SOURCES SOUGHT
66 -- Ion gauge calibration service heater enclosure
- Notice Date
- 4/21/2025 12:31:26 PM
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541380
— Testing Laboratories
- Contracting Office
- DEPT OF COMMERCE NIST GAITHERSBURG MD 20899 USA
- ZIP Code
- 20899
- Solicitation Number
- NIST-SS25-33
- Response Due
- 5/5/2025 10:00:00 AM
- Archive Date
- 05/20/2025
- Point of Contact
- Junee Johnson
- E-Mail Address
-
junee.johnson@nist.gov
(junee.johnson@nist.gov)
- Description
- The purpose of this sources sought notice is to conduct market research and identify potential sources of commercial products/services that satisfy the Government�s anticipated needs. BACKGROUND The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Fundamental Thermodynamics Group (685.09) conducts fundamental and applied research to improve the measurement of thermodynamic quantities. Develops new measurement methods for pressure, vacuum, and temperature using atomic and molecular gases, refractometry, solid-state point defects, optomechanics, integrated photonics, advanced nanofabrication technologies, and advanced AI. The group continuously improves the performance of national standards, participates in national and international intercomparisons to validate these standards, and produces assessments of their respective measurement uncertainty. The group is currently upgrading the ionization gauge calibration service (IGCS). This calibration service serves a wide range of customers in government and industry. Completing the upgrade to the IGCS is critical to the NIST mission because, while the IGCS is being upgraded, US IGCS customers must send gauges to Europe or Asia for calibration. Our focus is on increasing the level of automation of the service to improve efficiency and calibration turnaround time. Automating the IGCS requires a new vacuum bake-out enclosure that can accommodate pneumatic vacuum valves and allows easy access to customer gauges. Typically, the IGCS vacuum bake-out occurs at 135 �C for 10 days to ensure an ultra-high vacuum environment for calibrations. The new vacuum bake-out enclosure must also be light weight and easily assembled to account for anticipated IGCS staffing. NIST is seeking information from sources that may be capable of providing a solution that will achieve the following essential requirements: Ion gauge calibration service heater enclosure The vendor shall design and build a heater enclosure for the IGCS vacuum chamber according to the attached drawings and CAD files as well as the specifications below. The heater enclosure must rest on the IGCS vacuum chamber support table (labelled in Figure 1 below). The heater enclosure shall not intrude into the keep-out region (red shaded volume in Figure 1 below). Exceptions to A.3. above may be made at the discretion of the NIST TPOC. The location of any requested exceptions to A.3. must be documented in drawings accompanying the quote for evaluation by NIST TPOC. Possible exceptions include recirculating heaters that rest on the IGCS support table or air temperature thermometers for heating element control. The enclosure shall consist of at least 4 and at most 8 removable side panels as well as a top panel. The side panels must either be free-standing (i.e. attach only to each other and the top panel, while supporting the weight of the top panel) or attach to a vendor-provided frame. The top panel must be supported by the side panels (see A.6.) or by a vendor-provided frame. The panels and optional vendor-provided frame shall be rated to withstand temperatures of at least 200 �C. The panels and optional vendor-provided frame shall be insulated to prevent a burn hazard at an operating temperature of at least 175 �C. Heating elements capable of increasing the IGCS vacuum chamber temperature to at least 135 �C shall be included with the heater enclosure. Acceptable heating elements are: Resistive heaters that are attached to, or integrated with, the enclosure side panels and top panel. Recirculating air heaters that rest on the IGCS support table (or are integrated with enclosure side panels or top panel). A proportional-integral-differential (PID) controller that regulates the operation of the heating elements shall be included with the heater enclosure. The PID controller shall support over-temperature detection and shut-off of the heating elements using a K-type thermocouple. The PID controller shall support user programmable temperature ramps and soaks. The PID controller must support ramp rates from 0.1 �C/minute to 1 �C/minute. A temperature sensor to monitor and control the heater enclosure temperature with the PID controller shall be included. The heating elements and PID controller must be powered by 120 V, 60 Hz AC. The enclosure must have openings (�ports� hereafter) that allow the pneumatic valves to protrude out of the enclosure. Specifically, the pneumatic valve actuators must be outside the heated enclosure, so that the temperature of the actuator does not exceed 80 �C. The ports and/or the side panels containing the ports shall be designed to allow installation and removal of the pneumatic valves without complete disassembly of the heater enclosure. Insulated plugs for the ports that fasten to the heater enclosure shall be included with the heater enclosure. The plugs will seal the ports, so that the heater enclosure can be operated safely at 135 �C or above without the pneumatic valves installed. The ion gauge calibration service heater enclosure system should have a 1 year warranty. HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE In responding to this notice, please DO NOT PROVIDE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION. Please include only the following information, readable in either Microsoft Word 365, Microsoft Excel 365, or .pdf format, in the response: Submit the response by email to the Primary Point of Contact and, if specified, to the Secondary Point of Contact listed in this notice as soon as possible, and preferably before the closing date and time of this notice. Please note that to be considered for award under any official solicitation, the entity must be registered and �active� in SAM at the time of solicitation response. Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company�s Unique Entity ID (UEI). Identify the equipment that your company sells that can meet the objectives addressed in the BACKGROUND section of this notice. For each product recommended to meet the Government�s requirement, provide the following: Manufacturer name Model number Technical specifications If your company is not the manufacturer, provide information on your company�s status as an authorized reseller of the product(s) Describe performance capabilities of the product(s) your company recommends to meet the Government�s requirements. Additionally, if there are other features or functions that you believe would assist NIST in meeting its objectives described above, please discuss in your response. Discuss whether the equipment that your company sells and which you describe in your response to this notice may be customized to specifications and indicate any limits to customization. Identify any aspects of the NIST market research notice, including instructions, and draft minimum specifications in the BACKGROUND section you cannot meet and state why. Please offer suggestions for how the market research notice and draft minimum specifications could be made more competitive. State whether the proposed equipment is manufactured in the United States and, if not, state the name of the country where the equipment is manufactured. Identify any plans/possibilities for changes in manufacturing location of the aforementioned equipment and provide relevant details, including timeline. For the NAICS code listed in this notice: Indicate whether your company is (a) a small business or (b) other than small business. See the Table of Small Business Size Standards and the associated .pdf download file for small business size standards and additional information. If you believe the NAICS code listed in this notice is not the best NAICS code for the type of product addressed in this notice, identify an alternative NAICS code that you believe would be more appropriate for the planned procurement. Describe services that are available with the purchase of the aforementioned equipment from your company such as installation, training, and equipment maintenance. Describe standard terms and conditions of sale offered by your company for the recommended equipment such as: delivery time after your company accepts the order; FOB shipping terms; manufacturer warranty (including details regarding nature and duration); if available, description(s) of available extended warranty; equipment setup and test; operator and service instruction manual(s); cleanup after installation; and if applicable, other offered services. Provide a copy of manufacturer standard terms and conditions that typically relate to the sale of the specified equipment, if available. State whether your company offers facility renovation services related to installation of the recommended equipment at its delivery destination, if required per the NIST-identified minimum specifications, and provide description of said services. Indicate if your company performs the facility renovation services or typically subcontracts the work to another company. Indicate if your company would be interested in inspecting the intended installation site during the market research phase. State published price, discount, or rebate arrangements for recommended equipment and/or provide link to access company�s published prices for equipment and services. If the recommended equipment and related services are available for purchase on any existing Federal Supply Schedule contract(s) or other contracts against which NIST may be able to place orders, identify the contract number(s) and other relevant information. Identify any customers in the public or private sectors to which you provided the recommended or similar equipment. Include customer(s) information: company name, phone number, point of contact, email address. Provide any other information that you believe would be valuable for NIST to know as part of its market research for this requirement. State if you require NIST to provide additional information to improve your understanding of the government�s requirement and/or would like to meet with NIST representatives to discuss the requirement and the capabilities of the identified equipment. QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE Questions regarding this notice may be submitted via email to the Primary Point of Contact and the Secondary Point of Contact listed in this notice. Questions should be submitted so that they are received 5 days prior to the response date. If the Contracting Officer determines that providing a written amendment to this notice to document question(s) received would benefit other potential respondents, the questions would be anonymized, and a written response to such question(s) would be provided via an amendment to this notice. IMPORTANT NOTES This notice is for market research purposes and should not be construed as a commitment by NIST to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. There is no solicitation available at this time. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. NIST reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization�s capability. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a synopsis and solicitation may be published on GSA�s eBuy or SAM.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered an adequate response to any such solicitation(s). Thank you for taking the time to submit a response to this request!
- Web Link
-
SAM.gov Permalink
(https://sam.gov/opp/7be7be42254745a682cbb92106c63b43/view)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA
- Zip Code: 20899
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 20899
- Record
- SN07416247-F 20250423/250421230050 (samdaily.us)
- Source
-
SAM.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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