The National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) seeks information on vendors that are capable of providing a UV-Vis Spectrophotometer that is capable of sensitive and precise measurement of DNA and protein concentrations. The UV-Vis Spectrophotometer requirements are discussed below. The purpose of this notice is to identify organizations capable of providing equipment which meets these requirements.
This announcement is not a Request for Proposals or Quotes (RFP/RFQ) and does not commit the Government to award a contract now or in the future. The information contained in this notice is DRAFT only and as such, is subject to change prior to issuance of a solicitation. No solicitation is available at this time.

After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed, NIST may conduct a competitive or non-competitive procurement and subsequently award a contract. If at least two qualified small business sources are identified during this market research stage, and they are proposing equipment which complies with the Non-Manufacturer Rule standards/exceptions, this acquisition may be solicited as a small business set aside. NIST is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large and small businesses (SB, SDB, WOSB, HUBZone, SDVOSB and VOSB). This requirement is assigned a NAICS code of 334516 with a small business size standard of 1,000 employees.

Interested business organizations that believe they may be capable of meeting NIST's desired specifications detailed below should provide a capability statement demonstrating the ability of the Contractor's equipment to meet all of NIST's requirements. Contractors may provide supplemental information within this document or as an attachment at their discretion.

The UV-Vis Spectrophotometer must satisfy the following salient characteristics:
• The instrument must have a wide spectral range (190-850 nm) for measuring a variety of samples types such as:
o Peptides (205 nm)
o DNA and RNA (260 nm)
o Purified protein (280 nm)
o Toxicology assays and industrial dyes (490 nm)
o Gold nanoparticles (520 nm)
o Colorimetric protein assays (BCA 562 nm, Bradford 595 nm, Modified Lowry 650 nm, Pierce 660 660 nm)
o Optical Density measurements (600 nm)
• The instrument must have software that includes custom methods and data export capabilities.
• The instrument must have pre-configured methods for DNA, Microarray, Protein A280, Protein and Labels, Pierce 660, Bradford, BCA, and Lowry measurements.
• The instrument must have an integrated built-in touchscreen which eliminates the need for a separate computer and provides modern connectivity for seamless data transfer via Wi-Fi, Ethernet and USB.
• The instrument must include a cuvette position to measure dilute samples, perform kinetics experiments, and take optical density measurements of bacterial cultures.
• Cuvette position of the instrument must include temperature control and stirring.
• The instrument must have auto-measure and auto-blank functions for measurements of multiple samples.
• The instrument must provide direct (no consumables required) microvolume measurements that require only 1 - 2 µL of sample and do not require sample dilution, even for highly concentrated samples (dsDNA at 27,500 ng/µL).
• The instrument must have combined sample-retention system with a cuvette capability, which must accommodate low and high concentrations from a range of 2.0 to 27,500 ng/uL dsDNA and 0.06 - 820 mg/mL BSA.
• The instrument and software must allow the user to measure purified proteins directly using A280 (measurement at 280 nm) or A205 (measurement at 205 nm) pre-configured applications. The instrument and software must also allow the user to select the most suitable extinction coefficient among pre-defined protein sample types from a pre-saved list, as well as allow the user to customize the applications. For unpurified proteins or cell lysates, a selection of pre-configured colorimetric assay applications must also be available.

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