DESCRIPTION:
THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN FAR SUBPART 12.6-STREAMLINED PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATION AND SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS-AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTATIONS ARE BEING REQUESTED, AND A SEPARATE WRITTEN SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED. THE SOLICITATION IS BEING ISSUED USING SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF FAR PARTS 12 AND 13.
This solicitation is a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2024-05 dated May 22, 2024.
The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 334516 - Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing with a small business size standard of 1,000 employees. This acquisition is being solicited as a total small business set-aside.
Contractors must possess an ACTIVE registration in the System for Award Management system, www.SAM.gov, when submitting a quotation and shall continue to be registered until time of award, during performance, and through final payment of any contract resulting from this solicitation. The Contracting Officer will confirm that Contractors have an “active” registration at the www.sam.gov website upon receipt of the quotation. If the SAM.gov registration is not active, the quotation will not be considered for award.
BACKGROUND:
The Material Measurement Laboratory’s Bioprocess Measurements Group characterizes the size and number concentration of viruses, proteins or protein-like particles and other biological colloidal particles, as well as similarly sized polymeric and inorganic particles. An apparatus implementing particle tracking analysis (aka “nanoparticle tracking analysis” or abbreviated as PTA) would allow us to accurately measure the size on a single-particle basis as well as the overall number concentration while in native aqueous environments. This instrument will support the NIST program in biomanufacturing, which includes projects on the measurement of proteinaceous particles in biotherapeutic products and the development of reference materials for particle size distribution in the sub-micrometer range. The instrument will be used to study biological particles (e.g., proteinaceous particles, extracellular vesicles) in the size range from 50 nm to 1000 nm, and will also be used to study non-biological particles or particles of heterogeneous composition in this same size range.
This procurement request is to purchase a commercial particle tracking analysis (PTA) instrument suitable for measurement of nano-scale and sub-micrometer particles in liquid suspension with associated data collection and analysis software, consumables, installation and training.
The objective of this solicitation is to establish a Firm-Fixed-Price purchase order based on the specifications described in the attached Statement of Requirements (SOR).
All Contractors shall provide a firm-fixed-price quotation for the following Contract Line Items (CLINs), in accordance with the specifications outlined in the attached Statement of Requirement. All equipment must be new. Used or remanufactured equipment will not be considered for award:
CONTRACT LINE ITEMS:
- Line Item 0001: (Quantity 1 Each) Particle tracking analyzer instrument system inclusive of operations and maintenance manual, delivery/shipping, installation, training, and warranty; in accordance with the Statement of Requirements (Attachment 1).
DELIVERY TERMS
Delivery terms shall be FOB Destination. The Contractor shall pack and mark the shipment in conformance with carrier requirements, deliver the shipment in good order and condition to the point of delivery specified in the purchase order, be responsible for loss of and/or damage to the goods occurring before receipt and acceptance of the shipment by the consignee at the delivery point specified in the purchase order; and pay all charges to the specified point of delivery.
EVALUATION CRITERIA & BASIS FOR AWARD:
The Government intends to award a purchase order resulting from this solicitation to the responsible Contractor whose quotation, conforming to the solicitation, provides the lowest priced, technically acceptable quote.
Technically acceptable means that the quote:
- Meets or exceeds the minimum specifications listed within the Statement of Requirements;
- Meets training, warranty, and installation requirements as applicable; and
- Meets the required delivery schedule.
Quotations that do not demonstrate that the proposed equipment meets or exceeds all requirements will not be considered further for award. If a Contractor’s technical description and/or product literature does not indicate whether its proposed equipment meets a certain minimum requirement, NIST will determine that it does not meet the requirement.
Price:
The price evaluation will determine whether the quoted prices are fair and reasonable in relation to the solicitation requirements. Quoted prices must be entirely compatible with the technical quotation. Domestic supplier, if any, will receive a price preference.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Due Date for Quotations and Questions
All quotations must be submitted, via e-mail, to the Contracting Officer, Sadaf Afkhami, at Sadaf.Afkhami@nist.gov. Submissions must be received no later than 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on August 30, 2024. FAX quotations will not be accepted. Contractors must reference the solicitation number in the subject line of the e-mail submission. Quotes shall not be deemed received by the Government until the quotation has entered the e-mail inbox of the individual(s) set forth above.
Questions: All questions regarding this notice must be submitted via e-mail to the Contracting Officer, Sadaf Afkhami, at Sadaf.Afkhami@nist.gov, no later than 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on August 19, 2024. All responses to the questions will be made in writing, without identification of the questioner, and will be included in an amendment to the solicitation. Even if provided in other form, only the responses included in the amendment to the solicitation will govern performance of the contract.
Please reference the solicitation number in the subject line of all email communications.
Quotation Preparation Instructions:
Each quotation shall consist of three (3) separate electronic files. In preparing the quotation, each electronic file shall stand on its own:
- Technical Quotation
- Price Quotation
- Provisions and Clauses
Technical Quotation:
Shall include the following:
(1) Technical description and/or product literature. Contractors shall include the manufacturer, make and model of the product, manufacturer sales literature or other product literature which CLEARLY DOCUMENTS that the offered product(s) meet the minimum specifications outlined in the statement of requirements. It is the responsibility of the Contractor to ensure that submitted documentation clearly addresses all specifications and requirements.
(2) The quoted delivery timeline for the contract line item(s).
(3) A description of the quoted installation, training, and warranty.
Price Quotation:
(1) All Contractors shall submit a firm fixed price, FOB Destination, price quotation for the contract line item(s). The quotation must include a unit price and total amount for each line item and the aggregate price for all contract line items.
(2) The price quotation shall include a cover page with the following information:
- The solicitation number 1333ND24QNB640623;
- The name and address, of the Contractor;
- The name, phone number, and email address of the Contractor’s point of contact;
- Unique Entity Identifier # for Contractor’s active SAM.Gov registration.
- Any applicable discount terms.
- A statement that the Contractor agrees to all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation. If the Contractor objects to any of the terms and conditions contained in this solicitation, the Contractor shall state “The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document with the exception, deletion, or addition of the following:” [Contractor shall list exception(s) and rationale for the exception(s)]. It is the sole responsibility of the Contractor to identify in their quote any exceptions to the terms and conditions of the solicitation.
- A statement that the quotation is valid for a minimum of 90 days from the response deadline of this solicitation.
Provisions and Clauses:
The provisions and clauses applicable to this solicitation are identified in Attachment 2 titled “Provisions and Clauses”. Contractor’s shall provide a completed copy of all provisions highlighted in blue in the attached Provisions and Clauses document (Attachment 2).
The full text of a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision or clause may be accessed electronically at www.acquisition.gov/far.
The full text of a Department of Commerce Acquisition Regulation (CAR) provision or clause may be accessed electronically at https://www.acquisition.gov/car.
Please note that this procurement IS NOT being conducted under the GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) program or another Government-Wide Area Contract (GWAC). If a contractor submits a quotation based upon an FSS or GWAC contract, the Government will accept the quoted price. However, the terms and conditions stated herein will be included in any resultant Purchase Order, not the terms and conditions of the contractor’s FSS or GWAC contract.
ATTACHMENTS:
The following attachments apply to this solicitation:
- Attachment 1: Statement of Requirements
- Attachment 2: Provisions and Clauses
