Laboratory Equipment Maintenance, Repair, and Fabrication Services

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE # FDA_SSN_1222337:  National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) Laboratory Equipment Maintenance, Repair, and Fabrication ServicesPosted Date:             January 13, 2020Response Date:         January 28, 2020 by no later than 2:00 pm CDTClassification:           J066 – Maintenance, Repair, and Rebuilding of Equipment – Instruments and Laboratory EquipmentNAICS Code:                811219 - Other Electronic and Precision Equipment Repair and MaintenanceMARKET RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY - NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL OR SOLICITATIONThis is a Sources Sought notice to determine the availability of Small Businesses capable of supplying the instrument and equipment maintenance, repair, and fabrication services described below.  This notice is for planning purposes only, and does not constitute an Invitation for Bids, Request for Proposal, Request for Quotation, or an indication the Government intends to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to pay for any

information submitted as a result of this notice.  Your response to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a Small Business Set-Aside is possible.The appropriate NAICS code for the acquisition is 811219 - Other Electronic and Precision Equipment Repair and Maintenance; Small Business Size standards – $20.5 million.Background and RequirementThe National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) and the Arkansas Laboratory of the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ARKL/ORA) are located at the Jefferson Laboratories of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Jefferson, Arkansas, approximately 35 miles south of Little Rock and 28 miles north of Pine Bluff.  NCTR is an internationally recognized FDA research center that conducts toxicological research studies and other research activities designed to support the FDA’s mission to protect the public’s health.  NCTR investigators partner with researchers elsewhere in the FDA as well as other government agencies, industry, and academia.NCTR is comprised of six research divisions and includes 132 general or special purpose research laboratories; a photo-toxicology research center; an imaging center including micro-PET, MRI, and CT scanners; a nanotechnology core facility; an inhalation toxicology facility; and AAALAC International-accredited animal facilities to include conventional rodent housing, a specific pathogen-free rodent breeding colony, and immunodeficient rodents; a non-human primate research center; and a zebrafish production facility.  ARKL is an ORA field laboratory tasked with analyzing a wide variety of samples from foods to cosmetics.  Although much of the scientific equipment at the Jefferson Laboratories complex is covered under manufacturer’s service agreements, many critical items are not.  These items must be consistently maintained to facilitate optimal performance.  Examples of instruments and equipment include scientific balances, autoclaves, bioanalyzers, centrifuges, desktop and laptop computers, incubators, microscopes, printers, tissue processors, thermocyclers, and liquid chromatographs.  In addition, some research projects require specialized design and fabrication services.The current requirement is for a base period and four (4) option years; the current agreement expires on July 21, 2020.Scope of Work  The Contractor shall conduct the laboratory equipment maintenance, repair, and fabrication services following all rules, policies, regulations and guidelines set forth herein.  The Contractor shall be knowledgeable and trained on the standards of maintenance, repair, and fabrication of scientific equipment. The Government routinely acquires new equipment to replace aging equipment, to furnish new laboratory space, or to expand laboratory capabilities as new technology becomes available.  The Contractor shall provide the services described herein for any instruments or equipment acquired by the Jefferson Laboratories during the course of the contract.The Contractor shall provide all labor to include, but not be limited to, supervision, administrative, and technical support necessary to plan, schedule, coordinate, and assure effective completion of all services described herein. The technical requirements and major areas of responsibility for this contract are as follows: (1)  Overarching administrative services, reporting, and management capabilities.  The Contractor shall provide complete on-site supervision to carry out all of the terms and conditions of the contract, to include reporting and management requirements associated with (2) through (4) below;(2)    Service, repair, and maintenance of malfunctioning or non-operational instruments and equipment;(3)    Development, application, and implementation of preventive maintenance programs for certain instruments and equipment;(4)     Analysis, service and repair of instrument systems and equipment, and development and  fabrication of prototype instrument systems and equipment not available commercially.   The overall requirement is a day-to-day on-site maintenance and repair program to include routine preventive maintenance of laboratory instruments and equipment as described above.  Interested vendors are cautioned that not all instruments requiring incidental service or repair will require preventive maintenance.All interested vendors shall submit sufficient information outlining their capabilities as relevant to the performance of this requirement. Responses to this notice shall be limited to fifteen (15) pages (excluding cover page), and should incorporate the following:1.  A detailed description of your organization's experience and demonstrated abilities to provide the services described herein, to include both general and specific previous experience in similar or related work, and record of performance and capacity to perform this or related work as follows:2.  General experience in:Digital systems, such as controllers, PC's and laboratory computers;Research laboratory instrument trouble-shooting, e.g., Gas Chromatography (GC), High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Mass Spectrometer (MS), Spectrophotometers;Analog electronics, including analog radio frequency equipment;Electro-mechanical systems, including pneumatic hydraulic devices;Vacuum systems;RF and high voltage electronics (to 20KV);Optical systems, including various laser-based equipment, microscopes, and cell counters.3.  Specific experience in:Mass Spectrometry -Time of Flight (TOF), high resolution magnetic mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry;Electro-optical systems, including ultraviolet/visible spectrometry, microscopes, scintillation counters;Gas chromatography, including Flame Ionization Detector (FID), Electron Capture Detection (ECD), Flame Photometric (FPD) (phosphorous, sulfur and nitrogen detectors), HPLC flow systems and detectors;Automated cell-sorter/flow cytometry systems and cell counters;Amino acid analyzers, including multiple wavelength detection systems, scintillation-gamma counters;Polypeptide sequencers, chromatographic systems, and DNA sequencers.4.  Relevant and recent experience in providing limited support to research personnel for the development and fabrication of prototype instrumentation.In addition, contractor must possess available and experienced personnel. All service technicians should have a minimum of two years of formal training (Associate Degree or certification) or equivalent experience in the repair and maintenance of laboratory instruments and equipment. The contractor shall be responsible for providing and maintaining qualifications and certifications of service technicians performing the requirements of this contract.With limited exceptions, contract performance shall be at the Jefferson Laboratories of the FDA, located at the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) in Jefferson, Arkansas.  Prospective contractor employees will have to pass a government-level security clearance. The Government will provide adequate storage space for spare parts and adequate working space, including heat, ventilation, electric current and outlets. The government will provide medical screening, testing, and monitoring of those contractor personnel who may be required to enter restricted areas.A fixed-price contract is anticipated with the following estimated periods of performance:Base Period:                July 22, 2020 through July 21, 2021;Option Period 1:          July 22, 2021 through July 21, 2022;Option Period 2:          July 22, 2022 through July 21, 2023;Option Period 3:          July 22, 2023 through July 21, 2024;Option Period 4:          July 22, 2014 through July 21, 2025.Although the target audience is small businesses or small businesses capable of providing these systems from another small business, all interested parties may respond. At a minimum, responses in the form of a Capability Statement shall include the following:Business name and bio, DUNS number, business address, business website, business size status (i.e., SB, VOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone SB, SDB, WOSB, LB), point of contact name, mailing address (if different from business address), phone number and email address. Provide this same information again if responding with the capability of providing an instrument offered by another firm;Descriptive literature, brochures, marketing material, etc. detailing the relevant services which the responding firm is regularly engaged in providing;If applicable, identification of the firm's GSA Schedule contract(s) by Schedule number and SINs that are applicable to this potential requirement are also requested.If a large business, provide documentation if subcontracting opportunities exist for small business concerns.NOTE:  Though this is not a request for quote, informational pricing is encouraged.  The Government is not responsible for locating or securing any information, not identified in the response.Interested parties shall respond with Capability Statements, as described above, in person, by e-mail, fax, mail or other delivery method before 2:00 pm (Central Daylight Time - Local Prevailing Time in Jefferson, Arkansas) on January 28, 2020 to timothy.walbert@fda.hhs.gov, fax (870) 543-7990, or mail to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration, OO/OFBA/OAGS/DAP, Attention of Tim Walbert, 3900 NCTR Road, Building 50, Room 426, Jefferson, AR 72079-9502.  Reference the following on the outside packaging:  FDA_SSN_1222337.Notice of IntentResponses to this Sources Sought announcement will assist the Government in determining whether or not any future requirement similar to this one should be set aside for small business, made available to full and open competition or procure through sole-source acquisition procedures.There will be no discussions or debriefings of any responses to this Notice.Disclaimer and Important NotesThis 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, a pre‐solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published at https://beta.sam.gov under Contract Opportunities formerly FBO). However, a response to this notice will not be considered an adequate response to a solicitation.Confidentiality and Proprietary Information No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non‐proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).Note:  If the stated requirements appear restrictive, please submit comments detailing the concern. Though this is not a request for quote, informational pricing for the service would be helpful.