ACTION CODE: <PRESOL>

CLASSIFICATION CODE: 66 - Laboratory Equipment and Supplies

SUBJECT: Bioptigen Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography System

SOLICITATION NUMBER: NB685080-11-02820

RESPONSE DATE: July 12, 2011

CONTACT POINTS: Chris Ganey, Contract Specialist, 301-975-6205
Todd Hill, Contracting Officer, 301-975-8802

DESCRIPTION:

The Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), intends to negotiate a firm fixed price purchase order, on a sole source basis, with Bioptigen Corporation for the purchase of a Bioptigen Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography System under other than full and open competition by the authority of FAR subpart 6.302-1: Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.
The equipment will be used in NIST laboratory to produce high-quality image data of 3D cell culture grown to mimic biological tissues and standard reference materials developed by the NIST OMI team. This equipment will also be used as a validation tool of other optical coherence tomography imagery outside of NIST through comparative study performed on the same reference material, whose image results are obtained by other OCT imager(s) outside NIST to be compared with the results obtained by the higher-resolution equipment in NIST.
Boiptegen specifically can meet the following requirements:

1. The capability of <1 micrometer depth resolution in order to characterize reference samples (optical phantoms) with included features smaller than the current best resolution (about 3 um) of common OCT systems currently in use.
2. Precision design and alignment of optics to enable the wavenumber-linearized spectral detection with <5% inter-pixel linearization error in order to enable precise correlation between image pixels and sample coordinates with <5% error.
3. Fast imaging capability of 18,000 cross sectional scans per second with 4096 pixels per line and dipper imaging analysis in order to resolve fast dynamics of cells moving in the tissue.

Bioptigen is the only vendor that offers a spectral domain optical coherent tomography system that is commercially available that meets all of NIST's requirements. No other vendor can provide a system that meets NIST's requirements.

Delivery shall be FOB Destination, Gaithersburg, MD, and be completed in accordance with the Contractor's commercial schedule.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334516, and the size standard is 500 employees.

No solicitation package will be issued. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. The Government will consider responses received by 12:00 p.m. (Eastern) on July 12, 2011. Inquiries will only be accepted via email to [email protected].

A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition 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 in the future.