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This is a Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capabil... This is a Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of all qualified sources to perform a potential requirement. This notice is issued to help determine the availability of qualified companies technically capable of meeting the 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. This notice is strictly for research and information purposes only. Statement of Need and Purpose: This request covers a state-of-the-art, cryogenically-cooled mouse head MRI coil for use in our existing Biospec 7T/30 cm scanner. Relative to our existing coils, this coil offers an approximately 2.5-fold improvement in MRI signal-to-noise ratio, which can be used to image the mouse brain at much higher spatial resolution and/or to accelerate image acquisition by a factor of 5 or more. This is achieved by cooling both the coil itself and its preamplifiers to a temperature of 10 Kelvin, where thermal noise is greatly reduced relative to room temperature. Background: Magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy of the mouse brain is one of the major applications for the NIA IRP’s 7 Tesla preclinical MRI scanner and is of major importance in collaborative projects involving the characterization of neurodegeneration in mouse models. An example is our ongoing collaboration with Tyler Demarest of LNS and LMG on the effects of dietary interventions on regional cerebral volume loss in a triple-transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. This and other projects involving MR scanning of the mouse brain will benefit directly from the purchase of a mouse head array cryoprobe, which will dramatically boost sensitivity in both imaging and spectroscopy experiments without requiring any upgrades to our 7T MRI scanner’s magnet or console electronics. In fact, the cryoprobe should provide sensitivity comparable to that of a conventional probe on a 15 Tesla scanner without the high cost of upgrading to such an instrument. As all MRI experiments involve a compromise between sensitivity (signal-to-noise ratio), spatial resolution and total scan duration, the added sensitivity offered by the cryoprobe would enable us to perform non-invasive, in-vivo scans of the mouse brain with in-plane resolution as small as 30 microns without lengthening scan time. Alternatively, total scan duration could be reduced by a factor of up to 5 times, reducing the time during which mice need to be anesthetized for MR scanning. Finally, purchase of the mouse head cryoprobe would introduce the possibility of performing cutting-edge experiments not feasible with conventional coils, such as visualization of individual cortical layers, localized spectroscopy of specific regions of the cortex and hippocampus and precise, longitudinal measurement of volumetric changes with age and disease-mediated neurodegeneration. In particular, the high sensitivity of the cryoprobe will greatly increase the accuracy with which we can measure the concentrations of cerebral metabolites such as N-acetyl aspartate (NAA; a biomarker of neuronal density), glutamine/glutamate (related to neurotransmission and AD pathologies in human studies) and glucose (a biomarker of brain aging). In this way, purchase of the mouse head array cryoprobe will benefit all modalities with which MR imaging and spectroscopy are used to study structural, functional and metabolic changes in mouse models of brain aging, cognitive impairment and dementia. Generic Name of Product: 7 Tesla Mouse Brain MRI Array Cryoprobe Purchase Description/Salient Characteristics: Must be tuned to receive signals at 300 MHz, the proton NMR frequency at 7 Tesla, under the dielectric load of a mouse head (or mouse head phantom). Must fit within existing Bruker 86 mm quadrature proton transmitter coil. Must be possible to place the center of the coil at the center of existing Bruker 7 Tesla 30 cm USR magnet, BGA12S-HP gradient/shim coil and 86 mm quadrature proton transmitter coil. Must include all necessary mounting hardware to fix coil at center of B0 and B1 magnetic fields while reducing vibration at the field center to ambient levels. Must be actively detuned for use as a receive-only coil in existing Bruker 86 mm quadrature proton transmitter coil. Must at least 4 and no more than 8 receive channels. Must have ODU plug compatible with low-power proton socket in existing Bruker CCM Lite cabinet. Must have built-in preamplifiers for each receive channel. Coil elements and preamplifier must be cryogenically cooled (at or below 77 K) to achieve an increase in signal-to-noise of at least two-fold relative to room temperature operation when imaging a standard mouse head phantom. Coil housing must include passive insulation and/or a heating system to maintain all surfaces contacted the mouse head at a temperature between 25 and 40 C. Must be equipped with a removable animal bed equipped with a nose cone for inhalation anesthesia, stereotaxic fixation by bite bar and ear bars and provision for reproducible placement in the cryoprobe assembly. Must be equipped with all necessary hardware, transfer lines and cables to maintain continuous cryogenic cooling of all coil elements and preamplifiers so long as electrical power and water cooling are supplied according to manufacturer's standards. Must be sized to fit mice up to 50 grams body weight with coverage of entire brain in one scanning station. With removable animal bed, cryoprobe must support scanning of both mouse brain and mouse kidneys in no more than two stations. QTY: 1 Delivery Date: 10-12 Months ARO Delivery Location: 251 Bayview Boulevard Baltimore, MD 21221 Capability statement/information sought: The capability statement should include 1) the total number of employees, 2) documentation of ability to provide the required equipment, 3) any contractor GSA Schedule contracts by which all of the requirements may be met, if applicable, and 4) any other information considered relevant to this program. 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. One (1) copy of the response is required and must be in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format using 11-point or 12-point font, 8-1/2” x 11” paper size, with 1” top, bottom, left and right margins, and with single or double spacing. The information submitted must be in an outline format that addresses each of the elements of the project requirement and in the capability statement /information sought paragraphs stated herein. A cover page and an executive summary may be included but is not required. The response is limited to ten (10) page limit. 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. All responses to this notice must be submitted electronically to the Contract Specialist and Contracting Officer. Facsimile responses are NOT accepted. The response must be submitted to Rashiid Cummins at e-mail address rashiid.cummins@nih.gov. The response must be received on or before June 22, 2020, 3:00 pm, Eastern Time. “Disclaimer 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 presolicitation 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).”