SATPC0043125 Tab 06 RDSS..pdf

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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER

RECOMMENDATION AND DETERMINATION TO SOLICIT FROM ONE SOURCE

OR BRAND NAME

PICK ONE

Sole Source:

☒I recommend that NASA, NASA Shared Services Center negotiate with Kruss Scientific Instruments only for Kruss Dynamic Surface Analyzer DSA100E (contact angle goniometer). The total estimated cost of this effort is and the estimated period of performance or lead-time for delivery is 12/1/2026.

OR

Brand Name Justification:

☐I recommend that NASA, NASA Shared Services Center negotiate only with vendors who can provide the subject brand name from Manufacture Name for Product being purchased. The total estimated cost of this effort is $Dollar Amount and the estimated period of performance or lead-time for delivery is Date .

This recommendation is for the acquisition of supplies or services determined to be reasonably available from only one source/only one manufacture. Competition is impractical for the following reasons (please answer the questions below):

1. What are the reasons for soliciting only the suggested source/suggested brand name? Please provide the unique characteristics of the items or services along with the supporting rationale and the market research performed to substantiate your reason for the suggested source/brand name.

The KRÜSS DSA100E is the only instrument that meets NASA’s full technical and operational requirements for automated, high‑throughput contact‑angle measurement, dynamic wetting analysis, and surface‑energy characterization across the wide range of materials we evaluate, including textiles, composites, polymers, metals, and coated hardgoods. Market research shows that while other manufacturers offer individual capabilities, such as contact‑angle measurement, automated stages, high‑speed imaging, or liquid dosing, no other system integrates all of these functions into a single, turnkey platform without requiring custom programming, manual data stitching, or significant operator intervention.

The DSA100E provides a uniquely complete workflow. Its automated XYZ positioning, recipe‑driven operation, and multi‑liquid dosing allow users to perform complex measurements with one‑click reproducibility, which is essential for a laboratory environment where students, interns, and researchers with varying levels of experience must generate consistent and defensible data. The instrument’s high‑speed imaging captures rapid wetting and absorption behavior that conventional systems cannot resolve, and its pressure‑based Liquid Needle dosing ensures highly repeatable droplet formation and immediate measurement initiation. The system also performs automated multi‑point surface mapping and generates contour plots of hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, and surface uniformity directly within the KRÜSS ADVANCE software, eliminating the need for third‑party analysis tools.

2. What is the impact to the government if another vendor/brand is used? Include any dollar, schedule, or compatibility impacts if possible.

Selecting another vendor would introduce significant technical, schedule, and cost impacts. Systems from other manufacturers lack the fully integrated automation, high‑speed dynamic capture, multi‑liquid dosing, and recipe‑controlled workflows required for reproducible measurements across diverse materials. Without these capabilities, operators would need to manually position samples, manually dose liquids, and manually process data, resulting in increased operator variability, reduced measurement

Page 2 V2.0 3-15-2017 fidelity, and substantially lower throughput. This would slow testing campaigns, particularly those involving students or interns who rely on automated workflows to produce consistent results.

Alternative systems would also require manual data stitching or separate instruments to achieve the same range of functions provided by the DSA100E, increasing both acquisition and operational costs. The absence of automated multi‑point mapping would limit our ability to evaluate spatial uniformity or degradation in textiles and hardgoods after dust exposure or environmental testing. Incomplete or inconsistent data would lead to repeated measurements, wasted materials, and delays in research milestones.

In short, using another vendor would compromise data quality, reduce reproducibility, increase labor requirements, and extend schedules for materials evaluation and dust‑mitigation research. The KRÜSS DSA100E avoids these risks by providing a fully integrated, automated, and validated workflow that no other system can match.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

10/26/2026

Technical User Name Date

Title

Office