Electrical Discharge Machine Using Ultrafine Wire

NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A SOLE SOURCE

The US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) intends to issue a firm-fixed-price commercial item contract to a single source under the authority of FAR 6.302-1(a)(2), Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services will Satisfy Agency Requirements, on or about 31 August 2012 to Tuckahoe Trading Inc. The delivery period is 168 days after receipt of order. The estimated cost is $569,966.00.

The prospective contractor shall provide the AgieCharmilles Cut 1000+F electrical discharge machine and supporting accessories in support of the micro-fabrication of devices operating at upper-millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths. The specific electric discharge machine and supporting features, software and software licensing, documentation, tooling, and consumables are listed in Table I below. In addition, the machine will be delivered and installed at NRL and the contractor will provide training in its use.

Maximum quantities that can be awarded for each contract line item are as follows:

TABLE:
Quantity Contract Line Item
1 AgieCharmilles Cut 1000+F
1 User License for Vision 5 PC Cut
1 Control Module for additional axis for Cut 1000
1 Additional set of equipment manuals (short version)
1 Variant pneumatic interface for pedal operation (foot switch)
1 Stacklamp indicator
1 Additional Axis JS R-10100D--55 stainless steel
1 Variant A-axis with System 3R chuck SP 7359-RS
1 Measuring Instrument DTMB 500
1 ResinMax Deionizing System
1 WEDM Tooling Starter Kit
1 Custom 3R Tooling Package
1 Custom Consumables Package

NRL intends to award this requirement as a sole source to Tuckahoe Trading Inc. because it is the exclusive regional distributor of the AgieCharmilles Cut 1000+F for Washington, DC. The AgieCharmilles Cut 1000+F electrical discharge machine is the only commercially available machine capable of meeting the government's needs, which include:

• Capability to cut with both brass and tungsten wire.
• Cutting wire diameters ranging from a minimum of 0.0008 inches up to at least 0.008 inches.
• A minimum positioning resolution of not more than 1 × 10-7 meters (0.1 µm).
• Use of deionized water as the dielectric fluid with a built-in system to monitor and maintain water temperature and purity.
• A dual-wire threading system that can automatically switch between spools with two different diameter wires to accommodate different cutting widths and speeds.
• Capability to automatically thread wires into the feed system without requiring manual wire-guide changes and accommodate wire diameters of at least 0.008 inches down to a minimum diameter 0.0008 inches.
• An additional rotary axis under full computer numerical control (CNC) with a hands-free pneumatically actuated 3R chuck in addition to linear x-y motion control.
• Software to simulate the operation of the machine CNC on a separate computer running the Windows operating system for the purposes of verifying the CNC code independently of the EDM machine.
• Internal computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software so that computer-aided design (CAD) models can be uploaded and converted to machine code suitable for running on the EDM.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement is 333512 with the size standard of 500 employees. This notice of intent is not a request for proposals or quotes; however, all responsible sources may submit a quotation and technical capabilities, which, if received within fifteen calendar days of publication of this notice, shall be considered by NRL. All responses must be submitted to the government point of contact at the e-mail address shown below. A determination by the government not to open the requirement to competition based upon the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the government.