Tandem Mass Spectrometer

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) located in Gaithersburg, MD is seeking vendors capable of providing a Tandem mass spectrometer (MS/MS) as described below. This announcement is not a Request for Proposals or Quotes (RFP/RFQ) and does not commit the Government to award a contract now or in the future. The information contained in this notice is a DRAFT only and, as such, is subject to change prior to issuance of a solicitation. No solicitation is available at this time. After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed, NIST may conduct a competitive or non-competitive procurement and subsequently award a contract. If at least two qualified small business sources are identified during this market research stage, this acquisition may be solicited as a small business set aside. NIST is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large and small businesses (SB, SDB, WOSB, HUB Zone, SDVOSB and VOSB). This requirement is assigned a NAICS code of 334516 (Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing) with a Small Business Size Standard of 1,000 employees. Interested business organizations that believe they may be capable of meeting NIST's requirement detailed below should respond to this notice with a narrative demonstrating their ability to meet NIST's requirement. Contractors may provide supplemental information at their discretion. The DRAFT requirements are provided below: BACKGROUND - The Biomolecular Measurement Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is involved in the development of measurement methodologies for the measurement of DNA damage and its repair in living organisms with the aim of understanding disease processes such as carcinogenesis and aging, in which oxidatively induced DNA damage occurs by a variety of mechanisms. This work involves the measurement of DNA lesions and DNA repair proteins in mammalian tissues, cultured cells and human urine by isotope dilution mass spectrometry. For this purpose, stable isotope-labeled DNA and protein standards are developed to be used as internal standards for accurate mass spectrometric measurements. Tandem mass spectrometry is the most widely used technique for such measurements and is frequently coupled to a separation technique such as liquid chromatography or gas chromatography. A tandem mass spectrometer (MS/MS) interfaced with a high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) is employed for the identification and quantification of modified DNA nucleosides and peptides in enzymatic hydrolysates of DNA samples and protein extracts, respectively. The HPLC must be capable of enabling the separation of complex hydrolysates of DNA and proteins isolated from mammalian tissues or cultured cells. The MS/MS system needed must function together with NIST's present Thermo Dionex Ultimate 3000 HPLC system using the Thermo Xcalibur software with DCMSLink. SCOPE OF WORK The Contractor shall provide one (1) MS/MS analytical instrument system that meets the following minimum technical requirements. The Contractor shall install the instrument and provide training as described below. Instrument Specifications (Performance Requirements) 1. Must work in conjunction with Thermo Dionex Ultimate 3000 HPLC system and Chromeleon Chromatography software. 2. Must have dimensions of no more than 70 cm x 76 cm x 80 cm (h x w x d). 3. Must operate in the mass range from 5 to 3000 Da. 4. Mass accuracy must be 0.1 Da with a mass assignment within - 0.050 Da over a 24 hour period and a scan speed of 15,000 amu/sec. 5. Selected reaction monitoring (SRM) transitions must reach 600 SRM/sec with 0.5 msec dwell / 1msec interscan delay. 6. The atmospheric pressure ionization (API) source must be based on proven API source technology. 7. The API source must contain a high capacity transfer tube (HCTT), which must have following dimensions 2mm x 580 mm for effective desolvation of ions as they are transferred from the atmospheric pressure chamber to the ion funnel. 8. The API source must have a source capable of ESI and be atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) ready. 9. The API source must have ion-optics that enable automated tuning. 10. The API source must have an automatic tuning program that optimizes all ion focusing voltages . 11. The API source must incorporate a safety interlock switch to shut off voltages when source housing is opened or removed from the system. 12. The API control must include high-voltage dual-polarity power supply, sheath gas flow control, and auxiliary gas flow control to accommodate a wide variety of applications. 13. Must include an independently heated ion transfer tube, heated by an external heater capable of temperatures up to 400 ?C. 14. The ion transfer tube must be removable to provide vent-free maintenance 15. The ion transfer tube and the resonance frequency (RF) lens must be off-axis to one another for improved signal-to-noise. 16. All voltages for focusing the ion beam in the API source must be controlled through the data system. 17. Must include a removable ion sweep cone. 18. Must support optional interchangeable ionization sources: 19. Must be able to perform rapid switchover between APCI and ESI using without breaking vacuum. 20. Must include a feedback-controlled heater capable of operation up to 550 ?C to vaporize the solvent and analyte. 21. Must operate at flow rates from 1'L/min to 2 mL/min using 100% water without splitting. 22. Must include an electrically-isolated electrospray needle capable of voltage-regulated operation up to - 8 kV at 100 - amp discharge current. 23. Must have an optional, interchangeable metal spray needle for stable flows down to 200 nL/min. 24. Must consist of RF only square quadrupole ion optics. 25. The transfer ion optics must be designed for high stability and ion transmission efficiency. 26. The square quadrupole must incorporate neutral blocking post to eliminate noise and provide effective ion transmission from the RF lens to the mass analyzer. 27. Must include an inter-pole lens orifice optimized for ion transmission between the square quadrupole. 28. The analyzers must be dual HyperQuadTM precision hyperbolic quadrupole mass analyzers for ultra performance. 29. The dual HyperQuad analyzers must be equipped with a 10% RF imbalance providing improved transmission. 30. The Quadrupoles must have a large 6 mm field radius for high transmission and superior peak shape. 31. The collision cell must have a 90-degree square profile quadrupole ion guide. 32. The collision cell must have and axial direct current field for acceleration of fragment ions enabling data acquisition rate of 500 SRM/second (1msec Dwell). 33. Must have software control and automated optimization of collision energy. 34. Must have automatic system calibration and optimization. 35. Must have ion polarity switching in less than 0.025 seconds. 36. Must be capable of high resolution precursor ion selection of less or equal then 0.4 Da Full With at Half Maximum (FWHM) at both Q1 and Q3 37. must have two roughing pumps, only one turbomolecular pump and a four stage differentially-pumped vacuum system with pressures ranging from atmospheric pressure to 5x10?6 Torr. 38. Must have a horizontally-mounted triple flow turbomolecular pump that controls vacuum in three regions 39. Must have a dual rotary vacuum pump configuration 40. Must have a high-vacuum machined out a solid block aluminum manifold 41. The detection system must have a conversion dynode with - 12 kV applied voltage. 42. The detection system must contain an off-axis discrete dynode electron-multiplier capable of supporting linear dynamic range of 6 orders of magnitude. 43. The detection system must be capable of detecting both positive and negative ions 44. The divert valve must be under fully automated data system control, and must enable the user to switch the solvent front, gradient end point and any other portion of the HPLC run to waste. 45. The divert valve must allow user to define the default state of the valve and change state in time segments. 46. Must have total syringe pump control to allow for automated infusion under data system control. 47. The data system must be capable of switching on and off the syringe pump in time segments. 48. The user must have read backs of all ion optical parts of the instrument. 49. The data system must have extensive readouts of voltages, temperatures, and vacuum of the instrument. 50. The mass spectrometer set up must allow programmatic separation into scan segments and scan event with a graphical user interface. 51. Must acquire and display Full Scan mass spectra from quadrupole-1 (Q1) and quadrupole-23 (Q3). 52. Must acquire and display selected-ion monitoring (SIM) scan data for monitoring selected ions for target compound analysis. 53. Must acquire and display Full Scan Product ion spectra, Full Scan Precursor ion spectra, Full Scan Neutral loss ion spectra and SRM data for a defined transition. 54. Must support PinPoint for peptide quantitation. 55. Must support Mass FrontierTM and TraceFinder spectral interpretation and classification software. 56. Must have a Start In/Out contact closure. 57. Must provide control software for the all Thermo Dionex Ultimate 3000 HPLCs. 58. Must have a single point interface with Thermo Xcalibur software using DCMSLink. One software package must be able to control both the Thermo MS/MS system and NIST's present Thermo Dionex Ultimate 3000 HPLC system. INSTALLATION The Contractor shall install the equipment. Installation shall include, at a minimum, uncrating/unpackaging of all equipment, set-up and hook-up of all equipment, start-up, and demonstration of all required specifications. Qualified personnel shall install the system and perform all activities necessary to ensure the system is fully functional and meets all required specifications. TRAINING The Contractor shall provide training for three (3) NIST personnel at a minimum. Training shall commence immediately upon successful completion of installation and successful demonstration of specifications. The training session shall include, at a minimum, a demonstration of all equipment functions and equipment operation which will allow NIST personnel to operate the system to its full capabilities, basic troubleshooting, maintenance and tuning operations. Installation and training must be scheduled, in advance, with the NIST Technical Contact to be identified at the time of award.