SOURCES SOUGHT
68 -- Standard Reference Materials: Crystalline Silica on PVC Filter
- Notice Date
- 2/22/2017
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 325180
— Other Basic Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition Management Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Building 301, Room B130, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20899-1410, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20899-1410
- Solicitation Number
- NIST-MML-17-SS11
- Archive Date
- 3/21/2017
- Point of Contact
- Grace H. Garrity, Phone: 3019752345
- E-Mail Address
-
grace.garrity@nist.gov
(grace.garrity@nist.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) located in Gaithersburg, MD seeks information on vendors that are capable of providing Standard Reference Materials (SRM) 2950b and 2960a - crystalline silica on PVC standard filters. The purpose of this notice is to identify organizations capable of providing this item. This announcement is not a Request for Proposals or Quotes (RFP/RFQ) and does not commit the Government to award a contract now or in the future. The information contained in this notice is DRAFT only and as such, is subject to change prior to issuance of a solicitation. No solicitation is available at this time. After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed, NIST may conduct a competitive or non-competitive procurement and subsequently award a contract. If at least two qualified small business sources are identified during this market research stage, this acquisition may be solicited as a small business set aside. NIST is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large and small businesses (SB, SDB, WOSB, HUB Zone, SDVOSB and VOSB). This requirement is assigned a NAICS code of 325180, All Other Basic Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing, with a small business size standard of 1,000 employees. Interested business organizations that believe they may be capable of meeting NIST's requirements detailed below should respond to this notice with a narrative demonstrating their ability to meet NIST's requirements: I.BACKGROUND INFORMATION The Inorganic Measurement Science Group (IMSG) of NIST is responsible for developing, critically evaluating, and applying techniques for the identification and measurement of inorganic and organometallic species using X-ray, optical and mass spectrometry, classical analytical methods, pH, and electroanalytical methods. The research and development activities result in reference measurement procedures and SRMs that support the nation's industrial manufacturing activities, public health, and safety. The sectors of economy served by IMSG's activities include advanced materials, nanotechnology, cements, ores, fossil fuels, clinical, food, and the environment. The group develops and maintains primary national standards for elemental and anionic concentrations, pH, electrolytic conductivity, and isotopic abundance. SRM 2950a Respirable Alpha Quartz on Filter Media and SRM 2960 Respirable Cristobalite on Filter Media were developed a decade ago in collaboration with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to support the work place safety in mining and quarry industries. The SRMs were used for calibration in the measurement of respirable crystalline silica, a health hazard, in the work place. The SRMs were produced by depositing known amount of crystalline silica on 25 mm PVC filters. A non-PVC protective layer was applied after the deposition of the crystalline silica for mechanical stability of the SRM, which prohibited the use of the standard in sample preparation procedures using tetrahydrofuran (THF). NIST and NIOSH are collaborating on the development of a new generation of crystalline on filter standards to supersede SRMs 2950a and 2960 for measurements in mining and quarry industries. The new SRMs will be stabilized by protective materials compatible with THF thereby suitable for all recommended preparation procedures in NIOSH Method 7500 (accessible at https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2003-154/pdfs/7500.pdf). II.SCOPE OF WORK The Contractor shall furnish the necessary personnel, material, equipment, and facilities (except as otherwise specified), to comply with the requirements and procedures set forth in section III "Requirements". The Contractor shall provide: 1.Three hundred and fifty (350) units of Standard Reference Material (SRM) 2950b, Respirable Alpha Quartz on Filter Media. Each unit of SRM 2950b consists of 30 blank PVC filters containing no alpha quartz and 5 loaded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) filters at each of the following nominal levels: 10 μg, 20 μg, 50 μg, 100 μg, 250 μg, and 500 μg. The blank filters are stored in six clear plastic petri dishes (referred to as container below) each containing five filters. The loaded filters are stored in six petri dishes each containing five filters of the nominal level. 2.Two hundred (200) units of Standard Reference Material (SRM) 2960a, Respirable Cristobalite on Filter Media. Each unit of SRM 2960a consists of 30 blank PVC filters containing no alpha quartz and 5 loaded PVC filters at each of the following nominal levels: 5 μg, 10 μg, 20 μg, 50 μg, 100 μg, and 250 μg. The blank filters are stored in six containers each containing five filters. The loaded filters are stored in six containers each containing five filters of the nominal level. III.REQUIREMENTS 1.NIST will provide two units of SRM 1878b Respirable Alpha Quartz and one unit of 1879a Respirable Cristobalite as the sources of respirable alpha quartz and respirable cristobalite for the production of the 350 units of SRM 2950b and 200 units of SRM 2960a, respectively. 2.PVC membrane filter of 25 mm diameter with approximately 5 µm pore size intended for air monitoring application shall be used for the production of SRM 2950b and SRM 2960a. 3.The contractor shall produce SRM 2950b and SRM 2960a in class 100 clean facility. SRM 2950b and SRM 2960a shall be produced by depositing slurries of SRM 1878b or SRM 1879a onto PVC membrane filters to achieve the target masses of respirable alpha quartz or respirable cristobalite on PVC membrane filters set forth in section II. The slurries of SRM 1878b and SRM 1879a must not be used for the preparation of SRM 2950b and 2960a, respectively, 24 h after the slurries are prepared. 4.After the deposit of the slurry on the filter is dried, a protective layer must be applied to the side with the deposit to provide mechanical stability of the crystalline silica deposit. The protective layer must be consisted of PVC or equivalent that completely dissolves in tetrahydrofuran (THF), with the objective that SAMPLE PREPARATION 5c in NIOSH Method 7500 can be used to release the crystalline silica of SRM 2950b and SRM 2960a in THF as non-agglomerated particulates. 5.Every five blank or loaded PVC filters shall be stored in a clear plastic container of 25 mm to 35 mm in diameter or on each side, and 4 mm to 10 mm in height. The five filters in the container must be separated with silica-free spacers such that the PVC filters are in contact with the spacers only. In addition, the PVC filters must be packaged using silica-free material to immobilize the filters such that there is no movement of a filter relative to the neighboring spacer when the container is centrifuged at 3 gn. The lid of each container shall be labelled with a 25 mm diameter self-adhesive label identifying the contents of the container. NIST will provide the labels. 6.The accuracy of the loading of crystalline silica the filters and the mechanical stability of the crystalline on the filters are warranted by the testing of randomly selected finished filters from the production series. A detailed record of calibration and validation must be kept for instruments used in the production of SRM 2950b and SRM 2960a. These instruments include balances, dispensers, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES). For the following, the SRM 2950b or SRM 2960a produced with the same dispenser drawing from same slurry is considered a batch: i.Dispenser precision: The contractor shall weigh the mass of every twentieth deposit of the production sequence, including the first and the last deposits (i.e. instead of the slurry deposited onto the filter, the selected deposit is dispensed onto the balance and weighed as a check for the accuracy of the slurry dispenser.) The relative standard deviation (RSD) of the mass of the measured deposits, defined as the standard deviation divided by the mean, must be < 1.5%. ii.Product precision: For each batch, the contractor shall randomly select a minimum of ten (10) filters including the first and the last filter of the production sequence. The silicon on each filter must be measured using ICP-OES. The RSD of silicon in the selected filters must be <5%. In addition, the RSD of silicon on selected filters from all batches of the same nominal level of SRM 2950b or SRM 2960a must be < 5%. iii.Product accuracy: The mean value of alpha quartz or cristobalite on filters selected in III.6.ii from all batches of the same nominal level of SRM 2950b or 2960a must be within 5% of the stated nominal value. The alpha quartz or the cristobalite on the filter is calculated by multiplying the silicon mass found in microgram by a factor of 2.139 to convert to silicon dioxide and then by the certified mass fraction of alpha quartz or cristobalite obtained from the certificate of SRM 1878b or SRM 1879a. iv.Mechanical stability: A minimum of ten (10) filters must be selected from each nominal level of SRM 2950b and 2950a. If a level is consisted of products of multiple batches, a minimum of one filter must be selected from each batch. The selected filters of the same level must be packaged with spacers in two containers as described in III.5, except that no additional packing material is used so that the filters can move freely inside the containers. The containers containing the filters will be centrifuged at 3 gn for 10 min. After the centrifugation, the silicon contents on each filter is measured using ICP-OES. The mean value of the alpha quartz or cristobalite on the ten filters must be within 5% of the mean value for the same level calculated in III.6.iii. The RSD of the ten filters must be <5%. v.Physical appearance: the finished filters shall have the same physical appearance as the PVC filters used for the production except for minor changes in the reflectance on the surface where crystalline silica is deposited. There must not be any perforation or deformation of the filter as a result of the production process. vi.A report of analysis (ROA) for the production and qualification for each level of SRM 2950b and 2960a must be submitted to NIST before the delivery of the products to NIST. The format of the report is described below. vii.The contractor must keep detailed record of the production process, the personnel in the production, and the results of the relevant measurements. The record must be made available to NIST upon request. 7.The Report of Analysis (ROA) shall include the following elements i.The date the ROA is prepared, a title of the ROA, and the person the ROA is submitted to. ii.A description of each level of SRM 2950b and each level of SRM 2960a is prepared, including the mass of SRM 1878b or SRM 1879a for the slurry, the type and quantity of chemicals in the slurry, actions taken to suspend the crystalline silica in the slurry, the deposition method and the quantity of slurry deposited on a PVC filter, the procedure for drying the deposit, the chemicals used in the stabilizer and the procedure the stabilizer is applied. iii.The date of the production, the sequential number of aliquots of slurry measured for Dispenser precision (see III.6.i), the sequential number of the loaded filters selected for silica Product precision measurement (see III.6.ii) and Product accuracy measurement (see III.6.iii), the measured value of each selected sample, and the summary statistics showing the standards of III.6.i, III.6.ii, III.6.iii, and III.6.iv are met. 8.NIST will review the ROA, and will inform the contractor if the results in the report are acceptable. If the results are acceptable, the contractor will be instructed to ship the 350 units of SRM 2950b and 200 units of SRM 2960a to Office of Reference Materials, c/o Mark Cronise, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899. IV.PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE The period of performance shall be 120 days after award of contract. V.GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY The NIST will provide two units of SRM 1878b and one unit of 1879b for the production. NIST will also provide 400 labels for each nominal level and 2,400 labels for the blank level of SRM 2950b and 250 labels for each nominal level and 1,500 labels for the blank level of SRM 2960a.
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