ACTION CODE: <PRESOL>

CLASSIFICATION CODE: 66 - Laboratory Equipment and Supplies

SUBJECT: Titanium Bobs

SOLICITATION NUMBER: NB610020-11-02188

RESPONSE DATE: June 24, 2011

CONTACT POINTS: Chris Ganey, Contract Specialist, 301-975-6205
Patrick Staines -, Contracting Officer, 301-975-6335

DESCRIPTION:

The Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), intends to negotiate a firm fixed price purchase order, on a sole source basis, with Anton Paar USA, Inc of Ashland, VA for the purchase of a titanium bobs under other than full and open competition by the authority of FAR subpart 13.106 -1(b)(1): Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

A sole source determination is based on the following: Only Anton Paar can meet our technical requirements.

Specifically no other vendor can meet the NIST requirements for:

The NCNR has a requirement to obtain titanium bobs to minimize loss of time between each sample change during SANS experiments. SANS (small angle neutron scattering) is one type of neutron scattering instruments that measure the material structure from about 1 nm to about 500 nm. NCNR currently has two SANS instrument and one ultra-SANS (USANS) instrument.

Rheometer is an instrument that measure both stress and deformation history on a material from which useful information such as viscosity can be derived.

SANS experiments are short by nature and by necessity. At the NCNR, the demand for SANS instruments is often twice what is available and the average SANS experiment is only two days long. Any loss of time in any experiment severely affects the user community. For our rheometer users, a major source of lost beam time is in waiting for the sample cell to deactivate. The cells are made from grade 5 titanium and the radiological activation from neutrons requires a user to wait 45 minutes before cleaning the titanium pieces. Over the average two day experiment, a user group can study three or four samples, and would be required to wait that amount of time between each sample change, resulting in two to three hours of time lost. To minimize this loss, purchasing a second titanium bob of each size (48 mm and 49 mm diameter) is required.
The bobs are manufactured and sold by the same company that manufactured the SANS rheometer, Anton Paar. The replacement titanium bobs (item #91457 and #91463) must be purchased through Anton Paar because two parts of the bob are either proprietary in nature or patented. The shaft coupling that allows the bob to mount to the rheometer is of a proprietary design. The ToolMasterTM chip, an identifier chip built within the bob, is a patented device.

Anton Paar's titanium bobs meets these requirements and enables NIST to meet its mission requirements.

Delivery shall be FOB Destination, Gaithersburg, MD, and be completed by July 15, 2011.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334516, and the size standard is 500 employees.

No solicitation package will be issued. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. The Government will consider responses received by 12:00 p.m. (EST) on June 24, 2011. Inquiries will only be accepted via email to [email protected]. No telephone requests will be honored.

A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement in the future.