High-Volume Liquid Handling Robot

expired opportunity(Expired)
From: Federal Government(Federal)
NIHDA201800498

Basic Details

started - 22 Aug, 2018 (about 5 years ago)

Start Date

22 Aug, 2018 (about 5 years ago)
due - 29 Aug, 2018 (about 5 years ago)

Due Date

29 Aug, 2018 (about 5 years ago)
Bid Notification

Type

Bid Notification
NIHDA201800498

Identifier

NIHDA201800498
Department of Health and Human Services

Customer / Agency

Department of Health and Human Services
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INTRODUCTIONThis is a Small Business Sources Sought (SBSS) notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice.This notice is issued to help determine the
availability and type of qualified Small Business companies technically capable of meeting this potential government requirement and to determine the method of acquisition. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes. No award will be made as a result of this notice. The Government will NOT be responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice. The notice is strictly for research and information purposes only.The information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method including small business socio-economic set-aside possibilities and to determine the availability of qualified Small Business companies technically capable of meeting the Government's potential requirement. All Small Business companies with the capability and availability to perform the requirement under the applicable NAICS code are invited to submit a response to this notice.NORTH AMERICAN CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODEThe NAICS code applicable to this requirement is 334516 Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing with size standard 1000 employees.BACKGROUNDThe National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was officially established in fiscal year 2012 to transform the translational science process so that new treatments and cures for disease can be delivered to patients faster. NCATS, one of 27 Institutes and Centers (ICs) at NIH, strives to develop innovations to reduce, remove or bypass costly and time-consuming bottlenecks in the translational research pipeline in an effort to speed the delivery of new drugs, diagnostics and medical devices to patients. Through collaborations with industry, academia, patient advocacy and other nonprofit groups and in cooperation with other NIH ICs and government agencies, NCATS provides: Pre-clinical drug development expertise and access to resources; assistance generating data needed for regulatory approval; and a variety of mechanisms to streamline partnerships and collaborations. NCATS collaborates with investigators to study and develop compounds and molecules to further translational research.To establish and move stem cell technologies forward through a more centralized effort, NIH has launched the Stem Cell Translation Laboratory (SCTL) within NCATS. Part of the NIH Common Fund, the goal of the SCTL is to bring iPSC technology closer to clinical application, drug discovery and regenerative medicine. Through the SCTL, NCATS will provide researchers across various disciplines and organizations with the ability to establish collaborations to advance the translation of regenerative medicine applications.The SCTL requires the HV liquid handling robot system in order to meet SCTL project milestones. The HV liquid handling robot volume range is 500 nl -5 ul and will allow miniature Nextera XT library preparation (Nextera XT DNA Library Prep Kit, Illumina) in order to save the cost for sequencing library construction. Existing protocols from vendor and publications will allow SCTL to quickly implant the method for high-throughput single-cell RNA profiling. The applications of this liquid handling robot will cover the single-cell mRNA profiling (CEL-seq, SMART-seq2) and single-cell ATACseq. The instrument will be combined with the existing instruments in SCTL, such as Fluidigm C1 single-cell Auto Prep System and BD flow cytometer for single cell dispensing to generate transcriptomics data at single cell level. The ability to decrease reaction volumes without compromising library quality would result in lower reagent costs. The results have been carefully investigated the reproducibility, library quality, and gene coverage when scaling down to 2 ul from an original 25 ul volume.Purpose and ObjectivesThis Small Business Sources Sought notice seeks to determine eligible sources capable of achieving the essential features of this potential requirement. The purpose of this potential requirement is to obtain one (1) High-Volume (HV) Liquid handling robot, which will allow Stem Cell Translation Laboratory (SCTL) scientists to optimize miniaturization and automation of next generation sequencing library construction. Transcriptomics analysis at single cell level is essential for SCTL scientists.The subject potential supply is to be used for miniaturizing a wide range of applications that require accurate low volume pipetting without the risk of cross-contamination. NCATS has existing liquid handling programs for sequencing library generation which need to be compatible with the current scRNAseq and scATAC-seq sequencing library platforms used in the SCTL lab.An existing instrument at NCATS for which this requirement needs to be compatible is the Fluidigm C1 system, manufactured by Fluidigm, and is used for single cell genomics research in SCTL lab. In order to understand genomic heterogeneity at single cell level during differentiation, we perform full length transcriptome profiling at single cell level (scRNA-seq) using C1 mRNA seq HT IFC chip and chromatin accessibility (assay for transposase accessible chromatin using sequencing (scATAC-sseq)) using C1 Open App IFC chip on Fluidigm C1 system. Fluidigm C1 system using microfluidic technology allows single cell isolation automatically and subsequent cell lysis, cDNA synthesis and amplification in Fluidigm C1 system.The amplified cDNA (96 samples for each run) will be carried forward for subsequent library construction in order to read on the existing Illumina sequencer in the SCTL lab, the NextSeq500, manufactured by Illumina. The High-Volume Liquid Handling Robot will provide for this automatic and miniature solution for sequencing library construction. It miniaturizes the library construction process (2-4 fold) to save reagent cost by diluting/normalizing cDNA library from the Fluidigm system thereby performing necessary tagmentation, barcoding, and purification steps for sequencing library construction.The final products are then sequenced on the Illumina sequencer to provide transcriptome profile (scRNA-seq) and chromatin accessibility profile (scATAC-seq). The applications mentioned above needs to be supported by a software program to support this specific multi-step automation on the High-Volume Liquid Handling Robot.Product RequirementsSpecifically, the following salient characteristics are deemed essential that this potential requirement will achieve:• Highly accurate and precise multichannel pipetting from 500 nL to 5 µL, leading to significant savings on precious reagents and time.• High density tip storage on a spool of up to 18,500 disposable tips, continuously fed into the pipetting head.• Column wise pipetting head providing fast, accurate and repeatable 8 or 16 channel pipetting, with rapid tip exchange• 2 or 5 position plate deck with choice of an ultra-compact footprint or enhanced flexibility and extended walk-away time.• Use of Positive displacement pipette tips, which provide highly accurate and repeatable nanolitre to microliter pipetting, irrespective of liquid viscosity• Extremely accurate and precise pipetting of volumes between 25 nL-1.2 μL and 0.5-5 μL accuracy within +/- 5% and CV's of <5% on average throughout volume range.• Pipetting technology: Multi-channel (8 or 16) and single channel for existing Mosquito X1; true-positive displacement (piston based), disposable tips ensuring zero cross-contamination between samples.• Sterilized and nuclease-free tips: the tips can be purchased as gamma-irradiated sterilized• Open platform: A general automatic pipettor to be utilized for any kits or custom chemistry.• System must store between 13,500 up to 36,000 disposable pipette tips and automatically load tips on the fly, thus enabling 90 of 384 well qPCR plates to be set up, without the need to reload pipettes between each plate or run.• Ability to work at 4 °C: can be placed in a cold room for temperature sensitive experiments.• Ability to mix: tips can perform mixing on aspirate or dispense, while doing a mix move.• Wash Steps: Due to tips being disposable, there must be no need for washing of liquid lines or tips between pipetting steps.• Compatible and integrable with other automation solutions• Dead volume of the system per well of TTP LVSD source plate: 300 nL• Ability to aspirate from and dispense into any standard SBS format plate from 96, 384 or 1536 wells. Any plate material, color and well shape are compatible for both source and destination plates.• Capable of accurately dispensing sub-microlitre volumes of highly viscous liquids; such as 50% (w/v) glycerol at room temperature, as well as low viscosity solutions such as 95% Ethanol, without specific settings or liquid classification.• Possess optional software-controlled active humidity chamber to minimize evaporation.• Capable of sequentially aspirating multiple samples (without air gaps) followed by a single dispense• A qPCR set up in 384 well plate must only take under 5 min. 1 min to multi-dispense the master mix and 3 min to dispense the 384 DNA samples. There is no down time (for tip washing or tip exchange) between plates.• Up to 5 positions for efficient experimental set up within a compact footprint.• One off perpetual site license for an unlimited number of seats within the site.• Includes the accessories Active humidity chamber, spool cover, plate processor integration (MoPP)• Comes with manufacturer's standard warranty and 12-month technical service agreement, and ½ day operator installation training for up to 6 people.Contractors submitting a response to this Small Business Sources Sought notice shall possess the ability to achieve the salient government essential features of this potential requirement. Specifically, Offerors to this Small Business Sources Sought notice shall document evidence of being able to provide the subject supply that will allow for the essential features described herein to be accomplished.Delivery/WarrantyOfferors should indicate an estimated delivery time in full after receipt of an order and any other training or warranty or software licenses applicable. Inspection and acceptance will be performed at NCATS located at 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD 20852.CAPABILITY STATEMENTS SOUGHTInterested parties are expected to review this notice to familiarize itself with the requirements of this project. Failure to do so will be at your firm's own risk.Respondents 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 this announcement; (d) quantity; (e) shipping, handling, and/or installation instructions, and/or any special delivery conditions after receipt of an order.Respondents that believe that they are manufacturers or authorized re-sellers of the equipment 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; (d) quantity; (e) estimated price or cost; (f) shipping, handling, and/or installation charges; and delivery date after receipt of order.The respondent must also provide their DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HubZone, etc.) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code and any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the acquisition requirements.The information submitted must be in outline format that addresses each of the elements of this requirement. A cover page and an executive summary may be included but is not required.The response is limited to ten (10) pages. The 10-page limit does not include the cover page, executive summary, or references, if requested.The response must include the respondents' technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses.Respondents must reference the subject announcement number on all correspondence related to this Small Business Sources Sought notice. The response must be submitted to Hunter Tjugum electronically, at hunter.tjugum@nih.gov, and be received prior to the closing date specified in this announcement.CONCLUDING STATEMENTSDisclaimer and Important Notes. This 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 in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.Confidentiality. 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).Contact Information: Hunter A Tjugum, Contract Specialist, Phone 3018275304, Email hunter.tjugum@nih.gov Office Address :6001 Executive BoulevardRoom 4211, MSC 9559 Bethesda MD 20892-9559 Location: National Institute on Drug Abuse Set Aside: N/A

National Institute on Drug AbuseLocation

Address: National Institute on Drug Abuse

Country : United States

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Classification

NAISC: 334516 GSA CLASS CODE: 66