ADR Cryostat

This is a Notice of Proposed Contract Action under the FAR Part 12 Acquisition of Commercial Items and FAR Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures. This notice is for information only; a solicitation will not be issued. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTATION. No contract will be awarded on the basis of offers received in response to this notice. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 334516 with a small business size standard of 1,000 employees.

The Government requires the purchase of the following:

(1) Shasta Model 106 Cryostat with ADR (Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator) and PT410

This Shasta Model 106 Cyrostat has a Cryomech PT410 Pulse Tube Cooler. The ADR stores heat in a “salt pill”, a block of paramagnetic salt, via a cooling cycle. This refrigerator uses paramagnetic solids called Gadolinum-Gallium Garnet (GGG) and Ferric Ammonium Alum (FAA), whose cooling rates are shown in the table below. The cryostat ADR has a stage at 1 K (GGG) and a stage at 50 mK (FAA). The cryostat uses a heat switch to connect the salt pill with a coolant bath to dump its heat into. The heat switch driven by motors mounted inside the vacuum jacket to maximize heat flow between the 3 K stage and the ADR (the motors are powered by CryosBoss software interface).  The ADR is typically cooled from 300 K (room temperature) to 4 K in approximately 15 hours. The temperature can be regulated at 100 mK for 120 – 250 hours, depending on the load.

(1) Rack Mounted Model 154 Lakeshore Based Control System

This system can control root-mean-square temperature fluctuations on the ADR stage that are less than 10 microkelvin. The Lakeshore Based Control system includes CryoBoss software and TC/IP or LabView shared variables. With this system we can continuously adjust the ADR temperate, the superconducting magnet, measure the power supply to the magnet and control signals, and read the temperature of silicon diode sensors.

(1) Spacious Floor Stand

The spacious floor stand is designed to put the coldest stage of the cryostat at a comfortable, work height when sitting in an office chair.

(8) Coax cable, 300 K to 50 mK stage, SMA terminated (8x)

These coaxial cables are heat sunk for transmission through a large range of temperatures. The cables also have enough flexibility to bend to match many applications in the 1K to 50 mK temperature range.

(16) Optical fibers from 300 K to ADR stage

(1) 25-pin loom, 36 Ga CU, twisted pair, 300 K to 3 K with 300 K feedthrough

Allows for DC and low-frequency control signals and measurements in the temperature range specified.

(1) Installation and Training

This training includes three days on site for Installation and Training.

The Government intends to negotiate a sole-source contract for the purchase of the items described above.  The identified sole-source provider/producer of these items is as follows:

High Precision Devices, Inc.

4601 Nautilus Court South, Suite 100

Boulder, Colorado 80301

The Government has determined that no other source can meet this requirement. Currently, HPD is the only known commercial entity that can provide an adiabatic magnetization refrigerator with an accelerated cool-down option.  This option greatly reduces the amount of time it takes to prepare the refrigerator for operation; namely, it enables cooling from room temperature to 4 K (4 degrees above absolute zero) in less than four hours – this is to be compared with conventional approaches used by other vendors which generally take 14 to 16 hours to achieve the same level of cooling. 

This is a notice of proposed contract action and NOT a request for competitive quotations; however, all responsible sources may submit a capability statement or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency. All inquiries should be sent by email to Brooke.McDonald@us.af.mil. Responses must be submitted by the date/time listed on the notice. Any response to this notice must show clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government in future procurements.

Responses received will be evaluated; however a determination by the Government not to compete the proposed procurement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The Government anticipates an award date on or before 30 April 2020.

A Sole Source Justification will be attached to the subsequent Notice of Award in accordance with applicable regulation.