Contact Points
Primary Contract Specialist
Secondary Contracting Officer
I hereby determine that the RF interface box for Siemens 11.7-Tesla scanner listed herein is available from only one source, and competition is precluded for the reasons indicated below. There are no substitutes available.
The interface box is not a regular product that can be commercially purchased from the manufacture of the scanner, we need to work with a third-party to design and manufacture it.
Several years ago, we purchase a similar interface box from QED for a Siemens 7 Tesla scanner and it has been working well as we expected. The POTS number for that purchase was 15-002235. QED has the prior knowledge on how to design a new interface box for our need.
5. Salient characteristics:
5.1. Port 1: Tx and Rx
5.2. Port 2 and Port 3 (working together as such: Port 2 for Tx and Port 3 for Rx)
5.3. All connectors are BNC
5.4. Proton frequency at 500 MHz
5.5. For the configuration of two coils working as a pair, two coils are the same frequency but may not be mutually decoupled based on the optimum SNR profile. As such, each of Port 2 and Port 3 may need a DC bias to do active decoupling.
Background Information and Objective:
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is a non-invasive technique for the study of tissue and energy metabolism. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of MRS is proportional to the strength of super-conducting magnet (measured in Tesla).
NIH has installed a Siemens 11.7-Tesla magnet and it will be available for testing scans soon. This magnet is the highest magnetic field strength human scanner in the world. We would like to perform MRS on human brain.
For this magnet, there is no commercial radio frequency (RF) coils available. We have to build RF coils in-house.
To use a home-built RF coil, we need an RF coil interface box to connect a RF coil to the scanner so that the coil can be properly electrically interfaced to the scanner.
Interested parties may identify in writing their interest and capability in response to this requirement. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties’ bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.
All responses must be received by closing date and must reference the announcement. Responses may be submitted electronically to the attention of the contract specialist. Fax responses will not be accepted.
All responsible sources may submit a bid, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency.