CMS HL Scintillator Tileboards PCBs

The Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is seeking to procure bare printed circuit boards (PCBs) for scintillator tileboards as part of the CMS High Luminosity (HL) project at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The solicitation requires 1,370 total units comprising three different tileboard types: 775 units of Tileboard 9533-02 (D8), 415 units of Tileboard 9528-01 (B12), and 180 units of Tileboard 9582-01 (G5). The PCBs must meet stringent technical specifications including 8-layer design, 1.3mm thickness, halogen-free materials, ENIG surface finish, and the ability to operate reliably for at least 15 years in extreme conditions ranging from -40°C to +40°C. Proposals exceeding $10,000 must include completed SARC and PUR-466 certification documents, and all submissions must comply with the DO-34125 Tileboards Technical Specification. The evaluation will use a best value source selection method, with award going to the lowest-priced technically acceptable offeror, and proposals are due by 5 PM Central Time on July 28, 2025.

This solicitation does not utilize any set-aside designations and no incumbent contractors are identified in the documentation. While no specific contract value is disclosed, the procurement falls under the NAICS code 334412 for Bare Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing and requires delivery within 20 days of award. The technical specifications indicate this is a high-value, precision manufacturing requirement given the complex 8-layer PCB design and extensive quality control measures including factory acceptance tests, site acceptance tests at Fermilab, and compliance with IPC standards and RoHS regulations. The place of performance is Batavia, Illinois, where the completed PCBs will be delivered to Fermilab Receiving Warehouse 2. The procurement supports the broader CMS experiment detector upgrade scheduled for 2029, representing a critical component of the High-Granularity Calorimeter project requiring approximately 4,000 trapezoidal PCBs with sizes ranging from 165mm x 240mm to 380mm x 416mm.