Freezer Maintenance

The U.S. Geological Survey, on behalf of the National Science Foundation, seeks operations and maintenance services for a CO2 refrigeration plant at the NSF Ice Core Facility in Denver, Colorado, with quotations due September 10 and questions due September 3. This is not a small business set-aside.

Place of performance is Denver, Colorado. The facility stores over 30,000 meters of ice cores valued at approximately $750 million and requires maintenance of a newly commissioned transcritical CO2 refrigeration system at -34C within narrow tolerances. The contractor must maintain 99.9% system uptime, employ Colorado-licensed refrigeration technicians with EPA compliance, possess CO2 (R477) refrigeration expertise, and comply with federal background check and DOI access card requirements. Services include routine maintenance (weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual tasks), as-needed repairs, direct digital control services, preventative maintenance, and 24/7 emergency on-call response with specified response times: 30 minutes for critical issues, 60 minutes for high-priority, and 2 days for medium or low-priority. Anticipated labor hours span routine maintenance (4-8 weekly, 12-16 monthly, 16-24 quarterly, 16-24 annually), repairs (80-120 hours over contract period), controls services (8-12 hours quarterly), preventative maintenance (3-4 hours monthly), and emergency response (120-160 hours).

The contract is firm-fixed-price with a base year from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, followed by two optional one-year periods. NAICS code 238220 applies; the small business size standard is $19 million. Award will be made to the lowest-priced, technically acceptable quotation evaluated on pass-fail criteria for technical expertise, experience and qualifications, and technical personnel qualifications. Invoicing is monthly in arrears through the Federal Treasury's Invoice Processing Platform.