Biomolecular analyser

PROCUREMENT DOCUMENTS

1.Information

1.1 About Stockholm University

Stockholm University, in the capital of Sweden, is one of Europe´s leading centers for higher education and research in human natural science and science. Currently, the university has 29 300 students,       1 400 doctoral students, and 5 700 members of staff.

Contracts with Stockholm University are also applicable for all parts of the University, institutions, foundations and other organizations affiliated with Stockholm University.

More information about Stockholm University is available on the Stockholm University website: www.su.se.

1.2 Background and scope

This procurement procedure concerns the purchase of an instrument for “system on a chip” automated electrophoretic analysis of prepared biomolecule samples including nucleic acids and proteins.

This instrument is primarily to support quality control during RNA sequencing library preparation during the study of cell-type specific transcriptional adaptation mechanisms to disease-causing mutations in the human genome. This is to confirm the quality of the input material and the success of the preparation, as indicated by the size distribution and quantity of cDNA fragments in the sample before library preparation is continued. After the final sequencing library is prepared, fragment size distribution again needs to be determined from a small sample in order to evaluate the presence of adapter contamination and to calculate the optimal amount of DNA loaded onto the sequencer.

The instrument will also be used to support studies on the effects of disease on the translatome and secretome of multiple cell types. For this there is a requirement to analyse small amounts of proteins originating from within individual or groups of cells and/or secreted proteins collected into a small volume (a few microliters).

Please see the Requirement specification for more information.

1.3 Direct award procurement

The procurement will be conducted as a direct award procurement, in accordance with the Swedish Public Procurement Act (2016:1145).

Some negotiations, clarifications and additions are possible when minor, but only by request of Stockholm University. The tender must therefore be complete when submitted.

The tenders will be opened after the last day of tender. Only tenders who fulfill all requirements will be evaluated. Evaluation will be conducted as shown in “Evaluation and Award decision”. 

All tenderers will be informed of the award decision by e-mail. The awarding of contract does not constitute a binding agreement. A binding contract will be entered into by signature of both parties.

The procurement is concluded when a binding contract has been entered into, or when the procurement has been otherwise closed.

Stockholm University has the right to discontinue the procurement if and when the tenders essentially exceed the budget for the procurement and/ or when essential changes of Stockholm University´s need has occurred.

1.4 About the procurement documents

The word "must" indicates a mandatory requirement which must be accepted. In some cases the mandatory requirement includes a demand of a description and/or documents in addition to a confirmation that the requirement is met. The tender must then also include adequate information. Tenders which do not meet all of the mandatory requirements will not be accepted.

The word "should" is used for criteria. Fulfillment of criteria are optional, and show added values for Stockholm University. Fulfillment of criteria may be shown by acceptance, or with added information, as requested. Fulfillment of criteria will be used in the evaluation as stated in "Evaluation and Award decision".

The tender must contain all requested answers and information. The procurement document contains answer boxes to facilitate tendering, which adapts to the text. If however the answer does not fit in the answer box the tenderer may use an appendix for the information, and state the name of the appendix in the relevant answer box.

1.5 Confidentiality

All correspondence and information related to the tendering process is confidential until an award decision is made public and/or the procurement is closed in another way. After this all correspondence and information are made public and available on request in accordance with the principle of public access to official records.

Information concerning an individual company’s business or operating conditions in the tender may however remain confidential if there are special reasons to assume that the company is likely to suffer damage if the information is disclosed. Tenderers who wish to have information remain confidential may request continued confidentiality. The request for confidentiality should include which information that requires confidentiality, the reasons for this and which damage that is likely to be the result of disclosure of the information.

A decision regarding whether the information shall be disclosed or not will be made by Stockholm University when someone wishes to take part of the information. Stockholm University cannot however guarantee requested confidentiality.

Please note that information that are the basis for awarding of contract can be protected only if and when there are special circumstances.

1.6 Personal data

Stockholm University is responsible for all personal data that are included in the procurement process,

e.g. the names of contact persons and consultants. Handling of personal data are necessary in both the procurement process and when entering into contract.

The tenderer must ensure that

enclosure of personal data in the tender are in accordance with relevant legislation. (E.g. Dataskyddsförordningen (EU) 2016/679 and Dataskyddslagen (2018:218).) and

any and all necessary permissions of relevant personnel and/ or other parties are met before submitting the personal data in the tender.

By submitting the tender, the tenderer accepts Stockholm University´s handling of all submitted personal data when necessary for the procurement process and for entering into contract.

2.Tender requirements

2.1 Instructions for a complete tender             

The tender must indicate that all the mandatory requirements stated in the tender documents are met.

Stockholm University reserves the right to accept the whole tender, or the parts of the tender which are in accordance with the stated requirements.

2.2 Format of the tender                 

The tender must be submitted in Swedish or English.

If and when a document is in English, and the meaning of word, term or other, is not clear to Stockholm University, the parties must agree on a specific meaning in Swedish before contract signing.

The tender must be given as requested in this document. Answers should be given in the requested place and in the required way. Answers can be given in enclosed documents if there is a clear reference to this in the main body of the document.

The tender must be sent as an attached file in an e-mail. The tender must not be readable except in the file, to ensure that the information in the tender is not disclosed before last day of tender.

The tender must be signed by an authorized signatory. Scan the signature on a document that shows the identification number, e.g. front page, and add as an appendix.  

IF another person has been given the right to sign, please add confirmation regarding this, e.g. delegation system or proxy.  

 2.3 Subcontractors   

A tenderer may use subcontractors for the delivery of services and supplies.

A tenderer who wishes to use one or more subcontractors for part of the delivery, directly to Stockholm University, must include information regarding this.

Any subcontractor must fulfill all mandatory requirements as the tenderer.

The tenderer is fully responsible as for their own, for any and all work/ deliveries that are made through/ by a subcontractor.

2.4 Price

The tender must include all requested information regarding price. All necessary parts for the assignment must be included in the price, if not specifically stated otherwise.

All tender prices must be stated in SEK excluding value added tax (VAT) and must not include any other adjustments than those stated in the contractual terms and conditions.

 2.5 Complementary or additional information                    

The tenderer may ask for clarifications of the procurement documents. This should take place as soon as possible since the complementary or additional information will take precedence before the original terms.

All complementary and additional information will be published in TendSign. Stockholm University will publish complementary and additional information no later than five days before last day for tender.

Send your inquiry via TendSign, no later than 2021-06-21.

2.6 Last day for submission of tender  

Please make sure that all mandatory requirements are fully met before submitting the Tender.

The Tender must be submitted via TendSign no later than 2022-06-28.

Tenders received after the deadline for submission of tenders will not be reviewed by Stockholm University.

2.7 Period of validity of the tender                    

The tender must be valid until 2022-09-30.

2.8 Contractual Terms and Conditions

Stockholm University intends to enter into contract as is shown in Contractual Terms and Conditions.

The terms and conditions must be accepted as is. A tender that includes terms and/ or conditions in contradiction of the stated contractual terms and conditions will not be accepted.

The tender may include complementing terms and conditions. Such will only be valid if and when Stockholm University has given its written approval, and only in parts that are not contradicted by any terms and conditions given in this procurement.

Stockholm University intends to enter into contract with a single supplier.

The contract period for extended warranty and discount on instrument consumables will be for a period of 5 years from the date of contract signing.

3.Requirements of tenderers

3.1 Information regarding the tenderer

Please enter information in Appendix Information regarding the tenderer. The appendix is included at the end of this document.

 3.2 Registration control                 

The tenderer must meet any demands, and be free of any debts, regarding the legal requirements concerning preliminary income tax (A-skatt), employer contributions, and corporate tax (F-skatt) in Sweden or in the home country.

Foreign tenderers must supply the corresponding certificates from their home country, translated into Swedish or English, confirming that they meet the legal requirements concerning registration and taxes as described above, no more than five workdays from Stockholm University´s request.

The documentation must be dated no more than two months before the submission of tender

 3.3 Financial capacity                    

The tenderers financial capacity must be adequate for the assignment.

The financial capacity is deemed adequate when the tenderer attains the score "creditworthy" (40) by CreditSafe i Sverige AB. Stockholm University will, if possible, conduct control of this via CreditSafe i Sverige AB.

A tenderer which cannot be controlled via CreditSafe i Sverige AB, must provide confirmation of corresponding credit by submitting a certificate from another credit reference agency. If this is not possible, the confirmation may be given by another independent party, e.g. an auditor. Such confirmation must be provided no later than five days from Stockholm University´s request.

3.4 Electronic invoice

The tenderer must send e-invoices. If electronic messages cannot be sent according to the standards describe in SFTI, the supplier can register their invoice at a web portal designated by Stockholm University.

For more information see: https://www.su.se/om-universitetet/kontakt/information-till-dig-som-%C3%A4r-leverant%C3%B6r

3.5 Technical and professional capacity         

The tenderer must show sufficient technical and professional capacity for the fulfillment of the contract by submitting the following documentation.

The tenderer must state and describe which resources that are available for this assignment, and how the resources will be used to ensure the responsibilities of the contract.

Name the description "Name of Tenderer_ Available resources"

4.REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATION

4.1 Aim and scope of the procurement  

The supplier must provide an instrument capable of analyzing biomolecules as given in the appendix “SU-431-0087-22-Requirement_specifications”, and an extended 5 year hardware warranty.

The supplier should offer a fixed discount off list price for instrument specific consumable items for a 5 year period.

The delivery must comply with all requirements and with the criteria that has been offered by the supplier.

The supplier must accept all requirements in this procurement. The supplier must submit all information and documents that are required to show how the requirements are fulfilled.

The supplier must submit the following:

Documents containing the pricing and a description of the product being offered. This can consist of a product brochure, other technical documents, or a link to openly available online supporting information, and must be sufficient to evaluate that the offered product meets the specified requirements.  The pricing document should be itemized to separately show instrument, and other costs, if appropriate.

The supplier should submit the following:

An offer for a fixed discount off the list price of instrument specific consumables for DNA, RNA and protein applications, based on an expected analysis of 500 DNA samples, 350 RNA samples, and 150 protein samples annually.

4.2 Time for the delivery

Delivery of the instrument must take place no more than 6 months after the award contract being signed by both parties.

4.3 Option/s

Stockholm University intends to purchase consumables specific for the instrument to analyse approximately 500 DNA samples, 350 RNA samples, and 150 protein samples annually.  These will be ordered regularly as required to support lab activities. The supplier should be able to supply these consumables within 2 weeks of an order being placed for the first 5 years after contract signing.

Stockholm University shall have the right, but no obligation to order the options. The terms shall be as stated in the contract.

4.4 Service and support

The supplier must provide support via phone and e-mail workdays between 09.00 - 16.00.

The supplier must have the capability to service and repair the instrument if required, for the duration of time after instrument delivery as set out in the contract.

5.EVALUTATION AND AWARD DESCISION

5.1 Evaluation

The evaluation of tenders will be conducted based on the information given in the tenders. Only tenders that fulfill all requirements will be evaluated.

The award of the contract will be based on the most economically advantageous tenders as stated below:

The most economically advantageous tender on the basis of price, as stated in 5.2 Price.

If more than one tender has the same evaluation price, a lottery will be used to determine which tenderer shall be awarded the contract.

5.2 Price   

The tender must include all requested information regarding price as follows. Any and all necessary parts for the assignment/ delivery must be included in the price, if not specifically stated otherwise.

The price must also include all necessary costs for the assignment, e.g. travel expenses, equipment.

The price should not include any optional components.

Please note that the volumes in this procurement is an approximation of the contract value and does not infer any right to any volumes during the contract period.

SU 431-0087-22 Requirement Specifications

Goal and purpose

We are looking for an efficient and reliable automated system on a chip for electrophoretic analysis of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) and proteins. An integral part of our research is the study of cell-type specific transcriptional adaptation mechanisms to disease-causing mutations in the human genome. We routinely perform RNA-sequencing experiments on low input samples like human post mortem tissues and iPSC-derived single cells. In the initial step of sequencing library preparation, RNA is converted into complementary DNA (cDNA), typically leading to low yields between 5 and 100 ng of total cDNA­ per sample. At this step of the process, quality control of the sample is necessary to confirm the quality of the input material and the success of the preparation, as indicated by the size distribution of cDNA fragments in the sample. We further need to determine the cDNA concentration with high accuracy, as the amount of input material for the subsequent step is crucial to generate cDNA fragments of a size compatible with the sequencing platform. After the final sequencing library is prepared, fragment size distribution again needs to be determined from a small sample in order to evaluate the presence of adapter contamination and to calculate the optimal amount of DNA loaded onto the sequencer.

We are also studying effects of disease on the translatome and secretome of multiple cell types. Here we need to be able to analyse small amounts of proteins originating from within individual or groups of cells and/or secreted proteins collected into a small volume (a few microliters).

Requirement specification

The system must integrate the process of separation, detection, and data analysis of proteins and nucleic acids in a single platform. Analysis of different biomolecules does NOT have to be performed simultaneously; RNA, DNA, and proteins will be analyzed from different samples.

Detection sensitivity must be at least 0.05 ng/µl (DNA) and 5 ng/µl (RNA), and consumption of samples must be low (≤ 1 µl sample volume for nucleic acids). The assay must be able to accommodate DNA samples of 1 µl in 10 mM Tris-Cl (pH 8.5) at a concentration of ≤ 0.5 ng/µl, as well as DNA samples of the same volume and concentration in water.

To accurately evaluate all DNA fragments of interest (cDNA and fragmented sequencing libraries, potential excess primers and adapter contamination) the sizing range must be at least 50 to 7000 bp in the same assay.

We must be able to easily determine sample concentration and molarity in a fragment size range dependent manner. The final output generated must include gel images and electropherograms of individual samples, and be readable with standard software available on multiple operating systems (Windows, MacOS, and Linux), e.g. pdf file format.

Runtime must be one (1) hour or less in order to complete the protocol in one working day from initial sample denaturation to quality control of the cDNA library.

For protein measurements the instrument must have a high sensitivity with an ability to detect a 1-10 picogram of protein per microliter volume. The system must have the ability to resolve the sizes as well as the quantity of proteins in the sample. The sizing range of detectable proteins needs to be from small to very large proteins, with a minimum size of 5 kDA to at least 200 kDa.

The throughput of the system must be between 10 and 15 samples/run, for both nucleic acids and proteins, in order to match the throughput capacity of the laboratory.

The system must include all the elements necessary for the analysis of the samples. It must include all instruments and accessories needed to run the experiment, and a computer with user friendly software for data analysis. Standard lab equipment such as pipettors and tips do NOT have to be included in the offer.

The offer must include an extended warranty over a period of 5 years.