This is a Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of all qualified sources to perform a potential requirement.
This notice is issued to help determine the availability of qualified companies under the NAICS Code 334516 - Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, technically capable of meeting the Government requirement, to determine the method of acquisition, and availability of domestic sources manufactured in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available commercial quantities and of a satisfactory quality. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes. No award will be made as a result of this notice.
The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice. This notice is strictly for research and information purposes only. Small businesses are encouraged to respond.
For equipment/supply requirements, responses must include the place of manufacturing (i.e. address if supply/equipment is a domestic end product and include country of manufacture). For equipment/supply requirements, small businesses must also address the size status of the manufacturer under the applicable NAICS code (i.e. address Non-Manufacturer Rule).
Statement of Need and Purpose:
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Translational Immunopsychiatry Unit (TIU) was established in 2022 with the mission to study immune processes that contribute to neuropsychiatric disorders. One of the goals of TIU is identification of autoimmune B cell responses that may drive behavioral abnormalities and development of neuropsychiatric illnesses. To achieve this goal, TIU uses multiple approaches to perform comprehensive autoantibody identification. One of the main techniques used in TIU to perform genome-wide immunoprofiling is phage display immunoprecipitation sequencing (PhIP-Seq). PhIP-Seq is capable of processing hundreds of samples in parallel with minimal primary sample requirements. Although highly sensitive and efficient, PhIP-Seq protocol is labor intensive. As implemented, it takes three full days for a highly trained and experienced scientist to prepare sequencing libraries from 100 samples including all necessary controls and replicates, or about 2 work weeks for our typical ~300-sample sequencing batch. In addition, PhIP-Seq protocol is prone to experimental variation. Automation of the experimental protocol would help to improve productivity and reduce batch-to-batch variation.
Contributing factor to this request is the need to include large patient cohorts in autoantibody screening. Psychiatric illnesses are extraordinarily heterogeneous. One of lab’s goals is to uncover rare psychiatric subgroups where illness is linked to antigen-specific autoimmune responses. Automation of autoantibody screening process to allow processing of 1000th of samples in a reproducible and efficient way would be critical to achieve this goal.
Purchase Description: NIDA requires a brand-name or equal Tecan Fluent 780 with AirFCA, MCA96 and RGA FES automated liquid handler.
Salient characteristics: NIDA requires the following brand-name or equal salient characteristics:
- The instrument should have benchtop dimensions and space for at least 48 total positions on deck.
- System dimensions should not exceed 66”x32”x92” (WxDxH).
- Liquid handler should have multiple pipetting and gripper arms installed simultaneously including 96-channel pipette, 8-channel pipette and robotic gripper.
- The system can be controlled from a touchscreen with an intuitive interface that can be adapted to the specific workflow for safer use of the instrument and shorter learning time for the operator.
- The instrument should have magnet plate on deck.
- The instrument should have at least 3 shaking 96-well heater/coolers on deck.
- Capability to integrate 3rd party instruments such as thermocyclers, centrifuges, plate readers beneath the worktable that is accessible with a gripper arm.
- 8-channel pipetting arm should have independent Z movement and automatic Y tip spacing from 9-38 mm.
- Ejection of disposable tips in a contained environment to prevent aerosols.
- The liquid handling arm can reliably transfer and aspirate tubes or containers with a tip with liquid level detection.
- Choice of liquid displacement or air displacement pipetting systems.
- The 96-channel pipette can use 96 pipette tips at once with liquid level detection and pipette from 1ul-1000ul of volume using tips manufactured by several different vendors.
- The 96-channel pipette also has the capability of pipetting into 384 well plates.
- The Robotic Gripper Arm allows for exchange of fingers to control and maneuver various labware.
- Liquid handler should be capable of performing liquid level detection for 8-channel arm down to 2 μl aqueous solution or 3 μl deionized water or 10 μl ethanol in a 96-well skirted microplate.
- System should be able to perform real-time quality control: aspiration supervision; tip diving prevention; tip occlusion detection. Detection of disposable tip pickup and ejection
- Liquid handler should be able to perform barcode scanning for plates and tubes.
- System should be able to perform user-activated stop via door sensors on safety screen and resume on request.
- Liquid handler should be able to assess the actual deck layout at run-time, compare to the expected deck layout and highlight any discrepancies.
Quantity: NIMH requires the following brand name or equal items:
Fluent 780 AirFCA MCA96 with RGA FES
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042021 - Fluent 780 Base Unit, includes 1 year warranty and INTROSPECT™- Instrument analysis and reporting software
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042593 - Top Cover for Std & Long Z RGA, Fluent 780
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042581- Panel Set Base, Fluent 780
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042587 - Panel Set Top, Long Z, Fluent 780
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042022 - Full Door Panel, Fluent 780
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042664 - Door Lock Set, Fluent (1 pair) (for front shield)
Qty. 3: Part No. 30042715 - Grid Segment, Extension, Rear, 20 Grids, New Instrument Only
Arm #1 AirFCA
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042201 - Flexible Channel Arm (FCA), Air, 8-Tip with MultiSense
Qty. 1: Part No. 30066883 - Filter Kit, Air LiHa/Air FCA, Package of 30
Arm#2 MCA
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042300 - Multi-Channel Arm (MCA 96), Fluent
Arm #3 RGA
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042406 - Robotic Gripper Arm (RGA), Extended z-rail, FES
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042415 - RGA Fingers, FES Eccentric, set of 2
Fluent 780 Cabinet
Qty. 1: Part No. 30136385 - Modified Cabinet, Fluent 780, for Hettich integration
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042074 - Door Lock Set, Fluent Cabinet (1 per door)
Deck Segments Included
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042712 - Grid Segment, Side Wall, Left, 87mm
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042524 - Deck Segment, Troughs, 100ml, 8-Pos, with Waste Chute
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042724 - Nest Segment, 6-Position, Landscape, 61mm
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042737 - Nest Segment, DiTi Waste Chute Through Deck, 4-Position, Landscape, 61mm
Qty. 3: Part No. 30042725 - Nest Segment, 6-Position, Landscape, 7mm
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042723 - Nest Segment, 5-Position, Landscape, 7mm
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042863 - Hotel, Fluent, 9-Position, Microplates or Tip Boxes, Adjustable Shelves
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042865 - Hotel, 5-Position, Deep Well Plates, Adjustable Shelves
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042711 - Grid Segment, Side Wall, Right, 87mm
Qty. 1: Part No. 30111595 - Plate, Magnet, 96 Magnum FLX, Alpaqua
Qty. 1: Part No. 30042781 - Nest, for Fluent Deck Segment, Microplate/DiTi, 61mm
Temperature Control / Shaking
Qty. 3: Part No. 30187662 - SHAKER Q.INSTRUMENTS BIOSHAKE Q1
Qty. 3: Part No. 30127738 - Microplate Adapter, 96PCR, Q.Instruments BioShake 3000, Standard, 2016
Qty. 1: Part No. 30214873 - Edgeport (Digi) 4-port serial adapter, converts one USB port to 4 RS- 232 serial ports.
Qty. 1: Part No. 30126013 - Grid Segment, 6 Grids, Multipurpose
Qty. 1: Part No. 30069055 - Driver, Q.Instruments, BioShake, EVOware and FluentControl
Qty. 1: Part No. 30235716 - Cable wiring set with 3 connectors
Computer and Accessories
Qty. 1: Part No. 30247664 - 27" monitor, HP Z27k G3 27" Class 4K UHD LCD Monitor
Qty. 1: Part No. 30237115 - HP Z2 G9 Core i9-13700K 32GB RAM 512GB Tower Workstation - Wolf Pro Security Windows 10
Qty. 1: Part No. 30225921 - Power Extension Cord, 15'
Qty. 1: Part No. 30219817 - Display Port cable, 15 feet, computer to monitor
Qty. 1: Part No. 30024944 - Keyboard and Mouse, Wireless
Installation and Software Overview
Qty. 1: Part No. 30001582 - Installation and Software Overview, for Hardware installation (new and upgrade)
Applications Support
Qty. 1: Part No. 30214395 - Applications Support - Level 3
Shipping and Handling
Qty. 1: Part No. 30001572 - Shipping and Handling
Delivery Date: 60-90 days after receipt of order.
Period of Performance: One-year comprehensive warranty.
Capability Statement /Information Sought:
Companies that believe they possess the capabilities to provide the required products or services should submit documentation of their ability to meet each of the project requirements to the Contracting Officer. The capability statement must specifically address each of the project requirements separately. Additionally, the capability statement should include 1) the total number of employees, 2) the professional qualifications of personnel as it relates to the requirements outlined, 3) any contractor GSA Schedule contracts and/or other government-wide acquisition contracts (GWACs) by which all of the requirements may be met, if applicable, and 4) any other information considered relevant to this program. Capability statements must also include the Company Name, Unique Entity ID from SAM.gov, Physical Address, and Point of Contact Information. The response must include the respondents’ technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses.
Interested companies are required to identify their type of business, applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code, and size standards in accordance with the Small Business Administration. The government requests that no proprietary or confidential business data be submitted in a response to this notice. However, responses that indicate the information therein is proprietary will be properly safeguarded for Government use only. Capability statements must include the name and telephone number of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss responses with Government representatives. Capability statements in response to this market survey that do not provide sufficient information for evaluation will be considered non-responsive. When submitting this information, please reference the solicitation notice number.
Submission Instructions:
The response is limited to ten (10) page limit. The 10-page limit does not include the cover page, executive summary, or references, if requested.
All responses to this notice must be submitted electronically to the Contracting Officer Identified below. The response must be received on or before July 30, 2025, at 3:00 pm EST. Facsimile responses are NOT accepted.
Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work.
Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a presolicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in www.sam.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.
Confidentiality: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).”
Closing Statement: THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this notice.
A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency. The information received will normally be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to proceed on a non-competitive basis or to conduct a competitive procurement.
Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties' bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Unique Entity ID (UEI), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.
All responses must be received by the closing date and time of this announcement and must reference the solicitation number, 75N95025Q00227. Responses must be submitted electronically to Llakim Dubroff, Contract Specialist, at Llakim.Dubroff@nih.gov U.S. Mail and Fax responses will not be accepted.
