SOLICITATION NOTICE
66 -- Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA)
- Notice Date
- 12/27/2005
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 334516
— Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition Management Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Building 301, Room B129, Mail Stop 1640, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-1640
- ZIP Code
- 20899-1640
- Solicitation Number
- SB1341-06-Q-0085
- Response Due
- 1/11/2006
- Archive Date
- 1/26/2006
- Description
- THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN FAR SUBPART 12.6-STREAMLINED PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATION AND SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS-AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEEDURES ARE UTILIZED IN THIS PROCUREMENT. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTATIONS ARE BEING REQUESTED, AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED. This solicitation is a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-05. *** The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 334516 with a small business size standard of 500 employees. This requirement is 100% set aside for small businesses. Only interested small businesses may submit a quote. *** ***The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a requirement for one (1) each, Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA) to be used in the Polymers Division at NIST, Gaithersburg, MD. *** ***All interested Offerors shall provide a quote for the following line item: Line Item 0001: The Contractor shall furnish one (1) each, Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA). Specifications for Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA) The dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) instrument to be purchased shall be based on the standard platform that uses a direct-drive linear motor to apply the strain and a separate Force Rebalanced Transducer (FRT) to measure the force. Instruments that combine the motor (M) and transducer (T) into a single assembly (CMT design) will not be considered. To ensure optimal measurement sensitivity, the FRT shall incorporate low friction air bearings. The instrument shall also use a forced convection oven to permit precise temperature control using liquid and gaseous nitrogen from -150 degrees C to 600 degrees C. Therefore the successful instrument shall meet or exceed the following minimum requirements: Detail Specifications: Instrument Platform ?V General Design Requirements (1) DMA design shall utilize separate, isolated DC servo actuator (motor) and Force Rebalance Transducer (FRT). (2) Shall employ steel frame design. (3) For safe operation instrument shall have ??emergency off?? switches for both the oven and the motor on the test frame to enable immediate termination of instrument operation. Actuator and Force-Rebalance Transducer Requirements (4) Actuator: The DC servo actuator mentioned above shall be a direct drive, DC servo-motor that commands both strain and strain rate (i.e., not a CMT design): i. In strain control mode the actuator shall generate dynamic strain amplitudes from 0.5 to 1,500 micrometers with a displacement resolution of 1 nanometer ii. In stress relaxation mode the actuator shall be capable of performing a true step-strain (stress relaxation) experiment, without the use of a feedback control loop or a user-input modulus/viscosity target. The actuator shall be capable of providing less than 10 msec rise time to 99 percent of a 10 micrometer step-displacement iii. In frequency range mode, the actuator shall be capable of generating a range of frequencies between 2x10-5 to 80 Hz. This should be accomplished in no less than 50,000 discreet steps with a resolution to within 0.10 percent of commanded frequency. (5) Force-Rebalance Transducer (FRT): The technology employed to control the FRT shall provide measurement of both torque and normal forces. i. The transducer shall be able to measure force from (0.001 to 35) N with a minimum resolution of 0.001 N. Force linearity shall be better than 0.1 percent with a hysteresis of less than 0.05 percent of full scale. ii. The FRT shall admit a modulus range of 10 to the third power to 3x10 to the twelfth power Pa with a modulus precision of plus or minus 1 percent. The tan delta sensitivity and tan delta resolution shall be 0.0001 and 0.00001, respectively. Forced Convection Oven (FCO) System and Temperature Control Requirements (6) FCO systems are typically designed using dual heater guns with counter-rotating air flow to achieve the plus or minus 0.1 degrees C isothermal temperature stability specification mentioned above. FCO systems using other technologies will be considered as long as they meet all of the following specifications: i. The FCO system shall have a minimum lower temperature limit of at least ?V150 degrees C. Therefore, an included liquid nitrogen capability is required. ii. The FCO system shall also have the capability of using a mechanical air-chiller device as a modular addition to the oven to reach -60 degrees C. iii. The maximum upper temperature limit of the instrument shall be no less than 600 degrees C. iv. The maximum controlled heating and cooling rates of the FCO shall be at least 60 degrees C/min. The FCO shall have a ramp to isothermal capability of up to 100 degrees C/min. iv. The FCO shall contain at least two sight-glass ports that enable visual inspection of the sample during all test configurations. These ports shall also be located in such a manner that the sample being tested can be irradiated from various light sources. v. Electronics for Temperature Control: The control boards shall be easily accessible to the researcher and shall incorporate easily viewed diagnostic LEDs for troubleshooting (i.e., it takes the researcher no more than 15 min to remove and replace defective boards). Vendor warranty and service terms shall allow for customer to access these boards and replace without vendor service representative being present. (7) Instrument Control Firmware: Instrument component functions that are controlled by board-based instruction (firmware) shall be designed for in-situ re-programmability. These firmware components shall accept new firmware versions or upgrades via the standard instrument control software, without the need for changing or replacing board or board-level components. Firmware updates shall be accessible via the Internet at no cost to NIST. Instrument component functions that are controlled by other methodologies shall be capable of similar ease of upgrading at not cost to NIST. (8) The Sample Control Devices: The instrument shall be equipped with AutoZero feature that uses the actual measured axial force to sense the zero gap. It shall also have an AutoGap feature that allows descent-rate programming, where software/hardware is used to enable active control of the gap during testing in order to compensate in real-time for the effects of thermal expansion/contraction of the tool. Operator Control Features and Additional Testing Capabilities (9) The instrument shall contain a monitoring mechanism that allows the operator to assess how far the test specimen deviates from the viscoelastic linear region during a test. (10) The instrument shall be user friendly enough for the operator to calibrate the torque, phase angle and normal force of the instrument. (11) In addition to stress relaxation, temperature sweep, frequency sweep, and frequency-temperature sweep testing modes, the instrument shall also be capable of the following advanced testing modes: i. The instrument shall be sensitive enough to analyze single fibers (approximately 5 micrometers in diameter and higher) and thin films. ii. Multi-Wave: This mode allows the application of a strain waveform that is the sum of the Fourier series described by the following strains: (a) A sinusoidal strain at a fundamental frequency, and (b) up to eight sinusoidal strains, each at a harmonic frequency of the fundamental. iii. Arbitrary Waveform: This mode applies a user-defined periodic deformation (strain waveform) in each of up to four zones. iv. Testing modes that allow for quasi-static (Instron-style) tensile test, compression tests, and adhesive tack and peel testing, where the strain can be applied in linear or Hencky strain way. Software Requirements: (12) The instrument operation and basic analysis software shall be a native 32 bit Windows 2000/XP?? application. Software updates shall be accessible via the Internet at no cost to NIST. The Software shall comply with the following: i. The software shall make use of Windows conventions and features such as long file names (i.e., more than eight characters). Software shall also feature true 'cut-and-paste' functionality with common Windows applications such as MSWord, MSExcel and Lotus. In addition, data export into MSExcel/ASCII format shall be a standard feature of the software. ii. The base software package shall also include statistical analysis (including error bar generation), and data (point) editing, FFT and spline smoothing, and data reduction functions. Fluid inertia corrections shall be included in the software, as well as Berger??s correction. iii. The instrument control package shall seamlessly operate with all data analysis packages and not require data format conversions or secondary software modules. Software shall be capable of multitasking, and operating multiple instruments from a single workstation. The data analysis package shall also be a native 32 bit Windows 2000/XP ?? application and shall perform the following functions: 1. Time-Temperature Superposition, with automatic horizontal and vertical shift. Automatically generates master curves. After fitting with William-Landel-Ferry (WLF) or Arrhenius equations, curves can be generated for any temperature within the range tested. 2. Automatic determination of Zero Shear Viscosity, Plateau Modulus, Equilibrium Compliance, and Flow Activation Energy. 3. Data analysis options shall include transformations of G??, G??, G(t), J??, J??, J(t), with the following curve modeling functions: Polynomial, exponential, sine/cosine, Fourier series, power law, Ellis, Bingham, Bueche, Casson, Hershel-Buckley, as well as user defined curve modeling. 4. Advanced molecular weight (Mw) and molecular weight distribution (MWD) calculations based on Double Reptation theory. iv. The software shall be free to be installed on any NIST computer without the requirement of a key or the purchase of additional licenses from the vendor. v. Software and data outputs shall be compatible with software and data outputs from the stress rheometer SR5000 and ARES shear rheometer instruments currently in the laboratory. This will enable us to plot torsional (rectangular/cylindrical) solids data produced on the existing rheometers vs. the DMA tension/bending data. Required Test Fixtures (13) Mono Fiber and Film Fixture (14) Clamped Bending Fixture (15) Variable Span Three-Point and/or Four-Point Bending Fixture (16) Parallel Plate Fixture Set with Plate Holders Prior Performance Requirements & Formal Training (17) To ensure the long-term durability and performance of this research grade instrument, the prospective vendor is required to provide the following information: i. The name and contact information of at least three persons who have purchased this equipment in the past and are willing to speak to NIST employees about their experiences with this instrument. ii. This list should include at least one person who has published data from this instrument in a peer-reviewed journal focused on dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). (18) The vendor shall install instrument and verify all performance specifications. (19) After installation, onsite training shall be performed to teach NIST personnel basic theory and operation of the instrument. (20) In addition, the vendor shall provide formal Hands-On training at their test facility for at least one NIST employee. This course shall include but not limited to basic DMA, test selection and set-up, data interpretation, maintenance, calibration, and a hands-on laboratory session. ***Delivery shall be FOB DESTINATION and be completed in accordance with the Contractor??s commercial schedule. *** ***The contractor shall pack and mark the shipment in conformance with carrier requirements, deliver the shipment in good order and condition to the point of delivery specified in the purchase order, be responsible for any loss of and/or damage to the goods occurring before receipt and acceptance of the shipment by the consignee at the delivery point specified in the purchase order; and pay all charges to the specified point of delivery. The contractor shall deliver all line items to NIST, Building 301, Shipping and Receiving, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001. *** ****The Government will evaluate information based on the following evaluation criteria: 1) Technical Capability factor "Meeting or Exceeding the Requirement," 2) Past Performance, and 3) Price. Technical Capability and Past Performance, when combined, are more important than Price. ****Evaluation of Technical Capability shall be based on the information provided in the quotation. Quotations shall include the make and model of the products, manufacturer sales literature or other product literature, which CLEARLY DOCUMENTS that the offered product(s) meet or exceed the specifications stated above. ***The following provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition: Provisions: 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items; and 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items. ***Offerors shall complete annual representations and certifications on-line at http://orca.bpn.gov in accordance with FAR 52.212-3 Offerors Representations and Certifications- Commercial Items. If paragraph (j) of the provision is applicable, a written submission is required. *** ***The following clauses apply to this acquisition: 52.204-7 Central Contractor Registration; 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions?XCommercial Items; 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders?XCommercial Items including subparagraphs: (13) 52.222-3, Convict Labor; (14) 52.222-19, Child Labor-Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies; (15) 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities; (16) 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity; (17) 52.222-35, Equal Opportunity for Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans; (18) 52.222-36, Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities; (19) 52.222-37, Employment Reports on Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans; (22)(i) 52.225-3, Buy American Act-Free Trade Agreements- Israeli Trade Act; (24) 52.225-13, Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases; (29) 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-Central Contractor Registration. Department of Commerce Agency-Level Protest Procedures Level above the Contracting Officer is also incorporated. It can be downloaded at www.nist.gov/admin/od/contract/agency.htm. All clauses may be viewed at www.acqnet.gov. *** ***All vendors shall submit the following: 1) An original and one (1) copy of a quotation which addresses all Line Items; 2) Two (2) Originals of the Technical description and/or product literature; 3) Description of commercial warranty; 4) Two (2) copies of the most recent published price list(s); and 5) A completed copy of the provision at 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items which may be downloaded at www.acqnet.gov. *** ***All quotes shall be received not later than 3:30 PM local time, on January 11, 2006 at the National Institute of Standards & Technology, Acquisition and Logistics Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Building 301, Room B129, Mail Stop 3571, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-3571, Attn: Jennifer Roderick. Because of heightened security, FED-EX, UPS, or similar delivery methods are the preferred method of delivery of quotes. If quotes are hand delivered, delivery shall be made on the actual due date through Gate A, and a 48 hour (excluding weekends and holidays) prior notice shall be made to the Contracts Office at 301-975-4959. NIST is not responsible for late delivery due to the added security measures. In addition, offerors/quoters who do not provide 24-hour notification in order to coordinate entrance to the NIST campus shall assume the risk of not being able to deliver offers/quotes on time. The Government is not responsible for the amount of time required to clear unannounced visitors, visitors without proper identification and without complete information that would allow delivery (i.e. point of contact, telephone POC, bldg., room number, etc.). If 24 hour notification was not provided, it is suggested your company representative or your courier service arrive at NIST at least 90 minutes prior to the closing time in order to process entry to the campus through the visitor center and complete delivery. Notice shall include the company name, name of the individual making the delivery, and the country of citizenship of the individual. For non-US citizens, the following additional information will be required: title, employer/sponsor, and address. Please ensure that the individual making the delivery brings photo identification, or they will be denied access to the facility. Faxed quotes will NOT be accepted. *** Numbered Notes 1. ***
- Place of Performance
- Address: 100 Bureau Drive, Shipping & Receiving, Building 301, Gaithersburg, maryland
- Zip Code: 20899-0001
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 20899-0001
- Record
- SN00958605-W 20051229/051227211618 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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