SB1341-17-RQ-0085.docx

SB1341-17-RQ-0085

THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN FAR SUBPART 12.6-STREAMLINED PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATION AND SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS-AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; QUOTATIONS ARE BEING REQUESTED, AND A SEPARATE WRITTEN SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED. THE SOLICITATION IS BEING ISSUED USING SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES.

This solicitation is a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-92.

1352.215-72 INQUIRIES (APR 2010)

Offerors must submit all questions concerning this solicitation in writing, via email, to both the Contract Specialist (joni.laster@nist.gov) and the Contracting Officer (Patrick.staines@nist.gov). Questions shall be received no later than seven (7) calendar days after the issuance date of this solicitation.

All responses to the questions will be made in writing, without identification of the questioner, and will be included in an amendment to the solicitation. Even if provided in other form, on the question responses included in the amendment to the solicitation will govern performance of the contract. (end of provision) The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 334516 with a small business size standard of 1000 employees or less.

This acquisition is 100% set-aside for small business.

BACKGROUND

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is issuing this solicitation for the purchase of one post-CMP wafer cleaner to support nanofabrication in the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST), NIST’s nanotechnology user facility. The wafer cleaner will be sited and used in the CNST NanoFab as a shared resource accessible to researchers from industry, academia, NIST, and other Government agencies.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

A post-CMP wafer cleaner is a stand-alone piece of equipment used to remove the slurry particles left over on the front and back of wafer surfaces after chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). It uses soft polymer rotating brushes, and typically a mild ammonia solution on a rotating wafer. Final rinse is performed with deionized wafer and “megasonic” agitation (megahertz frequency) to loosen any remaining particles. The wafer is then immediately dried using high speed spinning and dry nitrogen.

All items must be new. Prototypes, first articles, demonstration models, used, refurbished or otherwise developmental systems, will not be considered for award.

All offerors shall provide a firm fixed price quotation for the following line items:

LINE ITEM 0001: Quantity One (1) Post-CMP Wafer Cleaner which shall meet or exceed all of the following minimum required specifications:

12. The system shall meet all SEMI S2 safety standards

13. Process capability: fewer than 60 particles, 0.2 micrometer in size or larger, per substrate LINE ITEM 0002: Quantity One (1) Lot, set of spare parts, to include at a minimum, the following:

LINE ITEM 0003: Quantity One (1) lot, Training:

The Contractor shall provide training, on-site at NIST Gaithersburg campus, for a minimum of 3 (three) NIST personnel, consisting of 1 business day of application engineering and 1 business day of basic operation and maintenance. This training shall commence within one week of installation. The Technical Point of Contact will contact the Contractor to schedule the training immediately upon completion of installation by the Government.

DELIVERY:

Delivery shall be FOB Destination, within consignee’s premises, and within 4 months from the date of an award. Due to room renovations that may be required before the equipment can be installed and tested, deliveries prior to 4 months from date of award must be mutually agreed upon.

The term “f.o.b. destination within consignee’s premises means (a) free of expense to the Government delivered and laid down within the doors of the consignee’s premises, including delivery to specific rooms within a building if so specified and (b) The Contractor shall (1)(i) Pack and mark the shipment to comply with contract specifications; or (ii) In the absence of specifications, prepare the shipment in conformance with carrier requirements; (2) Prepare and distribute commercial bills of lading;(3) Deliver the shipment in good order and condition to the point of delivery specified in the contract;(4) Be responsible for any loss of and/or damage to the goods occurring before receipt of the shipment by the consignee at the delivery point specified in the contract;(5) Furnish a delivery schedule and designate the mode of delivering carrier; and (6) Pay and bear all charges to the specified point of delivery.

INSTALLATION:

Installation shall be performed by the Government. NIST shall be responsible for providing all necessary utilities, integration and interconnections.

WARRANTY:

The system shall have a warranty of one year for parts and labor commencing on the date of acceptance by the Government. This warranty shall include phone support within 1 business day and on-site support within 2 business days.

PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES:

The following provisions and clauses apply to this acquisition and are hereby incorporated by reference. All FAR clauses may be viewed at http://acquisition.gov/comp/far/index.html.

PROVISIONS

52.204-7, System for Award Management 52.204-16, Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting 52.204-17, Ownership or Control of Offeror 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications -- Commercial Items (Oct 2016) The offeror shall complete only paragraphs (b) of this provision if the Offeror has completed the annual representations and certification electronically via the System for Award Management (SAM) Web site accessed through http://www.sam.gov/portal. If the Offeror has not completed the annual representations and certifications electronically, the Offeror shall complete only paragraphs (c) through (s) of this provision.

Per Court Injunction dated 24 Oct 2016 and OMB memo dated 25 Oct 2016 the following definitions of FAR 52.212-3 are not implemented into this solicitation.

“Administrative merits determination” “Arbitral award or decision” Paragraph (2) of “Civil judgment” “DOL Guidance” “Enforcement agency” “Labor compliance agreement” “Labor laws” “Labor law decision” Per Court Injunction dated 24 Oct. 2016 and OMB memo dated 25 Oct. 2016 paragraph (s) of 52.212-3 is not implemented into this solicitation.

52.225-2 -- Buy American Certificate.

Buy American Certificate (May 2014)

(a) The offeror certifies that each end product, except those listed in paragraph (b) of this provision, is a domestic end product and that for other than COTS items, the offeror has considered components of unknown origin to have been mined, produced, or manufactured outside the United States. The offeror shall list as foreign end products those end products manufactured in the United States that do not qualify as domestic end products, i.e., an end product that is not a COTS item and does not meet the component test in paragraph (2) of the definition of “domestic end product.” The terms “commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) item,” “component,” “domestic end product,” “end product,” “foreign end product,” and “United States” are defined in the clause of this solicitation entitled “Buy American—Supplies.”

(b) Foreign End Products:

[List as necessary]

(c) The Government will evaluate offers in accordance with the policies and procedures of Part 25 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

(End of Provision) 52.225-18, Place of Manufacture;

Offerors shall complete annual representations and certifications on-line at http://orca.bpn.gov in accordance with FAR 52.212-3 Offerors Representations and Certifications- Commercial Items. If paragraph (j) of the provision is applicable, a written submission is required.

52.225-25, Prohibition on Contracting with Entities Engaging in Sanctioned Activities Relating to Iran Representation by Corporations Regarding an Unpaid Delinquent Tax Liability or a Felony Conviction Under Any Federal Law (Class Deviation) (March 2015)

(1) In accordance with Sections 744 and 745 of Division E, Title VII, of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235), none of the funds made available by the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 funding may be used to enter into a contract with any corporation that-

(a) Was convicted of a felony criminal violation under any Federal law within the preceding 24 months, where an awarding agency is aware of the conviction, unless the agency has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and has made a determination that this further action is not necessary to protect the interests of the Government, or

(b) Has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability, where the awarding agency is aware of the unpaid tax liability, unless the agency has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and made a determination that this further action is not necessary to protect the interests of the Government.

(2) The Offeror represents that, as of the date of this offer-

(a) It is [ ] is not [ ] a corporation that was convicted of a felony criminal violation under a Federal law within the preceding 24 months.

(b) It is [ ] is not [ ] a corporation that has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability.

(End of provision) 52.203-98, Prohibition on Contracting with Entities that Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements—Representation (DEVIATION 2015-02)

Prohibition on Contracting with Entities that Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements—Representation (FEB 2015)

1. In accordance with section 743 of Division E, Title VII, of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Resolution Appropriations Act, 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235), Government agencies are not permitted to use funds appropriated (or otherwise made available) under that or any other Act for contracts with an entity that requires employees or subcontractors of such entity seeking to report fraud, waste, or abuse to sign internal confidentiality agreements or statements prohibiting or otherwise restricting such employees or subcontractors from lawfully reporting such waste, fraud, or abuse to a designated investigative or law enforcement representative of a Federal department or agency authorized to receive such information.

(b) The prohibition in paragraph (a) of this provision does not contravene requirements applicable to Standard Form 312, Form 4414, or any other form issued by a Federal department or agency governing the nondisclosure of classified information.

(c) Representation. By submission of its offer, the Offeror represents that it does not require employees or subcontractors of such entity seeking to report fraud, waste, or abuse to sign internal confidentiality agreements or statements prohibiting or otherwise restricting such employees or subcontractors from lawfully reporting such waste, fraud, or abuse to a designated investigative or law enforcement representative of a Federal department or agency authorized to receive such information. (End of provision)

CLAUSES

52.204-13 System for Award Management Maintenance;

52.204-18, Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance;

52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions—Commercial Items 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders— Commercial Items (NOV 2013) 52.204-10 Reporting Executive Compensation and First Tier Contract awards 52.209-10 Prohibition on Contracting with Inverted Domestic Corporations 52.219-6, Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside 52.219- 28 Post Award Small Business Program Representation 52.222-3, Convict Labor;

52.222-19 Child Labor – Cooperation With Authorities And Remedies;

52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities;

52-222-26, Equal Opportunity;

52.222-36, Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities;

52.223-18 Contractor Policy to Ban Text Messaging While Driving.

52.225-1 -- Buy American –Supplies;

52.225-13 Restriction on Certain Foreign Purchases;

52.232-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-Central Contractor Registration.

52.203-99, Prohibition on Contracting with Entities that Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements (DEVIATION 2015-02) PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTING WITH ENTITIES THAT REQUIRE CERTAIN INTERNAL CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENTS (FEB 2015)

(End of clause) 52.232-39, Unenforceability of Unauthorized Obligations;

52.232-40 -- Providing Accelerated Payment to Small Business Subcontractors;

52.247-35 F.O.B. Destination, Within Consignee’s Premises

CAR CLAUSES FULL TEXT CAN BE ACCESSED AT:

http://farsite.hill.af.mil/VFCARA.HTM 1352.201-70, Contracting Officer's Authority 1352.209-73, Compliance With the Laws 1352.209-74 Organizational Conflict of Interest

1352.246-70 PLACE OF ACCEPTANCE (APR 2010)

(a) The Contracting Officer or the duly authorized representative will accept supplies and services to be provided under this contract. (b) The place of acceptance will be:

100 Bureau Drive, Bldg. 215, Room C02-2, Gaithersburg, MD. 20899-0001.

(End of clause)

FACTORY ACCEPTANCE TESTING (PRE-SHIPMENT)

Prior to shipment, The Contractor shall provide the NIST Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) with at least one (1) wafer cleaning process recipe and particle count data obtained with this recipe, using the tool in which the Contractor has manufactured for NIST, which shall demonstrate the process effectiveness. The particle count data shall confirm fewer than 60 particles, 0.2 micrometer in size or larger, per substrate.

INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

In addition to the inspection and acceptance terms articulated in 52.212-4, the Government reserves the right to perform such performance tests and evaluations as defined below to verify specified system performance. Such tests and evaluations, if performed, shall be conducted within the environment that the system is to be operated. The Contractor has the right to be present during the tests and evaluations, if performed, at the Contractor’s expense.

Inspection will be done at the NIST facility upon completion of installation. All minimum specifications must be successfully demonstrated upon completion of installation.

Prior to final acceptance of the system and final payment by NIST, the system must meet all of the minimum required specifications.

INSTRUCTIONS:

System for Award Management (SAM) Registration In accordance with FAR 52.204-7, the awardee must be registered in the System for Award Management (www.sam.gov) prior to award. Refusal to register shall forfeit award.

DUE DATE FOR QUOTATIONS

Offerors shall submit their electronic quotations, via email, so that NIST receives them not later than 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on January 6, 2017. E-mail quotations shall be submitted directly to the Contract Specialist at joni.laster@nist.gov and the Contracting Officer at patrick.staines@nist.gov.

Please reference the RFQ number in the subject line of email communications. Offerors quotations shall not be deemed received by the Government until the quotation is entered in the e-mail inbox set forth above.

Addendum to FAR 52.212-1, Quotation Preparation Instructions Price Quotation (Vol. I), Technical Quotation (Vol. II), Past Performance/References & Experience (Vol. III) Incomplete quotations may be considered non-responsive and removed from further consideration. Quotations shall be clearly and concisely written as well as being neat, indexed (cross-indexed as appropriate) and logically assembled. All pages of each part shall be appropriately numbered and identified with the name of the offeror, the date, and the solicitation number.

Volume I - Price Quotation:

The offeror shall submit an electronic copy of the completed price quotation. The price quotation shall be separate from any other portion of the quotation. The offeror shall propose a separate firm-fixed-price, FOB Destination, for each CLIN. Price quotations shall remain valid for a period of 90 days from the date quotations are due. Contractor shall state express warranty coverage.

Acceptance of Terms and Conditions (Addendum to FAR 52.212-1(b) (11)):

The Government intends to award a Purchase Order as a result of this solicitation that will include the clauses set forth herein. The quotation should include one of the following statements:

“The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document without modification, deletion, or addition.”

OR

“The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document with the exception, deletion, or addition of the following:

Offeror shall list exception(s) and rationale for the exception(s) Note: This procurement is not being conducted under the GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) program or another Government-Wide Area Contract (GWAC). If an Offeror submits a quotation based upon an FSS or GWAC contract, the Government will accept the quoted price. However, the terms and conditions stated herein will be included in any resultant purchase order, not the terms and conditions of the Offeror’s FSS or GWAC contract, and the statement required above shall be included in the quotation.

Volume II - Technical Quotation:

The offeror shall submit an electronic technical quotation, via email. The technical quotation shall address the following:

Technical Capability:

The offeror shall provide documentation that demonstrates that the proposed equipment shall be capable of meeting or exceeding the minimum requirements.

The offeror must submit a technical description or product literature for the equipment it is proposing, which clearly identifies the manufacturer, make and model and clearly demonstrates its proposed equipment meets or exceeds each minimum requirement described in the required specifications, by providing a citation to the relevant section of its technical description or product literature.

The offeror must submit with its technical quotation the foot print and facility requirements (electrical supply, exhaust, drain and water).

If applicable, evidence that the Offeror is authorized by the original equipment manufacturer to provide the item(s) in the quotation shall be included.

NIST will evaluate technical capability of specifications 1-12 based on the documentation submitted with the Contractor’s quote.

After an initial evaluation for compliance to specifications 1-12, Contractors determined to be technically compliant shall be provided with five silicon wafers, to perform process capability testing for meeting specification 13, as set forth below:

The offeror shall be able to clearly demonstrate the tool capability by providing NIST with particle count measurements post-CMP and after cleaning, obtained with a particle count/mapping system such as KLA-Tencor Surfscan or similar instrument. NIST will provide all offerors determined to be technically acceptable after review of the submitted technical documentation with five silicon wafers, 200 mm in diameter and coated with 750 nm of thermal SiO2. Upon receipt of the wafers, offeror shall CMP each wafer and remove approximately 100 nm of SiO2, then run them through the cleaning process. To be considered further for award, offeror must meet a particle specification of fewer than 60 particles, 0.2 micrometer in size or larger, per substrate on each wafer.

Upon completion of the technical evaluation by NIST, those offerors determined to be compliant with specifications 1-12, shall be contacted by the Contract Specialist.

The Contract Specialist will then confirm the offerors shipping information and point of contact for receipt of the NIST supplied wafers. NIST will forward the wafers via overnight delivery. Offerors shall have two weeks, from the date of receipt of the wafers, to perform the specific testing, as specified by the Government. Offerors shall return the wafers to NIST, via overnight delivery. Offerors shall provide an electronic copy, hard copy, or both, whichever is available, of the raw data generated by the particle counting machine: statistics showing the particle size distribution and wafer maps.

3) Volume III - Past Performance & Experience:

PAST PERFORMANCE:

The offeror shall provide past performance information regarding relevant contracts over the past three years with Federal, state, or local governments, or commercial customers.

A list of references, preferably at least 3, if available, to whom the same or similar equipment has been provided. The list of references shall include, at a minimum:

1. The name of the reference contact person and the company or organization;

2. The telephone number and email address of the reference contact person;

3. The contract or grant number, the amount of the contract and the address and the telephone number of the Contracting Officer if applicable; the date of delivery or the date services were completed and a description of the equipment sold to each reference.

If the offeror has no relevant past performance, it may include a statement to that effect in its quotation. The government reserves the right to consider data obtained from sources other than those described by the offeror in its quotation.

EXPERIENCE:

The offeror shall provide information which demonstrates the offeror’s experience in the post-CMP cleaning process and offers assistance in process development. The vendor shall provide NIST with particle count data obtained from the same or similar model of wafer cleaner as the model the offeror is proposing. The data shall be no older than three years old.

QUOTATION EVALUATION:

Evaluation Factors:

Award shall be made to the offeror whose quotation offers the best value to the Government price and other factors considered. The Government will evaluate quotations based on the following evaluation criteria: 1) Technical Capability 2) Past Performance, 3) Experience and 4) Price. All non-price factors, when combined, are approximately equal in importance to price.

TECHNICAL CAPABILITY:

All items must be new. Prototypes, used or refurbished instruments will not be considered for award.

Evaluation of technical capability shall be based on the information provided in the quotation, including the information generated from the NIST supplied silicon wafers as set forth in the addendum to FAR 52.212-1 above.

NIST will perform an initial technical evaluation to determine that the offeror has clearly demonstrated its capability to meet or exceed the minimum specifications identified under the minimum requirements for specifications 1-12.

Quotations that do not clearly demonstrate the offerors compliance to these minimum specifications (1-12) will not be considered further for award.

Offerors that clearly demonstrate compliance to the minimum required specifications in 1-12, shall be provided with wafers and given the opportunity to verify compliance to minimum required specification 13. (see the addendum to FAR 52.212-1 above for further information regarding additional compliance requirements and procedures) Only offerors that can clearly demonstrate compliance to all minimum required specification’s (1-13) shall be considered for an award.

PAST PERFORMANCE:

The Government will evaluate the Offeror's past performance information and, if appropriate, its proposed subcontractors' past performance to determine its relevance to the current requirement and the extent to which it demonstrates that the offeror has successfully completed relevant contracts in the past three years.

In assessing the offeror's past performance information, NIST will evaluate, as appropriate, successful performance of contract requirements, quality and timeliness of delivery of goods and services, cost management, communications between contracting parties, proactive management and customer satisfaction.

Evaluation of this factor will be based on information contained in the technical portion of the quotation and information provided by references. The Government will evaluate past performance information by contacting appropriate references, including NIST references, if applicable.

The Government may also consider other available information in evaluating the Offeror’s past performance.

The Government will assign a neutral rating if the offeror has no relevant past performance information.

EXPERIENCE:

NIST will evaluate the extent of the offeror’s experience providing similar equipment. NIST will give preference to offerors who demonstrate they have experience delivering the same equipment they are proposing for the current requirement.

PRICE:

The Government will evaluate price for reasonableness.

1352.233-70 AGENCY PROTESTS (APR 2010)

(a) An agency protest may be filed with either (1) the Contracting Officer, or (2) at a level above the Contracting Officer, with the agency Protest Decision Authority. See 64 Fed. Reg. 16,651 (April 6, 1999).

(b) Agency protests filed with the Contracting Officer shall be sent to the following address:

NIST/ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT DIVISION

ATTN: PATRICK STAINES, CONTRACTING OFFICER

100 Bureau Drive, MS 1640 Gaithersburg, MD 20899

(c) Agency protests filed with the Protest Decision Authority shall be sent to the following address: NIST/ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT DIVISION

ATTN: HEAD OF THE CONTRACTING OFFICE (HCO)

100 Bureau Drive, MS 1640 Gaithersburg, MD 20899

(d) A complete copy of all agency protest, including all attachments, shall be served upon the Contract Law Division of the Office of the General Counsel within one day of filing a protest with either the Contracting Officer or the Protest Decision Authority.

(e) Service upon the Contract law Division shall be made as follows:

U.S. Department of Commerce Office of the General Counsel Chief, Contract Law Division Room 5893 Herbert C. Hoover Building 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20230

FAX: (202) 482-5858

1352.233-71 GAO AND COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS PROTESTS (APR 2010)

(a) A protest may be filed with either the Government Accountability Office (GAO) or the Court of Federal Claims unless an agency protest has been filed.

(b) A complete copy of all GAO or Court of Federal Claims protests, including all attachments, shall be served upon (i) the Contracting Officer, and (ii) the Contract Law Division of the Office of the General Counsel, within one day of filing a protest with either GAO or the Court of Federal Claims.

(c) Service upon the Contract Law Division shall be made as follows:

U.S. Department of Commerce Office of the General Counsel Chief, Contract Law Division Room 5893 Herbert C. Hoover Building 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20230

FAX: (202) 482-5858

(End of clause)