Purchase of a Digital Spatial Profiler – Brand Name or Equal: NanoString GeoMx DSP Analysis Instrument.

ISSUED BY: National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI), Office of Acquisitions (OA)DESCRIPTION: This is a Sources Sought Notice (SSN) and is for information and planning purposes only. This notice shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The purpose of this SSN is to identify qualified business concerns, especially small businesses, that are interested in and capable of performing the work described herein, The NCI does not intend to award a contract based on responses received nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. Responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. The requirement’s suggested North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 334516 (Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing) with a size standard of 1,000 Employees.THERE

IS NO SOLICITATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against NCI shall arise because of a response to this SSN or the NCI’s use of such information furnished in response to this notice.RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS: Responses to this notice shall be submitted via email to Contracting Officer, Miguel Diaz, at miguel.diaz@nih.gov no later than 12:00 P.M. EST on Friday, April 14, 2023 (04/14/2023). All information furnished must be in writing and must contain enough detail to allow the NCI to determine the respondents’ ability to meet the requirements described herein. A response should not exceed 10 single-sided pages including all attachments, charts, etc. (single space, 12-point font minimum) that clearly responds to the below questions. All proprietary information should be marked as such. Please reference notice number 75N91023Q6574811 on all correspondence.Requested Information: Please provide the following information in your company’s response: Company NamePoint of Contact (POC) (including telephone and email address)Company’s System for Award Management Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)Socio-economic status (8(a), SDVOSB, VOSB, Woman-Owned, Other... etc.).Information on any currently held government contracts to include:Contract NumberType of ContractContracting Agency (GSA, SEWP, etc.)If you hold a current GSA schedule contract, specify which SINs are best suited for providing the services/items specified in the SOW.Provide product information such as brochures, manuals, etc.Provide any available pricing information.Provide information pertaining to the origin of the equipment, and where it’s manufactured.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 the 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 capability. 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 synopsis and solicitation may be published. However, responses to this notice will not be considered an adequate response to a solicitation(s).TITLEPurchase of a Digital Spatial Profiler – Brand Name or Equal: NanoString GeoMx DSP Analysis Instrument.BACKGROUNDThe mission of the Center for Immuno-Oncology is to advance the field of immuno-oncology by investigating the biologic impact of immunotherapy and translating these discoveries into science-driven clinical research. The CIO functions as a multidisciplinary translational and clinical programmatic effort within the NCI Center for Cancer Research (CCR, NCI), with the goal of developing novel immunotherapeutics and immuno-oncology strategies toward the seamless transition to science-driven clinical studies. The CIO focuses on the preclinical and clinical development of agents that target multiple components of the immune system as well as the tumor microenvironment; these include agents to activate and potentiate the immune response (such as therapeutic or preventive vaccines), reduce or eliminate immunosuppressive entities, and agents that epigenetically alter the phenotype of tumor cells to render them more susceptible to immune attack. Complementary cellular therapies are investigated both preclinically and clinically as monotherapies, and in combination approaches. The CIO also focuses on the interrogation of the immune responses of patients in the periphery and in the tumor microenvironment to better understand modes of action of agents and to inform subsequent trials. The CIO takes full advantage of the intramural program to carry out high risk/high reward preclinical and clinical studies.The tumor microenvironment plays a critical role in cancer development, progression, and control. The molecular and cellular nature of the tumor immune microenvironment influences disease outcome by altering the balance of suppressive versus cytotoxic responses in the vicinity of the tumor. The CIO’s focus is to study the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) in preclinical and clinical samples from patients treated with immunotherapeutic agents. For this purpose, the CIO requires a digital spatial profiler to conduct spatial transcriptomics and spatial proteomics experiments on single slides. The digital spatial technology will help COI look at many biomarkers simultaneously on fresh and formalin fixed paraffin embedded tumor tissues to identify cells and their fates.TYPE OF ORDERThis shall be a Firm Fixed-Price Purchase Order.ORDER REQUIREMENTSPRODUCT FEATURES/SALIENT CHARACTERISTICSThe digital spatial profiler shall be able to support the identification of tumor immune micro-environment components such as immune cells, chemokines and others, to study their function, and their interaction with each other in murine and clinical samples. The instrument shall allow CIO investigators to study the heterogeneity of tumors and their variability in primary tumor sites to other metastatic regions. Furthermore, it shall allow CIO investigators to study the effect of immunotherapies on the tumor and its environment to better understand the mechanism of action of these treatments in cancer patients.For this purpose, the following minimum product features/characteristics are required:System setup:Due to space limitations, the digital spatial profiler shall have multiplexed proteogenomics capabilities as stand-alone solution (single equipment).Sample types:The digital spatial profiler shall be compatible with murine pre-clinical and human clinical samples (fresh frozen tissue) and with archived samples (formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue sections).Performance characteristics:The digital spatial profiler shall enable the detection of many biomarkers on the same tissue slide. The digital spatial profiler shall support the following analytes/-omics assays:RNA analytes; transcriptomics from single section with quantitative analysis of at least 100 transcripts per assay.Protein analytes; proteomics from single section with quantitative analysis of at least 100 proteins per assay.Multiplexed proteogenomics assays from single section with a digital readout of at least 90 targets (proteins or RNA) per assay.Slide capacity and throughput: the digital spatial profiler shall process:up to 4 slides per run; andup to 8 slides per day.To ensure quality in data collection, the digital spatial profiler shall have a proven reproducibility between slides and users.Hard-/Software:Hardware shall include one (1) computer workstation (desktop and monitor) with Windows 10 (or higher) operating system.Data analysis software shall:Automatically connect quantitative readouts with spatial information.Visualize counts based on user-selected region of interest (ROI).Include data quality control and data normalization.Produce high quality data plot images, including pathways, differential expression, clusters, bar graphs, box plots, scatter plots, correlation plots, and heat maps.Allow export of raw and calibrated data in .csv or .xlsx file format.Allow export of visualization plots as images in .svg format.Compatibility:The digital spatial profiler system shall be compatible with the Illumina NGS nCounter analysis system for the integration of established workflows at the CIO.DELIVERY / INSTALLATIONThe item shall be delivered within 45 days of order or sooner to:NIH Clinical CenterBldg. 10, 10 Center Dr.Bethesda, MD 20892TRAININGThe vendor shall conduct a user training on the digital spatial profiler system for up to four NCI scientific staff members. Training shall be conducted by a certified field application specialist. Course date, location, and method of training shall be arranged with the NCI technical point of contact.