Question 1: As it relates to salient characteristic 1.8: “Sufficient reagent reservoirs, pipet tips, and other consumables to perform automated liquid handling on the instrument during installation, training, and 2-3 months of operation by CCDC-SC personnel. Non sterile reagent reservoirs compatible with the equipment’s pipette system. Disposable pipette tips should be able to hold 20ul-1000ul volumes. Other consumables may include equipment-compatible cryotubes or vials identified above, as well as any other equipment-specific consumables necessary for 2-3 months of operation.” Are non-sterile, non-filter pipet tips adequate? Answer 1: Consumables don't need to be sterile, and pipet tips don't need to have filters Additional information requests: 1. Please provide us with a consumables estimate to adequately supply the CCDC-SC with for 2-3 months of operation. 2. Please provide us with representative examples of all known protocols to be automated on this system. 3. Please provide us with the workflow of all known protocols to be automated on this system. 4. Please provide us with the consumables usage of all known protocols to be automated on this system, if available. 5. Please provide throughput requirements of all known protocols to be automated on this system. 6. Please provide weekly throughput requirements for all known protocols to be automated on this system. Please provide any protocol timing requirements. Additional Information Answer: Protocols are still under development, and given the current hold on human studies due to Covid, we don't know what the required throughput will be over the next few months. The intent in including this characteristic is to have sufficient supplies available to begin developing those protocols as soon as the liquid handling system is installed. As such, there has not been a calculated fixed number of pipet tips, tubes, etc needed to operate the instrument for a 2-3 month period. If the bidder requires an estimate, it can be anticipated that 2-3 cases of pipet tips, encompassing different sizes if needed to cover the 200uL-1000uL volume range, would be sufficient for our purposes. For sample throughput, it will again depend on the protocol. Possibly up to 8 sample tubes in parallel and perhaps 50-100 sample tubes per day; however, since we did not specify throughput in the salient characteristics, bidders will not be penalized for either overshooting or failure to meet this requirement.

All of the requirements for the liquid handling system and computer, as well as installation, training, and warranty, are mandatory.