DESCRIPTION THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN FAR SUBPART 12.6-STREAMLINED PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATION AND SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS-AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTATIONS ARE BEING REQUESTED, AND A SEPARATE WRITTEN SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED. THE SOLICITATION IS BEING ISSUED USING SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF FAR PARTS 12 AND 13. This solicitation is a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) FAC 2021-07 effective September 10, 2021. The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 334516- Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing with a small business size standard of 1,000 Employees. This acquisition is being procured as a Full and Open. Quoters must possess an ACTIVE registration in the System for Award Management system, www.SAM.gov, when submitting a quotation and shall continue to be registered until time of award, during performance, and through final payment of any contract resulting from this solicitation. The Contracting Officer will confirm that quoters have an “active” registration at the www.sam.gov website upon receipt of the quotation. If the SAM.Gov registration is not active, the quotation will not be considered for award. The objective of this solicitation is to establish a Firm-Fixed-Price purchase order based on the specifications described in the attached Statement of Requirements (SOR). The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) Materials Science and Engineering (MSED) and Materials Measurement Science Divisions (MMSD) regularly prepares scanning electron microscopy (SEM) samples to acquire energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) data. Most of these samples are mounted, ground, and polished with conventional metallurgical practices before final polishing would be performed via broad beam argon ion milling. The purpose of this requirement is to procure one broad beam ion mill meeting the specifications listed in the SOR. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS Responsible quoters shall provide a quotation for the following Contract Line Items (CLINs), in accordance with the specifications outlined in the attached SOR. All equipment must be new. Used or remanufactured equipment will not be considered for award: BASE LINE ITEMS: Line Item 0001: (Quantity 1) Broad Beam Argon Ion Mill- inclusive of shipping, remote installation assistance, and training; in accordance with the Statement of Requirements. Line Item 0002: (Quantity 1 Year) Initial Warranty- In accordance with the Statement of Requirements. OPTION LINE ITEMS: Line Item 0003: (Quantity 1 Year) Extended warranty in accordance with the Statement of Requirements. Line Item 0004: (Quantity 1 Year) Extended warranty in accordance with the Statement of Requirements. Line Item 0005: (Quantity 1 Year) Extended warranty in accordance with the Statement of Requirements. Line Item 0006: (Quantity 1 Year) Extended warranty in accordance with the Statement of Requirements. DELIVERY TERMS Delivery terms shall be FOB Destination. The Contractor shall pack and mark the shipment in conformance with carrier requirements, deliver the shipment in good order and condition to the point of delivery specified in the purchase order, be responsible for loss of and/or damage to the goods occurring before receipt and acceptance of the shipment by the consignee at the delivery point specified in the purchase order; and pay all charges to the specified point of delivery. ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA NIST will evaluate the instrument to determine if it meets the specification within 14 calendar days of installation. In addition to basic functional tests, NIST will perform two acceptance tests: (1) planar milling of a Si chip to determine the minimum milling rate and flatness specification is met, and (2) planar milling of an Additive Manufactured 17-4 Stainless Steel (AM17-4 SS) to determine the volume fraction the austenite phase exceeds 90% by 20 kV EBSD. PAYMENT SCHEDULE The Contractor shall be paid in one lump sum payment for the base line item and/or any exercised option line items, upon submission of a proper invoice and upon successful completion of delivery and confirmation, by the Government, that all required specifications are met. EVALUATION CRITERIA & BASIS FOR AWARD: The Government intends to award a purchase order on a Go/ No Go basis resulting from this solicitation to the responsible Contractor whose quotation, conforming to the solicitation, provides the lowest priced, technically acceptable quote. Technically acceptable means that the quote : Meets or exceeds the minimum equipment specifications listed within the Statement of Requirement; and Meets the required delivery schedule. Price: The price evaluation will determine whether the quoted prices are fair and reasonable in relation to the solicitation requirements. Quoted prices must be entirely compatible with the technical quotation. The Go/No Go procurement will consist of a two-step process: STEP ONE The first step will consist of timely quote submissions by interested vendors, in accordance with the instructions provided below. The Government will review and evaluate all technical portions of the submitted quotes, utilizing a Go/No Go approach. If the Government determines that the vendor’s quote meets or exceeds all minimum technical specifications, the vendor will move to step two of the procurement process and will be notified by the Government via email. If the minimum specifications are not met by the vendor, they will be disqualified from further evaluation and will not proceed to step two of the procurement process. STEP TWO Once the Government determines that a vendor has met all minimum technical specifications, NIST will ship the vendor a sample Additive Manufactured 17-4 Stainless Steel (AM17-4 SS) to mill. Further details are provided below. The Sample: NIST has prepared a set of identical AM 17-4 SS samples in the as-built condition. Each sample is mounted in conductive epoxy (dimensions = 32 mm diameter and 12.5 mm tall), mechanically polished, and then vibratory polished for sixteen hours. Mounting and preparation use standard metallurgical procedures for scanning electron microscope (SEM) samples. The polished sample surface is covered/protected by a plastic cap during storage. The plastic cap must be in place over the sample surface when the sample is shipped. NIST will ship one sample to each vendor that meets or exceeds all technical specifications. Ion Milling by Vendor: Vendors must perform ion milling to remove at least 10 µm of AM 17-4 SS from a central region of the sample at least 1 mm in diameter. Vendors will have fourteen (14) calendar days, from the date that the sample is delivered, to perform the ion milling. Vendors are welcome to perform EBSD analysis in house at their discretion; however, the sample must be shipped back to NIST for EBSD analysis by the designated due date provided by the Government. The EBSD results obtained by NIST are the only results that will be considered when evaluating the performance of the ion mill on AM 17-4 SS. Proof of Ion Milling Success: NIST will perform EBSD measurements in the ion milled region of the sample with a field of view of 225 µm x 150 µm (500x magnification). SEM operating conditions will be 20 kV accelerating voltage and 4 nA of probe current. The area fraction of austenite must exceed 90% (not including non-indexed pixels) with an indexing rate greater than 90% to meet the AM 17-4 SS performance requirement. INSTRUCTIONS: Completed Solicitation Provisions A completed version of all required solicitation provisions (see attached provisions/clauses document – required submissions highlighted in blue). Due Date for Quotations and Questions All quotations must be submitted, via e-mail, to Sadaf Afkhami, Contract Specialist, at
[email protected] with a carbon copy to
[email protected]. Submissions must be received no later than 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on November 10, 2021. FAX quotations will not be accepted. Quoters must reference the RFQ number in the subject line of the e-mail submission. Quotes shall not be deemed received by the Government until the quotation has entered the e-mail inbox of the individual(s) set forth above. Questions: All questions regarding this notice must be submitted via e-mail to Sadaf Afkhami, at
[email protected], with a carbon copy to
[email protected], no later than 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on November 2, 2021. Quotation Preparation Instructions Each quotation shall consist of two (2) separate electronic files: (1) Technical Quotation and (2) Pricing Quotation. Technical Quotation : (1) Technical description and/or product literature. Quoters shall include the manufacturer, make and model of the product, manufacturer sales literature or other product literature which CLEARLY DOCUMENTS that the offered products meet or exceed all minimum specifications stated in the statement of requirements. It is the responsibility of the quoter to ensure that submitted documentation clearly addresses all specifications and requirements (2) If product literature does not address any given specification, a discussion of how the Contractor will meet or exceed that required specification must be provided. If such information is not provided, the Government will conclude that the minimum specifications have not been met. (3) The quoted delivery timeline for all base line items. (4) A description of the quoted warranty and extended option years. Price Quotation : (1) All Quoters shall submit a firm fixed price FOB Destination price quotation for the base line items and each separately priced option line item. The quotation must include a unit price and total amount for each line item and the aggregate price for the base line items and all separately priced option line items. (2) The price quotation shall include a cover page with the following information: The solicitation number 1333ND22QNB640003; The name and address, of the Quoter; The name, phone number, and email address of the Quoter’s point of contact; DUNS # for Quoter’s active SAM.Gov registration. Any applicable discount terms. A statement that the Contractor agrees to all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation. If the Contractor objects to any of the terms and conditions contained in this solicitation, the Contractor shall state “The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document with the exception, deletion, or addition of the following:” [Contractor shall list exception(s) and rationale for the exception(s)]. It is the sole responsibility of the Contractor to identify in their quote any exceptions to the terms and conditions of the solicitation. A statement that the quotation is valid for a minimum of 60 days from the response deadline of this solicitation. Please note that this procurement IS NOT being conducted under the GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) program or another Government-Wide Area Contract (GWAC). If a contractor submits a quotation based upon an FSS or GWAC contract, the Government will accept the quoted price. However, the terms and conditions stated herein will be included in any resultant Purchase Order, not the terms and conditions of the contractor’s FSS or GWAC contract. PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES: The provisions and clauses applicable to this solicitation are identified in Attachment 2 titled “Applicable Clauses & Provisions”. The full text of a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision or clause may be accessed electronically at www.acquisition.gov/far. The full text of a Department of Commerce Acquisition Regulation (CAR) provision or clause may be accessed electronically at or http://www.osec.doc.gov/oam/acquistion_management/policy/. ATTACHMENTS: The following attachments apply to this solicitation: 1. The Statement of Requirements 2. Applicable Clauses & Provisions