Sources Sought for Opentrons Flex Workstation System (96 Channel) Includes Install & Service Plan

Sources Sought Announcement

Title: Opentrons Flex Prep Workstation (96 Channel) Includes Installation and Service Plan

ID: SS-NIAID-24-2231317

Post Date:  July 16, 2024

Response Date: July 26, 2024

NAICS: 334516

Introduction

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.

Background, Purpose, Objectives

The Laboratory of Infectious Diseases (LID) has a long history of vaccine development and identification of new agents of viral diseases. LID is noted for undertaking high-risk, high-re​ward programs that require extraordinary time and resource commitments, such as programs to develop vaccines for viral hepatitis, severe childhood respiratory diseases, viral gastroenteritis, flaviviruses, and herpesviruses. A Phase I clinical trial is being conducted wherein healthy adults with no (naïve), one (primary homotypic or heterotypic), or more than one (multitypic) previous natural dengue virus (DENV) infection(s) will be immunized with the DENV3 monovalent vaccine (rDEN3d30/31-7164) developed by LID/NIH/CRL. The goal is to characterize how pre-vaccine host immunity influences the responses to monovalent DENV3 vaccination and determines protective immunity. The hypothesis is that broad protection following secondary dengue exposure arises from a two-part process: 1) primary infection produces low-affinity cross-reactive antibodies and MBCs that can enhance disease while 2) secondary infection activates these MBCs to undergo affinity maturation and develop potent cross-reactive, protective MBCs and antibodies that neutralize even previously unexposed serotypes. It is proposed that the lab will safely model primary and sequential DENV infections with a monovalent dengue vaccine.  Numerous components of the trial require high-throughput immunological assays that are highly labor-intensive.  The lab currently does not have a liquid handler to aid in high-throughput serosurveys, a core component of their lab work.  The Opentrons liquid handler will be a workhorse for the trial as well as other ongoing projects in the lab, including work to characterize antigenic diversity among dengue viruses as part of a climate change grant that was recently funded.

Project Requirements

Successful offerors must have the knowledge, skill, ability, and resources to reliably provide a brand name or equal of the Opentrons Flex Prep Workstation, 96 Channel which includes Caddy, Adapter, Pipettes, Installation, and Support. Minimum requirements of the equipment to be acquired can be found at https://opentrons.com/robots/flex#tech-specs

 1) Opentrons Flex Prep Workstation, 96 Channel, Product Code#: 991-00188- QTY 1

 2) Heater-Shaker GEN1 with Opentrons Flex Caddy and Calibration Adapter, Product Code#:

     991-00115- QTY 1

 3) Opentrons Flex Gripper GEN1, Product Code#: 999-00194- QTY 1

 4) Opentrons Flex Deck Expansion Set (4 count), Product Code#: 999-00203- QTY 1

 5) Opentrons Flex 8-Channel Pipette (1-50µl), Product Code#: 999-00188- QTY  1

 6) Opentrons Care Plus. Product Code#: 302-00201- QTY  1

 7) On-Site Support: Installation (1 day), Product Code#: 302-00014- QTY 1

 8) Remote Protocol Development, Product Code#: 715-00010- QTY 1

 9) Adapter- 96 Flat Bottom Plate, Product Code#: 991-00065- QTY  1

10) Shipping and Handling (FOB DESTINATION) – QTY  1

The Government anticipates awarding a firm fixed price purchase order, after solicitation for this requirement.

Date of Delivery:  30 days from ARO

Place of Delivery

Bethesda, MD 20892

Capability Statement/Information Sought

All capable vendors should respond with a brief capability statement by July 15, 2024 at 10:00 AM EST. The capability statement must include the ability to provide the required brand name or equal products, as per specifications, and that are compatible with the SpectraMaxL Luminescence Microplate Reader and StackMax Plate Handling System Capability statement must include place of manufacturer.

If your organization has the potential capacity to support this requirement, please provide the following information: 1) organization name, address, point of contact, email address, website address, telephone number, UEI number and size and type of ownership for the organization; and 2) respondents shall indicate if they are the manufacturer or the distributor of Streptavidin biosensors and shall include basic information on product specifications. If an equal product is recommended (not specific to the brand proposed) then sufficient details shall be provided by the respondent describing how the equal product being recommended, meets the minimum specifications of the requirement.

Capability statements should also include documentation indicating that offerors business size as determined by the Small Business Administration’s Table of Size Standards located at: (https://www.sba.gov/content/small-business-size-standards) for NAICS 334516. This SBA size standard is currently 1000 employees but is subject to change. Prospective offerors may also note whether they meet any other socio-economic business categories such as 8(a), Hub-Zone, or Service-Disabled Veteran when submitting their capability statement.

Submission Instructions

Interested businesses who consider themselves qualified to provide the above-listed items are invited to submit a response to this Sources Sought Notice by July 26, 2024 at 10:00 AM EST. All responses under this Sources Sought Notice must be submitted via the NIAID electronic Simplified Acquisition Submission System (eSASS) website at https://esass.nih.gov. All vendors must register in the eSASS system to submit their documentation. Instructions on how to register /submit documents are included on the website. All responses received by the closing date of this synopsis will be considered by the Government.

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 pre-solicitation 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).