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Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs) are an official government contracting resource for small businesses. Find your local PTAC (opens in new window) for free government expertise related to contract opportunities.

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; (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition; and (4) availability of domestic sources manufactured in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available commercial quantities and of a satisfactory quality.

For equipment/supply requirements, small business responses must include: (1) the place of manufacturing (i.e. address if supply/equipment is a domestic end product and include country of manufacture), as well as (2) the size status of the manufacturer under the applicable NAICS code (i.e. address Non-Manufacturer Rule).

Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice.

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

Background, Purpose, and Objectives: On both clinical and preclinical MRI scanners, imaging is performed using a combination of a body coil, which surrounds the subject and transmits radio waves to excite nuclear spins, and a small surface coil or array, which receives the resulting radio-frequency signal from the area of interest, e.g. the brain. On the Bruker Biospec 94/20 MRI scanner, the receive-only coil is a four-channel head array specifically designed for rat brain imaging. This requirement is for the purchase of a rat head array coil for brain MRI at 9.4 Tesla and the coil is critical to the performance of all rat brain experiments on the Biospec 94/20 MRI scanner.

Salient Characteristics:

1. Anatomically-shaped to fit head for rats up to 1000 g in body weight (anatomically-matched, curved inner shape required to maximize signal-to-noise ratio in MRI brain data)


2. Four channels in 2 X 2 coil element topology (required for parallel imaging acceleration with whole-brain coverage)


3. Fixed-tuned to 400.1 MHz (proton frequency at 9.4 Tesla)


4. Coil active length and width at least +/- 16 mm each (required for full-brain coverage)


5. Coil signal-to-noise ratio at least 7600 mm-3 through center of each array element when scanning 50 ml tube of 150 mM saline using Bruker standard quality control test (required for acquiring MRI data of sufficient quality for quantitative volumetric, functional and diffusion tensor analyses).


6. Receive-only operation with active coil detuning (required for homogeneous excitation with a volume coil operating in transmit-only mode)


7. Physically and electromagnetically compatible with existing Bruker 86 mm quadrature volume coil operating in transmit-only or transmit-receive mode (required for homogeneous excitation and for combined brain-body studies, respectively).


8. Compatible with Bruker Biospec Avance Neo MRI console and ParaVision 360 v. 3.4 software (required for safety: operator is prevented from damaging receive-only array by applying excessive power to transmit-only volume coil)


9. Electrical connection via ODU plug with HWIDS chip for automatic recognition in ParaVision 360 v. 3.4 (required for safety: operator is prevented from applying transmitter power to receive-only coil)


10. Attaches to Bruker or RAPID rat beds without interfering with bite bar or ear bars (required to prevent head motion during scanning, which would cause blurring and other image artifacts)


11. Fits mounting pegs in Bruker and RAPID rat beds (required to fix coil to bed to maintain mutual alignment of brain, array coil, volume coil, gradient/shim coil and magnet centers).


12. Distance from front of array housing to center of array £ 18 mm (needed to place brain at center of coil while not obstructing subcutaneous catheter used for dexmedetomidine infusion during scanning).

Delivery date: within 6 months of receipt of order.

Other important considerations: In case domestic sources are available and capable of fulfilling the Government’s need, and a future solicitation is published, the Government will use evaluation preferences in accordance with FAR 25.

Capability statement /information sought.

Small business concerns that believe they possess the capabilities to provide the required items should submit documentation of their ability to meet each of the project requirements to the Contracting Officer. The capability statement must specifically address each of the project requirements separately. Additionally, the capability statement should include 1) the total number of employees, 2) the professional qualifications of personnel as it relates to the requirements outlined, 3) any contractor GSA Schedule contracts and/or other government-wide acquisition contracts (GWACs) by which all of the requirements may be met, if applicable, and 4) any other information considered relevant to this program. Small businesses must also provide their Company Name, Unique Entity ID from SAM.gov, Physical Address, and Point of Contact Information.

Interested small businesses are required to identify their type of business, applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code, and size standards in accordance with the Small Business Administration. The government requests that no proprietary or confidential business data be submitted in a response to this notice. However, responses that indicate the information therein is proprietary will be properly safeguarded for Government use only. Capability statements must include the name and telephone number of a point of contact having authority and knowledge to discuss responses with Government representatives. Capability statements in response to this market survey that do not provide sufficient information for evaluation will be considered non-responsive. When submitting this information, please reference the solicitation notice number.

The respondent must also provide their Unique Entity ID from SAM.gov, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HubZone, etc., pursuant to the applicable NAICS code and any other information that may be helpful in developing or finalizing the acquisition requirements.

One (1) copy of the response is required and must be in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format using 11-point or 12-point font, 8-1/2” x 11” paper size, with 1” top, bottom, left and right margins, and with single or double spacing.

The information submitted must be in and outline format that addresses each of the elements of the project requirement and in the capability statement /information sought paragraphs stated herein. A cover page and an executive summary may be included but is not required.

The response is limited to ten (10) page limit. The 10-page limit does not include the cover page, executive summary, or references, if requested.

The response must include the respondents’ technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses.

All responses to this notice must be submitted electronically to the Contracting Officer, Renee Dougherty, at email address: renee.dougherty@nih.gov. Facsimile responses are NOT accepted.

The response must be received on or before 10:00 am Eastern Time, May 22, 2023.

“Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in 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 a review of the responses received, a presolicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in SAM.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

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).”

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