National Institute of Standards & Technology, Acquisition & Assistance Div.,100 Bureau Drive Stop 3572, Bldg. 301, Rm B117, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-3572

66 -- 1600 C CAPACITIVE EXTENSOMETER SOL 53SBNB960052 DUE 031099 POC Daniel R. Mullins, Contract Specialist (301) 975-6337, Fax (301) 963-7732, Sandra Febach, Contracting Officer (301) 975-6326. WEB: NIST Contracts Homepage, http:www.Nist.gov/admin/od/Contract.htm. E-MAIL: NIST Contracts Office, Contract@nist.gov. THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) SUBPART 12.6, AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTES ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. SOLICITATION NUMBER 53SBNB960052 IS BEING ISSUED AS A REQUEST FOR QUOTATION (RFQ) USING SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES. Incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 97-10. The SIC code applicable to this acquisition is 3829 and the related small business size standard is 500, however, this requirement is unrestricted. The National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST's) Ceramics Division has a requirement for a 1600 C Capacitive Extensometer from Instron Corporation. This is a BRAND NAME OR EQUAL REQUIREMENT. Brand name or equal description is intended to be descriptive, but not restrictive and is to indicate the quality and characteristics of products that will be considered satisfactory to meet the agency's requirement. The Capacitive Extensometer will be used to determine creep rates of structural ceramics in tension and to study stress and strain relaxation at temperatures above 1000C in advanced structural ceramics. For stress relaxation testing it is vital that the Extensometer interface with the existing Instron Model 8562 testing frame to enable active control of the load and position. In addition, the Extensometer will be employed to make precise determination of compressive creep rates in small specimens of structural ceramics. The Contract Line Items, quantities and units of measure are as follows: CLIN 0001, Instron or equal, 1600 C Capacitive Extensometer, +/- 0.2mm range, 12.5mm gage length, extra length, SiC knife edges, 1 each; CLIN 0002, Capacitive Extensometer Mounting, 1 each; CLIN 0003, Modified Instron or equal, Extensometer Calibrator to provide 12mm gage length and 245mm long silicon carbide cone point rods, 1 each; CLIN 0004, Instron or equal, Water Cooling Kit for use with 1600C Capacitive Extensometers, 1 each. The product shall have the following specifications: 1) Strain measurement from room temperature up to 1600C without changing Extensometer arms, 2) Extensometer working range +/- 0.2mm or greater, 3) Extensometer to operate on a 12.5mm gage length with a least 0.05mm accuracy and 0.02mm repeatability, 4) Extensometer shall operate up to 3 Hz, 5) Extensometer shall have displacement accuracy of +/- 2um, 6) It must be possible to contact the Extensometer to the specimen both before and after heating to test temperature, 7) The force necessary to move the Extensometer to full travel shall be less than 1.5 N total during normal operation, 8) The lateral force exerted by the Extensometer on the specimen shall be less than 1.5 N total during normal operation. Extensometers that require notches in the specimen for proper operation are not acceptable. The vendor shall deliver line items 0001 -- 0004 FOB Destination, within 5 months after contract award, at NIST, Building 301, Shipping and Receiving, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001. The provisions at 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. The provision at 52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Items applies to this acquisition. The Government will award a purchase order resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The Government will evaluate information based on the following criteria listed in descending order of importance with the TECHNICAL FACTORS being significantly more important than price. 1) Technical capability to meet the agency need; and 2) Past Performance. The clause at 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items applies to this acquisition. The clause at 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition, including subparagraphs (11) 52.222-21, (12) 52.222-26, (13) 52.222-35, (14) 52.222-36, (15) 52.225-37, (21)(ii) 52.225-21, Alt I, and Department of Commerce Agency-Level Protest Procedures Level Above the Contracting Officer, which can be downloaded from the NIST Web Page located at http://www.nist.gov/admin/od/contract/protest.htm. All offerors shall submit the following: 1) Three (3) copies of quotation which addresses CLINs 0001 -- 0004; 2) Technical description and/or product literature; 3) Description of commercial warranty; 4) Two (2) copies of the most recent published price list(s); 5) A list of two (2) contracts/purchase orders completed during the past three years for similar equipment with the following information: name of contracting activity, contract number, contract type, total contract value, contracting office and telephone number, and program manager and telephone number; 6) A completed copy of the provision at 52.212-3, OfferorRepresentations and Certifications-Commercial Items which may be downloaded from http://www.nist.gov/admin/od/contract/repcert.htm. All offers should be sent to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Acquisition and Assistance Division, Attn: Daniel R. Mullins, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 3572, Building 301, Room B117, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-3572. For information, call the POC identified above. Submission must be received by 3:00 p.m. local time on March 10, 1999. All interested parties must send offers addressing this solicitation. Faxed offers will be accepted to (301) 963-7732. Posted 02/25/99 (W-SN302400). (0056)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0268 19990301\66-0001.SOL)