70RSAT24RFI000029 uCT RFI.pdf

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Procurement Operations

On Behalf of the Science and Technology Directorate Commercial Micro-Computed Tomography Instrumentation

This is a Request for Information (RFI). This RFI is issued solely for information and market research planning purposes. This RFI shall not be construed as an obligation on the part of the Government. This is NOT a Request for Quotations or Proposals. No solicitation document exists, and the Government may or may not issue a formal solicitation as a result of the responses received to this RFI.

The Government will not pay for any response or demonstration expenses. All costs incurred responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party's expense. Failure to respond to this RFI will not preclude participation in any future solicitation. Any information received will become the property of the Government and will not be returned to the submitter. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or sensitive information.

The Government’s explicit intent, in this RFI, is to not receive from respondents any proprietary data, trade secrets, business sensitive information, or information considered CONFIDENTIAL under 18 U.S.C. §1905. The Government’s constraint does not in any way relieve contractors from their responsibility to properly mark proprietary data when it is provided, nor does it alleviate any requirement for the Government to protect marked data. The Government is not obligated to protect unmarked data.

The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. All submissions become the property of the Federal Government and will not be returned.

I. INTRODUCTION:

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) Explosives Threat Assessment (ETA) program delivers relevant, cutting-edge explosives research products that support explosives detection innovation (capabilities and systems) and the development of commercial threat assessment tools.

DHS utilizes micro-computed tomography (µCT) systems to collect data on explosives and explosives precursors that is used in the creation of x-ray-based threat detection requirements. In addition, µCT will be used to collect data for international x-ray detection harmonization. To this end, a commercial µCT system that is available, flexible, and reliable is desired to streamline data collection. ETA would like to collaborate with stakeholders to identify, or develop, a desired solution that would:

• Collect data of sufficient 3D image quality, for development of detection requirements:

o 3D image quality of the CT instrument with a source-to-detector distance of ~ 1.4 m includes uniformity in x, & z (0.5 % in the FOV, e.g., if you take a mean value in a region of interest at the center of an arear-array detector and at the periphery, the intensity value should be within 0.5% of each other) spatial resolution (~300 µm

FWHM)

o signal to noise (~300 SNR/mA/sec at 100 kV and 2-mm Al source filter and ~140 SNR/mA/sec at 160 kV and 2-mm Al and 2-mm source filter) o contrast sensitivity, o limited or no ring, streak, etc. artifacts.

- 2 -o Beryllium window source filter capability, with method to add and remove/change source filters.

• Provide access to the data format and raw data collected by the µCT instrument for third party preprocessing, image reconstruction and post processing.

• Provide specifications of the beamline including source to detector geometry, source to center axis of rotation and center axis of rotation to detector distances, all materials from the source to the detector including scintillator material, thickness, overall x-ray source-detector spectral response.

• Ability to do dual-energy CT.

• Typical 100 to 225 kV potential x-ray source.

• Be stable over 3-5 years, e.g., LAC values within 0.25% for carbon, Teflon, Delrin and Mg reference materials of 0.5” o.d.

• Third party should be able to generate dual-energy decomposed data of effective atomic number and electron density to within ~1% relative and precision error for effective atomic number and electron density of materials that range from a Z of 6-14 and density of 0.25-3 g/cm3.

• Be able to scan sample size of ~3” o.d, and height to ~8”

II. SCOPE:

This RFI solicits information about µCT instruments to be used for data collection in detection requirements development that are currently commercially available or may be rapidly developed.

III. RFI QUESTIONS:

Responses to the following questions will help S&T understand the availability, reliability, and general levels of effort required to deliver a µCT instrument solution. Additional information may be provided in addition to responses to the questions below, but overall responses must be within the page limit noted below in Section IV.

1. Company information, including name, address, phone number, e-mail, point of contact and

URL

2. If you already have a suitable instrument, what are its physical footprint and height, weight, etc.?

3. If an instrument (hardware and software) would need to be developed, how quickly could a functioning prototype suitable for pilot testing be developed?

4. What is the rough estimate of cost for a single off-the-shelf instrument or to develop a prototype suitable to meet our requirements?

5. What are your instrument’s basic system specifications including scan modes, operating features, software, and hardware components (X-ray source, detector, manipulator, and cabinet)?

6. Does your instrument allow access to the file format and raw data including I, I0, and dark current?

7. Can a set of scans be set up automatically, e.g., by using scripts?

8. What is the field of view (FOV)?

9. What are the image quality results using an ASNT standard or other accepted µCT standard?

10. Are the beamline specifications of your instrument available?

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a. What is the source to detector geometry?

b. What are the composition, density, and thicknesses of all materials from x-ray source to detector to determine the spectral response of the instrument?

c. What are your instrument’s source and detector specifications?

d. Does your system allow for dual- or multi-energy data acquisition? What is the energy range of the system?

e. What are the peak potential and the delivered dose rates?

11. Details about the service of the instrument:

a. In what countries are your service agreements offered?

b. What service agreement options are offered?

c. What is the service response time and what is the typical time to repair the system, e.g., source, detector, etc.?

d. How easy is it to replace the x-ray source, detector, source filters, etc.?

e. What is the expected service life of your system?

f. How is the performance of your system monitored for quality control purposes?

12. Is there a minimum required purchase volume?

IV. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

All Responses shall be submitted to the Office of Procurement Operations (OPO) at the following email addresses: Jennifer.Koons@hq.dhs.gov and Dorothy.Woolfolk@hq.dhs.gov no later than 5:00 PM Eastern Time on September 1st, 2024.

Interested parties are invited to address the questions identified in this RFI. Only one submission will be reviewed per vendor for this RFI. Only electronic submissions will be accepted. Sources will not be reimbursed for providing responses. Responses to this RFI should be no more than ten (10) typewritten pages and shall be delivered in either Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) formats. Responses should be prepared using 12 pt. font, 1 inch margins, and 8.5” by 11” page size including images, data displays, charts, graphs, and tables. Emails with attachments larger than 5 MB shall be broken down into multiple emails with no one attachment exceeding 5 MB. Each electronic submission shall:

a. Include the RFI number 70RSAT24RFI000029 in the subject line of the email.

b. Be delivered as either a Word or PDF document and address the requirements listed above.

Responses must also have a cover letter stating the following:

• Company Name

• Company Address

• UEI Number

• Company’s Size and Socio-Economic Status information (including applicable NAICS code)

• Technical Point(s) of Contact (Name, title, email, and phone number) having the authority and knowledge to discuss responses with government representatives.

• Contracting Point(s) of Contact (Name, title, email, and phone number)

• List of any and all contract vehicles under which your company is an awardee (e.g., Blanket Purchase Agreements, Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity contracts, etc.)

and the administering Federal agency mailto:Jennifer.Koons@hq.dhs.gov mailto:Dorothy.Woolfolk@hq.dhs.gov

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Submissions containing sensitive or proprietary information are discouraged unless excluding such information would inhibit vendors’ ability to provide a complete submission. Only unclassified submissions will be accepted.

The Government reserves the right to hold one-on-one meetings as a result of responses received from this RFI as part of its market research. Meetings may be held in particular with vendors who provide comprehensive responses to the questions posed.

All information received will be treated as public knowledge and may be used in DHS S&T program documentation; therefore, companies should not submit proprietary information in response to this RFI. At this time, proprietary information is not being requested. Respondents wishing to submit proprietary information should specifically mark or identify any information they perceive as proprietary for which they seek added protection. To the extent that any proprietary data is submitted with the RFI responses, it will be properly protected by DHS S&T. Proprietary information submitted as part of responses to the RFI should be clearly marked and identified as PROPRIETARY. Any information provided by industry to the Government as a result of this RFI is strictly voluntary.