G
This award will be for Base + 1 option period.
Currently, Laboratory of Chemical Physics (LCP) is especially interested in developing novel NMR approaches to detect and visualize short-lived, sparsely populated states that are invisible to conventional biophysical and structural techniques. Such species play a critical role in recognition and molecular assembly. Other interests include the development of hybrid strategies to solve the structures of large (> 100 kDa) complexes using a combination of NMR and solution X-ray scattering techniques. The research extends the use of NMR to studies that were previously impossible. For instance, NMR can be used for larger structures. The many proteins and protein complexes we describe are resulting in new insights into fundamental cell operations. LCP's many advances in the use of NMR also include the development of mathematical algorithms and computational techniques that are making analysis of NMR data faster and more efficient. All our NMR instruments and are being used to push the frontiers of NMR spectroscopy in structural biology, with considerable emphasis being placed on the application of these methods to AIDS related structural problems. These include work on HIV-1 Gag polyprotein, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, the fusion and cytoplasmic domains of HIV-1 gp41, HIV-1 integrase, HIV-1 protease, and various host proteins that are relevant to the pathogenesis of AIDS. NMR and EPR equipment upgrades are needed for our existing 500, 600, 800 and 900 MHz Bruker Avance NMR spectrometers and Bruker E-580 Q-band pulsed EPR spectrometer (4 console upgrades, two cryoplatforms and one 300 W TWT EPR amplifier) to continue this critical research.
The Q-band pulsed EPR spectrometer is largely used for distance measurements between spin labels using double electron-electron resonance (DEER) spectroscopy. The higher the power of the amplifier, the shorter the pulses, the stronger the signal intensity and the larger the distances that can be probed. The pulsed Q-band EPR spectrometer is currently equipped with a 150 W amplifier which is rapidly coming to its end of life. A 300 Watt Q-band Traveling Wave Tube (TWT) microwave amplifier will substantially (~4x) increase the sensitivity of DEER experiments performed on the Bruker E580 Q-band EPR spectrometer. This will expand both the range of sample concentrations and the range of spin label-to-spin label distances that can be measured. For favorable samples, 15 uM is presently the lower sample concentration limit of the spectrometer. For favorable samples, 15 uM is presently the lower sample concentration limit of the spectrometer when using the regular resonator with capillary sample tubes. A 300 W TWT would allow one to work with sample concentrations as low as ~2-3 when using the large volume resonator that cannot be taken advantage of with the current 150 W amplifier. For a given sample, the increased sensitivity translates into a 25% increase in distance that can be measured by DEER. This is a significant improvement for the molecular distances typically measured (20-100 Å). It is also important to point out that the increased sensitivity translates into higher throughput (at least 2-3x, practically) of samples of standard concentrations (50-100 uM) and moderate (20-60 Å) spin label-to-spin label distances.
The two cryoplatform replacements for two Bruker spectrometers (600 and 800 MHz) are required as the current units are over 10 years old and are no longer serviceable. The cryoplatform is an integral component of the cryoprobes that involve cooling to liquid helium temperatures, thereby reducing thermal noise and affording increases of 3-5-fold in signal-to-noise.
All our NMR and EPR spectrometers are being used to push the frontiers of NMR spectroscopy in structural biology, with considerable emphasis being placed on the application of these methods to AIDS related structural problems. These include work on HIV-1 Gag polyprotein, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, the fusion and cytoplasmic domains of HIV-1 gp41, HIV-1 integrase, HIV-1 protease, and various host proteins that are relevant to the pathogenesis of AIDS.
Details: Item #1
AV4600+BH0040 AVANCE NEO 600 MHz NMR Spectrometer Console
AH0243 SHIM CURRENT BOARD (SCB20)
AH1206 10A GRADIENT AMPLIFIER (GAB/2)
AH1204 GAB/2 2X10A Grad. Ampl. Upgrade
BH0264 1H GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPLNA 1H)
BH0269 BB19F GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR XBB19F 2HP)
BH0245 13C GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 13C)
BH0247 15N GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 15N)
BH3072 2H LOCK TRANSCEIVER (L-TRX)
BH0243 2H GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 2H)
BH0266 2H-Stop Filter
SHS000-04 TopSpin4 acquisition and processing licence
AP2521 24 inch TFT MONITOR
PCLIN Acquisition PC with LINUX OS
AH0039 PROBE VT ADAPTER THERMOCOUPLE TYPE T
AH1015 VARIABLE TEMPERATURE CONTROL (BSVT)
BH3401 3CH RF AMPLIFIER (BLABBH2H500/100/150)
BH3420 1CH BROAD BAND RF AMPLIFIER (BLABB500)
BH2075 RF CHANNEL (TRX1200)
SHNS100A-04 Soft Lic NUS Prof. Proc. Pckge ACA
AH0016 AH0016 BCU I
Details: Item #2
E580-AmpQ300 E580-AmpQ300 Q-BAND PULSED 300W TWT
Details: Item #3
AV4600+BH0040 AVANCE NEO 600 MHz NMR Spectrometer Console
Bruker Shim and Sample Transfer System
Basic system characteristics
Acquisition (AQS) characteristics
Bruker Smart Magnet control System (BSMS) supports
High performance and high power preamplifier system (HPPR)
Magnet System
AH0243 SHIM CURRENT BOARD (SCB20)
AH1206 10A GRADIENT AMPLIFIER (GAB/2)
AH1204 GAB/2 2X10A Grad. Ampl. Upgrade
BH0264 1H GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPLNA 1H)
BH0269 BB19F GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR XBB19F 2HP)
BH0245 13C GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 13C)
BH0247 15N GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 15N)
BH3072 2H LOCK TRANSCEIVER (L-TRX)
BH0243 2H GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 2H)
BH0266 2H-Stop Filter
SHS000-04 TopSpin4 acquisition and processing licence
AP2521 24 inch TFT MONITOR
PCLIN Acquisition PC with LINUX OS
AH0039 PROBE VT ADAPTER THERMOCOUPLE TYPE T
AH1015 VARIABLE TEMPERATURE CONTROL (BSVT)
BH3401 3CH RF AMPLIFIER (BLABBH2H500/100/150)
BH3420 1CH BROAD BAND RF AMPLIFIER (BLABB500)
BH2075 RF CHANNEL (TRX1200)
SHNS100A-04 Soft Lic NUS Prof. Proc. Pckge ACA
AH0016 AH0016 BCU I
Details: Item #4
AV4600+BH0040 AVANCE NEO 600 MHz NMR Spectrometer Console
BH0266 2H-Stop Filter
AH0243 SHIM CURRENT BOARD (SCB20)
AH1206 10A GRADIENT AMPLIFIER (GAB/2)
AH1204 GAB/2 2X10A Grad. Ampl. Upgrade
BH0264 1H GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPLNA 1H)
BH0267 BB31P GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPLNA XBB31P 2HP)
BH0245 13C GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 13C)
BH0247 15N GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 15N)
BH3072 2H LOCK TRANSCEIVER (L-TRX)
BH0243 2H GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 2H)
SHS000-04 TopSpin4 acquisition and processing licence
AP2521 24 inch TFT MONITOR
PCLIN Acquisition PC with LINUX OS
AH0039 PROBE VT ADAPTER THERMOCOUPLE TYPE T
AH1015 VARIABLE TEMPERATURE CONTROL (BSVT)
BH3420 1CH BROAD BAND RF AMPLIFIER (BLABB500)
BH3400 2CH RF AMPLIFIER (BLABBH500/100)
BH2075 RF CHANNEL (TRX1200)
SHNS100A-04 Soft Lic NUS Prof. Proc. Pckge ACA
AH0016 AH0016 BCU I
Option to Purchase in 2020
The AVANCE Neo 900
A V4900+BH0040 AVANCE NEO 900 MHz NMR Spectrometer Console
A H0243 SHIM CURRENT BOARD (SCB20)
A H1206 10A GRADIENT AMPLIFIER (GAB/2)
A H1204 GAB/2 2X10A Grad. Ampl. Upgrade
B H0264 1H GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPLNA 1H)
B H0267 BB31P GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPLNA XBB31P 2HP)
B H0245 13C GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 13C)
B H0247 15N GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 15N)
B H0243 2H GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 2H)
B H0266 2H-Stop Filter
B H3072 2H LOCK TRANSCEIVER (L-TRX)
S HS000-04 TopSpin4 acquisition and processing license
A P2521 24-inch TFT MONITOR
P CLIN Acquisition PC with LINUX OS
A H0039 PROBE VT ADAPTER THERMOCOUPLE TYPE T
B H2075 RF CHANNEL (TRX1200)
A H1015 VARIABLE TEMPERATURE CONTROL (BSVT)
B H3401 3CH RF AMPLIFIER (BLABBH2H500/100/250)
B H3420 1CH BROAD BAND RF AMPLIFIER (BLABB500)
S HNS100A-04 Soft Lic NUS Prof. Proc. Pckge ACA
A H0016 AH0016 BCU I
CryoPlatform for AVANCE 800
BH1410 Cryo-Platform/5
The AVANCE Neo 500
AV4500+BH0040 AVANCE NEO 500 MHz NMR Spectrometer Console
AH0243 SHIM CURRENT BOARD (SCB20)
AH1206 10A GRADIENT AMPLIFIER (GAB/2)
AH1204 GAB/2 2X10A Grad. Ampl. Upgrade
BH0264 1H GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPLNA 1H)
BH0269 BB19F GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR XBB19F 2HP)
BH0245 13C GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 13C)
BH0247 15N GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 15N)
BH0243 2H GaAs PREAMPLIFIER (HPPR 2H)
BH3072 2H LOCK TRANSCEIVER (L-TRX)
BH0266 2H-Stop Filter
SHS000-04 TopSpin4 acquisition and processing licence
AP2521 24 inch TFT MONITOR
PCLIN Acqusition PC with LINUX OS
AH0039 PROBE VT ADAPTER THERMOCOUPLE TYPE T
AH1015 VARIABLE TEMPERATURE CONTROL (BSVT)
BH3401 3CH RF AMPLIFIER (BLABBH2H500/100/150)
BH3420 1CH BROAD BAND RF AMPLIFIER (BLABB500)
BH2075 RF CHANNEL (TRX1200)
SHNS100A-04 Soft Lic NUS Prof. Proc. Pckge ACA
AH0016 AH0016 BCU I
CryoPlatform for AVANCE 600
BH1410 Cryo-Platform/5
Trade-ins and exchanges with Bruker
(a) Bruker Avance Neo 600 MHz console for Bruker 600 MHz spectrometer (NIH 01730019, Bldg. 6/ B1-27, S/N BH 046604) will be traded in for the existing NMR console (NIH 01256884, Bldg. 5/B2-39, S/N BH085801). Note the existing console on the 600 MHz spectrometer in Bldg. 6 (NIH 01730019) will be transferred to the 600 MHz spectrometer in Bldg. 5 (NIH 01256884).
(b) Bruker Avance Neo 600 MHz console for Bruker 600 MHz spectrometer (NIH 01390004, Bldg. 50/B2-04, S/N BH 071194) will be traded in for the existing console on that spectrometer.
(c) Bruker Avance Neo 600 MHz console for Bruker 600 MHz spectrometer (Bldg. 8/B2-A02, S/N BH 030703) will be traded in for the existing console on that spectrometer.
(d) Bruker Avance Neo 900 MHz console for Bruker 900 MHz spectrometer (NIH 01835763, Bldg. 6/B1-27, S/N BH025403) will be traded in for the existing console on that spectrometer.
(e) Bruker Avance Neo 500 MHz console for Bruker 500 MHz spectrometer (NIH 01730550, Bldg. 50/B1-27; S/N BH077707) will be traded in for the existing console on that spectrometer.
TECHNICAL EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD
A. GENERAL
The major evaluation factors for this solicitation include two parts which shall hold equal merit in determining best overall value to the Government. The two parts are as follows:
1) Technical Evaluation - which encompasses experience and past performance of demonstrating the ability to meet the specifications factors listed (see Section B below);
2) Cost/Price Evaluation proposal will be evaluated for realism and reasonableness.
B. TECHNICAL EVALUATION
Offerors proposals shall be evaluated on the 25-criterion listed below and shall receive an overall rating of, Exceptional Acceptability; Acceptable or Unacceptable. Only proposals that are determined to be Acceptable shall be eligible and considered for award. The definition that will be used in evaluating and rating the criterion is as follows:
• Exceptional Acceptability: Equipment exceeds the specified performance or capabilities in a beneficial way has no major weaknesses or deficiencies.
• Acceptable: Equipment meets specification standards and any weaknesses or deficiencies are considered minor and are readily correctable or acceptable in meeting the overall requirement.
• Unacceptable: Equipment fails to meet the specification(s) and the weaknesses and/or deficiencies are considered uncorrectable without major revisions and would potentially subject the Government to overall risks in performance - either in time and/or money.
TECHNICAL FACTORS: Criteria to be evaluated
1. The NMR spectrometer software and operation shall be fully compatible with Avance III NMR spectrometers and capable of running approximately 900 separate pulse programs developed for Avance-III spectrometers without modifications to computer code
2. The hardware configuration shall be the same as those used on the existing Bruker Avance III NMR spectrometers currently operational in NIDDK, including four radiofrequency channels and the capability to control X, Y, and Z axis pulsed field gradients with amplitudes of 50 G/cm (X and Y) and 70 G/cm (Z axis).
3. The systems shall be fully compatible with all existing Bruker NMR cryoprobes preamplifiers and regulation of sample temperature
4. The spectrometers shall provide a minimum of four frequency channels together with the capability of producing different asynchronous or synchronous composite pulse decoupling and different shaped pulses on all four of these channels simultaneously and independently. The composite pulse decoupling schemes shall be freely programmable by the user and include the option for pulse shaping of the individual elements of the composite pulses. All four channels shall have identical specifications at low rf power levels, except that only two channels require operation over the frequency range for 19H and 1H, and a minimum of three channels shall operate over the frequency range for all other nuclei.
5. The consoles shall be equipped with hardware and software for mapping the magnetic field profile within the sample in three orthogonal dimensions on Bruker room-temperature TXI and cryogenic TCI resonance probes, and include software for making the required homogeneity adjustments under computer control. The spectrometer also shall include the capability to automatically adjust the homogeneity of the magnetic field during the course of multi-hour experiments that include pulsed field gradients, without interruption of the actual experiments or having any other noticeable effect on the acquisition process.
6. The console electronics shall be capable of 0.01 degrees phase resolution, 0.005 Hz frequency resolution and a 90 dB attenuation range on all five channels. The RF phase shall vary by no more than 3o over an attenuation range of 50 dB from full power. Rectangular pulses generated with the pulse shaping unit shall have phases and power levels indistinguishable from regular pulses specified to be at the same numerical attenuation setting.
7. The consoles shall be able to pulse and observe 2H nuclei without physically recalibrating the console.
8. The consoles shall be capable of evaluating the tuning of 1H, 15N, 13C, 2H, and X channels of the TCI and cryogenic TXI probes without recalibrating the system.
9. The long-term pulse amplitude stability on all channels shall be better than +/-1% and phase stability shall be better than +/-1o as measured over a 24 h period in a room where the temperature changes by less than 1.5 oC. This stability is measured from the relative difference between 1D spectra, recorded with a 30o flip angle pulse, continuously over a 24 h period.
10. The console electronics shall permit application of user defined shaped pulses to operate independently on each of the five available channels. The shaped pulses shall allow a minimum of 16000 user-definable elements within a single pulse shape. The dynamic range of each channel for shaped pulses must be at least 80 dB total range, with 0.1 dB resolution.
11. The consoles shall be equipped with a digitizer of at least 16 bits allowing simultaneous sampling of the quadrature receiver channels for spectral widths of up to at least 1 MHz. The system shall also be capable of oversampling and digital filtering of the NMR audio signal. In addition, no DC offset correction in the time domain shall be required on data acquired with a single scan, independent of receiver gain setting.
12. The consoles shall provide access to at least 8 TTL lines that can be addressed by the pulse program for external device control, which are not dedicated to other spectrometer functions.
13. Before high-power amplification, pulse rise and fall times shall be <50 ns, measured between 10% and 90% amplitude levels. Fast power switching (less than 500 ns) on the system shall be provided on all four channels, regardless of whether the preceding pulse is shaped or rectangular.
14. The NMR systems shall have the capability of decoupling the 2H signals without recalibrating, and full control over RF phase, power and pulse shaping must be available in a manner identical to all other channels.
15. The NMR systems shall be equipped with a variable temperature control unit capable of providing less than 0.01oC sample temperature variation per 1oC room temperature change. The sample temperature control, using the pulsed field gradient quadruple resonance 5-mm probehead shall operate over a range of -10oC to 60 oC with setting and control being independent of room temperature, without the requirement of external cooling substances such as liquid nitrogen or dry ice, on both regular and cryogenic probeheads. The system shall be capable of operating in the variable temperature mode using dried air (with a dewpoint of -70 F and pressure, 80 psi, 3 cfm) and meet all the above listed performance specifications. The sample temperature shall be adjustable in 0.1oC increments. Sample temperature shall have reached its set temperature to within 0.2oC within 3 minutes of initiating a 20oC temperature change and remain within +/-0.3oC for a period of at least 24 h, with room temperature variations not to exceed +/-1.5oC.
16. The dynamic range on the NMR systems shall be at least 60,000:1 as measured for a 90o 1H pulse by a S/N of at least 60:1 on a t-butanol peak in a 1/10,000 1H molar ratio to water. No spurious resonances shall be larger than 1/2000 times the largest resonance in the spectrum when operating in locked mode.
17. The NMR systems shall start simple one-dimensional pulse programs within 5 seconds after receiving the keyboard command. The system shall start any other pulse program within 10 seconds after receiving the keyboard command. The system shall have the capability to view the acquired, digitized NMR signal on the screen in real time, while the experiment is in operation.
18. The NMR systems shall be equipped with at least 500 Gigabyte of disk storage..
19. The NMR systems shall have the capability of processing and analyzing data from a previous experiment while simultaneously acquiring data for a new experiment. This shall hold true for both one- and multi-dimensional experiments, up to four dimensions.
20. The host computer systems shall operate under the LINUX operating system and provide standard utilities, TCP/IP network tools, and availability of a C compiler. Additional copies of the NMR acquisition and processing software shall be provided to ensure that all existing LCP NMR spectrometers make use of the same software, corresponding to the most up to date version of the software produced by the vendor.
21. The vendor shall take full responsibility for performance of the entire systems including Bruker cryoprobes.
22. Any spectral glitch shall fall below the S/N threshold for the system on a TCI probe, for direct observation of 1H, 13C or 31P, in the presence of simultaneous moderate power levels broad-band decoupling 13C (5 kHz RF) and 15N (1 kHz RF) or 31P (1 kHz RF) on the not-observed channel.
23. The replacement cryo-cooling units controlling the Bruker cryoprobes shall be fully compatible with existing hardware, including pumps, control software, and cryogenic probe currently installed on 600 MHz spectrometers. They shall be subject to periodic maintenance not more often than once per year when running in a continuous mode of operation.
24. The 300 W TWT Q-band EPR amplifier shall be fully compatible with all hardware and software on the existing Bruker E-580 Q band pulsed EPR spectrometer.
25. The 300 W TWT Q band EPR amplifier shall be capable of producing a ≤4 ns 180° pulse for the D2 resonator and a ≤12 ns 180° pulse for the oversized QT2 resonator when tuned to the center of the over-coupled cavity frequency.
WARRANTY
Price quoted shall include a warranty of one full year commencing at the completion of the installation. During the warranty period, vendor shall assume responsibility for any and all defects in materials, workmanship and performance. Emergency service shall be provided as needed on an unlimited basis at no additional cost.
The offeror must include a completed copy of the following provisions: 1) FAR Clause 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors - Commercial items; 2) FAR Clause 52.212-2, Evaluation - Commercial Items. As stated in FAR Clause 52.212-2 (a) The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors will be used equally to evaluate offers: Technical Evaluation, Price, and Past Performance. The Government will make award based on Best Value.
Note: Past Performance Information: Vendors must submit a listing of the most recent contracts/awards (minimum of 3) which demonstrate similar work in nature to this Solicitation. Contracts/awards may include those entered with the Federal Government, state and local governments and commercial concerns. Include the following information for each contract or subcontract:
1. Name of Contracting Organization
2. Contract Number (for subcontracts provide the prime contract number and the subcontract number)
3. Contract Type
4. Total Contract Value
5. Description of Requirement
6. Contracting Officer's Name and Telephone Number
7. Program Manager's Name and Telephone Number
3) FAR Clause 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items; 4) FAR Clause 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions - Commercial Items; 5) FAR Clause 52-212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders - Commercial Items - Deviation for Simplified Acquisitions. The Dun and Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and the certification of business size shall be included. The clauses are available in full text at http://www.arnet.gov/far.
Interested vendors capable of providing the Government with the items specified in this synopsis should submit their quotation to the below email address. Quotations will be due 11:00AM EST Wednesday August 7, 2019. Offerors shall send the quotation/proposal to Verne Griffin at [email protected]. The quotation must reference Solicitation number RFQ- RFQ-NICHD-19-132. All responsible sources may submit a quotation, which if timely received, shall be considered by the agency. 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 Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), 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." Any and all questions should be submitted via email to [email protected] .
Faxed copies will not be accepted.