Q -- Histological Testing Services-Slides

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation to provide histology services for the NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS) Office of Habitat Conservation and NOAA?s Coral Disease and Health Consortium. There are two separate tasks contained herein. The contractor(s) shall each process histological sections from a minimum of two corals. One contractor will process a branching coral (Pocillopora or Porites spp.) and plating coral (Monitopora spp.), and the second will process a branching coral (Acropora, Seriatophora or Stylophora) and massive coral (Porites, Favia or Favites). The contractor(s) will then work together to each identify and bring together 6 representatives with expertise on coral histology to a one week long meeting to discuss and annotate slides and produce an electronic digital atlas. All of the slides and embedded blocks of tissue produced during the contract period will be submitted to the NOAA/CDHC International Coral Registry of Pathology for archiving. Task 1) Procurement of histological slides of healthy and diseased coral tissue with accompanying annotation for IndoPacific corals PURPOSE: Services are needed to accomplish tasks as a part of the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program coral disease efforts identified in the Coral Disease and Health Consortium?s (CDHC) National Research Plan, to which NOAA has committed its support. Specifically, the contractor will contribute to NOAA?s development of a reference collection of histological sections of coral tissue for representative Pacific coral species. The contractor will: ? Provide sets of histological slides of at least two Pacific coral species that typify branching and plating morphologies; Slides will be stained with appropriate histological stains to reveal morphological features to distinguish cell types and anatomical systems at light microscopy levels and accompanied with annotations of the various morphological and anatomical features. ? Identify six experts in coral histology and bring them together in a week-long session to review the slides and annotate the histological features with accepted cnidarian terminology. ? Develop an electronic atlas of representative slides and cellular features. SCHEDULE: Defined on a task order basis. Stained slides may be delivered in batches that consist of multiples of 25. SCOPE OF WORK: 1. Produce high quality (i.e., complete fixation, even thickness, even staining, intact tissue sections) histological sections of voucher (i.e., type) species of Pacific scleractinan coral. Examples of acceptable species are representatives of the genus Pocillopora, Porites and Montipora including branching Pocillopora meandrina, Porites compressa, and Pocillopora damicornis, and plating Montipora spp., 2. Provide tissue sections that are oriented in various planes of view with respect to the polyp longitudinal axis. These shall include 1) Transverse (or axial) sections (i.e., run top (superior, oral) to bottom (inferior, aboral) from the tentacles to the basal disk perpendicular to the longitudinal axis (also may be referred to as cross-sections); 2) Sagittal sections which be cut parallel to the longitudinal axis (i.e., from one side of the body to the other the whole length; and 3) representative Oblique sections of the polyps. 3. Tissue sections shall be stained with appropriate histological dyes to visualize cell and tissue composition and structure that include but are not limited to elements of the integument, digestive, musculoskeletal, reproductive, nervous, endocrine and immune/defense systems. 4. Digitized versions of representative slides of tissue from each biological system (see #3) shall be annotated as to anatomical location, system components and cellular and structural features and subcellular elements (i.e., nucleus, ER, Golgi, lysosome, peroxisomes, mitochondria etc) representing normal histology of the type-species of coral. 5. We expect the scope of our project to be in the order of 150-300 slides for a Pacific type-species of coral with branching morphology and 150-300 slides for a type-species of coral with mounding morphology. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: The contractor shall perform the specified tasks from August 31, 2006 to March 31, 2008. The resulting purchase order(s) shall be negotiated on a firm fixed price. The budgeted amount for each of these task, task 1 above and task 2 below is approximately $24,950 each. DELIVERABLES/TASK 1: 1. A minimum batch of 25 histological slides fully processed and stained shall be delivered to the client every 45 days until completion. 2. Annotation of digitized versions of the histological slides will be delivered via email notification and a secured we-site link. 3. A total of 150-300 stained histological slides will be provided to the client for each of two Pacific coral species. 4. Annotation of digitized versions of histological slides will be delivered via email notification and a secured web-site link. Task 2) Procurement of histological slides with accompanying annotation of two species of U. S. Pacific Scleractinian Corals PURPOSE: The purpose of this contract is provide sets of histological slides of at least two U. S. Pacific coral species that typify branching and boulder morphologies, stained with appropriate histological stains to reveal morphological features to distinguish cell types and anatomical systems at light microscopy levels and accompanied with annotations of the various morphological and anatomical features. The contractor will also identify six additional experts and bring them together in a week-long session to review the slides and annotate the histological features with accepted cnidarian terminology. SCHEDULE: Defined on a task order basis. Stained slides may be delivered in batches that consist of multiples of 25. SCOPE OF WORK: 1. Produce high quality (i.e., complete fixation, even thickness, even staining, intact tissue sections) histological sections of voucher (i.e., type) species of U. S. Pacific scleractinan coral. Examples of acceptable species include one of the following massive corals: Porites lobata, Favia spp. or Favites spp. , and one branching coral in the genus Acropora, Seriatophora or Stylophora. 2. Provide tissue sections that are oriented in various planes of view with respect to the polyp longitudinal axis. These shall include 1) Transverse (or axial) sections (i.e., run top (superior, oral) to bottom (inferior, aboral) from the tentacles to the basal disk perpendicular to the longitudinal axis (also may be referred to as cross-sections); 2) Sagittal sections which be cut parallel to the longitudinal axis (i.e., from one side of the body to the other the whole length; and 3) representative Oblique sections of the polyps. 3. Tissue sections shall be stained with appropriate histological dyes to visualize cell and tissue composition and structure that include but are not limited to elements of the integument, digestive, musculoskeletal, reproductive, nervous, endocrine and immune/defense systems. 4. Digitized versions of representative slides of tissue from each biological system (see #3) shall be annotated as to anatomical location, system components and cellular and structural features and subcellular elements (i.e., nucleus, ER, Golgi, lysosome, peroxisomes, mitochondria etc) representing normal histology of the type-species of coral. 5. We expect the scope of our project to be in the order of 300-500 slides for a Pacific type-species of coral with branching morphology and 300-500 slides for a type-species of coral with mounding morphology. 6. The contractor will work with the CDHC program managers (Andrew Bruckner and Cheryl Woodley) to complete the tasks and coordinate the follow-up workshop. The workshop will be convened in collaboration with Dr. Esti Winter, who is supporting participation by six other coral experts. DELIVERABLES: 1. A minimum batch of 25 histological slides fully processed and stained shall be delivered to the client every 45 days until completion; the total number of slides will range from 600-1000 total slides. 2. Annotation of digitized versions of histological slides will be delivered via email notification and a secured web-site link. A contractor may choose to submit a quote to accomplish each of the above tasks or all three of the above tasks. For review purposes, the quotes shall be distinctly different and each shall be designated with the Task number so that each may be compared separately with the evaluation criteria. Any contractor submitting a quote for more than one task may choose to apply a volume discount. GOVERNMENT SUPPLIED MATERIALS- During the course of this contract, NOAA will provide access to specified U.S. Government data relevant to this project. Any information, not previously published, received from the Government in connection with this contract, or furnished to the Contractor from other sources in response to the Government=s requirements under this contract, will be restricted to this project, and may not be disclosed or used for any other purpose, without prior written approval of the Contracting Officer. The restrictions do not apply to information which: 1) Currently or subsequently enters the public domain; 2) Has already been released to any third party, without restrictions; or 3) Is obtained by the Contractor independent of the Government. Title to all Government data furnished to the Contractor in connection with this contract shall remain with the Government. The solicitation document and incorporated clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular Number 2005-12. The provisions and clauses may be downloaded at http://www.acqnet.gov/far. The following provisions and clauses shall apply to this solicitation: FAR 52.212-l, Instructions to Offerors - Commercial, applies to this acquisition and there is no addenda to this provision; FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation - Commercial Items. The resulting purchase order shall be negotiated on a firm fixed price. The award shall be made on a best value basis using simplified acquisition procedures and commercial acquisition procedures. Quotes will be evaluated based upon their approach, past performance and price, while these factors are relatively equal, they are listed in order of importance. The Government plans to award a purchase order resulting from this solicitation to the responsible quote conforming to the solicitation which will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers: (i) approach, (ii) past performance, (iii) price; FAR 52-212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition and there is no addenda to this provision; FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions - Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition and there is no addenda to this provision; FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders - Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. All interested contractors must be actively registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) at the CCR website (www.ccr.gov). All responsible sources may respond to this combined synopsis/solicitation with a quotation addressed to Robin Prather, NOAA Acquisition Division, 1305 East West Highway, Room 7146, Silver Spring MD 20910, to be received no later than 1:00 p.m., September 11, 2006. Responses may be faxed to 301-713-0806 or emailed to Robin.Prather@noaa.gov. Responses must be no more than 8(eight) pages. The Government reserves the right to make a single award, multiple awards, or no award as a result of this RFQ. It is the responsibility of the contractor to confirm NOAA's receipt of quote.