Inactive

The Office of Acquisition and Agreements Management (OAAM), Acquisition Management Division (AMD) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), on behalf of the NIST/Chemical Sciences ... The Office of Acquisition and Agreements Management (OAAM), Acquisition Management Division (AMD) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), on behalf of the NIST/Chemical Sciences Division, intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with Siebtechnik Tema, (formerly Tema Systems, Inc.) of Cincinnati, OH, to provide another vibrating disk mill shaker, customized to meet NIST's specific needs. To meet its mission requirements, the NIST/Chemical Science Division operates and manages the NIST Biorepository and Cryogenic Reference Material Production Facility. The NIST Biorepository is a long-term archive of biological and environmental specimens that have been collected to enable future investigators to extend their research into the past (hind casting) and provides for future verification of analytical results (quality assurance). The NIST Biorepository is an important national resource of research materials that are used to document geographic and temporal trends in "new" pollutants, changes in transport and accumulation of "old" pollutants in the environment, and study temporal changes through application of future new analytical and biochemical techniques. Specimens that are collected as a part of the NIST Biorepository follow standardized protocols that are geared towards reducing metal and organic contamination and stabilizing chemical constituents inherent in the sample, ensuring multiple high quality and stable specimens are available. The standardized protocol that is used to create multiple frozen homogenous aliquots from one sample was developed and published by NIST researchers over 30 years ago (Zeisler, et al., 1983) and is still used today (Pugh, et al., 2007). This protocol, which uses NIST in-house made polytetrafluorothylene (PTFE) disc mill grinding sets (small, medium, and large) specific to NIST's requirements are pre-frozen and then placed between pre-frozen NIST made stainless steel plates on a vibrating disc mill shaker that was retrofitted to house the NIST grinding set equipment in order to grind frozen biological material (50g - 500 g) into a fresh, frozen powder. The resulting fineness of the biological material is <50µm. This ensures an effective, contamination-free process for size reduction, homogenization, and high reproducibility of the biorepository specimens. The Contractor shall provide another floor type model vibrating disc mill shaker, that is customized to accommodate a pre-frozen specialized stainless steel plate, and polytetrafluorothylene disc mill grinding set(s) that contain frozen biological or environmental material in order to cryogenically homogenize the material for NIST. SOLE SOURCE DETERMINATION IS BASED UPON THE FOLLOWING: Specimens that are collected follow standardized protocols that are geared towards reducing metal and organic contamination and stabilizing chemical constituents inherent in the sample, ensuring multiple high quality and stable specimens are available. It is critical to ensure that samples that will be cryogenically homogenized in the future, using the standardized protocol, are processed the exact same way as those that have been cryogenically homogenized in the past, in order to compare results over time as well as geographic location. The standardized protocol and the equipment used to process the samples, create multiple identical aliquots from one sample that can be analyzed today or in the future. In order to ensure an effective, contamination-free process for size reduction, homogeneity, and high reproducibility of each aliquot necessary to the continued success of the NIST Biorepository Program, the identical disc mill shaker must be purchased. Siebtechnik Tema, Inc. designed, engineered, and manufactured the disc mill shaker that is currently in use. Tema owns all rights to the design of the disc mill shaker and is the sole manufacturer of the required disc mill shaker. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, responses received by September 13, 2019, will be considered by the Government. Any party responding to this notice must provide clear and specific product documentation that they can provide a disc mill shaker that is manufactured by Siebtechnik Tema, Inc. and is identical to the equipment currently in use by NIST. A determination by the Government to compete this requirement based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to compete this requirement.