The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) intends to award a sole source firm fixed price purchase order to Horiba Scientific.

This acquisition is for a Sole source acquisition to enhance our current capability pertaining to chemical measurement and imaging of workplace aerosol samples, which will require the purchase of a Micro-Raman Imaging Microscope.

NIOSH has specifically identified Horiba Scientic as the vendor because of specific needs relating to workplace air monitoring, instrument operation in our laboratory, and analytical requirements, the instrument must meet several practical, technical, and analytical considerations listed below.

The instrument must:

1. be fully integrated confocal Raman microscope suitable for point and fast Raman imaging. Full scientific optical microscope with ability to obtain transmitted and reflected light illumination images.
2. have integrated and top mounted color USB cameras with the ability to capture microscope images and the ability to see the laser spot on the sample for ease of use and verification of sample analysis. Must be PC controlled and selectable.
3. have Motorized XY stage with 10 nm step resolution and 70 x 50mm minimum XY movement range. Motorized Z, focus control offering sub 1 um resolution and the ability to support automated depth profiling/ optical sectioning. XY spatial resolution of 500nm or better.
4. possess adjustable confocal filtering with at least three positions matched to confocal, mesoscopic (medium volume) and macroscopic (bulk) sampling.
5. provide ability to perform fast and fully confocal Raman imaging with the use of 5x and 100x objectives without the loss in efficiency. Minimum acquisition time should be on the order of 5 ms/pixel on the Raman image. Fast imaging should be fully confocal and enable the use of high magnification 100x objective.
6. allow up to 3 integrated lasers mounted internally in the system and which are fully PC selectable for ease and speed of use. Manual selection of lasers or the requirement to manually replace/exchange lasers is not acceptable.
7. have 4 internally mounted gratings that are PC selectable, enabling the full Raman range to be acquired at different resolutions and with the different lasers supplied. Manual selection/replacement/installation of gratings is not acceptable.
8. have spectral resolution of better than 1.5 cm-1 FWHM achievable with all lasers
9. include automated fluorescence rejection ability for all lasers and automated rejection of CCD cosmic rays
10. be equipped with 532nm at 100mW solid state laser suitable for use with 100x objective without signal loss. The laser must be directly coupled (not using fibers) and integrated inside the system to minimize power loss. The system should also have 638nm at 30mW solid state laser suitable for use with 100x objective without signal loss. Must also be directly coupled.
11. include Raman rejection filters providing high efficiency filtering of the Raman line and offering less than 50 cm-1 ND filtering of the laser power (minimum of 6 filters), to enable control of laser power incident on the sample.
12. have deep cooled CCD detector (-60 deg C) or better to provide low noise and maximum limits of detection. 1024x256 pixel format or larger to enable maximum range and resolution in one shot on the CCD detector.
13. not require more than 15 minutes from cold to start, calibrate and validate the system and detector. A lengthy start up procedure that requires optical alignment or for the system to run through lengthy software routines to validate and calibrate the system is not acceptable.
14. include PC controlled switching between Raman acquisition and Microscope image operation. Autocalibration, via PC, of NIST traceable standards should enable fast and robust calibration of the system. It should minimize any user intervention such as focus of the microscope where possible to remove possible user error or variability. Autocalibration should not disturb the sample position under analysis on the microscope, switching easily between calibration and sample analysis.
15. allow easy Navigation system should feature a simple low mag navigation map displayed simultaneously with high magnification image to know where you are on the sample. The direct navigation in both low and high magnification images should be possible with the computer mouse or the motorized stage joystick
16. allow (through software) finding automatic location of particles, characterization of particle shape and size, automatic acquisition of Raman spectrum of each particle, and allow multivariate analysis of each particle. The capability to identify particles of interest according to their size or shape should be automated, and auto-thresholding feature is highly desired. These features are highly desirable for analyzing workplace particulate samples.

For this reason, Horiba Scientific is uniquely qualified as the appropriate vendor to meets all of these requirements.

This contract action is for supplies or services for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b) (Simplified Acquisition Procedures (SAP)) and 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1). Interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement or submit proposals.

This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, all quotations/responses received within five (5) days of the issuance of this notice will be considered by the government. A determination by the government not to compete this proposed contract 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 conduct a competitive procurement. Any quotation/response should be emailed to contract specialist Cynthia Y. Mitchell at [email protected] by 10:00 am on July 27, 2018.