Inactive Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)

This Small Business Sources Sought Notice (SBSS) is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National Cancer Insti... This Small Business Sources Sought Notice (SBSS) is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to identify qualified small business concerns including 8(a), HUBZone or Service-Disabled Veteran-owned business concerns 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. 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 American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code should not submit a response to this notice. This requirement is assigned NAICS code 334516 with a size standard of 1,000 employees is being considered. NCI may issue a request for quotation (RFQ) as a result of this Sources Sought Notice. THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against NCI shall arise as a result of a response to this Sources Sought Notice or the NCI’s use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement. 1.0 BRAND NAME OR EQUAL This requirement is for the procurement of the brand name or equivalent instruments described in section 4.0. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision FAR 52.211-6, Brand Name or Equal (Aug 1999) is applicable to this requirement. 2.0 BACKGROUND The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI), Center for Cancer Research (CCR), Radiation Oncology Branch (ROB), requires the acquisition of two instruments – one (1) Sun Nuclear ArcCHECK 4D Isotropic Arc Delivery QA or equivalent, and two (2) Sun Nuclear Daily QA 3’s or equivalent. The required instruments will replace existing ArcCHECK and Daily QA 3 systems, which can no longer be placed under a routine maintenance agreement due to their age. The required instruments will continue to provide different types of QA on radiation used for the treatment of patients. They are necessary to ensure the accurate and safe dosage to patients, as prescribed by the physician. The ArcCHECK 4D Isotropic Arc Delivery QA is used to verify the radiation dosage received by the patient matches what the physician prescribed, as determined by the radiation treatment plan. This is required to ensure accurate patient treatment. The Daily QA 3 systems are used daily to verify that the output, energy, flatness and symmetry of radiation field are all within acceptable ranges for all modalities and energies of ROB’s Varian TrueBeam linear accelerators. This ensures that the delivered dosage matches the prescribed dose. This QA must be performed daily on the linear accelerator before it can be used to treat patients. 3.0 TYPE OF ORDER The resulting award shall be a Firm-Fixed-Price Purchase Order. 4.0 PRODUCT FEATURES/SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS SPECIAL ORDER REQUIREMENTS: The required instruments shall be compatible with the Government-owned Varian TrueBeam linear accelerators. The following product features/characteristics are required for one (1) ArcCHECK 4D Isotropic Arc Delivery QA or equivalent. The equipment shall: Have a maximum detectable field size of no less than 21 cm x 21 cm, measured in a single pass. The field size is the area of the emitted radiation beam as if it were projected on to a flat surface perpendicular to the direction of the beam. This field size is required because the typical maximum field size in use in the ROB for external beam radiotherapy is 20 cm x 20 cm. The 0.5 cm on each side of the square on the phantom ensures that any scatter that might occur can be detected. It is important to measure any such scattered radiation, as it could result in the accidental irradiation of a patient outside the tumor volume, causing damage to healthy tissues. The single pass requirement is to prevent measurement inaccuracies that could occur from having to reposition the phantom between passes – if the phantom isn’t perfectly aligned with respect to each pass, the detected radiation would be mis-measured, resulting in an unacceptable QA test. Weigh no more than 16 kg. This is required so that the physicists be able to physically set up the phantom without assistance to perform required QA measurements. Be able to measure all photon energy modalities used for Arc Therapy: 6x, 6 FFF, 10x, 10 FFF, and 15x Have a detector array consisting of at least 1,386 diodes, each with an active detector volume of 0.64 mm3 and spaced 1.0 cm apart in a helical array, but capable of being merged into a 0.5 cm array. Have a detector sensitivity of at least 32 nC / Gy Have a detector stability of under 0.62% / kGy at 6 MV. Be evenly distributed throughout the entire detectable field range. This is to ensure the accurate measurement of radiation across the whole detectable field area. Meet TG-218, TG-106, TG-148 Task Group requirements. These are necessary because these set the standards by which external beam radiation is measured and quality is assessed. The ROB cannot perform patient QA tests, or do required periodic QA tests. Include patient QA software to support the operation and measurements conducted by the phantom. Such software shall be compatible with Varian’s ARIA treatment planning software currently in use by the ROB, and fully compatible with the Varian TrueBeam linear accelerator. The following product features/characteristics are required for two (2) Daily QA 3 Measurement Systems or equivalent. The equipment shall: Meet all Task Group TG-142 requirements that pertain to application of radiation for treatment only. Other requirements in TG-142 – MV/kV imaging, physical collision detection, are not applicable. Have an active chamber volume of 0.6 cm3 for electrons, and 0.3 cm3 for photons. Be able to measure the full range of electron and photon energies used by a Varian TrueBeam linear accelerator. These are required to ensure the safe and accurate application of radiation at all energy levels the Varian TrueBeam can emit. Electrons: 4 MeV to 25 MeV Photons: Co-60 (1.25 MeV) to 25 MV Be provided with software to analyze the measured radiation stream. Providing measurements of beam flatness, symmetry, penetration (energy) and radiation field / light field congruence. The software shall store all readings in a database for the purpose of performing trend analysis. Such software shall be compatible with Varian’s ARIA treatment planning software currently in use by the ROB, and fully compatible with the Varian TrueBeam linear accelerator. 4.1 DELIVERY Delivery shall be within 6 weeks of the Purchase Order award. The Contractor shall coordinate delivery and tracking information with the NCI Technical Point of Contact (TPOC), TBD at award, with tracking information to anticipate delivery to the best extent possible. The instrument shall be delivered and installed at the following location: Room B2-3655 10 Center Drive Bethesda, MD, 20892 4.2 WARRANTY The Contractor shall warrant that any instruments, equipment, components, or other supplies (“Supplies”) procured by this purchase are free of defects in design, material, or manufacture for a period of at least 12-months from date of installation. The Contractor shall warrant that all consumables or expendable parts are free of defects in design, material, or manufacture for a period of at least 90 calendar days from date of acceptance by the Government. Supplies which are repaired or replaced shall be warranted for the remainder of the initial warranty period or for 90-days – whichever is greater. 5.0 RESPONSE DELIVERY POINT Capability statements shall be submitted via email to the Contracting Officer, Adam Hernandez, at adam.hernandez@nih.gov no later than 11:00 A.M. EST on Friday, May 9, 2021 (07/09/2021). All information furnished must be in writing and must contain enough detail to allow the NCI to determine if it can meet the unique specifications described herein. Please reference number 75N91021Q00132 on all correspondence. 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 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 RFQ may be published. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation(s).