Exhibit Lighting Justification

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR SOLE SOURCE AWARD FOR EXHIBIT LIGHTING AND EXHIBIT TRACK IN HISTORIC MASONRY MUSEUM BUILDINGS

Authority

The Smithsonian requires support of its in-house exhibit lighting efforts and intends to sole source contracts for lighting and track equipment for a series of exhibit specific installations valued at $4.8M in 2020, $2.3M in 2021, and $1.4M in 2022. These anticipated contracts are described and justified herein in accordance with the authority provided in 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(3) as implemented by FAR 6.302-3, Industrial Mobilization; Engineering, Developmental or Research Capability.

Justification and approval is set forth in the detailed statement of requirements attached to this notice, and summarized below.

This project entails selection of interoperable equipment that meets requirements for 1) exhibit lighting of historic oil paintings; 2) that can be installed on a historic, barrel vaulted masonry ceiling without risk of unnecessary damage thereto and 3) using existing housings. The selected system will be installed by in-house lighting staff at the Smithsonian.

Lighting Services, Inc. is the only responsible source to provide lighting fixtures and lighting track for installation in a barrel-vaulted, historic masonry gallery. Lighting track can be bent to 10'-0" radius. Lighting track must have an over-sized neutral bus-bar comparable to #10 American Wire Gauge.

Lightolier is the only responsible source to provide lighting fixtures and lighting track on existing recessed track housing. Lighting track must be capable of installation on existing recessed track housing. The housing extrusion must be exactly 1 5/32" wide and must not exceed 7/8" in height.

Responsibility to perform. The vendors named above are the only responsible sources available to the Smithsonian exhibit operations requirements and installation with sensitivity to relevant historic architectural fabric. If awarded a contract for services, the vendors will provide track and fixtures that meet the primary criteria:
1) Lighting track must accept fixtures capable of changing color and which produce a beam angle between 16 and 50 degrees;
2) Lighting track must accommodate features capable of wireless, bi-directional control, and status monitoring of all fixture attributes; and
3) Lighting track must be compatible with control systems that utilize open-source Application Protocol Interface (API) for communication with Smithsonian existing building systems.

Risk to Museum Collections.

Equipment and products required for the project must be efficiently installed on historic surfaces or existing housings to mitigate unnecessary damage to architectural fabric and museum collections. Failure to mitigate such risks directly impacts performance of the Smithsonian's primary mission. The Smithsonian's exhibit design standards align with those used by other comparable institutions, as we have confirmed during ongoing research on this issue. The American Alliance for Museums has issued National Standards and Best Practices for Collections Stewardship and Standards for Museums Housed in Historic Structures. These can be accessed at http://ww2.aam-us.org/resources/resource-library/cs.

Market research

The Smithsonian has utilized historic procurement data and is continuing to perfom market research specific to the museum lighting industry to determine its requirements for this effort. Anticipated cost will be fair and reasonable.

This Notice of Intent is not a request for competitive proposals. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. Any interested party that believes they can fulfill this requirement should submit a capability statement to be reviewed. All submissions will be considered, however there is no guarantee that submissions in response to this notice will in any way alter the Government's acquisition strategy.

Additional notices relating to lighting control systems are as yet forthcoming. If you would like to be included in bidding efforts for software coding please contract Alexander Cooper at CooperA@si.edu.

Responses to this notice shall be submitted NLT 011:00 AM EST, March 19, 2019 to:

Eve Errickson, Supervisory Attorney Advisor, Erricksone@si.edu

Telephone responses will not be accepted.

Note: In order to be eligible for award of a contract, vendors must be actively registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), have no active exclusions.

Contracting Office Address:

600 Maryland Avenue SW
Suite 5001
Washington, DC 20024
Attn: Eve Errickson

Primary Point of Contact:

Eve Errickson, Supervisory Attorney-Advisor
Erricksone@si.edu

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