This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations.

The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources, (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses, service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible.

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. The notice is strictly for research and information purposes only.

The information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a small business social-economic set-aside, competitive or non-competitive method is possible, and to determine the availability of qualified companies technically capable of meeting the Government's requirement.

ALL organizations with the capability and availability to perform the requirement under the applicable NAICS code are invited to submit a response to this notice.

NORTH AMERICAN CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE

325414            BIOLOGICAL PRODUCT (EXCEPT DIAGNOSTIC) MANUFACTURING

CAPABILITY STATEMENT INFORMATION SOUGHT

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is in need of  100 500mL Fetal Bovine Serum bottles. Fetal bovine serum is essential for all cell culture and hence indispensable for labs heavily using mammalian cell lines for their research. NCATS’  Biochemistry lab is a cell biology lab, focusing on basic research in the field of programmed cell death, mitochondrial dynamics and Parkinson’s Disease (PINK1/Parkin mediated mitophagy). NCATS routinely use human cell lines such as HeLa, HEK293, U2OS, HCT116, Be-M17 cells for almost every aspects of our research. Hence, Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) is indispensable for daily research and the quality of FBS is extremely important for obtaining consistent and reproducible data.

The response must be received on or before June 9, 2015 11:00am, eastern time.

CONCLUDING STATEMENTS

Note:

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in the response. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your 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 review of the responses received, pre-solicitation and solicitation notices may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. The solicitation release date is pending. The Government intends to negotiate a fixed-price purchase order.

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).