DnF for OTFOC (REDACTED)_.pdf

Template last updated 4/23/2018

BRAND NAME DETERMINATION & FINDINGS FOR OTHER THAN FULL & OPEN COMPETITION

(ACTIONS SAT AND BELOW)

1. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED PROCUREMENT: One (1) Thermomechanical analyzer (TMA 450 EM) from TA instruments with Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) router, expansion, penetration, and volumetric dilatometry probes.

2. PROPOSED CONTRACTOR/MANUFACTURER:

TA Instruments – Waters L.L.C. (DBA TA Instruments) 159 Lukens Drive, New Castle, DE 19720-2765

CAGE: 0MJS5

Business Size: Other than Small Business POC: David Krause, david_krause@waters.com

3. ESTIMATED TOTAL VALUE: $[REDACTED]

4. STATUTORY AUTHORITY PERMITTING CONTRACTING WITHOUT PROVIDING FOR

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION: The statutory authority permitting sole source is 41 USC 1901(e), implemented by FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i):

X Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency

Requirements.

5. JUSTIFICATION FOR THE AUTHORITY CITED ABOVE:

The item(s) listed in section one above is available from only one source and competition is precluded for reasons indicated below. There are no substitutes available.

X Proprietary: A patent, copyright, or proprietary data limits competition. The proprietary data are described as follows:

The required Thermomechanical Analyzer (TMA 450 EM) is mission critical for the research of bioelectromagnetic and thermoelastic interactions within the Special Projects Team (SPT) of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Division of the Army Research Laboratory (ARL).

The device will allow measurements of the thermal expansion coefficient, density, and mechanical properties via creep and relaxation testing of polymer materials. The SPT research group must uncover these mechanical properties for application in currently utilized finite element models. The proposed purchase will provide the correct material properties (compatible with current physics-based modeling) which will be used to perform ongoing simulation work to inform the future experiments. The TMA 450 EM is the only device capable of providing the full scope of material properties that are compatible with the physics-based simulations of the SPT group (coefficient of thermal expansion in gelatin, stiffness measurements during thermal loading, and viscoelastic properties at elevated temperatures).

Furthermore, market research suggests that the TMA 450 EM by TA instruments is the only instrumentation on the market that can provide the physical material constants (coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), density, young’s modulus, storage and loss moduli) for the temperature ranges of interest (20 to 45 degrees Celsius) required in our model validation.

Similarly designed equipment and analyzers on the market are unable to produce the full