75N95021Q00421

Post Date/ Solicitation Issue Date

September 8, 2021 12:00 pm

Closing Response Date

September 20, 2021 9:00 am

Proposed Award Date

September 23, 2021 12:00 pm

Project Title

Purchase of the ThermoFisher Scientific Maybridge Rule of Three (Ro3) 2500 Diversity Fragment Library (Brand-name or equal) Fragment Screening Library

Contracting Office

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

Small Business Size Standard

1,250 employees

FPDS Classification Code

6810 - Drugs And Biologicals

Competition Status

Competitive

Background/Description of Requirement

DATE QUOTATION DUE:

All responses to this request for quote must be received by 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, on September 20, 2021 and must reference the request number cited above. Responses must be submitted electronically to the contact person cited above.  Fax responses will not be accepted.

IMPORTANT: This is a request for information and quotations furnished are not offers. If you are unable to quote, please so indicate in a reply email to the contract specialist cited herein.  This request does not commit the Government to pay any costs incurred in the preparation of the submission of this quotation or to contract for supplies or service. Supplies are of domestic origin unless otherwise indicated by quoter. Any representations and/or certifications attached to this Request for Quotation must be completed by the quoter.

The full Request for Quote with all attachments is available from the Contract Specialist

Description of Requirement:

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the nation’s leading medical research agency and the primary Federal agency whose mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability, conducting, supporting and making medical discoveries that improve people’s health and save lives.

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which mission it is to catalyze the generation of innovative methods and technologies that will enhance the development, testing and implementation of diagnostics and therapeutics across a wide range of human diseases and conditions.

The Division of Preclinical Innovation (DPI) plans, conducts and uses both internal and contract resources to advance collaborative research projects across the preclinical phases of the translational science spectrum.

The Division of Pre-Clinical Innovation (DPI) within the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is tasked with conducting collaborative research for enhancement of the pre-clinical phases of translational science. These efforts involve the development of new methods and technologies, as well as evaluation and improvement of existing methods, processes, and technologies. Fragment-based screening methods are a powerful tool in the early phase of drug discovery as it allows for a greater sampling of chemical space when compared to traditional screening. NMR-based fragment screening is a powerful approach due its ability to detect very weak binding affinities.

The Analytical Chemistry Core (ACC) piloted a Fragment-based screening (FBS) program designed around utilizing its NMR capabilities. In the development of its FBS program, the ACC acquired a structurally diverse fragment library enabling the FBS platform to sample a broad chemical space for early hit identification. The ACC Fragment library is 4 years old now and having been used sufficiently many of the fragments have been consumed and current stocks are running low.

Additionally, the quality and purity of certain fragments has diminished, leading to questionable validity of results. In anticipation of onboarding a growing number of FBS projects, ACC wants to ensure that it has appropriate quantities of stock solutions in high quality and purity to meet screening needs. As a wider array of fragments have become commercially available, ACC is now able to properly curate the library by removing and adding specific fragments to increase structural diversity across the two collections. Therefore, ACC requires the purchase of the ThermoFisher Scientific Maybridge Rule of Three (Ro3) 2500 Diversity Fragment Library (Brand-name or equal) Fragment Screening Library in order to replace ACC’s current Fragment Library. By updating and expanding ACC’s fragment libraries, the analytical chemistry experts at NCATS will be well positioned to undertake the demands of FBS program over the next several years.

Purchase Description: For reference purposes, the Fragment Screening Library that meets the need of this requirement is the ThermoFisher Scientific Maybridge Rule of Three (Ro3) 2500 Diversity Fragment Library.

Salient characteristics: The salient characteristics of the brand-name or equal Fragment Screening Library shall include:

• 5 mg powder aliquots of 2,500 diverse chemical fragments
• Rule of Three (Ro3) compliance—delivers superior ADME attributes
• Exceptional diversity—Tanimoto similarity index of 0.66 based on standard Daylight fingerprinting
• PAINS-free—filtered to remove pan assay interference compounds (PAINS), avoiding false hits
• Experimentally measured solubility—designed for solubility of fragments in PBS buffer (1 mM), ensuring robust screening data and minimizing candidate attrition
• Assured quality of >95%—NMR spectrum available for each of the 2,500 compounds in DMSO and aqueous conditions
• Optimized for SPR—in collaboration with GE Healthcare, a “clean screen” was run on a Biacore surface plasmon resonance system to remove promiscuous binders
• Chemically “clean”—filtered to remove toxic and reactive groups
• Pharmacophore-rich—but not too complex to allow for simpler interpretation of the results
• Fragment hopping—facilitated across the entire portfolio for effective pharmacophore investigation.
• Each fragment shall be weighed into barcoded and tared 1.4 mL matrix tubes provided by NCATS to ensure container compatibility with ACC Compound Management protocols, processes, and equipment.

Quantity: One (1) Fragment Screening Library with 5 mg powder aliquots of 2,500 diverse chemical fragments.

The Government anticipates award of a firm fixed-price purchase order for this acquisition, and the delivery shall be made to NCATS within three (3) months after receipt of the order (ARO). Delivery shall be f.o.b. destination. The place of delivery and acceptance shall be to NIH/NCATS at 9800 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD 20850.

Shipping and handling shall be included in the quotation.

QUOTER TERMS AND CONDITIONS: (to be filled out by the Offeror):

1. Period of Performance OR Delivery Date After Receipt of Order:
2. Shipping Point (F.O.B. OR Destination):
3. Payment Discount Terms:
4. Open Market; GSA FSS Contract Number; Other Government Agency (OGA) Contract Number, Government-wide Agency (GWAC) Contract Number; or National Institute of Health (NIH) Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) Number:
5. DUNS No:
6. Name of Company:
7. Street Address, City, State, Zip code:
8. Name of Person Authorized to Provide Quote:
9. Telephone Number and Email Address of Person Authorized to Provide Quote:

ADDITIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS, PROVISIONS, AND REPRESENTATIONS

The FAR Clauses are incorporated by reference and are provided in full text at https://www.acquisition.gov/

1. The provisions of FAR Clause 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors—Commercial Items (Jan 2017) is applicable to this solicitation.

2. The provision of FAR Clause 52.212.2 Evaluation—Commercial Items (Jan 2017) is applicable to this solicitation.

(a)  The Government will award a purchase order resulting from this solicitation on the basis of lowest price technically acceptable. Technical acceptability will be evaluated based upon the following:

 

1. The Offeror must include all brand name or equal equipment including delivery terms detailed in the project requirements in its quotation.
2. Or Equal equipment must meet or exceed each salient characteristic including delivery terms below.

To be considered technically acceptable, the Equipment offered must meet or exceed the salient physical, functional, or performance characteristics:

• 5 mg powder aliquots of 2,500 diverse chemical fragments
• Rule of Three (Ro3) compliance—delivers superior ADME attributes
• Exceptional diversity—Tanimoto similarity index of 0.66 based on standard Daylight fingerprinting
• PAINS-free—filtered to remove pan assay interference compounds (PAINS), avoiding false hits
• Experimentally measured solubility—designed for solubility of fragments in PBS buffer (1 mM), ensuring robust screening data and minimizing candidate attrition
• Assured quality of >95%—NMR spectrum available for each of the 2,500 compounds in DMSO and aqueous conditions
• Optimized for SPR—in collaboration with GE Healthcare, a “clean screen” was run on a Biacore surface plasmon resonance system to remove promiscuous binders
• Chemically “clean”—filtered to remove toxic and reactive groups
• Pharmacophore-rich—but not too complex to allow for simpler interpretation of the results
• Fragment hopping—facilitated across the entire portfolio for effective pharmacophore investigation.
• Each fragment shall be weighed into barcoded and tared 1.4 mL matrix tubes provided by NCATS to ensure container compatibility with ACC Compound Management protocols, processes, and equipment.

In addition to meeting or exceeding the salient physical, functional, or performance characteristics, the respondents must provide brochures and/or published technical specifications that provide evidence of or equal equipment’s ability to meet the specifications in the table above. 

(b) A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer’s specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.

3.  The provisions of FAR Clause 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications—Commercial Items (Feb 2021), is applicable to this solicitation.

• The following FAR Provision Representations and Certifications must be completed, signed, and returned by the quoters with its quote pursuant to FAR 4.2103 Procedures.
  • FAR 52.204-24 Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment (OCT 2020)
  • FAR 52.204-26 Covered Telecommunications Equipment or Services-Representation (OCT 2020)

4. The provision of FAR Clause 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions—Commercial Items (Oct 2018) is applicable to this solicitation. Addendum to this FAR clause applies to this acquisition and is attached. The additional contract terms and conditions are as follows.

• FAR 52.212-4 Addendum – Supplier License Agreements, attached.
• FAR 52.212-4(g), Invoice, is supplemented by:
  • NIH Invoice and Payment Instructions (Rev. Feb 2021), attached.

5.              The provisions of FAR clause at 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders—Commercial Items (Jul 2021) is applicable to this solicitation. See attachment for applicable clauses.

6.              In addition, the following provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and are incorporated by reference:

• Provision, FAR 52.204-7, System for Award Management (Oct 2018)
• Provision, FAR 52.204-16, Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting (Aug 2020)
• Provision, FAR 52.211-6 Brand Name or Equal (Aug 1999)
• Provision, FAR 52.225-2, Buy American Certificate (Feb 2021)
• Provision, HHSAR 352.239-73, Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Notice (December 18, 2015).
• Clause, FAR 52.204-13, System for Award Management Maintenance (Oct 2018)
• Clause, FAR 52.204-18, Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance (Aug 2020)
• Clause FAR 52.204-25 Prohibition on Contracting for Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment.(Aug 2020)
• Clause, FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions--Commercial Items (Oct 2018). Addendum to this FAR clause applies to this acquisition and is attached.
• Clause, HHSAR 352.222-70, Contractor Cooperation in Equal Employment Opportunity Investigations (December 18, 2015)

 

SUMMARY STATEMENT:

Responses to this notice must include sufficient information to establish the interested parties’ bona-fide capabilities of providing the product or service.  The response shall include: the unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, delivery days after contract award, delivery terms, prompt payment discount terms, F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), product or catalog number(s); product description; and any other information or factors that may be considered in the award decision.  Such factors may include: past performance; special features required for effective program performance; trade-in considerations; probable life of the item selected as compared with that of a comparable item; warranty considerations; maintenance availability; and environmental and energy efficiency considerations.

Respondents that believe that they are manufacturers or authorized resellers of the brand-name product specified in this announcement must provide, as part of their response: (a) product, catalog, model, and/or part number(s); (b) product description; (c) all relevant information and documentation that the item(s) offered meets the salient physical, functional, or performance characteristics as specified in the purchase description; quantity; estimated price or cost; shipping, handling, and/or installation charges; and delivery date after receipt of order. 

 

ATTACHMENTS

• Purchase Description (PD)
• FAR 52.204-24, Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment (Oct 2020)
• FAR 52.204-26, Covered Telecommunications Equipment or Services-Representation (Oct 2020)
• FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items (Feb 2021)
• FAR 52.212-4, Addendum – Supplier License Agreements
• FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders–Commercial Items (Jul 2021)
• FAR 52.225-2, Buy American Certificate (Feb 2021)
• NIH Invoice and Payment Provisions (Rev. Feb 2021)