A01_-_Sources_Sought_Vendor_Question_and_Answer.docx

Sources Sought Vendor Questions

1. Is there a preferred brand for this replacement?

This is a competitive procurement action. Several OEMs can meet the Salient Characteristics requirements. There is no brand preference in terms of evaluation for this requirement.

2. Have the rooms been designed and completed?

The room design is in process. The Government requires a site visit within 30 days after contract award (ACA) to evaluate the installation location at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), MD. The selected awardee will need to provide the Government with relevant specifications and recommendations for room modifications to be completed ACA.

3. What are the size of the rooms?

The size of the room is large enough to house the requested instruments and accommodate delivery/install of the units.

4. What are the utility layouts of the rooms (power, plumbing, HVAC) The utilities can be adjusted to meet proposed instruments specifications. The Government requires a site visit within 30 days after contract award (ACA) to evaluate the installation location at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), MD and provide the Government with relevant specifications and recommendations for room modifications.

5. Has an acoustic and vibration test been performed on the rooms?

Yes. This was done to identify the most viable room available. However, chosen vendor must conduct environmental tests to confirm locations of instruments within room and the possible need for environmental factors mitigation.

6. Has there been a room heat load test been completed for these items?

The instruments will be cooled with water chillers which will be installed in an adjacent room.

8. Section 1G, item # 51, “Included in three (3) year extended warranty, four (4) of each ion beam source consumables: i. liquid-metal ion source (LMIS), ii. extractor, iii. suppressor, and iv. aperture per year.” Can you please clarify if items i, ii, iii, and iv are required in the quantity of four (4) each per year? And if so, is that for 3 years (twelve [12] of each item)? Yes, items i, ii, iii, and iv are required in the quantity of four (4) each per year for three years.

9. “30. EDAX TEAM Pegasus Integrated EDS-EBSD with Octane Elite-70 and Hikari Super SEM interface for Hikari Camera integrated energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy/electron back-scattered detector (EDS/EBSD) system or most-current EDAX integrated EDS/EBSD system.” This gives a specification for an EDS and EBSD system manufactured by a specific vendor and limits competition to that single vendor. There are currently at least 4 vendors who can supply an EDS/EBSD combo system. My question is: Can this specification be changed to allow competition among several vendors? The Government requires an EDAX EDS/EBSD system, which is available to multiple microscope OEMs for installation on their microscopes.

Specification 14 for the Fib-FESEM and specification 6 within the Fe-SEM specifications are lock-out specification from one specific vendor, Thermo Scientific. If a supplier can meet, exceed or offer something slightly different from the specifications but not fully meet a specification, would this disqualify a vendor’s proposal? The two specifications mentioned above have been modified to “Large chamber with minimum width x depth x height dimensions of 250 x 250 x 250 mm.” for #14 and “Minimum ion source life of at least 1000 microamphours (Ahrs).” for #6. As long as a vendor is able to meet the stated requirement specifications, they will be considered technically acceptable for that specification.