LBNF Argon Receiving System
Closed Solicitation Posted
- Solicitation number
- LBNF-357714-JD
- Agency
-
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Office of Science, Department of Energy
- Responses due
- Set-aside
- No set-aside
Opportunity facts
- NAICS code
- 3332 Industrial Machinery Manufacturing
- Place of performance
- Lead, South Dakota, United States
- Points of contact
Notice details come from SAM.gov. Updated .
About this opportunity
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) is seeking a subcontractor to engineer, manufacture, deliver, install, and perform acceptance testing for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) Argon Receiving System at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota. The project requires designing and implementing a system with two dedicated truck offloading stations, four 50 m3 liquid argon (LAr) storage tanks, and associated equipment to receive, test, store, vaporize, and transfer liquid argon for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). Proposals will be evaluated on technical merit, past performance, safety, and quality, with a best value selection methodology. The solicitation (RFP LBNF-357714-JD) was originally posted on September 17, 2024, with the most recent amendment extending the proposal due date to January 10, 2025, at 5:00 PM Central Standard Time. A mandatory site visit and pre-proposal meeting are required for potential offerors.
The contract has no specific small business set-aside designation and will be performed at the surface level of SURF, approximately 4,850 feet above the underground detector caverns. The system will support the DUNE project, which requires nearly 70,000 tons of liquid argon for four massive neutrino detectors, with an expected active delivery and fill period continuing until the end of 2033. The total storage capacity will be 200 m3, with the potential for either temporary or permanent tank installations depending on cost-effectiveness. The project is valued at a significant but unspecified amount and will involve complex cryogenic engineering, including precise specifications for argon purity testing, automated delivery acceptance, and integration with LBNF control systems. The contract will be managed by Fermi Forward Discovery Group, LLC (FFDG), which took over management from Fermi Research Alliance as of January 1, 2025, under a Department of Energy prime contract.
Notice text
Summary of RFP LBNF-357714-JD Scope: The Argon Receiving system serves as the point of entry for Argon to the greater LBNF systems. The system is located at the surface level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), some 4850 feet (1478 meters) above the cavern spaces that house the DUNE detectors. The system thus serves to not only accept Argon deliveries, but also to test them for acceptability, temporarily store them, and finally to vaporize stored LAr to be transferred underground via the nearby Ross Shaft.
The successful bidder shall engineer, manufacture, pack, deliver, install, and perform the acceptance tests at SURF for the Argon Receiving for LBNF.
The Subcontractor shall furnish all labor, professional engineering services, equipment, and materials to deliver the supply in accordance with the requirements of this SOW to SURF in the vicinity of Lead, South Dakota.
The supply includes two (2) dedicated truck stations to offload liquid argon (LAr) to be used at LBNF. Further, the LAr tanks shall be equipped to reject their contents to trucks at the appropriate stations. This shall facilitate the recovery of LAr at the end of the experiment.
The supply additionally comprises two (2) 50 m3 LAr storage tanks, to be used in conjunction with two (2) additional 50 m3 tanks outside the scope of this supply (provided by FRA, to be installed by the Subcontractor) to provide surface-level storage of LAr, for a total of 200 m3. The supply tanks may be temporary installations required only for the duration of the active LAr delivery and fill of the belowground LAr cryostats (expected to continue until end of 2033) or may be permanent fixtures depending on which route is most cost effective. The tanks outside the scope of this supply shall be permanently installed. The Subcontractor shall install each of the tanks onsite, including both those required in the supply and those provided by FRA.
The supply further includes any necessary equipment to discharge LAr from the tanks and subsequently vaporize it so that Gaseous Argon (GAr) may be sent to the relevant LBNF cryogenics subsystems, as well as test deliveries and tank contents for purity.
Finally, the supply includes all interconnecting piping and equipment (including all control and safety valves, etc.) between the aforementioned components (including the two tanks outside the supply’s scope), as well as all documents and drawings for the design.
LBNF Project Background: LBNF (http:/lbnf-dune.fnal.gov/) will provide the infrastructure necessary to support the massive neutrino detectors located deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will employ four (4) such detectors, housed in cryostats requiring almost 70,000 tons of liquid argon (LAr), about 17,500 tons for each cryostat. DUNE (http://www.dunescience.org/) is expected to achieve transformative discoveries, making definitive determinations of neutrino properties, examining the dynamics of supernovae that produced the heavy elements necessary for life, and probing the possibility of proton decay.
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