This Small Business Sources Sought Notice (SBSS) is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to identify qualified GSA small business concerns including 8(a), HUBZone or Service-Disabled Veteran-owned business concerns that are interested in and capable of performing the work described herein. The NCI does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses received nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. This requirement is assigned North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 334516 with a size standard of 500 Employees is being considered.

The National Cancer Institute‘s (NCI) Laboratory of Cell Biology (LCB) is comprised of 9 sections working together to decipher different aspects of what makes a cell cancerous and how we treat it. Success in treatment of some disseminated cancers with chemotherapy has led to intensified efforts to understand why many other cancers are intrinsically resistant to anticancer drugs or become resistant to chemotherapy after many rounds of treatment. Identifying genes and mechanisms critical to the development of multidrug resistance in vivo and establishing a reliable method for analyzing clinical samples could help to predict the development of resistance and lead to treatments designed to circumvent it.

The goal is to utilize Flow Cytometer instrumentation to analyze and characterize cells samples with special emphasis on the molecular basis of multidrug resistance in cancer, ATP-dependent proteases, posttranslational modifications of p53, and melanoma. It is expected that these FACS Canto Flow cytometry studies will be an integral part of the Lab of Cell Biology's published scientific work in the elucidation of cancer leading to new cancer therapies and new concepts in understanding malignancy, metastasis, and drug resistance.

The National Cancer Institutes (NCI) Laboratory of Cell Biology (LCB) is in need of a new Flow cytometry Instrument that is compatible with NCI's existing equipment. All of the current cytometry equipment in the Lab of Cell Biology and the Bldg 37 FACS core is BD Biosciences and PC-based. The Laboratory of Cell Biology, LCB, must be able to network this new software system to other computers and printers in the laboratory, thus allowing for easy data transfer and/or printing. The Lab must be able to interchange parts, such as lasers if necessary with existing flow cytometry systems within NCI. User training and implementation of the new Flow Cytometry system will be rapid, minimizing any "down time." No modifications of reagents or protocol are needed from the current FACS Calibur to increase cost savings. This flow cytometry equipment must also be upgraded relatively easily and inexpensively in the future to add new capabilities as needed. NCI/LCB will be able to add this new Flow Cytometry system to the existing discounted preventive maintenance/service contract after the warranty expires, providing additional savings to the laboratory and the NCI in subsequent years.

As a result of this Sources Sought Notice, the NCI may issue a Request for Quotation (RFQ) through eBuy. THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against NCI shall arise as a result of a response to this Sources Sought Notice or the NCI's use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement.
The Salient Characteristics needed for the necessary Flow Cytometer include:

System:
Spatial specifications for flow cytometer
Cytometer must be 24 x 36 x 25 in to fit in a specific allocated space.
Fluidic cart must be 24 x 31 x 25 inches
Cytometer depth increase up to 30 inches

-  Flow Cytometer must have flexibility and can be configured with two or three lasers to detect up to eight colors.
-  Fluidic system must feature a fixed alignment flow cell to minimize startup time and improve reproducibility.
- Sample introduction can be accomplished in a single tube or by a High throughput sampler. The system can be modified with a microtiter plate loader for 96 and 384 well plates for high throughput research applications.

Excitation:
- Excitation optics consist of multiple fixed wavelength lasers, fiber optics up to the beam-shaping prisms, around achromatic focusing lenses that produce spatially separated beam spots in the flow cell.
- Optical pathway and sample core stream are fixed; alignment is fixed from day to day experiment to experiment with no user intervention needed.
- Excitation optics a source with three lasers a blue 488nm air-cooled, 20mW solid state), a red (633-nm, 17-mW HeNe) and a violet (405-nm, 30 mW solid state).

Emission:
- Emission signals are transmitted to detector arrays, octagon for blue and trigon for red and violet laser signals.
- Octogan and Trigon detector arrays for the serial light reflections must guide signals to the target detectors. Detectors must result in highly efficient light collection and maximum signal retention at the detector level.
- Octogon detectors must contain 5 PMTs and detect light from the 488nm blue laser.

Optics:
- Optical alignment must be fixed. The flow cell must be 180 x 430 um
- FSC resolution must be 1.0um. SSC optics must be 0.5 um.

Software Options: 
- Flow cytometry software must control setup, acquisition, and analysis of flow cytometric data. FACS software must be compatible with other current data collection system such as CellQuest.
- The software must include hierarchical snap-to gating, variety of plots, and batch analysis.
- Recorded data must be capable of being analyzed by creating plots, gates population hierarchies, and statistical views on a global worksheet.
- Must have capability to analyze multiple sample tubes from the same experiment on the global worksheet to save time.
- User definable batch analysis and automated capabilities such as gate resizing, pausing between files, exporting statistics and a print option between data files is required.

Delivery: The delivery will be within 60 days of award date.

How to Submit a Response:

1. Page Limitations:

Interested qualified small business organizations should submit a tailored capability statement for this requirement not to exceed 10 single sided pages including all attachments, resumes, charts, etc. (single spaced, 12 point font minimum) that clearly details the ability to perform the requirements of the notice described above. All proprietary information should be marked as such. Responses should include a minimum of a one page resume of the individuals meeting the requirements, and up to two pages demonstrating experience over the past two years meeting the requirements of this notice. Statements should also include an indication of current certified small business status; this indication should be clearly marked on the first page of your capability statement (preferable placed under the eligible small business concern's name and address). Responses will be reviewed only by NIH personnel and will be held in a confidential manner.

2. Due Date:

Capability statements are due no later than 4:00 a.m. EST on August 1, 2013.

3. Delivery Point:

All information furnished must be in writing and must contain sufficient detail to allow the NCI to determine if it can meet the unique specifications described herein. All questions and responses must be in writing and can be faxed to (240) 276-5401 or emailed to Terry Galloway, Contract Specialist at [email protected]. A determination by the Government not to compete this 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. In order to receive an award, contractors must have valid registration and certification in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) and the Online Representations and Certifications Applications (ORCA) through sam.gov. No collect calls will be accepted. Please reference number SS-NCI-130096-TG on all correspondence.
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, an RFQ may be published in eBuy. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation(s).

Point of Contact:
Inquiries concerning this Notice may be direct to:
Terry Galloway
9609 Medical Center Dr, Room 1E136
Bethesda, MD 20892-9705
[email protected]

Bid Protests Not Available