Fluorescence Microscope

(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 HHS-NIH-NIDA-NIA-CSS-20-006704 and the solicitation is issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ).This solicitation is issued as full and open competition with no set-aside restrictions for the brand-name or equal product specified herein.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 not expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. (iii) This solicitation incorporates the

provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2020-06, effective June 5, 2020. (iv) The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code: 334516—Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, Size Standard is 1,000 Employees.  (v) Fluorescence Microscope(vi) Background / Purpose / Objective:  National Institute on Aging (NIA), Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience (LBN), Neurocognitive Aging Section (NAS) requires an all-in-one fluorescence microscope to digitize large volumes of histological material at high resolution and high speed for open distribution and offline analysis. The microscope will be used for both the Successful Trajectories of Aging: Reserve and Resilience in RatS (STARRRS) program and the Neurocognitive Aging Section (NAS) of the LBN. The overall goal is to provide a readily accessible, high resolution virtual library of histological brain material for the neuroscience community. The instrumentation will be used to establish a digital Long Evans (LE) rat brain atlas, including Nissl stain preparations and series for specific neuronal subpopulations such as GABAergic (parvalbumin, calbindin, calretinin, somatostatin, NPY, VIP, and CCK), cholinergic (choline acetyltransferase; ChAT), dopaminergic (tyrosine hydroxylase; TH) and other neurotransmitter systems. In anticipation of longitudinal studies, the microscope will also be used to archive rat vaginal smear images to document the progression of hormonal aging in female LE rats. These images can be made available to researchers that obtain tissue/animals from the STARRRS resource.  The microscope will also be used to archive our unique library of brain material from behaviorally characterized young adult and aged monkeys (Macaca mulatta and Macaca fascicularis).  With a current archive of 84 brains, the requested microscope image acquisition system will allow us to provide a digital monkey atlas resource for Nissl stain and other preparations. We currently have histological libraries for a variety of neurochemically specific cell types: ChAT, GAD67, reelin, parvalbumin, somatostatin, NeuN, GFAP, AchE, VAchT, NGF-r, A612. Further, with a brain bank of unstained histological sections, we have the capacity to include future cell populations of interest. The high resolution, digital archive of this material will be an unprecedented resource for the neuroscience community.  NAS will also use this system to archive images of immunostained and other rat brain material for ‘off-line’ quantitative analysis. These libraries will establish a valuable resource for trainee and summer intern projects involving quantitative morphometry.The intent of this action is to purchase an all-in-one fluorescence microscope that is the brand-name or equal to the BZ-X810, BZX Fluorescence Microscope manufactured by  Keyence Corporation of America, 500 Park Boulevard Suite 200 Itasca IL 60143.  The instrument includes: (1) Item BZ-X810, BZX Fluorescence Microscope, BZX Microscope Head; (2) BZ-X800E, BZX Fluorescence Microscope, BZX Microscope Controller; (3) BZ Support Package; (4) BZ-H4XD, BZX Hardware Module, BZX Multi-Stack Module; (5) BZ-H4XF, BZX Hardware Module, BZX Sectioning Module; (6) BZ-H4A, BZX Analyzer Software; (7) OP-87762, BZX Accessory, BZX DAPI Filter; (8) OP-87763, BZX Accessory, BZX GFP Filter; (9) OP-87764, BZX Accessory, BZX TRITC Filter; (10) OP-87766, BZX Accessory, BZX Cy5 Filter; (11) BZ-PA02, BZ Objective Lens (2x), Plan Apochromat 2x; (12) BZ-PA10, BZ Objective Lens (10x), Plan Apochromat 10x; (13) BZ-PA20, BZ Objective Lens (20x), Plan Apochromat 20x; (14) BZ-PA40, BZ Objective Lens (40x), Plan Apochromat 40x; (15) BZ-PA100, BZ Objective Lens (100x Oil), Plan Apochromat 100x Oil; (16) 972326, Win10 PC for BZ-X800; and 972072B, 23'' Monitor.The salient characteristics of the all-in-one fluorescence microscope are: (1) The product case must include a specimen enclosure to provide an observation environment that, even without a darkroom, will not impair the background contrast required for fluorescence observation; (2) The microscope must include, as standard components, an electronic shutter, XY and Z motorized stages, an electronic revolver, an electronic filter turret, electronic color filters, electronic phase-contrast slit switching mechanism, electronic dimmer filters, and an electronic aperture control; it is necessary that all of these components can be operated with the mouse; (3)  The microscope must be able to recall all capture settings which include the shutter, aperture, light intensity, XYZ stage position, magnification, filter, imaging mode (brightfield / fluorescence / phase); (4)  The stroke of the motorized XY stage must be at least 114 mm x 80 mm and the minimum travel pitch must be 1 μm or smaller. Also, the stroke of the motorized Z axis stage must be at least 8 mm and the minimum travel pitch must be 0.1 μm or smaller; (5) The installation space of the microscope unit must be within 500 mm (H) x 350 mm (W) x 500 mm (D) when the panel is closed; (6) Fluorescence filter replacement must be possible at four locations; (7) Up to six objective lenses whose magnifications are from 2x to 100x must be mountable; (8) he microscope must be equipped with a monochrome CCD that is cooled to a temperature that is lower than the ambient temperature by at least 25°C. The microscope must also be furnished with a mechanism that can capture full-color images using color filters inserted under electronic control; (9) The microscope must be equipped a “low photo bleach mode” which physically blocks the light to the sample when it is just stationary. Light is only let through when we move the sample or change the capture settings; (10) The microscope must be equipped with a navigation function that enables the user the following: to make observations at a high magnification while checking the position over the entire region using a wide-area map image linked with information on the XY stage coordinates and to move the observation position by clicking the desired point on the wide-area map image. It must also be possible to create the wide-area map image using any of the mountable lenses; (11) The microscope must include a function that enables the user, when using any of the mountable lenses, to set a maximum range of 50,000 x 50,000 pixels automatically by clicking the edges of the desired capture range, capture images in this range, and stitch them seamlessly; (12) The number of pixels that can be recorded in a single image must be at least 12,000,000; (13) The system must be compatible with Akoya’s CODEX technology; (14) It must be possible to report the progress status and completion of capturing by email; (15) The analysis software must include some basic image processing software such as Haze reduction (no-neighbor deconvolution), image overlays, scale bar, cut/paste, zoom, lookup table, black balance; (16) The microscope must include a function to record a video at a frame rate of 95 fps or higher; (17) The microscope must include a function that automatically selects cells based on the contour, color contrast, etc. and automatically counts/calculates the number of cells, area, perimeter, Feret diameter, major axis, minor axis, and/or integrated brightness value. The microscope must also include a function that, using selected image information as a target area, allows the user to set conditions again for images in each of such target areas and automatically counts various items. This function must also enable the user to measure area ratios or the like easily; (18) It must be possible to output a conditions file that indicates the measurement conditions that apply when the automatic counting function is used. A macro processing function must also be available that performs automatic counting on multiple image files in a batch under the same condition based on the conditions file; (19) Optical sectioning image mode must be usable during fluorescence capturing because it is unaffected by fluorescence blurring; and (20) It must accommodate multiple 50X75 mm slides. (vii) Government's Anticipated Delivery: Within six (6) weeks after receipt of order (ARO). Delivery Point: FOB Destination. Delivery Location: National Institute on Aging, 251 Bayview Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21224. The successful offeror shall coordinate delivery arrangements with the customer prior to shipment. The Loading Dock hours are as follows: 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday except on Federal holidays. All products delivered must contain a Packing Slip (with serial numbers as applicable).(viii) The provision at FAR clause 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition.(ix) The provision at FAR clause 52.212-2, Evaluation - Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The factors used to evaluate offers are the unique technical and performance capabilities of product and cost. Technical and past performance, when combined, are significantly more important than cost or price.  The response must also indicate the country of manufacturer. (x) Offerors are advised to include a completed copy of the provision at FAR clause 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items, with its offer.(xi) FAR clause at 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions - Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition.(xii) FAR clause at 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders - Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition.(xiii) There are no additional contract requirement(s) or terms and conditions applicable to this acquisition.(xiv) Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) and assigned rating, is not applicable to this solicitation.(xv) All quotations or offers are due 12:00 Noon, Eastern Time, on June 30, 2020, and must reference the solicitation number noted herein.  Quotations or offers must be submitted electronically to the contact person identified herein at debra.hawkins@nih.gov.  Fax responses will not be accepted.(xvi) For information regarding this solicitation contact: Debra C. Hawkins Contractor, Acquisition Policy Analyst II, at debra.hawkins@nih.gov.