Recertified SmartBatch+ Device

PRE-SOLICITATION NOTICE **NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE NOI-NIAID-24-2227018 NAICS – 334516 This is a Notice of Intent, not a request for proposal. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) intends to negotiate on an other than full and open competition basis with LifeCanvas Technologies Inc to procure a recertified SmartBatch+ Device.

LifeCanvas Technologies Inc will provide a one-year warranty, technical support, installation, training, and ongoing technical assistance. The Neuro-immune Crosstalk Unit of the Laboratory of Host Immunity and Microbiome (LHIM) seeks to decode the multidimensional interactions between the immune and nervous systems to understand the multifaceted regulation of host immunity at the whole organismal level. Immune responses need to be delicately regulated.

Imbalance in this regulation can lead to devastating consequences, a less understood but integral dimension of immune regulation is by the nervous system. The intimacy between the immune and nervous systems occurs at many layers, conferring adaptive advantages (e.g., speed, integration and prediction) beyond the autonomous regulation by the isolated immune system.

Leveraging emerging neuroscience and immunology tools, we develop and apply integrative multimodal approaches to explore these physiologically rich neuro-immune connections to unravel fundamental principles of neural control of immune responses.

The SmartBatch+ combines active tissue clearing and immunolabeling processes for consistent historical data and high-quality sample integrity for 3D imaging into one high-throughput device which is essential for conducting whole mouse brain tracing and staining experiments in this lab.

This device is only available from the manufacturer, LifeCanvas Technologies Inc. The vendor representative has confirmed the recertified device was manufactured in 2023 and is eligible to be supported indefinitely by service agreements, as this is the newest model and will not be phased out anytime in the foreseeable future. The list price of a recertified system is 30% less than a new device and carries with it a one-year manufacturer’s warranty which only the manufacturer can offer.

All this information combines to support the benefit to the government to purchase a warranted, refurbished instrument system. The statutory authority for this sole source requirement is 41 U.S.C. 1901(e)(2) as implemented by FAR 13.106-1 only one responsible source and no other supply of service will satisfy agency requirements. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL.

All responsible sources that could provide comparable services may submit a capability statement that will be considered by email (subject line to reference NOI-NIAID-24-2227018) to Dana Monroe at dana.monroe@nih.gov by 5:00 pm eastern time Friday, June 14, 2024. All responses received by the closing date of this synopsis will be considered by the Government. A determination not to compete this requirement, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government.