Questions and Answers.docx

United States Department of Agriculture

Research, Education and Economics Agricultural Research Service

April 20, 2023

IN REPLY

REFER TO: Solicitation: 12305B23Q0069 Bulk

Questions and Answers #1

1. What grade NI??

ANSWER: Industrial Grade.

2. Refill of two 160L nitrogen tanks twice per week- Does it need refilled or can it be swapped out?

ANSWER: Vendor would normally park outside our bldg. and bring the LN2 Dewars out of our bldg. to fill it with LN2 and return and connect it to our Cryobanks. This is typically done twice per week on Mondays and Thursdays.

3. Provide filled carbon dioxide tanks as needed (USDA own total 4 tanks) what grade of CD? What size and type of tanks? Are these steel cylinders or liquid dewars?

ANSWER: Medical grade of CD and steel cylinders

4. Pickup, fill, and return 2 customer-owned carbon dioxide tanks every 4 months: Same questions as above relate to this. Since theses tanks are customer owned then we would have to provide a retest and cylinder maintenance price quote if the vessels are out of service date or needs repairs ANSWER: Although the carbon dioxide tanks are owned by us, vendor does not fill these tanks but instead replaces them (by leaving full tanks and taking away empty tanks). The tanks that are left behind become our property and are not always the same tanks. These replacement tanks need to undergo quality inspection by vendor before being delivered to us.

5. Please provide the gallons/quantity for CO2 4 tanks owned by USDA.

ANSWER: 20 lbs each. We own 4 tanks, but typically only need two to three replaced with filled ones at a time when requested. On average per month, we use one and a half CO2 cylinders. Whenever there are three empty cylinders, we call vendor to replace with filled ones.

6. Can we have a site visit?

ANSWER: We are not doing a site visit for this request. Additional information on logistics are provided. In bldg. 1043, we do not have a loading dock. Both rooms they have to deliver liquid N to are close to front and back doors, and there is enough space for vendor to drive truck and park in front of front and back doors. In the case of LN2, they parked outside our bldg. and brought the LN2 Dewars out of our bldg. to fill it with LN2 and returned and connected it to our Cryobanks. In the case of CO2 cylinders, as requested by us, they deliver them to outside bldg. 1040. Whenever we need it, we take it from there to our bldg. and connect to our cell culture incubators.

7. Are there ever emergency requests made for delivery?

ANSWER: Vendor must be able to respond within 4 hours or less to an emergency call for Nitrogen or CD delivery.

Northeast Area Director’s Office 10300 Baltimore Avenue Building 003, Room 223 Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350 USDA is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer image1.png