1-RFI 34-0925 - BABA Compliant Ductless Split Systems.pdf

COUNTY OF BUCKS

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

Availability Of BABA-Compliant Ductless Split Systems Spec No. 34-09/25

COUNTY OF BUCKS RFI #34-09/25 Page 1 of 6

OBJECTIVE

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only and does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that the County of Bucks (the “County”) will take any procurement action related to this matter.

The County is seeking information from HVAC contractors and/or manufacturers to gather market research regarding the availability of commercial Ductless Split Systems (VRF) which comply with the domestic preference requirements established by the Build America Buy America Act (BABA).

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The County of Bucks plans to issue an Invitation for Bids (ITB) for HVAC upgrades at its Public Safety Training Center, located in Doylestown, PA. The project is funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which requires the County conform to requirements established by the Build America Buy America Act (BABA).

BABA establishes procurement preferences for domestic products used in Federally funded public infrastructure projects. The requirements apply to three separate product categories:

1. Iron or steel products

2. Manufactured products

3. Construction materials

Of specific interest to this RFI are the requirements placed on manufactured products, which state:

“All manufactured products used in the project are produced in the United States—this means the manufactured product was manufactured in the United States; and the cost of the components of the manufactured product that are mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States is greater than 55 percent of the total cost of all components of the manufactured product, unless another standard for determining the minimum amount of domestic content of the manufactured product has been established under applicable law or regulation. The costs of components of a manufactured product are determined in accordance with 2 CFR 184.5”

Grant recipients, such as the County, may apply for a project-specific waiver from the BABA requirements based on product non-availability. Therefore, this RFI seeks input from market participants on the availability of BABA-compliant products which meet the specifications set forth in Attachment 1.

COUNTY OF BUCKS

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

Availability Of BABA-Compliant Ductless Split Systems Spec No. 34-09/25

COUNTY OF BUCKS RFI #34-09/25 Page 2 of 6

REQUESTED INFORMATION

This RFI asks for information to help the County determine whether it is appropriate to apply for a non-availability waiver for the equipment described in Attachment 1. In their response, respondents are requested to provide the following information:

1. Company name and contact information

2. Relevant credentials

3. To the best of their knowledge, whether BABA-compliant products meeting the specifications in Attachment 1 are commercially available in the United States.

4. Any other information which may be useful to the County in determining the appropriateness of a BABA waiver for this project.

ATTACHMENT 1

MANUFACTURED PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS

Ductless Split System (VRF)

COUNTY OF BUCKS RFI #34-09/25 Page 3 of 6

1. Suggested Manufacturers (Non-Compliant with BABA):

a. Daikin

b. Mitsubishi

c. Sanyo

d. EMI

2. System Description.

a. The heat pump air conditioning system shall be a variable capacity hyper heating multi-zone series. The system shall consist of two (2) to eight (8) slim silhouettes, compact, wall and/or floor mounted indoor fan coil sections with digital wireless remote controller, and/or ceiling suspended, ceiling recessed and/or low to mid profile ducted indoor units with a wired, wall mounted remote controller connected to a compact horizontal discharge outdoor unit which shall be of an inverter driven heat pump design.

b. Indoor unit shall be: Ceiling Recessed Cassette

3. Outdoor Units. (Qty: 4)

a. The outdoor unit shall be completely factory assembled, piped, and wired.

b. The casing shall be fabricated of galvanized steel, bonderized, finished with an electrostatically applied, thermally fused acrylic or polyester powder coating for corrosion protection. Assembly hardware shall be cadmium plated for weather resistance.

c. Two (2) mild steel mounting feet, traverse mounted across the cabinet base pan, welded mount, providing four (4) slotted mounting holes shall be furnished.

Assembly shall withstand lateral wind gust up to 155 MPH to meet applicable weather codes.

d. The unit shall be furnished with a direct drive, high performance propeller type fan.

e. The condenser fan motor shall be a variable speed, direct current (DC) motor and shall have permanently lubricated bearings.

COUNTY OF BUCKS RFI #34-09/25 Page 4 of 6

f. Fan speed shall be switch automatically according to the number of operating indoor units and the compressor operating frequency.

g. The fan motor shall be mounted with vibration isolation for quiet operation.

h. The fan shall be provided with a raised guard to prevent contact with moving parts.

i. The outdoor unit shall have horizontal discharge airflow.

j. The outdoor unit coil shall be of nonferrous construction with lanced or corrugated plate fins on copper tubing.

k. The coil shall be protected with an integral guard.

l. Refrigerant flow from the outdoor unit to the indoor units shall be independently controlled by means of individual electronic linear expansion valves for each indoor unit.

m. Outdoor unit shall be pre-charged with sufficient R-410A refrigerant for up to one hundred and thirty-one (131) feet of refrigerant piping.

n. The compressor shall be a high performance, hermetic, inverter driven, variable speed, dual rotary type.

o. The compressor motor shall be direct current (DC) type equipped with a factory supplied and installed inverter drive package.

p. The outdoor unit must be connected to at least one branch box. It can also be connected to two 3-port branch boxes, to one 3-port and one 5-port branch box, or to two 5-port branch boxes (At least two ports have to be left unused in this case).

q. The outdoor unit must have the ability to operate within the following refrigerant piping and height limitations without the need for line size changes, traps or additional oil.

r. Piping Lengths:

Height Differential - Indoor unit above outdoor unit 66 feet (Max) Height Differential - Indoor unit below outdoor unit 98 feet (Max) Distance between outdoor unit and farthest indoor unit 230 feet (Max)

COUNTY OF BUCKS RFI #34-09/25 Page 5 of 6

Distance between outdoor unit and branch box 180 feet (Max) Length from branch box to farthest indoor unit 49 feet (Max) Total length between branch box and all connected indoor units 197 feet (Max) Total Length 377 feet (Max)

4. Indoor Units (Qty: 8)

a. The unit shall have a self-diagnostic function, 3-minute restart time delay mechanism, an auto restart function, an emergency / test operation.

b. The casing shall have a white finish.

c. Multi directional drain and refrigerant piping, offering three (3) direction pipe alignment for all refrigerant piping and two (2) direction pipe alignment for condensate draining shall be standard.

d. The indoor unit fan shall be an assembly with a line-flow fan direct driven by a single motor. The fan shall be statically and dynamically balanced and run on a motor with permanently lubricated bearing.

e. The indoor fan shall operate at one of five (5) speeds: Super High, High, Medium, Low, and Quiet plus Auto Fan Mode.

f. Return air shall be filtered. Filter shall be removable and washable type.

g. The evaporator coil shall be of nonferrous construction with smooth plate fins on copper tubing.

5. Controller.

a. The indoor unit shall have the option of either a wireless or wired wall mounted remote controller to be ordered separately.

b. Wireless, wall mounted remote controller kit.

i. The Wireless, wall mounted remote controller kit shall consist of a wireless, wall mounted controller, a wireless receiver, and a cable to connect the receiver to the indoor unit. The controller shall be white in color with a light-green LCD display and a backlight feature. The controller shall consist of four Function buttons below the display, and Increase/Decrease Set Temperature buttons and a Hold button to the

COUNTY OF BUCKS RFI #34-09/25 Page 6 of 6 right of the display. The controller shall have a built-in temperature sensor and a battery holder, using two AA alkaline batteries. Temperature shall be displayed in Fahrenheit (°F) and temperature changes shall be by increments of 1°F.

c. Wired Remote Controller.

i. The Wired Remote Controller shall require a Terminal Interface for communications. Interface will be mounted at the indoor unit. A two (2) conductor, stranded, 22 AWG twisted pair, jacketed, cable shall connect the interface to the wall controller. Connection shall not be polarity sensitive and controller wire shall not exceed thirty-three (33) feet length.

ii. The wired remote controller shall be approximately 5" x 5" in size and white in color with a light-green LCD display. The controller shall support a selection from multiple languages (Spanish, German, Japanese, Chinese, English, Russian, Italian, or French) for display information.

There shall be a built-in weekly timer with up to 8 pattern settings per day.

The controller shall consist of an On/Off button, Increase/Decrease Set Temperature buttons, a Cool/Auto/Fan/Dry mode selector, a Timer Menu button, a Timer On/Off button, Set Time buttons, a Fan Speed selector, a Ventilation button, a Test Run button, and a Check Mode button. The controller shall have a built-in temperature sensor. Temperature shall be displayed in Fahrenheit (°F) and Temperature changes shall be by increments of 1°F (0.5°C). The controller shall have the capability of controlling up to a maximum of 16 systems, as a group with the same mode and set point for all, at a maximum developed control cable distance of 1,500 feet.