017 at 5:00 pm, local time, Washington, DC. Written responses to this synopsis shall contain sufficient documentation to establish a bonafide capability to fulfill the requirement. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. A determination not to compete this requirement, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government. NIH will not be responsible for any costs incurred by interested parties in responding to this notice. The Government is not obligated to and will not pay for any information received from potential sources as a result of this synopsis. Proprietary data This is a custom built microscopy imaging system for in vivo imaging of myelin via coherent anti-stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS), together with confocal microscopy. CARS is a novel imaging method that enables visualizing myelin structure in the living animal without the use of myelin stains. There is no other known alternative to achieve this capability. This instrument is required for in vivo imaging of myelin structure and plasticity during development and learning. No commercially available CARS imaging system is offered by any microscope company. Olympus will provide the custom-built microscopy system with CARS capability based on an instrument that was tested and developed on-site in an HHS/NIH/ORS/DSEIS/ERSB laboratory, using Olympus components together with a timing and recombination unit (TRU) provided by Newport Corporation. The TRU is designed to provide dual tunable laser beams from a Spectra Physics titanium sapphire laser with 1040/680-1300 nm emission as required for producing CARS emission. Contact Yvette Porter NLT 12:00 PM EST on Monday, June 19, 2017, at portery@od.nih.gov to request any relevant information or documentation, and to submit questions. All documentation and questions submitted by 12:00 PM EST on Monday June 19, 2017 will be forwarded to the Technical Point of Contact for evaluation.