SOURCES SOUGHT
66 -- INVERTED MICROSCOPE
- Notice Date
- 7/26/2012
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 334516
— Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition Management Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Building 301, Room B129, Mail Stop 1640, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20899-1640, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20899-1640
- Solicitation Number
- NB631040-12-00922
- Archive Date
- 8/21/2012
- Point of Contact
- Micole A. Cheatham, Phone: 3019758335, Cheryl Rice, Phone: 3019753696
- E-Mail Address
-
micole.cheatham@nist.gov, cheryl.rice@nist.gov
(micole.cheatham@nist.gov, cheryl.rice@nist.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE to determine the availability and capability of small businesses (including certified 8(a), Small Disadvantaged, and HUBZone firms; veteran and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and women-owned small businesses). This notice is for planning purposes only, and does not constitute an Invitation for Bids, a Request for Proposals, Solicitation, Request for Quotes, or an indication the Government will contract for the items contained herein. This notice is not to be construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted as a result of this notice. The Government does not reimburse respondents for any cost associated with submission of the information being requested or reimburse expenses incurred to interested parties for responses to this sources sought. Any responses received will not be used as a proposal. The Biochemical Science Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a need for a spinning disk microscope system with wide field imaging and live cell incubation capabilities. The Cell System Group (CSSG) conducts research in measurements and models that support the understanding of complex biological phenomena at the cellular and sub- cellular level through bioimaging, proteomics, microfluids, and informatics by improving and developing methods for measurements, data analysis, and data handling. The requested equipment must be compatible with our existing Ludl stage, share objectives and other optical components between existing Zeiss instruments. The requested equipment must have the following specifications: a. Inverted Microscope must be capable of confocal and widefield imaging. b. Yokogawa spinning disk confocal head or similar - fully integrated as part of the microscope control software c. Live cell incubation chamber for controlling temperature, humidity and CO2 d. Fully Laser Safe integrated Laser Module for the spinning disk confocal head that is manufactured, supported and serviced by a single company. Laser safety shall be built into the Microscope stand as well as the laser module and all integrated components. Software must recognize and control laser safety and protect users from any laser light coming out of the scope ports, especially the eye pieces. At no time should it be possible for laser light to reach the eyepieces. e. Focus: Fully software integrated focusing system that allows for controlling multi-position XYZ experiments. System shall be able to adjust the focus at individual positions and communicate flawlessly with the software. f. Shall support Photometrics Imaging cameras with full triggering and acquisition modes for existing cameras in the lab. g. System shall include two cameras. (1) Photometrics Evolve EMCCD or similar EMCCD camera for low light detection with the confocal unit and (2) a Axiocam mRM or better camera for widefield imaging. h. Microscope shall have a 2nd camera port for standard widefield imaging without removing the spinning disk confocal head and such that the light path is not obstructed by the confocal head. i. Three laser lines shall be coupled into the confocal unit for exciting specimens with UV, blue and green wavelengths (e.g. 405 nm, 488 nm, and 561 nm) j. High speed streaming mode from CCD chip for fast acquisitions. k. System shall be equipped to do high speed z stacks via a PIEZO stage that accepts heated insert l. On-site factory trained service engineers shall support instrument. m. Software shall control the scanning stage, all microscope functions and CCD camera for automated multi-position imaging and tiling. n. Confocal Microscope Three color excitation available, Axial resolution better than 225 nm with 100x/1.4 NA objective. Briefly, the axial resolution of the microscope will be tested using a single 21-mm^2 reflecting mirror glued onto a microscope slide. A 1.5-size coverglass will be placed on top of the slide with a drop of immersion oil. The coverslip will be placed firmly on the mirror to remove all excessive oil. A z-axis scan will be performed and the half-maximum intensity value of the z-axis profile will be obtained to determine the full width half-maximum distance to determine the axial resolution. Axial resolution better than 300 nm with 100x/1.4 NA objective shall be obtained. Lateral resolution with a 100x/1.4 NA objective measured with point spread functions beads is better than 225 nm (determined by the FWHM) for all fluorescence channels. Furthermore, confocal images can be acquired with a frame rate of > 120 frames per second. o. Automated Microscope Components Microscope has automated objective turret, reflector turret, transmitted light source, and fluorescence light source. Each of these can be controlled programmatically through a computer interface and through a separate control box. Stage can move in x-y (can move in 0.5 um increments, +/- 0.5 um for any x-y-position across the scan range), and z (can move in 2.5 nm increments, +/- 1 nm for any z-position across the scan range) and can be controlled programmatically through a computer interface and through a separate control box. p. EMCCD Camera Performance comparable to or better than: 1. 512 x 512 imaging pixels; 16 x 16-μm pixels; 8.2 x 8.2-mm imaging area 2. Linear full well single pixel output node=200 ke (800 ke- with "EM gain" amplifier) 3. Digitizer type Dual-selectable 14 bits/16 bits for all speeds and gains 4. Read noise 37 e- rms @ 5 MHz; 45 e- rms @ 10 MHz; 7.5 e- rms @ 1.25 MHz; 12.5 e- rms @ 5 MHz 5. Read noise effectively reduced to <1 e- rms with EM gain enabled EM gain 1 to 1,000x 6. Self-calibrating linearization 7. Parallel (vertical) shift rate 2.0 μsec/row 8. EMCCD temperature -30˚C (regulated) 9. Dark current 1 e-/p/s @ -30˚C (0.5 e-/p/s @ -30˚C) 10. 1, 2, 4, 8 binning capabilities 11. Operating environment 0 to 30˚C ambient, 0 to 80% relative humidity non-condensing q. Incubator The microscope incubator system controls the following environmental parameters in a precise and reliable manner: CO2 concentration, temperature, and humidity. Gas control must be within +/-1%, temperature control must be within +/- 1deg C, and humidity maintained about 90%. All of these capabilities must be stable over continuous operation of at least 20 days. That this stability is regularly achievable must be demonstrated by published work or other reliable documentation. NIST will validate the adequacy of the biological environment and stability by measurement of the proliferation rate of cells on the microscope, which should be equivalent to that obtained in a tissue culture incubator. The logging of CO2, temperature, and humidity will be evaluated and validated with independent measurements traceable to NIST standards. Companies should include in their response their plans for achieving each of the following specifications. Please include the company's size classification in any response to this notice. The projected NAICS code to be utilized is 333314 with a 500 employee standard size. All documents must be sent to Micole Cheatham, Contract Specialist, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Acquisition Management Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 1640, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-1640. Email address: micole.cheatham@nist.gov. Submission must be received not later than 5:00pm Eastern Time on 8/6/2012.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOC/NIST/AcAsD/NB631040-12-00922/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Gaithersburg, Maryland, 21216, United States
- Zip Code: 21216
- Zip Code: 21216
- Record
- SN02817267-W 20120728/120727001033-0c8446e08a7f2ec8c85d685cb1df89cc (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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