66 -- TEMPERATURE/ALTITUDE CHAMBER

Notice Date

August 6, 2001

Contracting Office

Commander, U. S. Army Aviation & Missile Command, Acquisition Center, Buiding 5303, Redstone Arsenal, AL 35898-5280

ZIP Code

35898-5280

Solicitation Number

W81UJF-1149-01SV

Response Due

August 20, 2001

Point of Contact

(PCF)Julie Davis, Contract Specialist, AMSAM-AC-SS-BA, (256)842-7422;Ruth Easley, Contracting Officer (256)876-8130

Description

AMENDMENT 0001 TO COMBINED SYSNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR A COMMERCIAL ITEM PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN FAR SUBPART 12.6, AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNUNCEMENT AND NOTICE #50R629, DATED 12 JULY 2001, CONSTITUTE THE ONLY SOLICITATION; PROPOSAL ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. THE PURPOSE OF THIS AMENDMENT IS TO CLARIFY AND ADD TO THE SPECIFICATIONS. OFFEROR MUST ACKNOWLEDGE NOTICE OF THIS AMENDMENT IN THEIR PROPOSALS. Amendment 0001 to W81UJF-1149-01SV, Temperature/Altitude Chamber 1. This office has received questions as follows: Question A. Item 2.11 Please clarify "heat limit switch and low water cutoff with alarm". Answer: Item 2.11, The heat limit switch and low water cutoff alarms are simply safety feature items in the event of electrical or low water interruptions. Both are intended to temporarily shut off the equipment if an interruption occurs. The intent is to prevent any damage to the machine should this condition happen. Question B. Item 2.17, Please clarify meter for test time; i.e., 0 to 100 hours? 0 to 100 days? Answer: Item 2.17, The test time meter is intended to keep track of the total elapsed time for the individual test being conducted. The individual meter can generally go from 1 to 99,999 hours. This is a small meter, which measures about 2X2 inches. Question C. This solicitation calls for a replacement/upgrade on an existing chamber. Unless the chamber dimensions are significantly changed, we believe that a rebuild of the existing equipment would be very much less expensive than all new equipment. There are many vendors with the capability for this type of work, and the users may wish to allow bids for such rebuilding. If this is the case, a description of the previous system should be included. In addition, because of current business conditions, similar chambers are appearing on the used market with essentially no buyers -- the last two 4X4X4 ones I saw at auction did not bring $50 each. Such used systems may also be economically rebuilt for your purposes, and may, in fact, speed up delivery. Answer: We do not want a used chamber; our current chamber is over 35 years old and is in need of constant repair. We are currenly working on a modernization project and the purchase of a new altitude chamber brings us one step closer to completion of that project. Question D. Instrumentation port. Are specific connectors to be supplied, or is this port blanked-off? Answer: The instrument port, when not in use, will be plugged or blanked-off. It is intended to be utilized when instrumenting packages that are in the process of being tested and the monitoring equipment is external to the machine. Question E. Platen. This is not described as a heated/cooled platen system. Are we correct in assuming that only the walls are temperature controlled? Answer: As stated in our original solicitation, we are a package testing laboratory and a "platen system" for testing satellite equipment is not required. Question F. Recent vendor build experience. This type of equipment has cyclic demand, with the last 4 years being a very slow period. Some vendors may wish to reference older sales. Is this permissible? Answer: Our request for a proven history is intended to be just that; however, the requirement at 3.1 is changed to read: "The offeror shall provide a proven history of satisfactorily manufacturing this type of test equipment by supplying a list of at least three companies that have purchased this type of equipment from them within the past eight (8) years." 2. The offer due date is extended and responses are due by 4:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on August 20, 2001. 3. Point of contact is Julie Davis at (256)842-7422, fax: (256)876-3833, email: julie.davis@redstone.army.mil.

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010808/66SOL002.HTM (W-218 SN50U0Q9)