A02.09 Brand Name Justification Redacted.pdf

ERDC Control No. 22-2469

BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION

1. Agency/Contracting Activity: Engineer Research and Development Center – Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC – CERL)

2. Description of Action:

Nature: New Requirement Follow-On Requirement Mod to Existing Purchase Order/Contract Number

Pricing: Firm-Fixed Price Time and Materials

Funds: OMA Other Funds: Army RDT&E

3. Description of Supplies/Services:

a. The total estimated dollar value of the proposed action is

b. This acquisition is for one Thermo Fisher Brand Benchtop Scanning Electron Microscope

(SEM), specifically the Phenom Pharos G2 FEG-SEM.

4. Authority: FAR 13.106-1(b) (1): For purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT), contracting officers may solicit from one source if the contracting officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available (e.g. urgency, exclusive licensing agreements, brand name, or industrial mobilization.)

5. Reason for Authority Cited: Market research performed by the Government has found that the Thermo Fisher Phenom Pharos G2 FEG-SEM is the only item of its kind that will meet all the basic SEM requirements of the Government research team that will be utilizing this equipment, which are listed below, and has specialized capabilities for electron optical magnification of up to 2,000,000x, and a resolution of <2.0nm.

Basic requirements include:

27-160x light optical magnification Live optical color navigation camera Includes integrated Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) capabilities EDS capable of elemental mapping and identifying materials of atomic number including and from 5 (Boron) to 98 (Californium) EDS capable of auto peak identification and recalculating based on user adjustments EDS capable of integrated column and stage control Pump down in under 40 seconds Light optical sample loading no more than 5 second Electron optical sample loading no more than 30 seconds

ERDC Control No. 22-2469

Long lifetime Schottky Field Emission source Secondary Electron Detector (SED) capabilities ParticleMetric software package capabilities Sample space area at least 25mm diameter Motorized x and y sample stage Sample holder capable of tilt and rotation Acceleration Voltage Range: 1 to 20kV 4 Quadrant Backscatter electron (BSE) detector included Integrated low-/medium-/high- vacuum modes Minimum image resolution options 960 x 600, 1920 x 1200, 3840 x 2400 and 7680 x

4800 pixels The entire system, including any controlling electronics and sample preparation, must be desktop size and not required to rest on the floor

It was identified through market research that there are 6 benchtop SEM systems with the capability for an add-on EDS detector. Of those 6 systems, the Thermo Fisher Phenom Pharos G2 FEG-SEM was the only system to meet all the government’s requirements.

6. Actions to Increase Competition: It has been discovered that there are multiple distributors of the Thermo Fisher Phenom Pharos G2 FEG-SEM. This action will be posted on System of Award Management (SAM.gov) opening competition to distributors of this equipment.

7. Market Research:

(1) Market research, which included an extensive internet search, has identified 6 benchtop SEM systems with the capability for an add-on EDS detector, one of the basic SEM requirements listed above. The six that were found are the Thermo Fisher Phenom Pharos G2 FEG-SEM, Nanoimages SNE-4500M Plus Tabletop SEM, Thermo Fisher Phenom XL G2, JEOL JCM-700, Coxem Co. Ltd/Element Pi EM-30, and Hitachi TM4000Plus. Of these, the Thermo Fisher Phenom Pharos G2 FEG-SEM is the only one that has the specialized capabilities of magnification of 2,000,000x and a <2.0nm Resolution. We found that there are three sources that sell this instrument: Thermo Fisher Scientific, Nanoscience, and Blue Scientific Limited.

(2) Research performed in February and March 2022.

8. Procurement History:

Previous Purchase Orders(s) or Contract(s): Yes No Purchase order or contract number:

Was action competed? Yes No If action was not competed, state the cited authority, summarize rationale:

9. Additional information to support the justification: None