Leica Microsystems Stellaris Microscope System with Confocal 3D Sted

he FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice, and in conjunction with FAR Part 12. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotations are being requested, and a separate written solicitation will not be issued. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Intends to acquire one (1) microscope system, including automation, software, installation, startup, training, warranty, and manufacturer-supported service, in accordance with the requirements set forth herein. This acquisition is being conducted as an open market purchase. The Government intends to award a Firm-Fixed-Price Purchase Order resulting from this solicitation. 2. DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT 2.1 Background The NHLBI Light Microscopy Core requires acquisition of a state-of-the-art laser-scanning microscope to support advanced cellular and subcellular imaging for investigators within the NHLBI Division of Intramural Research (DIR). The proposed system will replace a 12-year-old Leica SP8 microscope, which will be traded in to offset the cost of the new instrument and ensure continuity of ongoing research projects. The new platform will provide substantial improvements in sensitivity, spatial resolution, and overall imaging performance, while expanding the Core�s ability to perform super-resolution imaging, fluorescence lifetime measurements, and highly multiplexed fluorescence imaging. This instrument will serve as a shared resource used by many laboratories within the NHLBI-DIR and, to a lesser extent, investigators across the NIH. The Leica Microsystems can provide all of the required capabilities within a single integrated system, ensuring compatibility with existing workflows, user training, and experimental protocols. The enhanced capabilities are essential to meet growing demand and to support complex, high-impact research projects requiring advanced, multi-parameter and spatially resolved imaging technologies. 2.2 Objective The objective of this acquisition is to obtain a Microscope System with Confocal, 3D-STED, FLIM, and Spectral Multiplexing imaging capabilities that integrate all of the required imaging modalities within one uni?ed and fully supported instrument con?guration. 3. Product Speci?cations/Features/Salient Characteristics Required Minimum Speci?cations: Confocal excitation: white light laser with tunable excitation range 440�790 nm with Acousto optical beam splitter system. Prism-based ?uorescence detection: prism-based spectral detection with variable emission windows to 850 nm. Detectors: ?ve (5) Hybrid (HyD) detectors optimized for spectral detection across approximately 400�850 nm. The proposed system must provide advanced confocal imaging capability and shall include a white light laser (WLL) with continuously tunable excitation from 440�790 nm integrated with acousto-optical beam splitter (AOBS) technology. The system must incorporate prism-based spectral emission detection with fully adjustable emission bandwidth selection and detection spanning 400�850 nm, along with a minimum of ?ve (5) Hybrid (HyD) detectors appropriately matched and optimized for the emission bandwidth being measured across the full spectral detection range to ensure maximal sensitivity and signal ?delity. The overall con?guration shall maximize excitation ?exibility, spectral separation capability, and detection sensitivity across diverse ?uorophores. 3D STED super-resolution: pulsed depletion at 775 nm and 589 nm, with three-dimensional STED capability. The proposed system must provide fully integrated three-dimensional STED super-resolution microscopy. The system shall include pulsed depletion lasers at 589 nm and 775 nm and support depletion in both the lateral (XY) and axial (Z) dimensions. The STED implementation must include the capability for time-gated ?uorescence emission detection in the nanosecond time domain to enhance resolution and suppress background ?uorescence. The STED modality must be fully integrated with confocal and FLIM imaging within a uni?ed platform con?guration. The system must support fully spectrally corrected STED objectives with motorized correction collars for oil, glycerin and water immersion media. FLIM: integrated ?uorescence lifetime imaging module for lifetime measurements, enhancement of super-resolution performance, and lifetime-based ?uorescence species separation. The proposed system must include fully integrated ?uorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) hardware and software utilizing time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) or equivalent time-resolved detection electronics capable of resolving ?uorescence decay in the nanosecond time domain. The system shall incorporate single-photon�sensitive Hybrid (HyD) or equivalent detectors with timing resolution of less than 100 picoseconds and dedicated high-speed timing electronics integrated directly into the confocal detection pathway. The system must provide confocal imaging that utilizes ?uorescence lifetime (�tau�) in addition to intensity and spectral information, enabling reduction of unwanted signals such as auto?uorescence and re?ections and supporting lifetime-based unmixing of ?uorophores with overlapping spectra but distinct lifetimes. The FLIM implementation must support rapid lifetime determination, quantitative decay analysis, and multi-exponential ?tting for ?uorescence species separation. The system shall further provide lifetime-resolved detection integrated with STED depletion to enhance STED super-resolution, as well as STED-speci?c deconvolution, within a uni?ed confocal/STED platform. Pulse picker: capability to reduce/adjust the white light laser repetition rate to optimize FLIM and related applications. Scanning modes: ability to fast-switch between galvo and resonant scanning to support both high-resolution and high-speed imaging needs. Objective correction-collar support (existing lenses): motorized correction collar hardware and software support for existing Leica 100x oil and 93x glycerol objectives. New objective: a Leica 86x water-immersion objective with correction collar, chromatically corrected across the full 440�790 nm excitation range and optimized for 589 nm and 775 nm STED depletion, to ensure accurate multi-color registration and optimal super-resolution performance. High-plex spectral multiplexing: capability to image of 15 (or more) ?uorescent colors per sample, including tools to plan spectral multiplexing panels and perform spectral unmixing. The proposed system must provide advanced high-dimensional multiplex ?uorescence imaging capability. The system shall leverage the 440�790 nm white light laser excitation range, AOBS beam management, and prism-based spectral detection across the 400�850 nm emission range to enable simultaneous imaging and spectral unmixing of up to ?fteen (15) or more ?uorophores per specimen. The system must include integrated software tools for multiplex panel design, spectral species separation, and unmixing to support spatial-omics�type work?ows and complex multi-parameter imaging applications. 3.1 Services Requirements The vendor shall provide: 1. Delivery to the Government site identi?ed in this solicitation. 2. Installation and operational startup. 3. User training. 4. Manufacturer warranty coverage; and 5. Manufacturer-supported serv