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

66 -- MECHANICAL TESTING MACHINE SOL 53SBNB960113 DUE 081899 POC TAMARA GRINSPON, Contract Specialist -- (301) 975-4390;Anne M. McFarlane, Contracting Officer -- (301) 975-4648 WEB: NIST Contracts Homepage, http://www.nist.gov/admin/od/contract/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 FAR SUBPART 12.6, AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTATIONS ARE BEING REQUESTED, AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED.*****This solicitation, #53SBNB960113, is a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 97-11. The associated Standards Industrial Classification Code (SIC) for this procurement is 3829, and the small business size is 500 Employees.*****The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a requirement for a UNIVERSAL MECHANICAL TESTING MACHINE (UMTM) system. The system will be used for loading ceramic materials in tension and compression under a range of user selectable controlled loading rates and shall include all components necessary for complete system operation.**The UMTM system shall have: a minimum force capability of 50 kN (11,000 lbs) in both tension and compression with a minimum usable displacement of 150 mm (6 in.); a maximum noise level of 63 dB(A) measured at three feet without a separate room or enclosure; a load cell with a dynamic rated capacity of 50 kN (11,000 lbs); a load cell with a dynamic rated capacity of 500 N (110 lbs); maximum load cell errors not exceeding (with respect to full scale): non-linearity <0.10%; hysteresis <0.10%; and repeatability <0.03%.**The load frame shall have: horizontal distance between columns of at least 533 mm (21 inches); force rating of 100 kN (22,000 lbs); stiffness greater than 2.x10^8 N/m (1.5x10^6 lbs./in) with the crosshead positioned 1270 mm (50 inches) above the base plate; floor mounting on vibration isolation pads; control panel with an emergency stop button for local control including the ability to start, stop, hold, and resume a test with an operator selectable computer configurable display for display of operator prompts, machine status, and test information with real-time transducer data in engineering units, display the current mode of control. **If the vendor is proposing a servohydraulic system, the system shall transition from low pressure to high pressure in a slow, controlled fashion.**Digital Electronic Data Acquisition and Closed Loop Control shall include: the capability of performing with automated dynamic control mode switching between any connected transducer, during a test; 16-bit resolution (1 part in 65,536) analog to digital (A/D) converters; minimum 6 kHz data acquisition rate with simultaneous sample and hold on all conditioned channels; minimum 6 kHz control loop update rate; 32-bit accuracy command signals; 1 microsecond selected period accuracy; modular capacity for 4 universal signal conditioners (USC) or channels which are fully integrated into the control system with three (3) USCs provided for conditioning of load, extensometer or strain gage signal and LVDT displacement; the ability to use either supplied load cell for closed loop machine control with automatic sensing of load cell load range.**Each USC shall: have computer control of transducer linearization, sensing, calibration, zeroing, limits and signal filter cut-off frequency; detect excitation loss; accept 4 to 8 wire transducer bridges with bridge completion; supply excitation voltages from 0 to 20 VDC and up to 100 mA; suppress at least +/- 100% of calibrated transducer capacity; have conditioned signal noise at gain of 5,000 of less than 1 mV peak to peak (0.1 to 10 Hz) and 10 mV peak to peak (10 to 500 Hz); have a minimum of two NIST traceable calibrated ranges at 100% and 10% of full-scale transducer capacity; and have a shunt calibration verification.**In addition to the USC channels: six (6) high level (+/- 10V) 16-bit resolution A/D channels with minimum 5 kHz and sampling rates; two (2) analog output channels to transmit excitation, transducer zero, and high-level transducer output signals from any conditioner; and eight (8) free uncommitted channels of digital I/O (4 in, 4 out) shall be supplied.**A computer system which is integrated with the UMTM control system for machine control and data acquisition shall be supplied: Dell XPS T600 or equivalent with 600 MHz Pentium III; 128 MB memory; V770 graphics card with 32 MB memory, 13 Gigabyte Hard Drive; 17" P780 color monitor; CDRW Drive; Internal ZIP drive; Microsoft Windows NT operating system, Microsoft Office Standard Edition and Norton SystemWorks 2.0, Back-UPS 500 battery backup.**Application software shall be included for: generating and executing monotonic tests including tensile, compression, and flexure; block cyclic loading; constant amplitude cyclic loading; random cyclic loading using an input file to define end levels and rates; and any of the above in combination with data collection and storage on the hard disk.**Control system software running under Windows NT shall be included and have a library of procedure calls for: definition of wave shape, end levels, frequency, number of cycles, elapsed cycle count, blocks of cycles, control function generator processes; selection of any internally or externally conditioned channel as the data acquisition master channel with simultaneous collection of other channels as slave channels; timed, peak/valley, maximum/minimum, level crossing, limit detection data acquisition and storage from any installed or externally conditioned transducer; definition of software buttons allowing the operator to directly interact with the progress of the test; set up command segment end levels that are from a different transducer channel than the channel being used for test control with the end level or "data limit" being used to terminate the current segment when the data limit is approached from below, above, or either direction; allowing detection of digital inputs; allowing digital output signals to be output; using data limits to trigger definable test system processes; programming fully automated materials testing with the addition of software applications programs; being programmed using real time procedure calls which can be linked to LabView; displaying in real time data functions on the computer monitor; setting up simple tests in any control mode with ramp or constant amplitude cyclic waveforms, including the ability to save all the simple test settings and recall them for future use; allowing multiple user accounts with user access levels to be established and stored with preference settings that ensure that the controller boots up to a pre-defined state with a customized desktop and saved settings for the controller whenever a user logs on to the system.***PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONS -- The UMTM shall be capable of performing the following compression tests on a block of 2" x 4" (nominal) pine lumber cut to 3.5" in length loaded with the short dimension oriented in the loading direction within the stated performance limits. Slow loading: preload the block to 50 N, ramp in closed loop load control to 500 N and, immediately after attaining load, ramp to 50 N, both ramps at 100 N / min, with load deviation from target profile of less than 5 N. Fast loading: preload the block to 50 N and ramp to 500 N, immediately reversing to a 50 N target, both ramps at 100 N / mS, without over- or undershooting the 50 and 500 N targets by not more than 10 N, ramp up time less than 10 mS and the total time to ramp up/ down no longer than 20 mS. ***SYSTEM INSTALLATION -- Quoters shall include system startup and checkout of the test system and accessories, including on-site (at NIST, Gaithersburg, MD) training on the use and operation of the system, at the buyer's facility.**Quoters shall perform the tests specified in PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONS at the NIST site in order to verify that the UMTM meets the specified performance standards for final buyer acceptance of the UMTM.***WARRANTY:A complete system warranty shall be included that covers parts, labor, and travel for a period of one year after final Government (NIST) acceptance.***Delivery is required within 90 days after receipt of order (ARO).***Delivery location is NIST, Building 301, Shipping & Receiving, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001.***The FOB point shall be DESTINATION, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD.***The following Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provisions apply to this solicitation: 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial.***Quotations will be evaluated according to the following: (A) Technical capability to meet the specifications (Quoters shall submit a quotation addressing ALL required specifications, and shall provide descriptive literature for item(s) quoted; (B) Past Performance (Quoters shall submit evidence of having produced and sold comparable units within the past 5 years, and provide 3 references, including contact person, company, phone number, and item(s) purchased; and (C) Price. Technical capability is significantly more important than Past Performance. Technical evaluation factors [(A) and (B)], when combined, are more important than price.***The Government anticipates awarding a purchase order resulting from this combined synopsis/solicitation to the responsible quoter whose quotation will offer the BEST VALUE to the Government, price and other factors considered. The Government reserves the right to make an award without discussions.***Quoters shall address ALL requirements herein, and shall provide clear evidence of understanding and the ability and willingness to comply with the Government's specifications of need. Failure to address a specification/requirement will be construed by the Government as inability to meet the need, or the quoter's taking exception to it. ***All quoters are to include with their quotes, a completed copy of provision 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items, which may be downloaded from http://www.nist.gov/admin/od/contract/repcert. 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, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities; (12) 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity; (13) 52.222-35, Affirmative Action for Disabled Veterans and Veterans of the Vietnam Era; (14) 52.222-36, Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities; (15) 52.222-37, Employment Reports on Disabled Veterans and Veterans of the Vietnam Era; (21)(ii) Alternate I of 52.225-21, Buy American Act-North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act-Balance of Payments Program; 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 interested, responsible firms should submit quotes (Original Plus One Copy Of Quote And Enclosures), by 3:00 PM, Washington DC time, on August 18, 1999 to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Acquisition and Assistance Division, ATTN: TAMARA GRINSPON, Building 301, Room B117, 100 Bureau Drive STOP 3572, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-3572. Faxed quotes will NOT be accepted. Copies of above-referenced clauses are available upon request, either by telephone or fax. Posted 08/03/99 (W-SN362224). (0215)

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