Title: NUcleic acid Linked Immuno-Sandwich Assay Instrument and Reagents
(i) This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued.
(ii) The solicitation number is 75N95024Q00585 and the solicitation is issued as a request for quotation (RFQ).
This acquisition is for a commercial item or service and is conducted under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13—Simplified Acquisition Procedures; FAR Subpart 13.5— Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items; and FAR Part 12—Acquisition of Commercial Items, and is expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold.
(iii) The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) Number 2024-06, with effective date August 29, 2024.
(iv) The associated NAICS code 334516 – Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing and the small business size standard is 1,000 employees. This requirement is Brand name or equal, full and open with no set-aside restrictions.
(v) This requirement is for Alamar Biosciences (or equal) NUcleic acid Linked Immuno-Sandwich Assay Instrument and Reagents
(vi)
Line Item Description
Delivery Date
QTY
Alamar NULISAseq CNS Disease Panel 120
within 12 months after award
QTY 327
Option Line 1 - Alamar ARGO HT System
within 3 months after option is exercised
QTY 1
Option Line 2 - ARGO Instrument White Glove
within 3 months after option is exercised
QTY 1
Option Line 3 - On-Site Training NULISA (2 Day)
within 3 months after option is exercised
QTY 1
Option Line 4 - ARGO Installation
within 3 months after option is exercised
QTY 1
Option Line 5 - One Year Warranty
within 3 months after option is exercised
QTY 1
Shipping
N/A
QTY 1
Salient characteristics:
All deliverables required under this contract shall be packaged, marked and shipped in accordance with Government specifications. At a minimum, all deliverables shall be marked with the contract number and Contractor name. The Contractor shall guarantee that all required materials shall be delivered in immediate usable and acceptable condition.
NUcleic acid Linked Immuno-Sandwich Assay INSTRUMENT must be able to provide the following features:
- Integrated on-board computing and data analysis, an intuitive user interface with less than 5 minutes of set up time.
- Cartridge based reagents capable of three consecutive runs or 288 samples. Liquid handling that will process and prepare samples for either qPCR readout or pool library ready for NGS in less than 6 hours.
- Equipped with cloud-based primary and secondary analysis software.
- Attomolar level of detection (as low as 0.1 fg/ml)
- Quantification of low-abundance proteins
- Enabled by 4-levels of built-in assay specificity
- Enabled by proprietary signal-to-noise enhancement technology, signal-to-noise ratio is improved by >10,000-fold.
- Up to 12 logs dynamic range
- Quantification across the biological range of protein levels in one reaction w/o dilution
- Single target or multiplex, with 100s to 1000s of targets in a single reaction
- Fully automated workflow with <30 min total hands-on time
- High throughput capacity processes up to 288 samples per run
- Rapid results in <6 hrs. for single-plex assays and <15 hrs. for multiplex NGS assays
- Integrated software and data analysis transforms data into biological insights and publication-ready results
NUcleic acid Linked Immuno-Sandwich Assay REAGENTS must be able to provide the following features:
- Highly sensitive, multiplexed analysis of both neuro-specific proteins and the inflammatory response from plasma and CSF.
- Detection and quantification of pTau-217, GFAP, NfL, and alpha-synuclein biomarkers.
- Detection and quantification of 120+ proteins including inflammatory pathways
- Detection and quantification of 250-plex cytokine and chemokines including IL4, IL5, IL17, IL33
- Ability for multiplexing across several sample types including plasma, serum, CSF urine, and cell culture media.
(vii) The Government anticipates award of a firm fixed-price purchase order for this acquisition, and the anticipated delivery date is shown in the table in section vi above. Delivery will be f.o.b. destination.
The place of delivery and acceptance for the Reagents will be Ashton Lab, 10515 W. Santa Fe Drive, Bldg A., Sun City, AZ 85351.
The place of delivery and acceptance for the ARGO instrument will be BRC Building, ATTN: LCI, 251 Bayview Blvd; Suite 100, Baltimore, MD, 21224.
(viii) The provision at FAR 52.252-1, Solicitation Provisions Incorporated by Reference (Feb 1998), applies to this acquisition. This solicitation incorporates one or more solicitation provisions by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. The offeror is cautioned that the listed provisions may include blocks that must be completed by the offeror and submitted with its quotation or offer. In lieu of submitting the full text of those provisions, the offeror may identify the provision by paragraph identifier and provide the appropriate information with its quotation or offer. Also, the full text of a solicitation provision may be accessed electronically at these addresses: https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far
https://www.hhs.gov/grants/contracts/contract-policies-regulations/hhsar/index.html
(End of provision)
The following provisions apply to this acquisition and are incorporated by reference:
- FAR 52.204-7, System for Award Management (Oct 2018)
- FAR 52.204-16, Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting (Aug 2020)
- FAR 52.204-29, Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act Orders – Representation and Disclosures (Dec 2023)
- FAR 52.211-6, Brand Name or Equal (Aug 1999)
- FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Sep 2023)
- FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Feb 2024)
- FAR 52.225-2, Buy American Certificate (Oct 2022)
- HHSAR 352.239-73, Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Notice (December 18, 2015)
The clause at FAR 52.252-2, Clauses Incorporated by Reference (Feb 1998), applies to this acquisition. This contract incorporates one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. Also, the full text of a clause may be accessed electronically at these addresses:
https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far
https://www.hhs.gov/grants/contracts/contract-policies-regulations/hhsar/index.html
(End of clause)
The following clauses apply to this acquisition and are incorporated by reference:
- FAR 52.204-13, System for Award Management Maintenance (Oct 2018)
- FAR 52.204-18, Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance (Aug 2020)
- FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions—Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Nov 2023). Addendum to this FAR clause applies to this acquisition and is attached.
- FAR 52.217-7, Option for Increased Quantity-Separately Priced Line Item (Mar 1989) Fill In: 5 days before the requested option exercise date for the option line
- HHSAR 352.222-70, Contractor Cooperation in Equal Employment Opportunity Investigations (December 18, 2015)
- HHSAR 352.239-74, Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility (December 18, 2015)
The following provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and are attached in full text.
Offerors MUST complete the provisions below and submit completed copies as separate documents with their proposal.
- FAR 52.204-24 Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment (Nov 2021)
- FAR 52.204-26 Covered Telecommunications Equipment or Services-Representation (Oct 2020)
- FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders--Commercial Products and Commercial Services (May 2024)
- FAR 52.225-6, Trade Agreements Certificate (Feb 2021)
- NIH Invoice and Payment Provisions
(ix) The Government will evaluate quotations or offers in accordance with FAR 13.106-2 and award a purchase order from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose quote conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate quotes:
a. Technical capability of the item offered to meet the Government requirement;
b. Price; and
c. Past performance [see FAR 13.106-2(b)(3)].
Technical and past performance, when combined, are significantly more important than cost or price
(b) Options. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).
(c) A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer’s specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.
(x) Offerors must include a completed copy of the provision at FAR clause 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications—Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Feb 2024), with its offer. If the offeror has completed FAR clause 52.212-3 at www.sam.gov, then the offeror does not need to provide a completed copy with its offer.
(xi) There are no additional contract requirement(s) or terms and conditions applicable to this acquisition.
(xii) The Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) are not applicable to this requirement.
(xiii) Responses to this solicitation must include sufficient information to establish the interested parties’ bona-fide capabilities of providing the product or service. The price quote shall include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, delivery days after contract award, delivery terms, prompt payment discount terms, F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), product or catalog number(s), product description, and any other information or factors that may be considered in the award decision. Such factors may include: past performance, special features required for effective program performance, trade-in considerations, probable life of the item selected as compared with that of a comparable item, warranty considerations, maintenance availability, and environmental and energy efficiency considerations.
Respondents proposing on an equal product of the brand-name product specified in this announcement must provide, as part of their response: (a) product, catalog, model, and/or part number(s); (b) product description; (c) all relevant information and documentation that the item(s) offered meets the salient physical, functional, or performance characteristics as specified in the purchase description; quantity; estimated price or cost; shipping, handling, and/or installation charges; and delivery date after receipt of order.
In accordance with FAR 19.704 and FAR Clause 52.219-9, the submission of a subcontracting plan by other than small business offeror(s) is a requirement as a part of the proposal submission process and is to be submitted separately from the technical and cost proposals. An offeror's subcontracting plan must be determined to be acceptable, by the Contracting Officer, prior to the contract award. Offerors are required to submit a subcontracting plan electronically using the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Small Business Customer Experience (SBCX) system via the link below:
https://osdbu.hhs.gov/subcontracting/14936dd6-12f5-4560-a592-c82e361426e1
The official point of receipt for determining timely submission of an offeror's subcontracting plan is the SBCX system and/or email notification. Once the subcontracting plan is successfully submitted in the SBCX system the offeror should receive an email notification and confirmation message of completion upon submission. If an offeror's subcontracting plan is not confirmed as received within the SBCX system by the proposal submission date specified in the solicitation, it will be considered late. Disposition of late submittals of a subcontracting plan by an offeror via the SBCX system is at the discretion of the Contracting Officer. See attached document “SBCX Industry Subcontracting Guide” for additional information.
The Unique Entity ID from SAM.gov, the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size must be included in the response. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.
All quotations must be received by 11:00 A.M. Eastern, on September 12, 2024, and reference Solicitation Number 75N95024Q00585. Responses must be submitted electronically to Hashim Dasti, Contract Specialist, at hashim.dasti@nih.gov.
Fax responses will not be accepted.
