Purchase of an interface for two Ventana Benchmark Special Stains Automated Slide Stainer

Contracting Office Address Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Office of Acquisitions, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Room 1E638, Bethesda, MD 20892, UNITED STATES Description National Cancer Institute (NCI), Center for Cancer Research (CCR), Division of Basic Sciences Laboratory of Pathology (LP) plans to procure on a sole source basis an interface from Soft Commuter that will allow unidirectional Communication between SoftPath and the Ventana Benchmark Special Stainer from Soft Computer Consultants; Clearwater, FL. This acquisition will be processed in accordance with simplified acquisition procedures as stated in FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) and FAR 13.501-(a)(1) and is exempt from the requirements of FAR Part 6. The North American Industry Classification System code is 511210 and the business size standard is $38.5 million. Only one award will be made as a result of this solicitation. This will be awarded as a firm fixed price type contract. Delivery will be within 100 days of receipt of purchase order. It has been determined there are no opportunities to acquire green products or services for this procurement. Department Background The Histopathology Laboratory of Pathology performs clinical patient testing to assist in the diagnosis of a variety of cancers. The laboratory develops tests that assist in pathologic diagnosis, predict prognosis and identify potential targets for rational personalized therapies. It is currently the only CLIA and College of American Pathology approved clinical laboratory within the NCI certified for performing molecular oncology testing on materials from NIH patients. The section's workload volumes exceed typical capacity of most Histopatholology laboratory volumes and the addition of this interface will not only obviate the need for the technologists to reenter the information in the Ventana computers in order to generate the barcodes labels but this will also be a major timesaver and should reduce potential transcription errors ensuring better turnaround times for case material used by pathologists in pathologic diagnoses of submitted human tissue. Purpose of Purchase This purchase request is for two (2) unidirectional interfaces from the SoftPath Laboratory Information System (LIS) and two years of 24/7 maintenance and service for any interface malfunction for any of the two (2) Ventana Benchmark Special Stains Automated Slide Stainer instruments. Maintenance includes troubleshooting and technical assistances. This maintenance contract will ensure that NIH/CCR/LP is covered in the event of interface breakdowns helping us to maintain timely service to the NIH patient population benefitting of the Government. Soft Computer provides the Laboratory of Pathology's current laboratory information system, Softpath. No other known vendor has the license to create and distribute Soft Computer's software, SoftPath. This notice is not a request for competitive quotation. However, if any interested party, especially small businesses, believes it can meet the above requirement, it may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency. The statement of capabilities and any other information furnished must be in writing and must contain material in sufficient detail to allow NCI to determine if the party can perform the requirement. Responses must be received in the contracting office by 3:00 PM EST, on August 04, 2017. All responses and questions must be in writing and emailed to Roman Davydov, Contract Specialist, via electronic mail at roman.davydov@nih.gov. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. No collect calls will be accepted. In order to receive an award, contractors must be registered and have valid certification in the Central Contractor Registration and the Online Representations and Certifications Applications through the System for Awards Management website (sam.gov). Reference: N02RC73805-53 on all correspondence.