USDA, ARS, North Atlantic Area; Contracting Office; 600 East Mermaid Lane; Wyndmoor, PA 19038

66 -- CONTINUOUS FLOW ION CHROMATOGRAPHY SYSTEM POC Regina M. Herchak, Contracting Officer, (215) 233-6551. The USDA, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) intends to negotiate solely with Latchat Instruments of Milwaukee, WI, for a continuous flow Ion Chromatograph System. This is a multi-channel, continuous flow system that allows for rapid interchange of chemistry units so that a wide range of ions can be routinely and quickly measured. The system operates on the principle of flow injection analysis, contains 8 channels, includes a random access and/or xyz auto-sampler, and includes the technology of column suppressed ion chromatography. It operates independently of flow injection analysis and shares peripheral resources including sampler, sampling pump, system unit, data station, and software (Windows 3.1-based). It provides 5-minute start up, 10-minute changeover, and 5-minute shutdown. Samples are processed at rates up to 120 samples/hour, with baseline resolution to within 1% of full scale over a dynamic range of 3 orders of magnitude. It provides corrected data in real time. It uses solid state photometers for detection with automatic gain and baseline; plus ion selective electrodes and conductimetric detection. The system includes a 486 DX-66 processor, 100M hard drive, 8M RAM, 2 serial ports, 1 parallel port, bus mouse, SVGA 15'' monitor, 3.5'' HD floppy drive, and HP Deskjet 540 printer. The software is LIMS compatible and all data is reported in ASCII format; plus Data Quality Management software. Companies with the demonstrated capability of providing this system and maintaining it must submit a descriptive statement, including descriptive literature, specifically addressing the equipment's components and capability, as well as the company's capability to maintain/support it. This statement and literature must be submitted to the CO within 15 days of publication of this notice. This is not a request for proposal. No solicitation is available. (0204)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0409 19960723\66-0003.SOL)